Attempting to re-start the posting process - here goes!

It seems a long, long time since I posted here - and yet it's only been two weeks!  However, in that time I've discovered a lot of things about computers that I never knew (nor wished to!), but have  I've now sussed how to upload pictures to Etsy, so there are two more Cuddlies in our shop at www.Etsy.com/shop.coldhamcuddlies.  Obeying the suggestions received via Tim Adams of Handmadeology Team on Etsy to then post the item to one's blog, I'm now going to try and do it there today and thus prove that I have indeed mastered the arcane route through Windows 8 and all.

 (To be fair to Tim:  he did suggest it should be done immediately after listing on Etsy - but frankly I was so exhausted by the effort needed to do the listing yesterday, that I decided today would be better late than never!)

Etsy Listing #59809283

Our latest Country Gentleman Fox is a Retro Collectable Chestnut Plush Furry Fox Toy, dressed in Hunting Pink - the latest version of a popular ColdhamCuddlies toy.  He's actually a re-listing of one of the original ColdhamCuddlies listed on Etsy in September 2010 - one version of whom found a Forever Home on the outskirts of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada early in 2012.

(He was purchased early by a lady from our village of Heytesbury for her daughter who still lives in British Columbia.  It later transpired, as these things do in subsequent conversations, that not only did she know where on Vancouver Island our home was at that time, but also that I worked for her father's accountant in Victoria, during our sojourn on the Island!!)

His body is made separately with calico and stuffed with polyester fibre which meets all international safety standards.  He has a waistcoat which is made with Red Felt, over a striped Brown and White waistcoat, which is not actually visible.  Like all our Collectable Toys, this Country Gentleman is not made to be undressed, and is ideally suitable for children aged 3 years upwards. His riding trousers are made with white felt and his boots are made from Black Suede Glove quality Leather, with self-colour tassles as a turnover at his calf.  His jacket is made with red felt.  He has a white felt stock round his neck and his head paws and tail are made with chestnut brown plush furry material  His tail is tipped with white plush furry material to distinguish him from the lady foxes.

This Country Gentleman Fox measures 17.5 inches (40.45 cms) from tip of ears to the sole of his boots, with a tail measuring 5 inches (10.03 cms).  He weighs approximately 250g and is stuffed with polyester fibrefill meeting all international safety standards.  This allows him to be treated as a Small Packet when travelling via the UK Royal Mail's standard parcel postal rate.

This Country Gentleman also has a companion - by name Beau Fox:  allow me to introduce him here:

Etsy Listing #128704624

O.A.A.K.Beau Fox, the latest in a line of ColdhamCuddlies Retro Collectable  Fox Toys, is made with Chestnut Plush fabric and  dressed in a Royal Blue Velvet Coat, trimmed at the wrist with light blue ric rac trimming.  He has blue tartan waistcoat, which can be glimpsed under the coat front, which is fastened with two silver gilt buttons.  His bushy tail has the white tip that all Gentleman Foxes grow up with.  His Apricot Felt trousers are made in the traditional riding habit estyle and are set off with Crimson Leather Boots with a self colour tassle turnover at the calf.  The leather is glove quality and very soft.  He has a white stock, decorated with a red emblem,  to set off the Royal Blue Velvet Coat. As a Collectable Toy, Beau cannot be undressed - but he makes a cuddly armful for children ideally aged 3 years and upwards.  He is not recommended for younger children because of the buttons on his coat, which might be vulnerable to prying little folks' fingers.   Previous incarnations of Mr. Fox have become Company Mascots.

(I've just remembered that one early Mr. Fox - dressed like our Country Gentleman (before ColdhamCuddlies became more than a hobby) sat on a bookcase in Peter's office.  He was a Father's Day present one year, as he admitted he'd always envied our daughters their Foxes in Edmonton, Alberta and became a conversation piece when visitors came for meetings!  Alas, he is no longer - having not survived our moves around the UK).

Beau measures 17.5 inches (40.45 cms) from the tip of his ears over his muzzle to the sole of his feet.  His tail is 5 inches long (10.03 cms and he weighs approximately 250 g.  This would allow him to travel as a standard Small Package via the Royal Mail International parcels system.  He is stuffed with polyester fibrefill meeting all international safety standards and has plastic brown eyes fixed with a safety backing.  His facial features have been applied with black double knitting yarn and his fluffy ears are lined with light fawn satin.

These Foxes usually take between 3-6 days to produce from pattern to final article, and Buyers should be aware that I no longer drive and am thus reliant on rural public transport in order to reach Royal Mail outlets capable of handling international packages.  This I do on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays of most weeks - so in cases where deadlines are a factor, please take this fact into consideration when placing your orders.

As is my custom here, I'll be doing a blow-by-blow description of each Fox's construction, in later posts, but just to end with - and to rejoice in my having achieved what I did begin to think an impossibility - here is a final picture of both gentlemen, sharing the limelight together.

It's good to be back - and here's to the next time:  soon.  God Bless.  Isobel

Life with a New Computer - A Rant: or TheTribulations of a Soft Toy Maker

Getting a new computer has been a mixed blessing in recent days - great excitement to begin with, followed by increasing frustration as the days go by and I'm still not functioning on all cylinders - please forgive the mixed metaphors but it does describe my current feeling.

Cy Bear with Little Red Ted and Big Red Ted 

The River Wylye passes through Heytesbury Village:  the bench was Peter's favourite seat when he rested on his daily walks about the village.

The computer itself is a snazzy HP Sleekbook laptop, crimson and black, and looks magnificently efficient on my desk. ( I'd take a photo and upload it here - but at the moment, that's not an option.  More anon!)  Open it up and boot it in, however, and one is faced with Windows8 which may well be snazzy to look at, but for one used to the old Microsoft Operating systems, somewhat daunting.  (I had been warned - but breezily decided I could live with it!)   User friendly it may be - for the techy-minded, but for this silver surfer at any rate, sometimes frustrating in the extreme - because it is SO non-logical!! (at least to a 72+ mind).    Also, I suspect I have discovered the reason why computers are now so much more reasonable to acquire (I don't say cheap, you will notice!)  Previously, they came loaded with all the programmes one could reasonably need:  now they have to be acquired separately or the accompanying relevant APPs downloaded (if you know how) from something called the APP Store, included in the computer programme.  Thank goodness, Alan, my wonderful son-on-law was on hand to do most of this for me initially!   Since then I've been on my own - thinking I was making progress, but finding it's not as fast as I would like.  I appreciate that the best way of finding outhow everything works is to have a go - but........

This last week has therefore has  been spent by me getting acquainted with my new tool of trade, getting annoyed that I am so far unable to exercise that trade fully, and waiting patiently for some extra tools (e.g.  external disc drive for loading vital programmes) and happily clicking on buttons relating (I hope) to programmes that are available free as APPs!  Many of my Followers and Friends are aware of my ability to click on buttons - with far reaching, not necessarily, correct or helpful  results!  So far, nothing too dramatic has occurred, but..... watch this space!

The Christmas Bazaar in Heytesbury Church - 2011

Now, to date, I have lived happily enough without the need of such things as APPS - indeed, if invited to use one in the recent past, I have hastily declined.  This computer has a whole section with APPS for almost everything under the sun that Hewlett Packard consider to be necessary for successful operation of this machine - alas, the titles by which they appear in their APP Store (for free, I hasten to add) are labelled in such a way that I'm not actually sure whether I can operate without them - or absolutely need to have them.  I'm not keen to overload the machine, although Alan did assure me that everything on the old machine only took up an eighth of the space available to him on his Data Key when he was removing stuff from my old Presario (of fond memory;  still with me, but unused - although I am tempted), so I can upload as much as like, without fear of choking the machine.

Oh, yes, and I've had to get one of those too (a Data Key I mean) - because the memory disc that came with the Presario is now extinct as a means of transferring data from one machine to another!!  I believe that is classed as Progress?

This morning - a Monday, and not necessarily the best day of the week for me - the External Drive arrived and was immediately unpacked - in the hope that by day's end I would at least be able to upload my Camera programme and user manual discs,  and edit my pictures of the two newly-constructed Gentleman Foxes, with a view to listing them and offering them for sale at www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies.  (Despite Alan's best efforts to find a free download on the internet, the specific model of Canon Camera I use and of which I am very fond, I hasten to add, could not be found.  Hence the External Drive acquisition.  Alas, once I'd got the darn thing out of it's tightly-packed cardboard packaging, the black, fearsome looking object - which so far I cannot fathom how to open, let alone use - has been replaced within it's packaging.  The sellers had somehow omitted to include a user manual - which they recommended I use!  So, a feedback message has been left via Amazon to that effect, and I patiently await developments on that particular front.

Thus.... no new pictures to offer I am afraid, but having now found out how to upload the pictures I already have on file, here are a few random ones just to break up this post - and hopefully relieve the gloom being cast by my current rant against all things technical.  I presently cannot upload all the pictures in my Picassa Library, which is duplicated on my computer via OpenOffice.org and my desk top file/folders or what have you.  However, I've discovered I can upload them from the latter, so all is not lost. (Little Red Ted, featured in the top picture here, is the inspiration for the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185).  He was the very first patient.) 

 It's been very exciting looking at the Picassa Library by the way - photographs I thought I'd long ago expunged from my collection are somehow miraculously still available - even if I may not be able to transfer them as yet to my blog or wherever else I may decide to try and show them.  It's been lovely to reacquaint myself with some of the original ColdhamCuddlies - and I cannot wait to show them off, because many of them pre-date www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com!  Indeed, some never made it onto the Etsy Shop site at all.  Think I have to upload some 113 files to Google+ or somewhere, and then I'll be able to upload them from that source!!  So, have plenty to find out - and do - in the coming days and weeks.

As mentioned above, I have not been idle in between attempts to master my new Big Toy.  Two Foxes - one dressed in Hunting Pink (scarlet to the rest of us) and a relaxed Country Gentleman in a Royal Blue Velvet Smoking Jacket are ready to be listed and to join the Buchanan Foxes (Etsy Listing #654656642) as their dancing partners in any foxy jamboree on offer.  Turner Bear is about to begin his treatment in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124285) - the mohair fabric matching his existing skin arrived about 10 days ago, but I have been somewhat otherwise engaged!!

Now that the Foxes are complete, I decided not to delay Turner's treatment - apart from anything else, funds to cover all my new technical purchases are needed - so once I have completed this post, the Quic-Unpic will be flourished, and Turner will be "attacked" - ready for his warm-water soaking prior to being rebuilt.

 Cy Bear and I will be back as quickly as we can.  Meanwhile, if I don't blog again this week - we both wish everyone a Blessed and Happy Easter!  Looks like we're going to have a White One!!

One last thing:  like Alice in Wonderland, the machine somehow managed to shrink this page siz twice:   I've now corrected it to the normal twice while preparing it for publishing:  so far, without knowing how I achieved either result!  Life is exciting .....  as I said before - watch this space.......!

An Update Post - more news from Southbridge, Ma and our Newest Patient

Good evening again, everyone:

Cy Bear here with the promised updates about my friend Hairy Bear who recently left us and arrived safely in Southbridge, Ma.  We had some difficulty in downloading the original pictures Ms.AB kindly sent us with the story of his arrival, but eventually, we got there.  Seems that Isobel's recent change in browser caused this little hiccough, but as we're about to change our computer all together (more about that shortly), we'll try to cope as we are for the time being.

We learned of Hairy Bear's safe arrival with a message from MsAB which started

Guess who just arrived in another major snowstorm.... Hairy bear! Wow, he made it here in record time .... 

But I had to share this one with you, it is a miracle that he arrived at our doorstep, as the address seems to have washed off the mailing bag, maybe it got wet on the way? You really have to look with a magnifying glass to look for traces of it. For once I am impressed with the mail service! hairy bear is so cuddly and sweet, my Mom will be thrilled with him, I am sure. ...


Now this is the first time such an error has happened, and Isobel wonders if it's because she used a different type of pen to write the address on the polythene Postage Envelope that we use for our Cuddlies to travel in.  She did write the address on both sides of the parcel, so perhaps it was a mixture of both sides that enabled Hairy to arrive safely.  Needless to say, that pen has now been disposed of, and we've got one that is allegedly waterproof for all future dispatches!

A few days later we got this picture - together with another message from MsAB - with the answer  to the question as to whether or not Hairy would be wearing a new sweater, like Ollie and Georgie, or not!

And the message reads:

"Here are the three "Musketeers" reading together on a rainy day :) Hairy likes to be in the "nude" and has only agreed to cover up his beautiful fur during the coldest weather. They sure are well behaved bears!
Bear hugs from all of us :) "   


(Subsequent discussion between MsAB and Isobel has resulted in these guys being collectively referred to as Bearketeers.  We feel that to be more appropriate than Musketeers.  Wonder what other folks think?)

In case I've not mentioned it before, MsAB is one of our very first Followers here on this blog - as well as being the first ever customer of ColdhamCuddlies.  So, all is well that ends well.  We have been promised another picture of Hairy when he meets his Forever Friend - sometime in May,  which is when MsAB's Mom has her birthday, and Hairy is destined to be a special present for a special occasion!

Meanwhile, Isobel has now been able to get the special Mohair fabric for the renovation of Turner Bear which will take place shortly in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) and  will form the basis of a couple of future posts no doubt.  However, as there is no deadline by which the therapy has to be concluded, Turner will continue to sit with me on Isobel's bed, minus his ear - because there's no point in it being sewn back on, when it will be discarded when the treatment takes place.  MrsJS, Turner's Forever Friend, was delighted with the match we've been able to provide.

In the interim, Isobel is in the middle of sewing two new Gentleman Foxes - she's sewing the numerous pieces of head, paws, tail and boots, together with their individual clothes, and hopes to have them ready for re-listing in the shop at www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies sometime next week.  There are then some Frogs, Owls and Gentlemen Rabbits to be replaced - and THEN  Turner Bear will be able to get Isobel's full attention.

That's all for this evening.  Do hope everyone following us has a really great week-end - with lots of sunshine.  Unfortunately, although we've had some this week, we're facing rain all weekend, with the likelihood of the return of snowy conditions early next week. Oh for Spring - I'm really looking forward to having some photographs taken outside in our lovely garden here in Heytesbury - instead of being cooped up in our mini-photographic studio inside.  I take up so much room, that there is not that much space for anyone else - but Isobel is learning how to cope with it, and hopefully the results will be seen shortly.

Our week-end is to be a fun one:  we've got Clare and Alan, together with their dog, Dotty, due to arrive here very late this evening (they're driving down from Nottinghamshire - four and a half hours away) and then on Saturday, Alan will be showing Isobel how to set up and load her new computer.  (He'll probably be doing most of it, because he's brilliant at such matters - and Clare wants to visit Think Outside the Box, our haberdashery supplier in Warminster, because she needs to stock up on her craft supplies.  That's if she needs, to:  because Isobel has got a lot of such things in her store cupboard, which she doesn't think she'll ever get round to using, that she's going to let Clare loose in there first!!!  Results should be interesting....!

Good Night All - Cy Bear.

Farewell to some Bunnies: introducing more Hares

Good evening everyone:  Cy Bear signing in for another conversation with you all.

We seem to be inundated with little toys at the moment, what with all those Baby Bunny renewals and then the new Snowy Baby Hares.  In her last post introducing them, Isobel mentioned that she was about to start producing some traditional coloured Brown Mad March Hares to the ColdhamCuddlies Family;   she's just finished two more.  She'll be changing the photographs on Etsy Listing #125962011 for the Snowy March Hares, as well as the title, after we've done this post together.  As you know, we do like to offer as wide a choice as possible.

Before introducing you to the new Brown Hares though, we thought you'd like to see the Farewell Pictures taken before the three Baby Bunnies set off on their travels to Okeechobee, Florida last week.  We are hoping that because we were able to get them off on Saturday morning - from our Village Post Office this time (the package was small enough for them to handle) - they too will travel as fast as Hairy Bear did to Southbridge, Massachusetts.

 

The Black/White Bunnies don't show up very well with me around!

 MsAB let us know that he arrived in 8 days - again in the middle of a blizzard!  Us Bears do seem choose our times somewhat awkwardly I must say!  However, Isobel has a theory - based on her experience when living in Canada - that if parcels were posted in the UK at a week-end, they did tend to arrive quicker in Edmonton, Alberta (where we then lived) than if they were posted at the beginning of the week.  We wondered then, and are beginning to do so again now, if there are more flights (both passenger and cargo) leaving the UK for America and Canada at the weekends, so there are more options for parcels to be posted.  We're waiting for some photographs of Hairy Bear playing with Ollie and Georgie as he waits to meet his Forever Friend later this year.  We've already got one of what looks like him getting out of his Mailing Envelope, and will include it in another post about the Southbridge Cuddlies as and when photographs are sent to us by MsAB.  Wonder if she's knitting Hairy a smart sweater so he can keep up appearances with Ollie and Georgie?

Anyway, here, as promised are some pictures of the new Brown March Hares - they're too young to be called Mad March Hares we think!

Finally, here is a picture of all four of the March Hares together - lively-looking little bunch, aren't they?  We're going to have our work cut out to keep them in control, methinks!

That's all for this post.  Will be back with you again shortly.  Isobel hopes to see Turner Bear's Forever Friend tomorrow at her Zumba Class where she will be showing her the swatch of Red Mohair we've found that we hope to use for Turner's new fur coat.  More of that and other matters anon!

Meanwhile, Good Night to you all!  Cy Bear

A Change from Baby Rabbits: here are Hares!

Etsy Listing # 125962011

These little fellows are Retro Snowy March Hare Babies just listed in our shop at www.Etsy.com/shop.coldhamcuddlies.   As they've been posted on all the Etsy Team forums I've signed up for, thought I'd complete the job by doing this extra post this evening!

Last summer, we welcomed a patient to the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing # 79124185) who was called Bunny.  He had been a much loved plaything for the son of  really good friend of our family MrsPC, who is also the Forever Friend of Fred Bear, who incidentally was also a Patient (see our Posts recording his Treatment - The Rejuvenation of Fred Bear was posted 08/08/2012 and Part Two on 14/09/12).  Bunny had lost a lot of weight over the years and really only needed a good wash and restuff - which did not take long.  However, while he was in pieces having his bath, I took a template for future use - and these Snowy March Hare Babies are the first results.  The intention is to also make some Brown March Hares too - which I'll cut out and attend to tomorrow once this post is complete.  It's the ears of these guys that makes me feel they are Hares rather than Rabbits!

Bunny had been forgotten and hidden in MrsPC's craft contents cupboard for many years, and while she was clearing out the contents (most of which were donated to me!) Bunny emerged and is now back  home with Fred Bear, with the intention of being re-introduced to MrsPC's son!  That reminds me, I must enquire as to whether that event has taken place, and what the result is!

This full-on view of the two Baby Hares was taken in our Photographic Studio, and I think the results speak for themselves.  Certainly, using the tripod, does mean that my hand doesn't shake as I click the button!

Solo pictures of each Baby Hare

And finally, here is a photograph of their tail ends - just to complete the picture!

 Looking forward to your reactions to them!  Meanwhile,  all the best - as ever.  Isobel

Reintroducing the Baby Bunny Families

 Our Baby Bunnies have long been stalwarts of the ColdhamCuddlies Family - even before www.coldhamcuddlies.Etsy.com was a twinkle in my eye!  One of the first toys I made for elder daughter, Philippa, was little yellow and white chappie, who was christened Treasure.  That was largely because Philippa herself - when she was being a good girl - was addressed as such by her doting Grandmother, and often by her Father and Mother as well!  Treasure was much loved and eventually went the way of all beloved toys - to Toy Heaven, but the tradition lives on, with Plush colour variations of Light Brown, with or without White Plush chests, Black with or without White chests, Grey - again with or without White Chests and all White versions.  We've also got Fleece variations in Pink, Baby Blue, White and Purple (again with or without White Chests).

Fleece Bunny Wreath in 2011 - Etsy Listing  #89020911

The Plush and Fleece versions are very popular, especially with Little People, when the Cuddlies participate in the local Craft Fairs and Bazaars and during 2012, the supply had drained away - without my being aware of it.  So, while I was away with Philippa recently, I decided to keep the old fingers working.  Thus, prior to leaving home  I cut out 15 different Plush bunnies to be sewn up.  The idea being that once I returned, they could be rapidly stuffed and put into the Family Stores!

 It's been some time since I undertook such a multiple task -  the 6 Christmas Bears were simple in comparison, because they were so much larger and thus less exercise for the arthritic fingers.  I'd forgotten just how much bending is required to put eyes in (two per bunny), sew ears on (two per bunny), embroider their facial features - a doddle! and finished off with stuffing bobtails on all 15 (definitely fiddly!) and adding them in the appropriate spot.  Instead of  completing them within  three or four sessions, it took me about 9 days to do them, and by the time the last one was finished, I'd resorted to referring to them as "those pesky little critters"!   I've yet to resupply the Fleece versions:  that can wait a bit:  I'm all bunnied out!  Although, obviously, if someone wants one and I don't have that colour in stock, naturally a speedy response will occur!!!

Here is a photograph of the renewed White Plush Baby Bunnies as they were listed on Thursday.

 Etsy Listing #70181260

(Mind you, I've also been doing all the social media stuff as well;  plus  fighting to get Firefox to talk to Facebook, and vice versa - giving up the struggle this afternoon.  Am now firmly in the Google Chrome fold, and likely to remain there as both Philippa and Clare use that browser from choice, and when I'm with them, I obviously use it too while borrowing time on their respective machines.  And, yes, Facebook and I are now once more communicating - even though I still operate two accounts, with one Coldham Cuddlies page.  I know that's a complication that most sensible folks would have sorted by now - but I don't want to merge one with the other (largely because I'm not sure which page is the one actually connected to Etsy and I obviously don't want to lose that union!!!!)  Nor do I want to badger all my lovely Friends to become Friends with me again, just because they have been inadvertently dropped off if I were to merge!!  Life is awfully complicated for a mature Silver Surfer sometimes!)

Anyway, I digress:  once the new Bunnies were ready for introduction to the public, I spent Thursday listing (as well as renewing)  them on Etsy, having retaken all their photographs.  This time, instead of  just snapping and using the graphics programme built in on my computer, I actually set up my mini Photographic Studio, complete with tripod, and using natural daylight, had another go.  The White Bunnies were done first, and here are two of them in close-up;

I'm using up some of the ribbons I was lucky enough to be given at the end of last year, although not all of them are be-ribboned (to demonstrate what they can look like!  It makes a nice change from the usual pastel, baby colours I've used in the past I think.  Your reactions, by the way, would be very welcome!  They don't take long to attach, and they are easily removed  if the Forever Friends demand their withdrawal!

Next come the Black Bunnies - this time, most of the replacement bunnies have Orange ribbons - they'd make great Halloween decorations would they not?

Etsy Listing #55187979

 The Bunnies in the middle of each of the group photographs are those left in the stock from last year - and you can see that this time around, their ears have white linings rather than the light brown ones.  Think they look a little livelier with the lighter colours.

Here are group photos of the Light Brown Bunnies - they are shown with or without ribbons, and where they are decorated, there is a choice of brown checked ribbons or primrose yellow ones.  They make a nice contrast to their plush coats, methinks.  Not sure why, but I don't actually have new photos of a couple of them in close-up to include here.  So sorry about that!

Etsy Listing # 73079287

Then, finally, come the Grey Bunnies:  these come in two different Greys and are now somewhat limited in supply as I'm coming to the end of my fabric store for these little guys.  Its rare that one can get exactly the same colour in Greys I find, so the dark Grey ones are definitely a Limited Edition of three - there's no more material for any more of them.  The Light Grey ones might well be increased by another couple of fellows and then I'll have to scout around the haberdashery outlets available to me here and on the internet to see what I can use next.

Etsy Listing #73147998

Believe it or not, these all are made from exactly the same pattern:  the difference in size and rotundity is down to the variation in fabrics and the fact that some expand more than others when the polyester fibre is applied!

And to finish off on a positive note:  one Brown/White, one Black/White and one Dark Grey/White Bunny will be wending their way to Okeechobee, Florida, USA tomorrow morning - hopefully in time to reach their Forever Friends and Homes in time for Easter!  Three weeks is surely time enough for them to negotiate the international postal routes?  Let's keep our fingers crossed anyway.

Good night - and God Bless!  Isobel

More Cuddlies go to their Forever Homes

Hello again Everyone - Cy Bear signing in again, to do a follow-up post about my friend, Hairy Bear - now on his way to Southbridge, Massachusetts to become a Forever Friend for MsAB's Mother later this year.

However, we've not told you about Ben, the Barn Owl finding his Forever Home either, so as Isobel is needing a rest from Baby Bunny making (she's done 5 out of 15 - so she's a third of the way through this particular replacement task), we thought we'd post about him as well.

Ben's Forever Home is now in London, England, UK - and there's a funny story about his purchase.  All our Etsy orders to our Shop, www.coldhamcuddlies.Etsy.com are of course processed in the U.S.A and paid for in American Dollars.  However, when Ben was purchased by MrWH just before Valentine's Day, he asked if it would be possible for us to get him to his home by Thursday, February 14 - (we got the order on February 10 which was the Sunday before).  Once Isobel had made sure the funds had reached her Warminster bank account on the Monday, Ben was ready for his journey;

This picture was taken before he was wrapped in the chemical-free tissue paper we use for all journeys and then bubble-wrapped to help keep him as safe as possible and free from the bumps of postal travel. He's actually standing on the paper before being wrapped up in it.   Once wrapped up, Isobel put in the usual letter she sends to our Buyers - which, of course, gives our full address.  When the parcel had been posted on Tuesday, February 12, MrWH was informed by email that it had left the Codford Village Post Office (when Isobel was on her way to her weekly Zumba class).  Well that afternoon, an email arrived thanking us for getting the parcel in the post - and then telling us that MrWH knew exactly where Ben had been posted, as he had lived as a child in another village close by, called Longbridge Deverell!  MrWH ended the message by saying something like "it's good to be trading with the motherland"!  So, an order processed in the USA actually had a connection just 8 miles away!!

 (Isobel here:  and I spend my time telling folks on Etsy, when I'm Following etc. that Etsy is a Big World:  not this time, methinks!)

Now, here's the follow up about Hairy Bear's journey preparations.  Again, once we had confirmed the safe arrival of MsAB's funds for her third Bear order, Isobel got down the wrapping papers and here is Hairy, together with Turner Bear - who is waiting for treatment in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185).  I'm going to tell you more about him in another post soon, but while he waits for a match to be found for his new skin, he only has one ear, and it has made him look very unhappy. So he's been sitting close to me on Isobel's bed - as he does look rather a sad Bear.  No wonder, as he's spent a great many years just lying, unplayed with, in a drawer in his current Forever Friend's Home.  He originally belonged to MrsJS's Mother, who had him as a baby - which we think was in about 1909!

You can see the tissue paper laid out on top of the bed, together with the bubble-wrap ready for use, as well as the sello-tape roll and scissors necessary to fix the parcel and envelope ready for posting. Us Bears usually need to have two pieces of tissue paper joined together, because we are rather big when all our fur is taken into account!   Hairy Bear actually had some treatment in the Clinic before he left, as MsAB asked if it would be possible for him to have a "Happy Face", rather than the somewhat Solemn one that he had originally.  So, before the packaging materials were arranged, Hairy had a speedy operation - his nose and mouth was cut away and a new one fixed, and a photograph of the new look was sent for approval.  This came back within a couple of hours - and then we were able to prepare Hairy Bear for his journey to the U.S.A.

(Isobel here again:  And, to forestall any questions:  anaesthetic is not applied on these occasions - the procedure does not take long, and Bears are tough characters).  

Hairy Bear is inside this large envelope - which awaits the address, Air Mail Sticker and Fragile label - as well as the Customs Label which all our parcels have on them (except those going to any country within the European Union:  they don't require a Customs Label).  Just hope all you folks know what I'm writing about, because I have not got a clue!!

Hairy Bear was sent off to Southbridge, Massachusetts on Friday morning last week, and we hope that it was in time for him to get one of the week-end flights to America  from UK Airports so that he can quickly get to play with  Ollie and Georgie (posted about in The Travelling Cuddlies post on 01/03/2013), as he waits to go to his Forever Home sometime later this year.  Meanwhile, you can see that Turner does look a very sad bear, so to cheer him up, he sits close to me wherever I am.

 (Isobel again:  while I was away with Philippa, his ear was sent back in a envelope which required my signature - which, obviously, was not available at that time.  So, it was only on Saturday that a convenient time-slot could be arranged and the important ear and matching mohair fabric swatch could be delivered and inspected.  Am glad to say, given that there is a 100-odd year gap between when Turner was originally produced and 2013, we have got an excellent match.  Now we have to arrange a mutually convenient time for MrsJS, Turner's Forever Friend to confirm her acceptance and then we'll be able to order the fabric and get on with his treatment.)

Right Everyone:  that's this post complete, and Isobel now has no excuse not to get back to her Baby Bunny replacement schedule.  She does have to rest up a bit, because being so small, the process really gives her arthritic fingers a work out!  Until the next time - this is Cy Bear signing off (and Isobel too!  It's too late to begin again, this evening, so it will have to wait until the morrow!)