Following on - and getting ready for Christmas!

During the last post I published ten days' ago - where does the time go, I wonder? - I made mention of the Christmas Bazaar held here in Heytesbury on December 10.  I mentioned that I had made 7 sales and that the toys who have left the ColdhamCuddlies family will need to be replaced - somehow, sometime!

Well, having written our annual round robin letter to our friends, in which we update folks on the Morrell family's activites during the current year, printed them off, written individual messages on both the letters and the cards into which the letters are inserted and addressed/stamped the envelopes, I've just come up for air and am ready to face the blogging scene one again.  So - as a follow on (implied in the title of this post), here is a photograph of the table of toys in the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Heytesbury - before the sale began.

Crib in the background, together with part of the pulpit showing a splendid carving

It was our luck to be placed there - right next door to a hot radiator (just to the left of the Golden Teddy Glove Puppet shown in this picture).  As it was  one of the first really cold days we've suffered this Winter, and believe me, English churches can be cold - even in high Summer - every time I began to get a little chilly, I just moved to my right and sat on the radiator!  LOVELY!

The local paper was invited and actually attended.  Several pictures were taken by the reporter, who also "interviewed" me, asking me about the Cuddlies - and showing particular interest in the concept of the Soft Toy Clinic and it's activities - I'd given him a card earlier in the morning!  The report has not yet appeared - but as The Warminster Journal seems to be about two week's behind in its reportage, I suspect if anything does appear,  it will be in an edition after Christmas.  If I feel it is a good story, I will include it in a future blog.  Even if it's only a brief mention, all publicity is good publicity - and a good ending for my first full year as Toymaker to the ColdhamCuddlies, and, hopefully, a good start for 2012 as well.

In the front of the table, you can just see the latest additions to the ColdhamCuddlies family:  a medley of Baby Bunnies, made in Pink, Purple, White and  Blue Fleece and decorated with a green holly leaf collar with a bright ribbon for use as a pram or cot toy.   This has been my latest project, which I've just completed having made four of each colour.  They will be listed in our shop after I've completed this post and although a little late for this Christmas, they can stay in the shop until next Christmas - or I can always change the collar and hanging ribbon for any colour that is requested.  (Hot off the Press:  Etsy Listing #89020911)

Two of the bunch (an all-Purple Baby Bunny and an all White Baby Bunny) have already left us - destined as a Welcome to the World present for a young man called Michael who arrived on December 13 - weighing in at 10 lbs! - which just happens to be Peter's birthday as well!  So no excuses on our part to forget this young man in future.  He was sent the Purple Baby Bunny, and his big sister was given the all White one - just so she could play with her little brother later on.

A Christmas ring of Baby Bunnies

Here, for your amusement are close-ups of the various Bunnies prior to joining their plush versions in the Baby Bunnies storage bag!  Their eyes are all made using Black Double Knitting yarn, and are also firmly sewn in, as well as being tied together and fixed into the individual toy's stuffing.  Little fingers should not be able to get them out, but if they do, they will probably collapse under the strain!

The remaining Purple Fleece Baby Bunnies.

Little Michael's present is similar (because I am quite incapable of making identical ones, however hard I try!) to the Bunny in the centre.

Here are the remaining White Baby Fleece Bunnies - the centre one's tail doesn't really show up!

These are like the one sent to Michael's Big Sister.

These are the Pink Baby Fleece Bunnies - choice of White fronts, or not, are up to the Buyer!

These are the Blue Fleece Baby Bunnies - their tails do show up!

All the Bunnies have furry white Bob Tails and do sit up if firmly placed on their respective surfaces - unless of course they are being hung up in a pram or the side of a cot.  They'd all also make ideal stocking stuffers, and I'm considering making them up - if they don't go before - as hanging mobiles in time for next Christmas!

Right - I'm now off to list them in our Etsy shop - www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.  See you all soon!  Isobel

Happy Endings: new beginnings

Hello there - expect my regular Followers/Readers have decided that Cy Bear and I have just about given up blogging.  Not true, but since the computer went off for it's MOT (UK Ministry of Transport shortform - relating to vehicles over 3 years old) and used by everyone when check-ups (whether vehicular or human) are in the offing), and Peter and I returned from a brief visit to Philippa, accompanied by the rejuvenated Tommy Teddy, I just don't seem to have had the required time to compose a post.

The next couple of weeks prior to Christmas don't seem to be much better, but I do have a spare moment tonight, so am getting down to it again.  I have some happy endings to report.  Noel, the Xmas Rabbit - last mentioned as being somewhere between UK and Richmond, British Columbia has reached his Forever Home and seem to be settling in  remarkably well! Here is a picture of him, together with part of the message from his new Best Friend, Lyrawing (a.k.a. CK,):

"Hi Isobel,

Noel has arrived! He is so adorable and even cuter than the photos..... I've attached some photos of him with some very early Christmas cookies."

This is the best of the three pics Lyrawing sent

Then, after we returned from our trip away, I received the news that the Saudi Baby Bunnies had been gleefully received by their intended Best Friend, so that's another Cuddlies' story satisfactorily completed.

Then, finally, as I mentioned earlier, Tommy Teddy is now back home surrounded by his friends in the Morrell Bear Family.   Daughter, Philippa, was delighted to have him back, quickly got used to his new appearance, and as far as I know, Tommy Teddy's chums are also happy with both aspects too.

 

Rusty is the Big Fellow:  Teddy (L) and Sleep Teddy (R)

Rusty is indeed a Giant - he's in need of some refurbishment too, and is due to accompany Philippa here for his treatment, when she comes to see us at Christmas, so he will be registered as the latest member of the Soft Toy Clinic.  Just to give you some idea of his dimensions:  if he stands beside me (and I'm about 5ft      7 inches in stocking feet), he comes up to my armpit!  Philippa is threatening to have him sit beside her as she drives him down from High Wycombe to Heytesbury!  It should be interesting to compare the reaction of British drivers with those in Edmonton, Canada in the mid-1980's, when I drove him home one Christmas time, as he sat beside me in the front of our car, after winning him in a raffle!  He made an unexpected present and addition to the toy family that year!  Until then, I'd really not been that successful in raffle and other such competitions:  since his arrival, I have had the odd success, every now and again.  Not regularly, but enough to keep one carrying on trying!  More Anon about Tommy Teddy & Co.

Earlier today, I had a successful couple of hours selling 7 Cuddlies while participating in the Christmas Fete held today in the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul. Heytesbury.  Two Koalas, Four Baby Rabbits and the Rabbit Glove Puppet are on their way to their new Forever Homes - all destined as Christmas presents for some little folk.

On that happy note, I'll end this post - and get down to drafting our annual Christmas letter to our friends so that I can get the cards all sent out.  Regret that I shall not be sending them to you all - my lovely Followers - this year, but I'm taking this opportunity to wish you all a truly Blessed Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year (before I forget to do so in the hustle and bustle we face in the next couple of weeks!)  The Festive Season has caught up with me this year - normally, I'm much better organised!  Must be the blogging and toy-making taking up more of my time than of yore.

Bye for now.  Isobel

Tommy Teddy's Rejuvenation Therapy

As suggested by Isobel a couple of nights ago, I've got the great pleasure of telling you all about Tommy Teddy's rejuvenation.

Although he arrived here in the summer, we've actually not had him "in person" since about mid-September when he virtually fell to pieces after Isobel had unpicked him and washed him very gently - by hand, in specially soapy mixture for delicate fabrics.  We were a little worried as to how we were going to put him back into a Bear shape and our task was made a little easier when Golden Teddy arrived and spent a week with us - enabling Isobel to trace his shape (without taking him to pieces) and then taking him back to his home (at the back of Heytesbury Parish Church).

Golden Teddy and I before he returned home after helping us

Then, Isobel had a problem finding fabric that would be suitable to make the new Tommy Teddy - eventually, after searching the local haberdashery outlets, sending an ear to Susan at Bear Basics in Wincanton (she couldn't help, alas) and finally searching the internet, Isobel settled on a pale blue and a pale pink fleece (the latter being used in the interim for the Baby Pink Rabbits that recently went to Saudi Arabia - which Isobel posted about on November 14, 2011 - "Welcoming Three New Baby Rabbits.)

Isobel began the process of making Tommy Teddy by tracing the various pattern pieces from the cardboard templates she'd created when Golden Teddy was with us.  The pink fleece is not at all like the salmon pink Tommy Teddy's face and paw pads were originally made with.  However, Philippa - Tommy Teddy's Forever Friend - had been sent swatches of  materials (we got about four different shades) and had chosen these for the final version.

Tommy Teddy's pieces before being sewn together

Isobel first sewed his head pieces together, put in the eyes - Philippa decided that Teddy Bear eyes would be better than the hand-made ones Tommy Teddy had somehow acquired during his earlier life, and then stuffed it.

Then she added the ears and embroidered the facial features:

Then Tommy Teddy's arms and legs were stuffed and attached to his body.  Isobel finally stuffed the body and here he is before the head was added to the body

Finally, Isobel put the head on to the shoulders and there was Tommy Teddy looking like a new Bear.  It was only at this point that we all realised that the finished version was a very big bear - even bigger than my friend Ed Ted.

Tommy Teddy - a frontal view

Isobel then took a side view of the new Morrell family addition - because he really is  new Bear to look at!

Just to prove how big he is, and because most of our Followers have got used to seeing me saying goodbye to the Cuddlies when they leave the shop at www.coldhamcudlies.etsy.com for their Forever Homes, here is a picture of Tommy Teddy and me together!

Just see what I mean?

Don't think I really need to say any more, do I?   Tommy Teddy will be travelling with Isobel and Peter when they go to stay with Philippa next week.

Isobel also tells me to tell everyone that the blog will shut down for a few days, while our computer has an MOT - in the UK all cars have to have this every year, once they have reached the age of 3 and means they are roadworthy!  Suppose a computer MOT is somewhat similar.  Someone is coming to take it away while Isobel is away, and once they return, the computer will come back.  The "doctor" is then going to set it all up again, and tell Isobel what NOT  to do, so that it will work really well - and we can blog even more, and better!

Before I go - Isobel has heard from AB from Ardwick, Manchester that Brown Bear Plush Glove Puppet is "beautiful:  even better than the photo".  So, he's arrived at his Forever Home and it's a good way to end this post.

Good night everyone, and here's to the next time!  Cy Bear.

News from near and far

Signed on to www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com at the week-end to find this message and attached picture in the Convo section.  Cy Bear thought you'd like to see confirmation that one of the latest Cuddlies has got home safely!

                                                                  "Hello Isobel,
                                                   Uncle Brendan is now in Versailles.
                                                   Thank you very much. I like it.
                                                    It 's a very beautiful rabbit.

                                                   Find attach 2 photographs of it in my kitchen.

                                                   Thank you again.

                                                                   Anne"

                                                         

Uncle Brendan in the Kitchen of his Forever Home

We're still waiting to hear if Noel, the Xmas Rabbit has reached his Forever Home, but as it took over a week for Uncle Brendan to get to Versailles, France (just across the English Channel from us here in Heytesbury, Wiltshire) and Noel had to get to the other side of Canada, it's likely to be another week or so before he gets to Richmond, British Columbia.  Two Foxes and a Koala Bear that I sent to a great neice and nephew in British Columbia - admittedly in a more remote area of the Province - took about six weeks to get to their destinations, so we've plenty of time yet.

At last, after all the recent orders I've been lucky to receive and managed to meet,  I've managed to do some therapy in the Soft Toy Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) - specifically to rejuvenate Tommy Teddy, a long time member of the Morrell Bear Family residing with elder daughter Philippa.  We're due to visit Philippa at the end of this month, so it was rather important that I got the job done before we left, and as he's turned out to be another large Bear, he'll be accompanying us when we drive to High Wycombe (just outside London) rather than undergoing the more adventurous journey by Royal Mail.  Certainly it's a less expensive option!


Tommy Teddy came to live with the Morrells in the early 1970's.  He appeared one afternoon when Peter, Philippa, (then a toddler of 2 and a bit) and I were visiting some friends of ours - a congregation of Catholic Nuns known as the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.  Philippa had been whisked off by the younger sisters on our arrival, while Peter and I talked to Mother Superior, and just as we were about to depart, in came this big bear, with Philippa's little legs the only bit of her to be seen!  He was THAT BIG, and certainly the largest member of our Bear Family until the late 1980's, when we were joined by a huge bear called Rusty, who made Tommy Teddy look quite reasonably big.  Since then, he's travelled everywhere we have - to and from British Columbia (where we first landed in Canada) and then for 12 years in Alberta, as well as all over the UK when Philippa has moved around as her job dictates.  In the process he had become somewhat battered, faded and grubby (pale blue and salmon pink are not ideal colours to keep spic and span!).  So, when the Clinic opened, Philippa asked if I'd accept him as a patient, once Ed Ted (posted about earlier this year between 11/07/2011 and 31/07/2011) had received his treatment.

He really was salmon pink and blue - promise!

He arrived sometime in the summer and has been waiting patiently ever since.  The trouble was that when taken to pieces, his coat literally fell to pieces when he was given a gentle hand wash.  There was a point I despaired of being able to rejuvenate him.  I then met Golden Teddy - who plays an important part in keeping children quiet during services in the Heytesbury Parish Church and who featured in a post all of his own on 13/08/2011 - Introducing a New Friend.  I've used him as a model for the pattern, and as I'm not the greatest artist in the world, I have been more than a little apprehensive as to how Tommy Teddy in his new form would look like.  Am reasonably happy with the outcome - which you'll all see when Cy  Bear describes the treatment process in our next post.

Model for Tommy Teddy's transformation

Just before I close - we're almost at the 100 target for Followers:  92 as of today!  Thank you all so much for your support.  Here's to the last 8, before I have to sit down and think about how I'm going to expand this blog and invite guest bloggers to post here. Feel that 100 Followers makes it worth everyone's while to create another post in addition to your own!

In the meantime, goodnight and God Bless.  Hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  Isobel

November's Hail and Farewell!

Hello again, everyone - Cy Bear entering the posting block again with the news of a departure from, and a new arrival in, the www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com shop.

The new arrival is Nick, The Festive Bunny, a O.O.A.K Brown Plush Rabbit dressed in a Lime Green Velvet Coat, with a  yellow printed cotton waistcoat trimmed in green braid which itself is decorated with red French Knots.  He's got some very smart Brown Leather boots - which Isobel found rather tough to sew through!  However, he looks so smart  in them that she is definitely going to make toys using the same leather again - at the appropriate time.  He is completed with a green felt stock, with a pearl button to hold it down in any wind, which matches the turnover on the boots.  She does have some non-dressed toys to make first - like renovating Tommy Teddy (which starts tomorrow) and replacing all the Fleece Baby Bunnies and then rejuvenating Mons. Reynard and Mme Lapin from France.

Nick, the Festive Bunny is listed in the www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com shop and his Etsy Listing is #86564271.   Here is the first picture of him in all his glory!

On a wall, beside a bush with orange berries

Here is another picture of Nick, the Festive Bunny - from the rear view!

Taken inside, standing on our printer

Isobel has been invited to guest blog with Jessica Currie of CurrieDesignsHandmade.com - it is scheduled to appear on December 12, so no more will be said about Nick now.  Jessica has asked for a blog based on a tutorial, and we've prepared one on how Nick was made.  However, we will also be listing the other tutorials that have been included in earlier posts on this blog for Jessica to look at.  So, if Jessica decides to go with one of the older  posts, we'll do one about Nick's production process later.

Then, who has left the www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com shop?  Well, it's one of the Glove Puppets - who was invited to join his Forever Friend last week-end.  AB, whose Etsy User Name is annabelrebecca, contacted Isobel last week-end, and once all the preliminaries had been completed, Brown Bear Plush Glove Puppet was posted off to Ardwick, Manchester, England, UK this morning.  We naturally had our customary farewell picture taken - and here it is! 

Don't we look alike?  But I'm much bigger than him!

That means the Glove Puppet population is now down to three - Foxy Lady, Brown Rabbit and Golden Bear puppets - until Isobel has time to make replacements of the others too.  She's got her work cut out, hasn't she?

Cheerio for this evening.  See you all soon.  Your friend, Cy Bear

Dough, Dirt & Dye: Thursdays Get Together: C'mon Down!

Dough, Dirt & Dye: Thursdays Get Together: C'mon Down!

Welcoming three new Baby Bunnies

Recently, a regular friend of the Coldham Cuddlies - GandalfThePink - contacted me to ask if I could make some Pink and or Purple Baby Bunnies for one of their regular baby-sitting  clients.  As I hadn't made any in that format before, I had to research availability of fabrics for the commission, and discovered that while they could be made in Fleece fabrics, plush fur is not available in those colours (from my regular sources - nor, indeed, from the internet either).

After an exchange of convos via Etsy, and working out how to process the order - given that the specified products were not yet available in our shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com - we decided to created four non-existent White Baby Bunnies  to that shop listing, and proceed through the Etsy purchasing process as though there were!.  Once funds were in place, I got going on the production (which took about 10 days all told - there were 4 required for the whole order):

Four little rabbits - pink, purple/white, pink/white and all white fleece 

As making the baby rabbits follows the same process as any other toy - viz. attaching body pieces together (for the Baby Rabbits - whether fleece or plush - that means sides including the head, crown for the head and chest piece first, then sewing up the ears and bob tails, stuffing them as they are then all in one piece and attaching the ears and tail).  In a way, their formation is not unlike that for the Koalas (Etsy Listing #55190188),  who are just that little bit larger and easier to handle.

Three out of the Four waiting to be turned right side out

After completing the White Fleece Baby Bunny, all four were turned to their individual right sides and then stuffed - one does have to make sure you stuff the feet and paws first and being smaller cavities, they do take a bit of fiddling to get them stiff.  If one doesn't do it, I've found in the past, that they then don't look as though they belong to the bodies!

The Pink Baby Bunnies, one with white chest, from the side

I recently ordered a packet of glass eyes from Bear Basics, one of my local suppliers, and used them for the first time.  Normally, I create eyes for the Baby Babbits if made with plush fur by making a big knot in the same black double knitting wool I use for noses and other facial features, and then creating a round eye shape and sewing it into the fabric at the right place on both sides.  Then I tie the two pieces of wool tightly on the inside of the body.  They then get stuffed with the polyester fibre I prefer to use for all my toys, and lose the resulting knot in the stuffing.

I have become used to using the plastic eyes for the existing Cuddlies of all sizes since starting up www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com, and they require a different technique to be fixed.  The plastic eyes, which I rarely use for the smaller toys,  have a secure metal disc that one places on the post on which the eyes are attached and nothing can move them - unless brute force is used.  In the case of the glass ones, I had to pierce the fabric at the appropriate place, then tied them together with firm thread on the inside of each bunny, leaving a length to be woven through the stuffing.  That way, little fingers will have a mighty struggle to get anywhere near pulling them out, as the thread gets lost amongst the stuffing. Think I will continue to use these glass eyes for this particular bunch of Baby Rabbits - it differentiates them from the plush variety I think

The White and Purple Baby Bunnies complete

At this juncture I would normally add ribbons round the neck if the Bunnies were to become the first toys to be presented to new born babies or those up to 6 months' old!  However, the intended recipient of this bunch of bunnies is 6 years' old and MBP and CBP, my Saudi Arabian based clients,  were of the opinion that they were not required for their birthday girl friend.

I received the news today that their journey has been safely accomplished - so felt free to blog about them today - because they were intended to be a surprise for the customers as well!  Here they are all together and Cy Bear and I are looking forward to seeing a photograph of everyone once the first meeting has taken place.  Birthday is sometime towards the end of November - so watch this space!

(By the way, the purple Baby Rabbit really is a lavender colour when not on camera!  Try as I might, I could not get the photograph to show up anyway but blue!  There's probably some technical explanation for it - and these photographs were all taken in daylight - so lighting is not the cause!)

Before their departure for Saudi Arabia

Because I wanted to make sure they reached their destination in good time for the birthday, Cy Bear did not get the chance for an official goodbye photograph on this occasion.  Once I've replaced them, however, I'll make sure one is taken - if only to pacify Cy Bear, who does like to have his chance in the limelight!

Time to re-read this post and then publish it.  Wish the time did not fly by so fast!  Bye for the time being.  All the best to everyone. Isobel