A blue bear made from tragedy.

I don’t actually know how I want to word this post. Recently my dad passed away. I was with him that morning before going to work, we had a rather mundane everyday talk that mirrored every other day in a normal life, he seemed fine, he was fine, I went to work and two hours later got a call he had died and my whole world felt like it was torn apart. This was very much an unexpected death. The weird thing was I really didn’t want to leave him that morning, everything felt off that day. Even though I was at work when he died, the moment he fell (I was told the time later) I had felt like the wind was knocked out of me and I had a feeling of I just want to go. It was the most disconcerting feeling I have ever felt, the call came an hour after that.

I was very much a daddy’s girl, we were close and did a lot together, we loved hiking together and spending time just being together. The day before he died I worked on hand sewing while he watched golf (his hobby not mine) and the thing that made it special is we were just in the same room together existing in the same place it didn’t have to be anything grand we just got along.

He still had a few of his old work shirts so I salvaged one and turned it into a bear. My whole life up until he retired he wore a blue work uniform. The shades of blue may have varied but they were always blue so I always associated the work uniform with him, even after he retired he would wear the shirts to do grungy jobs around the house. The pattern is simplicity # 8716 a pattern someone gave me and I kind of thought I would never use it, but then I did, so I was glad I had it, that way I didn't have to think about too much about a pattern to use.

This has been a really rough year, and I just really miss my dad.

My mom and I doing some serious missing next to flowers my dad planted at a garden where my dad volunteered.

* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

gray teddy bear

for my sisters birthday last year I made her a teddy bear as she seemed to really like the ones I made for myself and my niece. I used the same pattern as the others but her fur was much fluffier.
I originally wanted to make her a bear in a golden color but the fabric store was sorely lacking in anything of that nature. which I think is sad as it is such an iconic teddy bear color especially if you are going for the old fashioned pooh bear look.
the fur I ended up getting though is extremely soft and plush, because if I couldn’t get the color I wanted I could get the best feeling fur out there. this pattern only takes a 1/4 yard of fabric so the fact it cost 3 times as much as the other furs didn’t matter much. and gray is a nice color too. I am not exactly fond of making these bears as fur is nasty to sew with it gets everywhere, clings with all its might to anything it touches and makes me sneeze, even though its faux fur and not real at all it still sheds like crazy. but they sure do turn out cute so I keep making them.
at some point we are all going to get together and have us a teddy bear tea picnic,and get some better pictures, but we have to wait till the weather cooperates with our scheduling and that can be very hard, very hard indeed.


* This blog is not to be used for training AI*

Teddy bears!

several years ago I had copied a pattern from a magazine because it was just so cute! I made two of them for cousins. but had never gotten around to making one for myself. back in the fall I decided it was time to make one for myself. I had acquired a small scrap of a soft cream minky faux fur. the fabric was so soft and cuddly I had to make something. it wasn’t really enough to do much with but there was enough to make this bear.

and can I just say that this fabric was a nightmare to work with. it slides every which way no matter how you pin it and it sheds like crazy so the entire time I was working with it I breathing in and eating fuzz. I hate working with furry fabric and always have. but it had been a while since I had worked with it so I thought I reinforce that dislike by making something adorable.
and it did turn out adorable. I very pleased with the finished product and put in out so it could been seen whenever I went into the room.

now skip ahead a week or so and my niece came over. she saw the bear and about freaked out because it was so cute. she wanted one and begged me to make her one. to which I told her I had no more of that fabric. which was true, so she told me it was okay she would like it in any type of fabric. I told her maybe for her birthday and left it at that because really I didn’t want to make anymore bears.

but being the sucker I am for my niece about a month before her birthday I went ahead and looked through my stash, I was pretty sure I had some brown faux fur and I was right. and so began the process of once again eating fur as I sewed. I am thinking if I ever make another of these I may want to wear a mask, it can not be healthy to breath in the fur.
the brown fur at least was not minky, it sewed up a lot easier as it was more stable. I had it done in plenty of time to give it to her for her birthday and she was ecstatic. she loved it. its such a great thing to give someone something that I made and have them love it!

something I did different then the pattern called for is they they wanted me to buy a special piece to make the arms and legs move but I just did it the old fashioned way of sewing a button on the inside of the arm or leg and another to the inside of the body so they sewn together effectively making a joint that moves. I figure several loops of thread should hold together just as well as a plastic piece, and its not as if either of us are going to be rough on the bears so the arms and legs should stay together just fine.

such naughty bears! breaking into a bee hive!



* This blog is not to be used for training AI*