There's a bear in there...

This is the post I very nearly didn't post... I'm a bit self-conscious about this bear ;-) But, today there is a bear in there...

Remember this photo challenge? Well, the needle and thread was inspired by this little sewing project. The stitching up of a bear. A homemade bear. But I'm ahead of myself, so to fill you in I'm back up to the beginning of the bear story:

The gorgeous girl was gifted a lovely, little bear-making kit. It came with everything you need to 'build' a bear; needle, fabric, thread, stuffing etc. She and I decided that it would be a nice way to spend some mother/daughter time (when the littlest one was asleep and the boy was out with Dad) and so we sat down and stitched it up one Saturday morning a few weeks ago. Sure enough, we had fun together and her bear is sitting proudly on her pillow. It looks like a perfectly normal bear.

The littlest one woke before all of the blanket stitching was completed on the bear of the gorgeous girl. The littlest one promptly requested her own bear. Well, normally I wouldn't listen too closely to this type of request. But on this Saturday I must have been feeling mellow! And I knew that there was some lovely felt in my crafting stash that would suit this project nicely. Of course, being the type that I am I thought I'd just whip a beautiful bear up, no worries! And so I cut, stuffed and stitched away...

And this is the result. He's not the most beautiful bear you've ever seen :-) In fact, I'm almost embarrassed to post him (lucky the felt is nice)! The littlest one does love him, he's "My bear" to her. And it was a good lesson in blanket stitching, plus a lesson in the benefits of taking a little time and perhaps even following a template/pattern~! Maybe a little less brash in future my dear ;-)

So, have a smile at the not-so beautiful bear. And be sure that I will keep it real here on this here blog! Sincerely real. Cos my life is very real! Is yours? Sometimes I would rather mine wasn't quite so real... but I do only have just one more coat to go in the whitening project... more on that tomorrow...