Hamish Loves His New Clothes

I mentioned before that Bob's bear Hamish is named for one of the characters in the Braveheart movie.  I have had it in the back of my mind for a little while that he needed some clothes to go along with that character.

I wanted to go to Petoskey yesterday to visit my daughter Becky, and asked Bob if I could take Hamish along with me.  He said that was a good idea, since he was going to work and thought it would be good for Hamish to have an adventure.

Becky and I had talked about making the bear a kilt, so she got out her selection of plaid wools and Hamish picked out the pretty blue one.  He knew his daddy would like it because it was a color  he could see (Bob is color blind, but can see blue).

Hamish is sitting here while Becky is cutting the fabric after she took some measurements for his kilt.  She needed a long strip of fabric for pleating.

Hamish is "helping" her pin the pleats.  He learned about sharp pins the hard way!  Ouch!

The pleats were stitched down and then he tried on the kilt.  It looks just about right.  I took it to the ironing board to press the pleats, so it would look nice and swishy when he moves.  Guys and kilts are just about as bad as little girls with their twirly dresses.

While I was pressing, Becky got out her leather, punch, and buckles and created a belt.

She is making the final adjustment before trimming it to the right length.  Hamish is quite proud of his REAL leather belt and big buckle!

Well, isn't he a handsome lad?!

The over the shoulder cloth really adds to the outfit, and pressed pleats really are swishy!

Bob and Hamish both are quite happy with the outfit.  Happy birthday from Becky!

The Left-Over bears and all the other Griswold bears have been one of my favorite projects.

Stay tuned for the story of Gypsy Rose, which will be coming soon.

The Pink Pony and the Third Left-over Bear

While on vacation last week, Bob and I visited weaving friends, Lou and Betty, down in Arkansas.  Lou has several Newcomb looms, but doesn't use the flyshuttle mechanisms on them.  When I told him I bought a Weaver's Delight loom to restore but it didn't come with the tube stuffing machine (the pink pony), he offered the one he didn't use to me.  Thanks Lou!!

We went down to Arkansas on Bob's birthday, and while we were at Betty and Lou's house, I gave Bob his present.  I found out he never had a Teddy bear as a child, so I gave him my third left-over bear, T14.  Bob named him Hamish (pronounced Hay'-mish) after a character in the Braveheart movie.

We had a bit of fun with Hamish as we traveled home this past Saturday.  I taught him how to read a map so he could help his daddy with navigation.

We played our usual game of cows and horses, getting points for them on our side of the road, and extra points for white ones.  If we passed a cemetery on our side of the car, we lost our points.

Hamish kept telling me he wanted to ride the pony, and I thought he was talking about one of the ponies in our game.  Then it dawned on me that he overheard us talking about the pink pony, and that was what he meant!  When we stopped in Hannibal, Missouri for lunch, we got the pony out and let him ride.

Hannibal was kind of exciting for Hamish.  He threw his arms up in the air when he saw his first train!  "Here comes the train!  Here comes the train!  Yipee!!" he started to yell.  He was jumping around so much, Bob had to hold on to him for dear life, since that fence rail was right over a cliff!

The train was passing over the Mississippi River from Illinois and entered a tunnel through the hill.  Bob knows all the good train-watching spots and we were fortunate one came along before we got on the road again.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  We did see the statue of Mark Twain and then a couple more trains in Indiana.  I suppose there will be more train-watching trips in Hamish's future.

Baby Teddy bears do get tired, especially when they try to stay awake for the whole trip.  Hamish was so afraid he was going to miss something!  He made up for it on Sunday we got home, spending most of the day sleeping. 

We are glad to be home, but not glad for the cold and snow.  It's melting quickly though, and spring is promising to be here soon.  Snowdrops are blooming and daffodils will be showing their sunny faces with a bit warmer weather.