30 Days of Creativity - Days 16 and 17

As you may have noticed, I didn't get the bear finished on Friday. Or yesterday either, if I'm honest.

The setback of the wrong joints completely put me off the whole idea. I hate making mistakes. It irritates me beyond measure. I don't mind mistakes that happen while I'm learning something new - those are a natural part of the learning process. But mistakes that happen because I wasn't concentrating, was trying to rush or simply wasn't in the right frame of mind infuriate me. 

I knew it would be a little while before I could face working on the bear again.

So I spent Saturday procrastinating instead. 

In a creative way of course!

I made bread: a loaf and some rolls. Our bread machine is broken so I made it by hand - more labour intensive but just as tasty. I made some oat and raisin cupcakes. I made some paneer (indian cheese) and a spinach curry to put it in. I omitted to take photos of any of these creations before eating the loaf; filling and freezing the rolls; freezing the cakes; and eating the curry!

And I made a gingerbread man. I have plenty of time to photograph him, since he is inedible. 

I have plans for this little fellow, but more of that in another post.

Today I determined to overcome the annoyance and frustration and forced myself back to complete the bear. Grudgingly, I restuffed the limbs and closed the turning/stuffing holes. Feeling slightly less grumpy, I attached the limbs to the body and tightened the joints. I stuffed the body with only a few muttered comments and closed the final seam. 

At this point I confess to breathing a sigh of relief and started to put the whole sorry experience behind me.

Ears, eyes and nose followed quickly after that change in attitude and, after a good brush, the little chap was ready for his photo shoot. 

And here he is...

 ... I say "he" because they usually are, but I can't quite make up my mind.

I am sooooo glad this bear is finished and none the worse for the traumatic joint experience. 

I will have to make sure I take my time and concentrate properly on the next one.

What do you do when a project goes wrong? Do you find it easy to just unpick and carry on?

30 Days of Creativity - Days 11, 12, 13, 14 and probably 15 (sigh)

Wow! 

This week's gone so fast! 

And, to be honest, I don't seem to have achieved much.

I started the week with the best intentions, a deadline of sorts and what seemed like plenty of time.

I was hoping to show you a completed teddy bear today, but more of that later.

So what have I been up to this week? Well, let me show you.

Day 11 (Monday) went pretty well. In the time I had allotted myself, I managed to prepare a piece of sparse 5mm German mohair fabric, mark out the pieces and cut them out.

This bit always takes longer than I expect. You have to be really careful not to cut the hair while cutting the backing fabric. Bald bears don't look so good.

Day 12 (Tuesday) also went well. I pinned all the pieces ready for sewing.

 

This makes life so much easier, even on such small pieces. It's very easy to match the pieces up incorrectly and end up with a crooked arm or a mishapen head. 

Although the sewing thread does love to get caught around the pins.

Which is infuriating.

Anyway, I started sewing on Tuesday and by 

Day 13 (Wednesday) I had finished sewing all the pieces. Even the dreaded foot pads.

You would not believe how hard it was for me to leave all these pieces sewn but not turned! I love the turning stage (apart from the ears) as this is the point when all the hard work begins to resemble something.

Day 14 (Thursday) started off fine, as it was turning time. I am always amazed at how quick and easy this is with larger bears. With the tiny bears it's excruciatingly frustrating but these pieces were very simple. 

I added the cotter pin joints and got started on the stuffing. I closed up all the turning holes and the bear was ready to assemble. I gave the pieces a brush to free all the hair trapped in the seams.

At this point, it started to go wrong. I attached the head to the body and tried to attach the limbs. And then I noticed a problem. 

The joints didn't fit inside the body. 

There just wasn't room for the discs to lie side-by-side inside the tummy.

I'd used the wrong size joints. 

This left me feeling utterly deflated. I knew I would have to go back a stage and undo most of the work I had done that day.

I made myself undo, unpick and un-stuff so I could change the joints...

...and then I had to walk away - before I did something I would regret.

So on day 15 (Friday) I return to the poor bear today having had a clear reminder of the saying "More haste, less speed". This is definitely a creative process that I should not attempt to hurry.

Hopefully, barring any further disasters, I should have a completed bear to show this evening.