Mammoths

I have moved onto the mammoths.  I love their suspicious sideways eyes!  They are all mohair - the grey ones, with a cashmere gusset (or 'undercarriage') and inner ears.  They are another item that I can make one of each day, so I feel a lot more productive than when making the bigger bears.

The three grey mammoths are called Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia.  The red one is Rita.

And I spent last weekend dying mohair, so I now have the fabric for the tiny, long-legged bears which are next on the list.

The bad news is that my sewing machine has died.  It had stopped feeding the fabric through on its own, and I was having to pull it.  Then it started knotting at the back, every time it took a stitch.  But that machine has done well.  When I went into Franklins to ask them about it, they said that these machines (which cost around £100 new) were only ever meant to be temporary, and last around a year.  I must have had mine for at least three years, and used it constantly.

Unfortunately I have no money for a new one at the moment, so I am using my mother's sewing machine for a while.  She's had that for 28 years, so I'm hoping I'm not about to finish it off(!)