If you go down to my woods today........

......be sure to wear your wellies and waterproofs, you might meet some bears but they are unlikely to be having a picnic its rather soggy round here.  As you wander through the wood you would be forgiven for being confused about what season we are in (not half as confused as those further south than me tho').  The temperatures of late have been more Spring like, they have cooled now perhaps Winter is on its way finally?  I do hope the Spring bulbs that have started to sprout will not be die off.   The world is definitely warming up there is not disputing that, but there is much disagreement as to why that is happening, I cannot believe that us humans are not having some impact.

The warmth of the season much be having an effect on hibernating animals who do so when the temperatures door there surely can't be enough food for them to survive a warmer winter awake.  I heard last month that Polar Bears, were having to walk much further to find food making them hungrier, there is a concern that this will impact the seal population.  Polar Bears don't hibernate and neither do those that go for walks in woods whilst their breakfast is cooling.  We all know that Bears don't eat porridge or live in houses for that matter but in fairy stories anything is possible right?

I made a storysack back in May, a birthday present for my twin nephews they loved it so much my sister in law requested another for Christmas.  She wants to introduce some of the fairy tales to them so asked if I could use one as the basis, can you guess which one I chose?  For those that have never come across story sacks they are a bag of books, props and sometimes a game on a theme, a thread from the main book in the sack.  The props are toys that enhance the main book.

The latest sack is Goldilocks and the Three Bears, did you guess right?  There are hundreds of versions of this story around I chose Gerda Muller's version, I love her illustrations and her take on this well known tale.  She has changed the ending, the Bears are still cross with Goldilocks not for what she has done, but rather not done.  She entered their house without being invited in, she hasn't minded her manners, they offer her to join them for a bowl of porridge as she runs away!

I have made three bears Daddy, Mummy and Baby and a Goldilocks who is a little on the small side but I don't think that matters when you are three.  It was difficult to work out the finished size from the pattern, I sized it up a bit but it could have done with increasing a bit more.  I managed to make her from bits and pieces in my stash.  She and the Bears are stuffed with sheep's wool from a fleece I was given by a friend, I had to wash it first!

As I was sewing and cutting the various pieces I pondered the cost of making these sacks and other presents I gift.  I have often been told I should make things to sell, there are two reasons I don't, it would lose its appeal to me, 'having' to do it and more importantly would be the costing the items and whether I would ever sell them.  I have been talking about this with a friend recently she opened an etsy shop recently and has found pricing the items to ensure she can make a living.  I used plenty of small pieces of material from my stash, the stuffing was free, the few pieces (including the books) I bought came to about £20, the biggest 'cost' was my time.  The bears took an hour to cut out and and hour and half to sew up and stuff for each one, Goldilocks was about the same.  Her clothing and hair took three hours and the bag an hour that is a total of 14 hours of work at the current UK minimum wage that would be £93.20 for my time, I would be charging over £100 for this story sack.

There was a second book, Please Mr Panda, in the sack a story book about manners that I thought tied in with the main book and with a bear covered bag to keep it all a Goldilocks and the Three Bears Storysack.  I love making these sacks and I am sure I will make my nephews another for their birthday in May, might have to get thinking about that one soon!

Joining Nicole