Update 5/4: The winners have been announced. You can see them at http://threadanimals.blogspot.com/. I didn’t win this time / again – but I don’t care. I’m pretty proud of my bear and purse. I like that they made mine “Best Travel Companion” 🙂
Hurray! I finished this with two days to spare before the deadline! I’ve entered another Yahoo group “threadanimals” challenge. For the month of April it was “What is your bear’s PURSE-onality?” Each entry needed to show a bear with a purse – inside, holding, or whatever.

If you recall, I had worked on a thread version of the Nordstrom Hobo Bag back in February, but I never seemed to quite finish it. Maybe because I HATE sewing, and all I had left was to put in a lining and zipper. I took this picture before the lining was added and with a tissue inside so you could get an idea of what the stitches looked like.
I’ve only made one other bear, but I’m beginning to realize I really enjoy working with thread – I just can’t work on it too long each night or I get cross-eyed. The bear pattern is called Monique (I can’t find where the pattern is available anymore), but I’m calling mine Mint Delight. Isn’t he cute?!


The bear is only 3” tall – 2” if he’s sitting. The “purse” is 5 x 7 (at the bottom). I used size 3 thread for the purse, and size 10 thread for the bear – except for the muzzle which was size 30. Wow, is that small stuff! I might have to stick with size 10 for now.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with the way they turned out. Just don’t look too closely at the stitching on the inside. (Did I mention I HATE sewing?)
