Leonard's Bears

I met Leonard's daughter Donna through my cousin, Vickie. It was so nice chatting with Donna about her dad, mom, stepson and our love for our four-legged furry family members. The way Donna spoke of her dad, I know he was an amazing person and a kind and caring father.  I was happy to make two bears from his clothes.

Leonard's shirts were so nice to work with. The flannel shirt had a quilted lining. I used the red quilted lining to give a little bit of contrast fabric for the ears and feet of both bears.  The purple bear is made from a beautiful (but masculine) paisley polo shirt. I had never worked with a polo shirt before. It was so easy to work with.

 I usually place a red heart on the left foot of each bear. Since the ears and feet were already red, I used fabric from each shirt and put a heart from the paisley shirt on the flannel bear and a heart from the flannel on the paisley bear. 

There was a little extra fabric left from each shirt. Usually, I give every piece of fabric left to the family along with any buttons. This time I thought it might be nice to make use of the little bit that was left. I have made quilted hearts for the group I Found a Quilted Heart before and placed quilted hearts all over our little town near where we live. I thought it might be nice to make a few hearts from Leonard's shirts and ask Donna's stepson to distribute them. I was able to make 24 hearts (12 small, 12 large). 

I truly enjoyed meeting Donna and hearing about her sweet Dad. It was such an honor working with Leonard's clothing and helping his family with their grief.