Grandma Joys Bears

My Grandma Joy was named very well actually, she is in this world to spread Joy. this comes out in her strongly when others are hurting. She is famous in her small community for volunteering at her church and local funeral home. 

A couple years ago my sister and I sadly lost our Father. Grandma Joy (on Mom’s side) swooped in to give us Joy, emotionally and in the case of this post, physically. 

She invited us to bring a couple of Dads favorite flannel shirts and she helped us make them into stuffed bears. We started by cutting the fabric according to her pattern. Then she set us up to sew the pieces, stuff them with fur, attach buttons for eye and noses and attach it all together with a needle longer than my hand!

The Bears are large and the limbs move. They are sentimental for us in not only remembering our dad but also the day spent sewing with Grandma. Here is her Pattern and Directions. *In typical Grandma fashion it is not super easy to understand, so her are some more I found: https://www.thespruce.com/sew-a-teddy-bear-pattern-2978397

She also recommends adding sentimental jewelry or other pieces to make the bears more personal, like the shirt collars on our bears, or the shoulder rope on my Grandpas bear - made from his Army uniform.

Mattson’s Funeral Home in Forest Lake, MN is where Grandma Joy helps makes bears, here some local articles about how they help the community, and how others around the US are doing the same: Article 1

Article 2, and Article 3

This was my Grandpa Bobs Uniform!