The Teddy Bears' Picnic

Good grief! What happened to the week? I'm sorry I haven't posted since Monday----I really do have lots to tell you.

Today I'd like to share a birthday present I'm piecing together as I go. The girls are going to a birthday party for Big Girl today and I'm still working on her present! Big shock.

Whereas my girls are into dolls, their friend is not. She has a teddy bear family, which I think is so sweet. So we decided to make a play picnic set for her bear family. We already had a picnic basket. We've had this for years and it used to have soft food in it. We located a piece of cheese, a tomato, and a bottle of grape juice from the original set, but that's not what bears eat anyway. The girls said they did not play with the picnic basket anymore, so check that off. (If you didn't have a picnic basket, here's a tutorial.)

Then I took a piece of fabric I used to use in my classroom. Was it a tablecloth or a curtain? I can't remember. Anyway, I cut it down a bit and hemmed the edges. Check off the picnic cloth. (The girls informed me that picnic cloths should be RED, but I showed them the basket is blue and white checked inside. Not that this matches but whatever.)

Then I used some scraps from one of the girls' dresses and made some itty bitty bear napkins.

I next went in search of bear food tutorials. Here is the finished set.

• This tutorial for felt cherries gave me the idea for blueberries. What bear wouldn't want some berries on their picnic?


• Here is a tutorial for the saltine crackers. Perhaps Baby Bear will need some crackers to eat with her honey?


• The cheese and fish ideas came from....well, from the girls. I just sewed them. Very simple.


• The ant idea was also the girls'. It was Little Bit's idea to string them together. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to make them until she said that. It reminded me of this garland I made Sister at Christmastime. So, that was the inspiration for the ant. She wanted me to make 3 and string them together but I only have time for one today.

Ideally, I'd like a jar of honey in the basket, but I'm not sure I can pull that off today.