The Pooh Tragedy

I have always been a Winnie the Pooh girl, for as long as I can remember. A.A. Milne Winnie the Pooh, not so much the Disneyfied version. The sweetness and innocence, the absolute distillation of childhood.  I used to be a bit of a collector, and many years ago, my Mom found a wonderful, very old early version of a Winnie the Pooh.  It was expensive and I know she spent more than she should have been spending on it, but she was so proud to give it to me and it was precious to me.  

Fast forward a year or so, and I'm walking into my living room and notice a sea of some kind of stuffing all over my living room.  As I get closer I realize with dawning horror that it's my Pooh, based on little pieces of fabric and a decapitated head. My Corgi is lucky he survived it without being out on the street.  I was DEVASTATED, I so clearly remember being on my hands and knees picking up all the bits, just sobbing, thinking about how he had survived and been loved by different children for decades until he ended up with me, and how could I ever tell my Mom?  It took me months...

Pooh was put in a bag and over the years my friend and I talked about sewing him a new body, but it never happened, I knew I wouldn't be happy with a Frankenstein Pooh.  But then, before Christmas my friend and I were shopping in a wonderful vintage store in Roseville called Tumbleweed & Co, and I happened to see this guy.

An admittedly strange looking fellow, but what struck me was how similar his body was to my Pooh, and I suddenly had the idea of putting my Pooh head on this body.  So I got him home and realized that his head was held on with about 6 hand stitches - I was not the first to have this idea!  So I found my bag of Pooh and this is what it looked like.

Their arms are exactly the same, clearly they were made around the same time. The new body's legs and feet are a little bigger, but close enough for me. So after some painting and stitching, after almost 20 years I have my Pooh back.  He may be sporting corduroys now, but fashions do change!

I've forbidden my Mom to read my blog right now, as I want to surprise her. It's good to have him back!