Guatemalan Teddy Bears for Children

         This is going to be a fast one because I've been sick all weekend and still am so if it doesn't make sense, I'm sorry. For those of who you know me, Guatemala has been on my heart since last summer and has never stopped being on my heart. The children there are beautiful and adorable. Just looking into their eyes you can tell their stories almost or want to get to know their stories. Every child has a story to tell. I would like to go next summer, if God is willing, and stay longer after that or another time whenever God wants me to or go with another group and stay longer. I have a way that I could raise money and get my mind off of things from work over the weekends and weekdays when I'm home. It is to make yo-yo teddy bears for the children. It's a dream of mine.
           Yo-yoing is a type of sewing that you do. You can make anything out of them like blankets, any animals, hair things (headbands, clips, which I might do too), attach them to boring pillows, and more. I would make the body of the bear out of the yo-yos and then sew the head, hands, and feet together just like a normal teddy bear. I would use bright colors and patterns just like the Guatemalans do in their art and sewing. Yo-yo sewing is coming back. It use to be a old kind of sewing but it is coming back. It can come in many different shapes like hearts but I would only use circles. They have patterns where you can make the yo-yos know instead of doing it by hand.
           I don't know how I'm going to sell them. I guess it depends on what I'm selling them for. I can either sell them for this coming summer or go on a trip with someone else or both. I could also sell them to where parents buy them for their children or just for the children of Guatemala. Pay this much and that will give so many bears to so many children or again I can do both. It just depends on how many I can get made or make at a time. The hair things are easy and those will probably be cheaper then the bears if I decide to do them too.
             I could also have people buy the fabric before I make the bear if it was just going to be for the Guatemalan children. I would be like it costs this much for this much fabric to make one bear. Would you donate enough money to buy enough fabric to make one or two bears and so on. I could also have parties where people would come over to my apartment and help me sew some yo-yos and bear parts. The more I type out the plan the more I like it and that is how I can decompress myself from a hard day or week from week. You have to get so thought in on how to make a yo-yo that hours can go by and if I have a goal like this it would really get me going. The yo-yo sewing also seems like a type of sewing that would go over well in Guatemala. It seems like that kind of style. Out of the ordinary but neat at the same time when you make the right things with it. It is also very different and not very many people do it or know about it here in the States. It is kind of "old" in the States but yet so easy and neat looking, I think.
             I've always wanted to start something like this for another country. Make something that helps them and what better way to help their children then to give them a teddy bear. I came up with this idea one night at work when a little girl left her teddy bear behind and I knew how important it was to her. A teddy bear can give a child comfort, be someone to talk to, get your madness out on, or most importantly to these children, be a friend that is there with you all the time when no one else really is.
             If you would like to be a part of this like help with the sewing if I ever get it started, to donate money to buy the fabric, or have questions to ask me, please leave a comment on here or Facebook (private) message me if I'm your friend on Facebook. This is a dream and a goal I would love to get started and who knows the first few might go to some of the preschool children at my job. Let's say maybe the first 5 or 10 teddy bears. I have to ask if I can do that first but it is an idea. If I have to get people involved that way in their home state first then I will try it that way and then expand outwards.