My name is Crissie Arnold and sewing is my passion.

I didn’t know this at first when I tried to take up sewing as a hobby in the early 2000’s. I tried to make a ragtime quilt here and there and didn’t really do too much about it and that hobby didn’t originally stick. It was only during 2014 when I thought about dusting off my sewing machine to make my grand-daughter a baby blanket as she entered the world for the first time. After I took formal classes about doing more intricate work, I found that I had a knack for taking rags and making them into finely woven riches of soft, cuddly art. Giving my grand-daughter that first blanket and seeing that she just loved it made me realize that the most. There is nothing more pure than seeing a newborn little girl giggle at how soft a blanket is. My heart just melted.

That wasn’t even the start of my journey.

Like most other people will in life, I lost someone very dear to my heart; my Dad. Ron Osban was a wonderful man who inspired me to constantly strive for what I want, even if that meant you had to make it happen yourself. When he left me with all this fabric and longing, I had to do something with all of my pain. At first I was making quilts and pillow cases pretty mindlessly. Still doing what I do best but just not…whole. I just missed him. I had this huge sewing table, piles of his clothes (some I still cant bring myself to sort through), and all the time in the world. Every second was difficult to get through because he wasn’t here. I just wanted to hug him. He had the best hugs.

If only I could turn his shirts into a big, huggable Teddy Bear that I could just hug when I missed him.

The more I thought about hugging my dad in his worn, flannel shirts in the form of a lovable, fluffy teddy bear, the more I knew thats what I needed to do. I had never made a bear before, but I bought a teddy bear pattern and reverse-engineered it into a design I could replicate. I struggled for hours and hours of figuring out something I’ve never done before, and I finally was able to do it. I hugged that bear for the first time and didn’t want to let go. It was like he was there in my arms again.

I want to give that feeling to everyone. To hug a teddy bear, a blanket, a pillow case, and to feel the warmth from a new memory being made to the warmth of a memory that once was. To never go away.

My dad would always tell me, “Mine to You”, as to explain his heart to my own, and I would reply “Mine to you, the most” to tell him that I love him back.

This is Mine, to You.