The Holiday Season is Upon Us!

So most years I make myself a teddy bear around my birthday to add to my private collection.  It's usually a bear that has something different about it, that way I can follow where my bear-making has changed.  I started to make the bear from the antique mohair but changed my mind in the middle of it.  This year I made one of my whimsical bears as I don't actually own one of my own bears in this style.  I named this bear Suzie Q, not like the song, but just because it's a cute name:

 I've been quite busy, like everybody else, enjoying the holiday season.  So I think my bear making might be complete for this year.  Although there is still the antique mohair!  Hmmmm...I suppose I could squeeze one more in!

Holiday 2011!

Well it has been quite awhile since I've blogged and now the holiday season is in full swing.  I've been pretty busy with the Teddies Worldwide bearshow as I suspected I would and didn't seem to have a moment to spare.  Everything suffered, especially my housework, (why does that always seem to be the first thing I let go of, haven't a clue) and it was with some relief that I sewed the last stitch on the last bear!  It was worth the thrill of having my little bears adopted one by one to go and live all over the world!  All 10 of them were adopted and now I have a little extra Christmas money!  Of course first thing I did was order new supplies of mohair to replenish my stock!  Here are the bears!  They are travelling around the world as I type this!

Fingers crossed that they arrive safe and sound!
So I saw another bear artist had purchased some antique mohair from England.  I was envious and so ordered a little piece myself for a treat!  It's bare in patches and just lovely! 

I'm going to make myself a teddy bear for my birthday coming up December 4!  I want to find some old flowers or fabric to use in dressing her so I might wander off to have a look for something this afternoon.  I have to make sure and have a nap later though because I'm on the night shift tonight.  I've cut the fabric into one of my patterns and hope to have it finished by my birthday in a week!  It's hard to say because I have to do my Christmas decorating this week too!  I have three trees but two are very small so it's okay, all of them pink!

From my teddy bear show I had an order for a bear and I was able to finish her over the weekend!  She'll soon be heading off to her new home!



Busy! Busy!

I haven't checked in for a little while as I've been pretty busy with work and all.  It's one of those kind of busys where you don't seem to accomplish much, but then when I gave it some thought, yes I did actually!  And so what if I didn't anyway?  Relaxing is good too!  Like last night I went to Toronto with Aaron.  He had to go down for the night for work-related activities but I went along for fun.  Mom and I went shopping and out for dinner.  He dropped me off there.  Then she drove me over to the hotel.  It was still early and Aaron wasn't back from his meeting so I went for a walk and I found this immense Shopper's Drug Mart.  It had a specialized 'beauty boutique' that was filled with very expensive makeup and perfume products; top of the line!  I wandered in there for ages until Aaron started texting me wanting me to bring him some potato chips!  I wanted to buy a foundation by Dior that cost $48!  I had a little argument with myself for awhile about how I needed to look after myself and put myself first but alas, I couldn't do it.  Not this time!  The hotel was beautiful and we had a big suite with a massive bed!  Aaron had two tvs going at the same time!  What a guy!
I did get a painting done that was a commission of sorts, I'm not much for working under pressure and I get very resentful of deadlines but I managed to complete it in time.  It's a painting of a giant moth!

I don't think I've ever painted a moth with acrylics before.  I really enjoyed it!  And I finished my teddy bear commissions too!  I had to do a little boy bear!  I rarely make a boy.  He was a little sailor with a newspaper hat!  His name is Ethan!

I think he turned out rather well!  I haven't made a boy bear since last Christmas when I made one for myself!  Just because I don't make them too much doesn't mean I don't like them!  It's just that my girl bears are more popular!  Speaking of girl bears, I made a little girl for my online show in November!  It's the first one and I have to get cracking and make some more!  I can't offer any sneak peeks though because that would be a no no!   So you will just have to wait and see!  Aaron is flicking the lights in my office to get me moving!  Gotta go!  Out for wing night!
P.S.  My silk scarf did so NOT work out!  Sigh!  Back to the drawing board!



Too Creative for Housework!

With my friend Denny's visit over, I had to make up for lost time, much housework and chores and my creative spirit has been smothered.  I resisted the urge to do extensive housework, not so hard, and unleashed my creativity!  It took off like a shot and I have been creating on my days off, before work, between work and even a little bit at work!  I finished two of the bears I have been commissioned to make:

Pepsi and Roxanne





And I worked on the sunflower painting I mentioned.  Actually I worked on it a lot, until I finished it!  Aaron came home from a visit to his brother in North Bay to find he now has to look at this painting every morning and night probably for a long long time!  It's on the wall directly opposite our bed!  And it's three feet by three feet.  Poor guy!  He just smiles and says, "It's very nice."

I was out in my garden this morning taking pictures of my flowers so I can have something to paint in the winter time.  I might try some hydrangeas next.  I love them!  I made a little cover for my latest sketch/journal/scrapbook in there too!  I like to decorate all of them with fabric and beads and such.  This latest one has a doodle on the front of it that I did when I was bored on the night shift.



This morning I relented and did housework for three hours!  Yucky!  I have to be careful with that though, my ribs are still smarting from the spill I took on my motorcycle.  I've only got back onto it once since then as I have to put ice packs on my ribs morning and night.  Sometimes when I lay straight on my back there is a sensation of something pulling apart inside.  It's quite painful and creepy too!  My poor son Daniel fell off his bike and scratched himself up a bit!  That would be a ten speed.  He is obsessed with bicycles.  He builds them from scratch and has all the fancy bike stretchy pants and stuff.  He's desperate to get a job in a bike shop.  I'm desperate for him and his step-brother Jonathan to move out of my house!  They're 21 and 22 and need to be moving on and find their own way!  It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to pick up after them!  Good grief Daniel is so lacking in motivation that when he was a kid he used to go to bed fully dressed for school the next day including his shoes and coat!  I would come in and pulled the covers down and there he would be ready to go so he could have more time to sleep in!  Just last week Aaron called me at work to ask me if I knew where Daniel was.  He was late for work and they were calling him and Aaron was calling him and Jonathan was calling him. No answer.   I even called his dad to see if he was with him!  Last anyone heard he had taken off for work on his bike and never shown up!  I started to panic.  Finally someone went to check his room, (my future guest room), and there he was in bed at 2 pm sleeping through the phone, his alarm, everything!  Brother!  Oh well, as long as he's happy!  He can be just as happy in his own place, can't he?

Last night I was trying on my leather jackets to make sure they still fit me for the fall and I thought to myself that they really need a new scarf, something special just for them.  I have some vintage pieces of rare silk velvet that are a little heavy for my smaller bears and not the greatest colour for them either that I have collected along the way.  So I laid the pieces out this morning and I'm going to try to make a scarf from them.  I'll take a pic if it turns out all right.  Velvet is notoriously hard to work with, especially made from silk.  It scooches all over the place when you're trying to cut and sew it!  Tonight Daniel and Aaron and I are going to Barrie for dinner and I think we'll take my car so that I just pull up to Fabricland to get some silk dupioni for a backing for my scarf to be and they won't be able to say anything about it!|  Ha ha!

Anyhow, two bears left for commissions, then my own special birthday bear, then finally I will be starting my bears for the online show!  Full speed ahead!

Three Little Bears

I'm just stopping in for a moment to post a photo of the three little bears I now have available on my website.  If you get a chance, stop by and say hello!  (http://www.pearlsbears.com/)

Denny's Here!

I picked up my pal in Toronto a few days ago and we've been having a blast!  We've been trading clothes (she's tiny compared to me but we both wear lots of stretchy stuff, lol), listening to what's been going on in each other's lives, going shopping and to the movies (we saw The Help yesterday, it was fab), it's all good!
She's off visiting another friend today so I'm sneaking in a little bear-making time.  I'm working on three little bears for my website.  Here's a pic of the dress I was working on for one of the bears, her name is Poppy, and another pic of me sewing some little ribbons by her ear.  I told her, "Hold your breath, it will only hurt for a second!"

After these three bears, I'm going to have a little break for a bit and work on some of my other interests; like my art quilts and maybe do a bit of writing on a novel I hope to finish someday; it's a romantic comedy!  Who knows?  Can't succeed if you don't try!  
Then I'm going to be gearing up for the Teddies Worldwide Show in November!  Busy!  Busy!

Waiting for Denny!

Denny is one of my bestest pals!  She moved from Ontario to British Columbia a few years ago to get a specialized degree in social work.  Did I mention I have a 'regular' job?  I'm a social worker.  Anyhow, Denny is coming to visit me tomorrow for almost two weeks!  We'll have lots of fun like we always do!  We're planning to see the movie, 'The Help', it's coming out while she's going to be here.
In the meantime I'm tidying my house,  a little dusting here, a little sweeping there!  Hopefully I will be able to sneak in a little teddy bear working time as I'm taking a little holiday from work!  I'm going down to Toronto to pick up Denny tomorrow!  (First I'll stop by my mom's for some meatloaf.  She doesn't actually cook the meatloaf!  We get it at The Pickle Barrel!  Yummy!)
Exciting news!  I've been accepted to show in the Teddies Worldwide Christmas Treasures Show from November 18-20, 2011!  It's a juried show and this is the second time I've been invited!  I'm very honoured!  My goal is to have the maximum amount of bears made for adoption by each artist!  That's 10!  Whew!  I'll be busy for sure.  Check it out!  There will be 75 artists from around the world!  Lots to see! (It's funny thinking about Christmas when it's 90 degrees out!)

I left Lambchop in bed because I was full of energy and ready to seize the day!  I headed to Barrie to pick up some shoes I ordered on the internet and then off to Cookstown to my favourite antique market, 'the Barn', and rummaged through lots of stuff!  It's where I find little bits and pieces of old treasures to sew onto my bears! I was tempted to buy an old puppy on wheels but he was just in too rough shape and would have needed too much of my precious time to work on him!  He will be special for someone else I'm sure.  However, if he's still there next time, who knows?  Maybe he's meant to be for me!  We'll see!  In the meantime I found some pretty vintage lace that will come in handy some day and maybe inspire me!

Back to Barrie to Michael's Craft Store to root around in there.  Not too successful either.  Snuck in the new movie, Crazy Stupid Love, very sweet, and then went to Chapters for a little browse.  I bought two magazines, Where Women Work and altered Couture, woo, $15 apiece!  With taxes it was $36!!  Well, they are more like books than magazines anyway and I was too weak to resist!  Sigh!