Teddies Worldwide Christmas Show!

As mentioned previously, November 16 at 4 pm EST begins the online teddy bear show, Teddies Worldwide. It is the Christmas show and sure to be filled with lots of treasures!
I will have 10 little bears at the show!
Here is one of the bears available for adoption at the show: Tabitha...

Just a bit of Ireland...

I took this pic in Ireland and wanted to share it...

Hallowe'en is over!

This Hallowe'en I was on an airplane on my way back from a visit to Ireland, the place of my birth. I was gone for two weeks and had a grand old time!
But several weeks ago I had made a little Hallowe'en bear named Allistair and decided to keep him as part of my own collection. Here is his pic along with his pumpkin!
Oh! I'm part of the online show the weekend of November 16, 2012, at www.teddiesonline.com. Hope you can join us! Lots of artists! Lots of bears! The panda in the red dress will be available at the show for adoption!

New Commission...

Peaches is a bear that I just finished for a commission for a new baby. She was inspired by one of the Steiff bears I saw in Joan's collection.

New Old Bear!

After the Teddy Bear's Picnic a few of us went to a big antique show. While there I found an adorable ancient-looking little bear who was loved so much he was practically threadbare! I had to have him! I'm not sure how old he is, I suspect at least 80 by his nose, eyes and excelsior stuffing. I'm going to eventually find an outfit for him, but now I'm just enjoying him the way he is. I've called him 'Lovey'.

The Teddy Bear's Picnic

Last weekend I joined my Teddy Bear Group at their annual Teddy Bear's Picnic in Muskoka! It was at the home of Joan, a bear maker and collector of spectacular proportions! She has over a thousand Teddy bears! Here are a fee pics of some of her bears! We had lots of fun showing and telling and stuffing our faces!

New Bear

Well I made myself my birthday bear early this year. I don't have a name for her yet but I had this lovely cotton christening slip and I had to have a bear to put the dress on and I wanted to keep the dress so I had to keep the bear too so to keep the bear myself i had to have a good reason so my birthday seemed as good a reason as any! See, there's actually no flaw in my reasoning!
Can't chat because I'm off to the show with my friend but next on the agenda is a bear commissioned for a new baby and I was supposed to have it made like yesterday!

Voila!

And the finished bear...Annabelle!

Dressing a bear...

When I am working on a bear I either have an idea for how to dress her/him, or something comes to me as I'm studying the bear. I had fabric from my last Fabricland trip and thought the red/black would look nice with the panda colours. I search through my stash for things that would go with the fabric; a pretty piece of lace for a shawl, a nice button to hold it, a few flowers by her ear. And this is what I end up with. Then I go to work on making the outfit and dressing the bear...stay tuned!

Three was the number!

The number three was today's number! I got three chickens half price from Zehrs on the way home from work, I worked on three bear's heads and I wanted to eat three doughnuts, but was able to restrain myself and only ate one!

More finds!

Kempenfest hadn't officially opened yet but I managed to find two adorable vintage christening gowns! I can sense two bigger bears coming up! I love a well-dressed bear!

Beautiful places to live!

I have two girlfriends whom I am quite envious of, because they live surrounded by the stunning beauty of groomed nature in houses that they own. Since my separation I've become houseless again, (not homeless, I have a lovely big apartment, I could have rented a little house but don't want the stress of outside work), and I consider myself fortunate to have what I do. But gosh, when I see pictures like these; well, I have to admit to having a touch of the green-eyed monster!
The 'barn' is my friend, Lin's studio! The grounds of her land look like a magical fairy park. And she has two horses! But it's a lot of hard work!
Gladys lives on a beach, last week I was there kayaking, and sipping Bailey's on her docked boat until the sun went down! She does a lot of work too!
There's a picture here of part of her garden, and the sunset from her upper deck. Everyone gets to have that, thank goodness! One only needs to step outside wherever they are. :)

With a little help from my friends...

My pal Jeff spent the day with me yesterday! We had burgers at a downtown pub. They actually have peanut butter and jelly burgers! Mine was the 'Cowboy' with peameal bacon, cheddar and barbecue! Very artery clogging!
He showed no fear changing my ceiling light over my dining room. I held it while he did the hammering and carrying on with wires. My new lamp, a $5 garage sale find, looks quite nice! I just have to get some matching bulbs for it! Well done Jeff! Thank you!!!!!

Garage Sale find!

I was a bit late for work today. I had slowed down for a garage sale and spotted a beautiful area rug. My car seemed to take on a mind of it's own as it swerved to a stop at the curb! I jumped out to have a closer look. The rug was hand hooked wool and watched over by a tiny old woman. I said how much do you want for that gorgeous rug, forgetting I was supposed to not appear desperate to have it! How about 8 bucks? I said 'absolutely'! Then I realized I had no cash! I'll be right back! Going to the bank! She promised to watch it. This was 7 am but there were already a lot of garage sale hawks on the hunt! I committed about 9 trafficking violations on the way to and from the bank machine but my carpet is now safely in the back seat of my car! The garage sale goddess was good to me today. I was only five minutes late, after all!
I think my rug will look nice beside my bed!

Gotta love Garage Sales!

Since it was Saturday morning I decided to go garage sailing to look for treasures. I managed to come across three very old pink angora knit cuffs and collars that the home owner had from when she was a little girl, so they might be a little over sixty or so. I thought they would be perfect for a few vintage style bears once I size them. Neat!!!!

Zonked!

I'm so sleepy right now! It feels like my whole body is one big tired ache! Can't wait to hit the sack tonight!
I had a busy day today, went to see my mom and I used some of my new fabric to make a little topper for my livingroom drapes.
The other day I was in Fabricland during their surprise 50% off sale and found a lovely cabbage rose fabric for $4 a meter! I was ecstatic! The clerk told me it was now on sale for $2 a meter! I said 'give me the whole bolt then!'. There ended up being 16 meters on the bolt! Who knew?
But it's okay! Before I was separated from Aaron he never let me have flowered patterns anywhere in the house! So now that it's just me I can go crazy!
I can cover my dining room chairs, make pillows for my bed and toppers for my windows in there too! Wow! It may take me forever but when I'm ready to do all that I'll have my fabric all prepared!

Another hot one!

I worked on a little bear today. I was inspired by some lovely fabric that I picked up yesterday that I think will make a pretty dress. I bought the same fabric in several colors so I might make a panda too!
Here's what else I'm working on, a square of crazy quilting. I go a little 'crazy' with the embellishments!

Happy Saturday!

I went to my brother's 50th birthday lunch today! Wow! 1/2 a century!
Stopped at my favourite antique barn for finding little treasures on my way out. Didn't find anything for the bears but enjoyed trying on hats, eyed some chandeliers for my dining area and then scooped a Double Bubble gum on my way out from a tray so I could practice some serious bubbles in the car on the way home! Took awhile to clean the mess off my face though!
I thought about settling down to work on a bear in my little balcony garden with Wilson (it really is worth paying the extra for Miracle Grow), but then I thought a bike ride might be in order since I ate so much at lunch!
Still the bears patiently wait...

Another Webshow Complete!

Six bears are on their way around the world! I'm posting a pic of the bears sitting in their various boxes just before they began their travels. The pink flying pig at the bottom is on her way to Finland! The pink and cream panda is on her way to Moscow, Russia! Wow! I've also posted a couple of elephants I've made and the two flying pigs I made for the show. Only one was adopted so I will be keeping the other one! Yay!

Another show!

Friday July 13, 2012 to Sunday July 15, 2012 is my next Teddies Worldwide Show at www.teddiesworldwide.com. A little preview can be found below: it's a pic of Twinkles the Flying Pig! She will be available for adoption at the show!

The show promises to be exciting because it's going to be filled with Teddy bears and their friends!! There will be bunnies, and oinkers and elephants and all manner of sweet little critters!!! It's sure to be lots of fun! As usual I am busy busy busy!!

Showtime!

Well the Teddies Online Show starts today at 4 pm EST. I have been eating, breathing and sleeping teddy bears for the past several weeks! (Well, not really eating them! Lol!)
I made it! I'm ready for the show! If you get a chance please stop by and have a look at my bears! There are so many bears to see from 90 bear artists around the world!!! It should be an amazing show!
Www.teddiesworldwide.com
I will be heading out very shortly for the 1/2 price sale at Fabricland! Yahoo!!!

Teddies Worldwide Show Coming Up!

As usual I'm frantic with my show coming up the weekend of March 23-25! Teddy bear parts are strewn everywhere and I'm feeling the tension build as time gets down to the wire. I've been dying fur and jotting ideas down for outfits, rushing out to pick up bits of fabric and ribbons and wrestling with my little cat, Jessie, to get back the spools of thread she seems to steal constantly!
I have four bears complete and would really like to have six more done, but we'll see! Here's a pic of my preview bear:

Finally my birthday bear!

I'm very busy with my upcoming move to the City of Barrie this week but I managed to squeeze in time to make a bear out of the 100 year old mohair I purchased from England a few months ago. I've decided to keep this little bear for myself since he has such a unique history! Goodness knows what he was before; a drapery in a Queen's palace maybe, or a couch sat upon by the likes of John F. Kennedy or Sir Winston Churchill?
I guess I'm just getting a little silly now, either way this little fellow is my new and very special birthday Teddy bear!
He's the rusty little bear on the right:

Another online show...

Well things were a little hectic over the holidays but I think I've regrouped and reorganized and it's all good!
I've just found out I've been accepted to the Teddy Bears online spring Teddy Bears Picnic show the weekend of March 22! So in order not to be overwhelmed, I'm going to start making bears asap as in now!
Just finishing up the Teddy I'm working on using the antique mohair I bought from England. I was recently inspired to complete a bear with it. He will be old-fashioned and wearing glasses!
My personal life is in somewhat of an upheaval and has cut into my creative life but I know things will settle down soon, what else is new?
Not to mention I've recently been rediagnosed with kidney stones, the kind that are too big to move along on their own so I have a bit of trepidation wondering if that's going to lay me up, I sure hope not!
I've had them before, and there were 3 operations in a month and a lot of pain and I'm not looking forward to a repeat! Seeing the specialist next week!
Onto brighter news; I made two bears so far in the new year, both adopted by a lovely longtime collector from the States!
(p.s. I was in Oakville last week and had a lovely visit with my son, Alex, and checked out his new digs!)