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!