Off Again

It seems that I have only just come home from NSW and I'm off again. This time I'm heading to Melbourne to teach two workshops at http://www.bearessence.com.au/. The Newcastle and Castle Hill workshops went well and I sold quite a few bears too, so I'm pretty happy with my recent trip. The weather in NSW was very hot while I was there, with temperatures climbing into the high 30's in Western Sydney (where I was). This poor little Tassie girl really felt it.............thankyou, thankyou, thankyou to the inventor of air conditioning!

I taught a one day, head only, class in Newcastle and I was really pleased with how it went. It was a very busy day and I completely forgot to take any photos, which is a shame as the bears were all looking fabulous at the end of the day. This was a new venue for me with a couple of familiar but mostly new faces. Jeanette has a great set up, with her craft room occupying the original dwelling on the property which is a very well appointed space for workshops Anyway, they must have enjoyed the class as I've been asked back for a two day workshop, which will probably be in March.

The two day workshop in Castle Hill was Kiko, which is a bear packed full of new techniques and kept the girls busy. All of them were very happy with their achievements at the end of the class. When I got home to Tasmania it seemed that winter had revisited, with a cold Southerly blowing and a dreary few days.

On Tuesday, a package arrived all the way from Sweden and inside was this gorgeous tree ornament made for me by Ann-Marie Dodd (http://www.bearmetoo.se/) as part of the Teddy Talk Christmas ornament swap. Ann-Marie is so organised! I'm yet to start mine.........I'd better get cracking as it has a long journey to make :) This fellow has an amazing needle felted face with the typical "goofy" look of Ann-Marie's bears, I'm so lucky to have received it, and I'm looking forward to hanging it on the tree. I was actually thinking of giving the tree a miss this year, since neither of the children will be here, but I guess I'll have to change my mind about that :)

I'm on the very early morning flight to Melbourne tomorrow, ready for a busy four days of teaching and catching up with some beary friends.........I'll be sure to get pics.........

Am I Really?

Sandi Smith (bearlysaneaust.blogspot.com) and Helen Gleeson (barecubdesigns.blogspot.com) have both passed on this blog award to me. Now I'm not too sure if I deserve it, am I really "over the top"? But it looks like a little bit of fun while I'm digesting breakfast :) The trick will be restricting myself to one word answers, though I suppose it will curb any tendancies to verbosity!
The Rules:
1: Use only one word answers
2: Pass along to 6 of your favourite bloggers
3: Tell them you have given them the award
4: Have Fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? Here
2. Your hair? Messy
3.Your mother? Clever
4. Your father? Clever
5. Your favorite food? Curry
6. Your dream last night? Something
7. Your favorite drink? Wine
8. Your dream/goal? Peace
9. What room are you in? Lounge
10. Your hobby? Hmmmmmm
11. Your fear? Warming
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Somewhere
13. Where were you last night? Bed
14. Something that you aren’t? Ostentatious
15. Muffins? Fruity
16. Wish list item? Housecleaner
17. Where did you grow up? Tasmania
18. Last thing you did? Eat
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV? Off
21. Your pets? Sweet
22. Friends? Caring
23. Your life? Comfortable
24. Your mood? Mixed
25. Missing someone? Ralph
26. Vehicle? Dead
27. Something you’re not wearing? Bra
28. Your favorite store? Homewares
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? Lastnight
31. Last time you cried? Recently
32. Your best friend? Chris
33. One place that I go to over and over? Town
34. One person who emails me regularly? Ruth
35. Favorite place to eat? Home
I am presenting my award/tags to:

http://www.bearsintooradin.blogspot.com/

http://www.lesbears.blogspot.com/

http://www.robynroe.blogspot.com

http://www.thislittlebear.blogspot.com/

http://www.susiemcmahondolls.blogspot.com/

http://www.alena-eliseeva.blogspot.com/

Mmmmmm that was harder than it first appeared to be!

"Lindsey"

Look who Chris brought home from the P.O after work yesterday! This is Lindsey who was made by Sandi Smith from http://www.bearlysaneteddies.com/ for our TBACA Christmas swap. He's a sweet little alpaca bear with the cutest handpainted sleigh, he'll fit very nicely into my hug of small bears. It's pure coincidence that we both made cream coloured bears and dressed them alike in green felt! Perhaps Sandi and I share some deeper connection which caused us to be on a similar wave length when we were creating these bears. Whatever it is, I'm extremely pleased to add Lindsey to my collection, thank you so much Sandi :) A new album has been created on the TBACA website and this is where the swap bears will be displayed as they come in, you might like to have a peep at them (just click on available bears in the navigation bar at the top of the TBACA page and you'll find it)

I have a couple of pleasing new designs to take with me when I fly to Sydney on Friday. I have a one day workshop in Newcastle on Saturday, the Mittagong Doll and Bear Fair on Sunday and then a two day workshop in Castle Hill on Monday and Tuesday. So a busy few days are ahead for me. This is the last show of the year, after which I will be able to catch up with a few orders before Christmas, which will be a good thing!

I really must find some time in the next few weeks to reorganise my work space and materials, I seem to have spread myself from one end of the house to the other. I find this disorganised state of things very frustrating and wasteful of time, especially when a particular something I need eludes me. I do seem to spend an awful lot of my time rummaging through "stuff"!

We've been having some very warm weather here in Tasmania, the garden is going gangbusters as are the weeds and I suspect there will be rather a lot to catch up on in the garden when I get back from Sydney. With this warm weather the snakes are on the move too, so I will have to keep an eye on Lily while we're out on our walks.

"Mr. Wonderful"

Sandi emailed me this afternoon after the days postal delivery, and she is delighted with the bear I sent her for the TBACA Christmas swap. I haven't named him yet so Sandi has nicknamed him Mr Wonderful! (Which I think is a pretty good name so perhaps he'll keep it) Here he is in all his "Christmasness" :)

I don't usually dress bears so this is a bit of a departure for me, but I wanted him to have a distinctively festive air. His costume is made from Christmassy green, wool felt with a red cotton trim which has a cute starry print and red star shaped buttons. Mr Wonderful has a matching Christmas stocking which is embroidered with Sandi's name and in the stocking is a mini bear. I think tomorrow will be delivery day for Sandi's bear to me.......I can't wait!

Today was a gorgeous Spring day, and I spent some time in the late afternoon down at the lakeside with Lily. I could have stayed longer but chores were calling me home. I watched a family of black swans out on the water, the cygnets are about half grown and still grey. They were a lovely sight but they moved farther out onto lake when they saw us, rather cautious of Lily's water antics. She was having a heap of fun with a stick, pushing it around in the water with her nose while blowing bubbles! So funny! Lily loves the water and even in the middle of winter she'll jump in after a ball or stick! (Brrrrrr)

Aaah At Last!

I popped into my sister's Blog yesterday eager to know if I had won her 100th post give away......no such luck :(

But here's the news, Susie now has a website at long last. So if you're interested in seeing some amazing dolls and figurative sculpture, you should go and check it out. You should get there by clicking on the image above.

Today I'll be sending my Christmas swap bear off to Sandi, so when I know she has him I'll put his photo up so you can see him. Sandi has created a new album on the TBACA website where we will be able to showcase all the swaps as they are completed.

In a little over a week I'm flying out again. This time I'm off to NSW for a show and also a couple of workshops and I'll also be receiving the trophies from Sandra Wigzell for the ABC awards won by Kumo. I also have to take some good prints of Kumo with me so that Maureen Christie, http://www.christieart.com.au/, can paint his portrait, another part of my prize. I'm interested to see what Maureen does with Kumo's portrait, as I've only seen traditional bears painted by her.

We are finally having some beautiful Spring weather. The apple blossom has almost finished, we have the small beginnings of a vegetable garden, and we have been gorging on asparagus! I did some more weeding over the weekend and actually caught a little too much sun on my shoulders.

Greetings for now from sunny Tasmania :)

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny

I have been making miniatures for the last couple of days, some traditional teddies for a change. I can tell you that embroidering their noses was a real challenge for me, since it is quite some time since I've done one.

Ever since I worked out how to put a realistic leather nose onto a bear's snout, I rarely do embroidered ones and I guess I've lost the knack, being somewhat out of practice. These little fellows are just 2 1/4" tall and fully pin and disc jointed. I've really enjoyed making them, apart from their noses that is (one of which had to be unpicked and resewn it looked so bad!)

It is surprising that I can manage to get my big hands to work these tiny bears and at times I do find them frustrating in the extreme, but I always get a thrill when one is completed. I rather like them without any ribbons or frills, I sometimes feel that miniaturists over accessorise and the poor wee bears become overwhelmed by all the bits that have been added to them. But then, apart from very early on when I dressed my bears in little hand smocked dresses and the like, I have always preferred to leave my bears bare.

I have also completed a bear for Sandi Smith who is my partner in the TBACA Christmas swap. This one was quite a departure for me and it even elicited a very positive response from Chris, who doesn't often comment on my bears. I won't show it to you until I know Sandi has him, as I don't want to spoil her surprise. We will be having a showcase of the Christmas swaps on the TBACA website a little later on, too. I've never made a specifically "Christmas" bear before and until I made a start on him I had so many different ideas I didn't know what I was going to do. In the end I just pottered on with it until a rather charming and very "Christmassy" fellow resulted, I just hope Sandi feels the same about him :)

Featured Artist

This month yours truly is the featured artist on the TBACA website. So, if you're a little curious and would like a little insight into what makes this ol' girl's mind tick, pop over to http://www.teddybearsandcritters.com and click on the link in the navigation bar at the top of the page. It's amazing, really, trying to write about yourself. Even with a set of questions as a guide, I found it quite difficult. I think Blogging has made things a little easier, it has helped me to sort my thoughts and to restrain my waffle. I know how I feel about things but I find it hard to write my thoughts, and there is always the nagging feeling........ "who wants to know anyway"!

Here are a couple of photos taken at the workshop in Somerset, I'm deep in coversation with Susan's five month old Spaniel, Harry. He's such a lovely little fellow with the most amazing eyes, which are almost green! He was alot of fun to have around, though he did prove to be a distraction, particularly for those of us who have an overwhelming love of dogs, which I must say were the majority of those in the room! :)

The current issue of Australian Bear Creations magazine has a nice little article on bear artists' pandas, and my panda Yi Min is featured along with some other great pandas. The article is also a bit of a tribute to Pauline Wong (Wee Paws) who lost her battle against cancer a while back. Pauline was a master at creating beautiful little pandas and I'm lucky enough to own one of her gorgeous little masterpieces, a very treasured member of my small collection of little bears. That's it folks, I have to go get sewing as I have a show to go to in three weeks.

At Work Again, And An Anniversary

At last I have started working on my bears again, the new glasses are stronger than my last ones so this means my eyes have got older :0( But at least I can now see the eyes in my tiny needles for threading!

Yesterday marked the 26th anniversary of our marriage.....WOW! I'm amazed that we even remembered, actually. Usually November rolls around and we look at each other and remark that we've missed it again! Last year was something special and Chris surprised me with a weekend away. We went to Bruny Island, right down at the Southern tip of Tasmania. We had a night in a lovely cabin with sweeping views overlooking the Channel and the next day we had a thrilling boat ride heading south and around the bottom of Bruny...... with nothing between us and Antarctica! Our special weekend was completed when we were priviledged with some whale sightings! These two were heading to Antarctica for the Summer. It was such athrill for me to see them, it has been a long held wish of mine.

I'm working on bears for my next show which will be held in Mittagong, NSW on Sunday 15th November. I will also be teaching two workshops while I'm in NSW, one in Newcastle and the other at Teddy's Bits in Castle Hill.

I also have to get on with a special little bear for Sandi, who is my partner in the TBACA Christmas swap. I'm mulling over a few ideas at the moment, but I'll have to get cracking if I'm going to have it ready for the November 1st mailing day! There's going to be a Christmas party on the TBACA website, so everyone can see all the swap bears/critters, so stay tuned. I can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner, the year has flown past in a flash!

Spring Gardening

Since I can't get much sewing done until my new glasses are ready, I've been spending time in the garden. I have weeded under some of the apple trees with bees buzzing in the blossom above. I'm so glad that I haven't missed the apple blossom, it's so pretty and has a beautiful delicate scent. I discovered that while I was away the chives had started into growth and are actually quite large, I found, once all the weeds were removed! Spring has definitely sprung but it is off to a rather cool beginning, we've been in southerly airstream and with not much between us and Antarctica the air has been pretty cold. Out of the wind and in a sheltered spot however, you can feel the warmth in the sun (when it shines).

I'm finding it very frustrating without my glasses, I'd love to be getting on with some bearworks! I have brought back some fabulous fabrics and leather from http://www.bearbasics.co.uk/ and I'm itching to get into them. All I can do is look at them and drool, while imagining the bears that will emerge. I have been drawing, my old glasses are ok for that, and the optometrist has put a priority on my new ones so hopefully the wait won't be too long.

When the weather warms up some more I'll be getting into some more mud larks, making progress on the house. I'm feeling that we should make a big impression on the project this year it's clearer in our heads what needs doing, so there should be less standing around staring up at walls trying to figure things out. In fact I can't wait to start again, the winter hiatus has left me with a severe itch to get going! Despite it's frustrations, building is another enjoyable aspect of life out here and though it sometimes feels as though we will never finish, it gives me a great sense of achievement. Slowly but surely our home is emerging and sooner or later it will no longer be a building site :) The photo shows the mix of mud and straw which is packed in between the timbers of the house to make the walls. It dries to become very solid and once plastered and rendered is a very eco friendly and insulating wall system. This is a very old building technique and there are samples that have stood the test of time and have been lived in continuously for centuries.

ABC Awards Winner

That's right! Kumo has been voted the winner in the people's choice and has won the editor's choice in the Australian Bear Creations Awards for 2009. I'm so honoured and wish to thank all those who took the trouble to vote, not only for Kumo but for all the bears in the competition. Thanks also to Australian Bear Creations magazine for hosting the awards.