I'm Back .....

Sorry, it's been a bit of a long gap between posts :)  

 I have been sewing for the Lawnton Doll and Bear Show which is on tomorrow in Lawnton, Brisbane and also for the Teddy Bears Tea Party which is getting closer by the day.

I have a trading table there so I thought I would fill it lol....

This girl is coming with me - she is made from a lovely Kurl mohair in "Sunshine" yellow, she has a felted face and paws and hand painted blue eyes. She is wearing a gorgeous vintage cotton and lace Christening dress from around 1890.

This is Griz again from a previous post ..... now he has a knitted hat - made from a gorgeous thick and thin wool from a corriedale sheep.  I'm still not all that great at knitting but I am really enjoying making little things for the bears.  It's nice to knit something I don't need a pattern for :)

This is a pj girl made from hand dyed mohair from a previous post ( I have to figure out how to do those little links that take you right to the previous post)  As soon as I finish this post I am going to make her a hot water bottle to take to bed ;)



  
Last preview for this post is this little hand dyed orange alpaca girl - she had been finished and photographed before but I just wasn't happy with her. So, this morning a got her out again and reshaded her and made her a new flower wreath and now I like her so much better  !!!

I also sent a bear up for the competition... I got a call on Wednesday from the lovely lady organising the competition to tell me that my poor bear has had four claws broken off in the mail .... AAARRGH. 
 I suspected there might be trouble when the Aust Post guy tossed my parcel into the tray - I'm going back to posting at my local PO from now on.
  I guess I will be resewing a full set of claws when I get her home as I don't have any more matching ones :(

Mum is coming to the show to help me tomorrow, so I'll be able to get away from the table and take some photos of all the tables and bears. Fingers crossed I'll be back tomorrow night to upload them all :)

Grizzly Progress and still more rain ...

I couldn't resist adding a few more rain photos from last week.  I love this photo - normally this is just a little hill and fence post boundary, with all the rainwater it looks like an exotic waterfall you have to walk through a National Park to see :)  Of course, it was gone as soon as the rain stopped !

This is Angus knee boarding on the front lawn, not as sunny as the beach but no sand getting up your shorts either :)

On my work bench this week (also known as the bed.... I have to sit crosslegged on the bed to do most of my sewing) is Grizz who will be coming with me to the Lawnton Show - AKA the Northside Doll and Bear Show on the 19th of February.
He is coming along - his eyes are not set yet and his back seams still need closing but at least he is looking like a bear now not a pile of disarticulated limbs *grins*

For some reason this photo keeps loading sideways ....grrrr , it has a mind of it's own. I will have to work that out and try again later. 

I had a marathon cutting out session last night and this morning at 3am I worked out my theme for the Teddys Tea Party .... I am dying to tell someone and show my bears that I have in various stages of assembly.  

I've only just started blogging and now I want to show everybody everything !! 

As a final thing, and because I desperately want to post another photo that isn't sideways :) here is another bear coming to Lawnton with me..... 

Rain, rain, GO away !!!

OK, I've had enough rain now and I would really like to see the sun again.

We are on tank water (5000 gallon tank with no mains supply)  and I was worried we were going to  run out of water last weekend. We had a little rain last week which was enough to give us a bit of breathing space before we had any water brought in...... now we have had two days of heavy rain and we have an over flowing tank.

It's lovely having the extra water.... but now I am done - STOP RAINING :)

This is our front lawn which is usually just grass, no water. Though Angus was having fun out there today on his skim board across the water.

This is the view of our dam looking out one of the bedroom windows. The dam has been empty for about a month as it leaks and this time two days ago you couldn't even see the water !

Here is the driveway, normally dry for driving :) and last but not least, is looking towards the shed and that little creek you can see is a little drain hollow.

Of course, the rainy weather is wonderful for bear making. I got lots of felting done and am just about to start putting some bears together. As soon as I work out what bears are coming with me to Lawnton Show in February and which are for the Teddy Tea Party. I will post some photos.

The Teddy Tea Party Bears have to stay hidden until the preview and show dates but  I can't wait to post some photos of the Lawnton Show bears !

Dyeing and other things :)

This week  I have been doing lots of dyeing ready to make some new bears for the Teddy Bear tea Party.
All the mohair above has been dyed with Kool Aid which smells good enough to eat.  The colours are super bright and will make some lovely vibrant bears.

The pink above is showing pastel on my computer screen but in real life it is "quite" bright :)

This mohair has been dyed with a commercial dye in shades of pink and lavender. I love the lavender and I can't wait to cut into it !!  Unfortunately it is still wet so I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow.

As well as dyeing, I have been busy felting my competition bear face and feet. He is coming along nicely but the Lawnton show is coming up quickly (19th February).  As soon as the show is over , I'll post his pics.

I have also finished the black bears and the grizzlies feet. they are felted, shaded and have claws. The faces are just about done too and I will start putting them together on Sunday.

Just as something different, we had a visitor in our orange tree, who then moved into the figs where this photo was taken.  The photo is a little dark but he is a brown tree snake and he was moving pretty quickly up the tree.  Later in the day my youngest son Angus spotted him in another tree near our back door.

We could tell he was the same snake as he had a row of bulges in his body that made him look like he had eaten big marbles, so I guess he found a nest of eggs somewhere in the trees.

It was Angus who spotted him both times and the poor kid doesn't even like snakes very much !!

Personally, I would rather snakes than spiders.......

Teddy Bears Tea Party

WHOO HOOO..I have been accepted as an artist for the Teddy Bears Tea Party held by Teddies Worldwide.

This will be the first time I have participated in any sort of online show and what could be better than a (tea) party

There will be 100 bear artists, all with at least 5 items up to a max of 10, that have never been up for sale before or shown anywhere else.

I am planning on having the full 10 new bears up for sale but I'll see how fast I can sew :)

For more info - click on the link on the side bar and it will take you straight to the website.

I'm so excited !!!

Shes Got Legs.......

and arms.....and more legs etc, etc, etc

The last few days I have been felting all the paws and feet for the bears from my last post and at 4 per bear, it feels like I have been poking a lot of wool with a needle :)

I have completed the feet and paws for the brown grizzly, the black bear and a new pink and white bear. Tomorrow is going to be shading and closing the stuffing openings on all those legs.

I also got most of the face of the new pink and white bear finished.



I'm really looking forward to getting these bears put together as I am dying to see what they are going to look like :)

On the knitting side, I haven't done anything.....except buy some more wool.... I have to learn to knit faster !!!

Work In Progress

Today was WIP day...

I currently have 6 bears on the go and consequently nothing seems to be happening fast :)  I spent today fiddling around with most of them in between doing housework and washing ... so I thought I would show you.

This first bear in the photo below is a new design for me - which I jumped straight into the mohair with. His face and feet are roughly felted but the poor bear has no eyes and his ears are only pinned on.  Eventually (I hope) he will be a realistic "ish" bear with a double neck joint.

WIP 2 is a black realistic bear in a design I have done before. Another double neck joint here .... maybe I have a bit of a theme going :) Again, poor bear is still blind and deaf but by this time tomorrow he should be able to see and hear everything.

WIP 3 is a character bear, who at the moment can't hear see or smell :) I hand dyed the mohair a while back and it just looked girly :) WIP 4 is similar to this girl but in a lovely bright yellow.

WIP 5 is a bear who will be going off to the first competition/show of the year.  I am rather proud that I have started him already as I am usually running late and the bear is only started in the week before and most work is done on the night before they get posted off :) So far I have only stitched him up but the mohair has been so lovely to work with I have enjoyed the whole thing.

WIP 6 had nothing done at all, poor fellow just sat in pieces in his ziplock bag and didn't even get to be part of the photo shoot. He is a biggish traditional bear in a sparse mohair with no needlefelting.

I think tomorrow I'll have to pick one and stick with it.... so I have something to show for a days bearmaking :)