HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

Happy St Patrick's Day

I haven't got that much news to share with you but so glad spring is here and we have already had some nice sunny days, even if it is still a little chilly it does make you feel better and give you a bit more energy.

I am busy working towards an Easter collection of bears and bunnies but just nipped in this little bear in honour of St Patrick's day, little Bridget is 6" high and one of my anime design bears but I needlefelted her muzzle in white and gave her a nice green and white striped nose, she's a little darling and is looking for a home on my website at the moment
Valewood Bears

If you are celabrating St Patrick's this weekend have a wonderful weekend

Pauline

Hello, hope everyone had a nice Valentine day with plenty of romantic treats.

I don't have a lot of news at the moment, very pleased that all but one of my Valentine Bears found new homes in time for the day, I just have Elspeth left with me now which isn't a bad thing as she was my favorite and it will be nice to look at her for a little while longer.

I also have this new miniature bear finished "Fay" and listed her with Ebay this week, she is only 3 inches high standing, one of my anime design bears, and looks so sweet on the palm of your hand, fingers crossed she gets a nice new home to go to.

Well that's all for today, hope you enjoy the pictures of Elspeth and Fay, see you next time.

Pauline

VALENTINE DAY!

Valentine Collection

Doesn't time fly by quickly, it not long since I was busy with the Christmas bears! With Valentine day approaching soon I thought I would show you my new Hearts and Flowers collection of bears and bunnies Elspeth and Romeo are the two traditional teds at the back, the two bunnies at the front are Rose and Jak and little Yara is the anime style in the middle.... I think she feels like the odd one out, just as well she is now on her way to meet her new Mum. I had a lovely time with the outfits as besides the bears, knitting and crochet are my favorite other hobbies and I think it fits right in with the bears. Elspeth (the girl at the back) and Jak (boy bunny) are still available for adoption from my website.

Pauline x

An Old Favorite

An Old Favorite

Been playing around with my mohair stash this week and found a nice piece of smokey blue suitable for miniatures. I dug out my old favorite, an anime pattern I designed a couple of years back and it was perfect size for this cute little brother and sister. I called them Midge and Molly, both are apprx 3.5" high a bit of a challenge for my fingers and especially the tiny little collar and flower decorations. Very pleased with them and they are listed with Ebay this week, fingers crossed they get a nice new home, the starting bid is very reasonable. Next week I am hoping to have a little Valentine collection to show, all hearts and flowers, hope you will bob back to see them, a couple of my traditional teds in this collection and a bunny or two hopefully. See you next time.

Hugs..... Pauline xx

Happy Days!

Happy Days!

Well it's a few weeks now since the decision to cut out the afternoon job and after a scary "what have I done" mood for a while I have settled into a nice routine and am much happier, I have yet to find out if it's the right choice financially and I may find I have to make slight cut backs in certain things I spend on for now, but I do have a lot more time on my hands to achieve the things I want to do.

Besides more time for bear making I have started back at sewing group in the village where I live, a nice get together treat with like minded people just one day a week and going to start Zumba one evening a week soon to make up for the lack of exersise I am now getting without my daily walks to the bus stop and back, it all adds up doesn't it. Also more time for cooking nice evening dinners instead of grabbing takeaways etc and so am sure we will be a much healthier household than before. Looking forward to the time I can get out into the garden to work a little when the weather gets better so more exersise and perhaps a little sit down in the sunshine with the bear making, will see!

I will leave you with a picture of my first bear of 2012, Lydia, as I now have more time I was able to give her lots of added detail such as an inset muzzle, white eye accents, little eyebrows and a cute little outfit, really enjoyed this one. She is listed with Ebay this week, fingers crossed she gets a nice new family.

See you next time
Pauline xx

Happy New Year!

New Year!

Happy new year! Hope it's a good 2012 for everyone, peaceful, healthy and prosperous.

Well, it is a brand new start for me, moving into the new year as a full-time Bear Artist, I finally gave up my afternoon job which I did alongside of the bears for 4 years just before Christmas. It was only afternoons but I had to make time to get ready for work, travel to work, travel back from work etc amounted to a lot more hours than I liked. Feels a bit funny at the moment but hopefully I will have more time to concentrate on bears. Getting myself motivated into a working routine will be hard at first as I will still feel like I am on holiday for a while. I am sure it will be better and I will have more time to release all the ideas that I have in my head, as the time issue before gave me a lot of frustration.

On the bear front, I have started the year with a January sale on my website of bears and some bear clothes and also I have listed this little miniature elephant Sasha on Ebay. Hope you like her.

Pauline

Catching Up!

Catching Up!


Just catching up on my blog news, not too much to tell really, still pacing myself with the bears as my thumbs do not get much better and never will. I have had Accupuncture sessions on them which have helped just a little and continue with the pain killers. With the bears, instead of just working on one bear at a time I have at least 6 on the go at once so that if I am having difficulty with hand sewing I can change jobs and perhaps do some stuffing for a while or work on faces etc, this does help the pain and the bonus is I usually have a few bears all done at the same time. It is frustrating though as I do love making my bears and hope I can continue. Still doing the afternoon job but have this week off on holiday but instead of going away we are doing some jobs in the house to get ready for putting on the market for sale, this seems to take us forever as when we are tired after work, the last thing we want to do is decorating etc.
Anyway, I will leave you with a picture of Spangle and Razzle who are listed on Ebay this week ..... click here to see auction

Hugs
Pauline xx

A Nice Break

A Nice Break
We had a nice break in Suffolk last week visiting our Daughter. We stayed in a static caravan this time, the site was very relaxing with no facilities like swimming pools or entertainment, the only sounds we could hear besides other people coming and going were the birds and we could sit and look out at lots of rabbits hopping around but we usually stay in hotels and after a couple of days it sank in that we were not getting room service whilst we were out and so thought we had better start cleaning up a bit.

I have a bear fair looming in a couple of weeks so had to take some bears to sew up so it was just as well there was no entertainment on site, despite a few days out in the shopping malls and a few meals out in the evenings, I got quite a lot done and now just need to accessorize the bears ready to take to the show.

We would think about staying there again, we came home feeling a lot fitter than we usually do as we didn't seem to over eat like we do in hotels as really it was just like being at home, also our Daughter is a Dance Teacher and I joined in some of the early evening classes, besides all the kids classes, she runs 2 Zumba classes and 2 tap dancing classes for adults, I really enjoyed the Zumba.... hadn't tried it before and thinking of finding a class near home now to keep it up.

I haven't any holiday pictures from Suffolk to show as I didn't take any because we have been so many times to the area now but I will leave you with a picture of Chip, a miniature 3.5 inch commission bear just finished for a lovely lady.

Take care
Pauline

Machine's Galore

Machines Galore

I just thought I would introduce my latest baby, who is taking a lot of my time up at the moment, it's a Singer 99K, really old but working beautifully, I have developed a real obsession with buying sewing machines of late, there are now 5 living with me and I don't have the room. I now have a Singer 201K (also vintage), an Elna Club Computer, a Bernina Virtuosa and a Bernette (the baby Bernina), now this new Singer 99K, I don't need all these machines and this will have to stop I know but I do have my eye on an old vintage Bernina (just like the one I used at school years ago) and I think I may now have to use the "one out, one in" method and part with one before getting this new Bernina so that I stick with 5 and no more! It is interesting just how different they all are. I should be making bears as I have a fair looming in 3 weeks time but I am playing at making curtains/cushions, taking up new jeans, making boot cut jeans into straight leg jeans etc. and enjoying seeing what the different feet will do. However, I do have some new bears finished and just waiting for their accessories.. must put the machine away for a while soon and finish the bears. Will show some pictures in just over a week's time hopefully.

Have a happy week
Pauline