Christmas teddy bear artist parade hosted by Ellen Borggreve Designs

Ellen Borggreve will be hosting a parade of artist bears on 23rd December 2008.All the creations are bears that each artist has made and they are their own personal favourite and will each be displayed on Ellens blog page so please take a look at all the wonderful creations.Her blog address is

http://ellen-borggreve-design.typepad.com/

Time flys by

It has been 3 months since I posted on here and time just flys by.There are never enough hours in the day to do what I want to especially when it comes to making my bears.I attended the Norwich bear fair in August and had a great day and then I had a last minute cancellation to attend the prestige bear fair Hugglets in Kensington London with my bears .It was a lovely day out and the collectors are always queueing down the high street by the time the show opens.If you ever have the time to visit you must go as you won't be dissapointed with the fantastic selection of bears that are on offer and the standard of workmanship with all other artists that attend

I have a few new bears that I have finished so I have loaded photos for you to see.George is 4 inches and is still available(he is the one with the scarf ) Wisteria(4 inches) and the elephant(5 inches) have gone to live in the USA with another of my bears and I am sure they will all be happy together.

3 new elephants

I have finally finished the elephants.They are un named as yet-I tend to leave it until last as I find it so hard to choose names.
They are all made with schulte mohair.The red elephant is 9.5 inches,the elephant with flowery ears is 7.5 inches and the last one is 6.5 inches and he is my favourite.Four more bears to go and that will be my lot for the show on 23rd August.I like to do a certain amount of bears and then hopefully finish them with a week to spare so I don't feel pressured.I think I will try and catch up on reading my magazines etc as I am about 4 issues behind at the moment as every spare minute is made making the bears and I am such a slow worker.I would also love to try out the needle felting kit that I had for xmas as the book that came with it hasn't even been looked at yet.Oh for more hours in the day......

Out for the day

I went into Norwich city centre on Sunday.I love to go shopping but never seem to find the time nowadays.Norwich is such a lovely place and the city centre has some lovely old buildings and a nice park to sit down and enjoy after a hard days shopping.The first photo is the Royal Arcade .The second photo shows the tops of Norwich market that has recently been completely revamped and you can also see Norwich castle in the background.The last 3 photos are all taken in Chapelfield Park .There were loads of elephants dotted around the city for children to find and then they were to be auctioned off for charity.The elephant in the park is my favourite and many hours of work must have gone into this.
I have just finished 3 elephants myself and am waiting for decent weather to take photos and then I can put them on my blog.Only 5 weeks to the Norwich bear fair now and I have 11 finished and 5 more to go.I make a lot of smaller bears now so my table will probably still look empty even with that amount.I refuse completely though to do any more than planned so that they are hopefully finished a week before the fair.I don't like the pressure of leaving it all to the last minute as I am not the fastest bear maker and won't compromise quality for the sake of doing just one more!!!

New mini bears

I have just finished 2 mini bears.Boswell is the gold bear and is 4.25 inches and Tiny is pale green and is 4 inches.I haven't made many minis probably only 8 so far but I must say they are quite addictive.They show every little error in your sewing and I find this a challenge in itself as you know that your work has to be perfect or it will show.

I am at the Norwich bear fair at St Andrews hall in Norwich on 23rd August and am busy trying to make bears although I am doing elephants at the moment.I want to make more minis but will wait until after the show as I like to pick up my fabrics,mohair etc at these events.Fabrics can be sent through the post including samples but it is so much nicer to be able to see the mohair and fabric and feel it.The only downside is I want to buy nearly every piece I see and in every colour possible and it is so hard to resist.If I won the lottery I think I would have a room full to the ceiling with mohair......oh well I can dream can't I!!!!

North Yorkshire holidays

I thought it was about time I added a post to my blog as it is 3 months now since the last one.I hoped I could remember my password it has been that long.

The photos are from my holiday in North Yorkshire last week and we had a lovely time and couldn't have asked for nicer weather.We stayed in a log cabin which is surrounded by lovely trees and woods and is a lovely place to walk the dogs.The squirrel in the picture was a cheeky little thing and helped himself to a cookie from the packet that the kids had left outside on the table.He really enjoyed it and sat there until he had finished every little crumb.We love North Yorkshire and go every year as the scenery is so nice and there are so many lovely walks.Pity I didn't have more photos but these are from my sons camera as hubby took his new camera and couldn't wait to try it out but realised when we got there that he had no battery in it and we couldn't get another so ended up going back to the old fashioned way and buying a disposable and having to wait until the photos are developed.Men!!!

I should get stuck into making my bears as I have a show in Norwich on Saturday 23rd August but it is so hard to stay focused as it doesn't take much of an excuse for me to take the dogs for a walk or do anything else apart from what I should be doing at this time of the year.I made the mistake too of having 9 bears on the go 7 of which are minis(I got carried away with them!!).I always swear that I won't do so many at the same time but I do and then I find it so hard to finish them as I am itching to start something else but can't as I know I will never finish the first lot.

I will try not to leave it so long before my next post and maybe the next one will have some previews of my show bears.

Off to the coast

The weather was lovely again today and I never need much of an excuse to go out for the day.We were off to Weybourne today-a lovely place on the north norfolk coast.The dogs and the children all love this walk so we try to go as often as we can.

I love to make bears but as soon as the weather is nicer and the evenings get longer I find it so hard to stay focused.I do most of my bear making in the afternoons after school and in the evenings and when it is dark and miserable outside it is a great profession to have.When I was at school my school reports often used to say that Laurie doesn't even know what page we are on let alone what line and is easily distracted and I don't think I have changed much after all those years!

I managed to keep the children just about still for a group photo.The weather was warm enough for them to have a paddle-not what you normally expect at the start of February.You have to make the most of it as come July/August it will probably be raining and miserable and no good for the beach.

Must get on with my bears as I took 6 to my local shop today as my stocks in his shop are low and it only leaves me with 4 and if this lovely weather keeps up there won't be many more to take with me to the bear fair!!!!

Lovely spring day

Well this is the first post on my blog.I never thought I would get around to having one as there is never enough hours in the day now.
It was such a lovely day today with the sun shining and we decided to take our dogs for a walk along Marriots Way(an old railway line that is now used for walking and is very popular for cycles as it runs for miles providing traffic free cycling -which isn't easy to find nowadays and makes the cycling much more enjoyable).It was lovely weather and no coats were needed and the children enjoyed the walk even though we walked for an hour and a half.My 5 year old never complained once and I think that children can enjoy walking as long as you keep the route interesting.I saw the first few snowdrops for this year that reminds you that spring is on its way.A thoroughly enjoyable day and walking can make you feel so refreshed.Now it is back to the bear making as a my local shop wants more bears and I have to get ready for a bear fair in Ipswich on 6th April and I seem to be forever sewing and I still don't have enough bears.