Happy Halloween

It has been nearly two months since my last post.... how time flies.

I had a great day at Hugglets with lots of interest in my bears and was very happy with the sales I made too.

It is half term this week for the schools so we have taken the opportunity to go out on some lovely walks as the weather has been so lovely.The photos were taken at Blickling park and it is a beautiful place with a lovely hall and some wonderful grounds to walk in.The changing shades of Autumn were a delight to see and I really enjoyed the walk.You can just spot one of my dogs running around in the photo...he doesn't keep still long enough to get a photo of him!!I am off to do some sewing now as I have a bear commission and I won't get finished if I sit on the computer all night.

Bears for Hugglets

I have just three bears to finish for Hugglets which is on Sunday 13th September in Kensington London.They have a website if you would like to find more details www.hugglets.co.uk

I thought that I would show you three of the 21 bears that I plan to take with me.I do love to make these old tatty looking bears and these are always the hardest to part with...I think that they just tug at your heartstrings.I was hoping to be all finished by now but summertime and children called so we have been out on our bikes a lot this holiday and I have really enjoyed it.The bear making does tend to take a back seat this time of the year but I would rather be out and about enjoying the light evenings and nice weather.There is plenty of time for bearmaking in the winter when there is not a lot to do when it is dark at 4pm.Well back to the bear making otherwise I will never be ready and half the bears are unnamed yet too.I always leave that until last unless on the odd occasion a name just comes straight to me as I am making the bear.It is so much easier that way!

Hols down south

I have been a bit lazy with my blog recently but here are a few photos of my holiday down south to the New Forest and the Isle of Wight.We went camping this time and lucky for us the weather was pretty good which makes all

the difference when you are out in all the elements.The photos are of the New Forest ponies which are everywhere and lovely to see.There is a photo of Corfe Castle which was a lovely place to visit and also of the Needles on the Isle Of Wight.It was the first time that I have been down that way and it was lovely.The colour of the sea is a beautiful shade of blue and I could just sit there watching it all day.We had a lovely week and it was just nice to chill out and spend all day doing what you want to.I would love to go back there again next year but for now I am back to sewing as I am trying to get enough bears together for the Hugglets show in Kensington London on Sunday September 13th.I will try and post a show preview nearer the time.

Out and about around Norwich

The weather was lovely last weekend so we decided to take a stroll around the centre of Norwich.I love the city as I grew up very close to the centre of Norwich and could walk to the city within 20 minutes.We walked around the cathedral which I always find so serenly peaceful and we also walked past Pulls Ferry which is an old building in Norwich that is still lived in today and finally over the bridge and back to the car.It is so refreshing to have a lovely walk when the weather is so nice.

I am constantly sewing bears but never seem to have anything to show for it.I am just finishing off a swap bear with a lovely lady in the USA and I am now starting on 7 bears for a local shop so that will keep me busy for a while.I have submitted photos of my bears to the Teddy Bear Times and Collect It magazine as they both have Hugglets previews.This show is in Kensington London on September 13th and is the only show I am attending for the rest of this year.I have a few bears put away for the show but by the time I finish the shop order time will soon be ticking on to get the rest of the bears finished for the show.Why does the summer fly by so fast yet winter seems to drag on.Today is the longest day and the nights will slowly pull in and it seems too early as at this time of the year we are still waiting for summer to properly arrive.

A day at the beach

It was such a lovely day Sunday that we decided to go to the beach.The sky was a lovely shade of blue with no clouds in sight.The boys had fun playing on the beach and paddling in the sea...lucky I took a spare set of clothes for them all as they needed them.

I am slacking a bit on my blog at the moment as you don't realise how long it is since you last posted as time flies by so quickly.I am busy with my bears at the moment as I am trying to get ahead of myself with my stock so I can then have a bit of fun trying out the new things that I keep wanting to do and never seem to have the time for.At least I won't feel so guilty about spending time on new things if I have some bears already made.It always seems that if I slacken off a bit that is when I make sales and then have to work hard trying to catch myself up.I took 4 of my minis to a local seaside bear shop last month and thought that they would keep them going for a little while but the shop owner rang me up 4 days later and told me she only had one bear left and by the time I took a few more in the last mini had gone.It gives you the boost to keep making the bears knowing that you have sales although I like to have a happy medium of not having loads of bears in stock but not running out either.I am only making minis at the moment and I love it.

My siamese was being his usual helpful self this afternoon and was continually trying to take my pins and ears of my bears.He was even trying to bite my cotton reels and my scissors!!If that didn't grab my attention he kept trying to bite my arm and play.He knows I am easily distracted and can't resist his charms.Well back to work as I have a bear to stuff.

Out for a walk

We have had such lovely spring weather recently we decided to go for a walk today with the dogs and some of the kids!!The youngest two had their bikes as it easier for them when we go on a longer walk.It is a lovely time of the year to go for a walk as all the birds are singing and the spring flowers are out-we saw plenty of daffodils on the way round.We took the children on the park on the way home and that finished off a lovely day.

Well onto the bears and there is not a lot of bearmaking going on at the minute as I am just steadily plodding along.I am attending the hugglets show in kensington september 13th and possibly a show in norwich in August so there is plenty of time for that although as it gets nearer the time I will start panicking that I won't have enough bears and that will be when I get into sewing mode.It is the best thing to keep you focused when you have something to work towards.I will be placing an advert in the teddy bear times which will also include a hugglets preview on my bears and am now trying to get a couple of bears ready for the deadline so I have some fresh work for the showcase.The advert will be in issue 183 aug/sep issue and will be for sale on july 20th.

I am off to bed now as it is 12.45am in the uk.

Two new mini rabbits and a mini elephant

I have been quite busy making my new creations and these rabbits are the first that I have created.They were supposed to be bears but they just looked more like rabbits so here they are.Hoppity is the green rabbit and Hippity is the blue rabbit and they are both 4.25 inches.Trunky is 5 inches high.I want to have a go at making a mini cat next so you will have to watch this space.It is frustrating trying out new things until you are happy with what you have set out to do but it gives you great variety when you finally get the results that you want.

Life has been busy over the last few weeks and nothing ever goes to plan but you tend to get used to it.We have had some lovely sunny weather over here in the last few weeks and it finally seems that spring is here.I enjoy taking the dogs over the woods every day when the weather is like this.I have always been an outdoor person and don't need a lot of excuse to get outside although I am afraid I am not a great gardener.To me gardening is just like housework but you do it outside.I would rather go and muck a horses stable out than go and dig over a garden.I think if I had the right size and type garden I would be more interested and would love to be able to grow my own veggies and have loads of fruit bushes or plants.Maybe one day I will then I will be able to call myself a gardener and know the difference between a weed and a flower!!!!

A visit to London including hugglets(part 2)

All these lovely photos were taken in Kensington gardens.
The next hugglets show is on sunday September 13th and I have been invited to attend with my bears so will be inside the show all day.I have been given stand 97a in hall 3 which is in the basement.

I had a lovely day out and tired myself out with all the walking and I was in bed by 11pm that night-that is 2 hours early for me!!!!

A visit to London including hugglets(part 1)

We travelled by coach to London t

o visit the prestigious teddy bear fair called hugglets on Sunday and I went into the show for 3 hours whilst hubby wandered around London for most of the time taking photos.There were some gorgeous bears at the show but I went for supplies and just had to make do with window shopping.It is so easy to feel overwhelmed by the choice of bears and even 3 hours to wander around the show isn't enough but we had to catch the coach by 3 0'clock so I had no choice but to leave early.London has plenty of lovely sights to see but you need much more than a day to take it all in.The first and last photo is of Kensington Palace and gardens where Princess Diana lived and the second photo is of the Royal Albert Hall and the fourth is inside the hugglets bear fair.I have added another post for you to see more photos of the Kensington Palace gardens.

Sunday stroll

I decided to go for a walk today as even though I take the dogs out everyday to the woods opposite our house we haven't really been much further afield all winter either because of the weather or the kids have been ill or we have.It was a murky old day but it doesn't bother me as long as it is not raining.We walked along Marriots way and around Costessey(which is pronounced Cossey).It is only about 3 miles from our house and the walk included Marriots Way which is a disused railway line which ceased to be used in the early 80's.You can see the amount of water in the horses field and that has gone down a lot since I went past there Friday.The third photo is Costessey Mill and the fourth photo is the view from the bridge on Marriots way at Drayton-you can see the flooding on the left side of the river..We are lucky to live on the North Norfolk side of the city so there are loads of lovely walks around this way.I much prefer to walk in the cooler months as it is easier to warm yourself up than try to cool down on a hot day.Hopefully the weather will start improving soon so we will be able to go out more often.It is surprising though that you have all this lovely countryside yet the amount of people that you see walking you can usually count on one hand.I love to go for a walk and will soon abandon the bear making when there is a chance of going out somewhere.It is easy to stay focused making bears in the winter when it is dark early but when the weather improves I'm off!!!!

My two horses

I thought that I would show you some photos of my horses.The one with me is a highland and the little black and white one is a shetland.I have had them both since they were a year old which is quite a few years now.The highlands mum came from a wild herd in the outer hebrides and when the owner went up the field they found a foal that they didn't even realise the mare was carrying.It can be quite hard work looking after horses and they have to be mucked out every day.The shetland is stabled all the time as she suffers from laminitis which is a condition that can be caused by different things although the main culprit is not being able to tolerate too much grass.They end up with very painful feet because of it.She goes out for a little while with a muzzle on so she can't get to the grass but she is very crafty and will rub against the wheelbarrow and try to rub it off so whilst you think she is wandering around the paddock you then realise her muzzle is laying on the floor and she is helping herself to the grass that she is not supposed to have.When she was allowed out in the field she always thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and would try to get out.She has been caught pulling the clips out of the fence (that hold the wire onto the posts ) then once she has done that she then lifts up the wire and goes underneath the fence.She also used to pull up the plastic electric fencing posts with her teeth.I would often go to get her in from the field and she was in the wrong one.

I would love to get back into horse riding as I used to love riding.I saw a lovely place to ride not so long back but when I checked out the price it was £45 an hour.I think I should start saving now!!!

busy,busy,busy

I must apologise for not participating in all the blog awards and tagging on my blog but I received far too many requests all in one go including some by e mail so thought it fair that I would not participate in any so not to upset anyone.I have just been too busy lately.There is an endless round of doctors and dentists appointments ,helping at playschools etc and just not enough hours in the day.I usually make my bears in the afternoons and evenings and have been really slack this past week.First the washing machine broke last week so it had to be replaced and then we had a phonecall to say our new settees were ready to be collected-not too good timing moneywise.Then to top it all off my cooker blew up this week and we had to spend £400 on a new one.I hope nothing else happens as I want to go to hugglets in a few weeks and

will want some money to spend on materials.

I have posted a photo of 2 of my cats.The left one is a balinese and the right one is a siamese.The siamese is 1.5 years old but if you want a nice quiet cat don't have one of these.He is a super little cat but has he got energy.He tears around the house including racing down the stairs and whizzing across the living room at great speed and then takes a flying leap out of the living room window where he can safely go outside in an enclosed area.He is such a fun cat and loves to play although all the other cats find him a bit too lively.You know when he is hungry because he starts to chew on any plastic he can find so its like having young children about where you have to keep things out of his way.

Well it is time for me to go as it is nearly 1am.Trouble is the later I go to bed the harder I find it to go to sleep.

New bears for 2009

I am trying my hardest to keep my blog more up to date but it seems the longer I have been making bears the more sites I sign up to and I just forget how many different things I have on the go including my blog.There are passwords for this and passwords for that and I am sure I wrote them all down somewhere but I have this bad habit of putting important things away in a safe place so that they don't get lost or to stop the children finding and moving them but when it comes to finding them I can't remember where my safe hiding place was!!!

Anyway onto my latest bears.There are two new minis just over 4 inches and two bears in a new design that are both around 11 inches.I am still finding that I really am loving the minis at the moment and am now making two bears around 3.5 inches and they will be the smallest I have done.I just love making them even though they are so frustrating as it can be such a challenge trying to make something so small.It is not sewing the small bears that bother me it is trying to make a bear that small with a face that I like and there have been a few that end up in the bin.I am cruel I know but it has to be done as I will not make a bear just for the sake of it if the face is not up to scratch.I hope you like my new bears and they can be seen on my website www.laurieloubears.com

My gorgeous puddle from Wendy

I am a bit slow posting this but as xmas is over and I am now getting over this flu bug I thought it was about time I posted my lovely swap that I done with Wendy from Matilda-Huggington beare in Australia .We each received our swaps before xmas with my elephant taking 5 days longer to arrive even though we posted the same day.I was starting to worry in case he had got lost.Well anyway my Merry Sparkle puddle is gorgeous and I love him.He is so well made and I love everything about him.He has inspired me to have a go at needlefelting as I bought myself a kit just after xmas last year and I am ashamed to say that it is still in its box.I really want to have a go at the needlefelting and hopefully I will have made something by the time I next post even even if I just needlefelt the feet and paws on a bear that I finished not long ago.I don't want the bear sitting there until next xmas do I

because the kit is STILL in its box!!!!