Happy Valentines Day everyone!

New bear!

I have one bear left from the show in Chester, Vt! I don't make larger bears very often but I had fun designing this pattern. He is more softly stuffed also for huggability!
He is for sale on my new Esty shop . We just opened it to sell some of the things we collect all year from auctions and yard sales. AND my crafts! Hope you will stop by and check us out ..will be adding more things this week!

Wonderful find!

I am so pleased that I finally found a bear on all fours! I have always wanted an older
standing or wheeled bear. And here he is! I had to drive to Southern Vt to see him but it was worth it! ( besides it was a stunningly beautiful day and we had lunch on Lake Bomoseen! )
Have you ever just discovered a bear at auction or at a yard sale? I have been very lucky over the years. I have a few older Steiff bears and animals that I have found that way. We waited through a whole auction one night to buy one Cheeky bear at the end of the night, for a dollar! I bought one lovely artist bear that was just meant to be mine..she has hearts on her ears and paws.( trapunto) sp? They sold about a dozen Boyd's bears for $ 15-20 each.. I bought this beautiful bear for $10.00! Mohair!
You just never know! Here's my find..do you have any to share ?

Spring Fever in Vermont

Mother nature has been toying with us this year..not much snow..milder weather. This past month we had spring birds weeks early, Blue birds in February?! and yet they are here.It was 57 on Thursday and 30 on Friday. Cold blustery wind, light snow. Up went the new bird houses because the birds are here and the weather promises to reverse itself yet again. Our construction projects and the total mayhem it resulted in means i still have not gotten back to bears! I just spent a rare morning checking out everyone's new spring bears and hares,,such fun! I have passed the time learning new techniques that i can do in my lap in front of the TV at night, and hopefully they will wind their way into my bears later this year! In the meantime than you all for sharing your talents they made my morning!

Happy Valentines day everyone!

May you all have the love and happiness i have found in my life! I plan on celebrating my husband today who made all this possible!

Repeat performance!

This silly bear is getting rather lonely on the shelf! All of her siblings and friends have gone off to homes! So she has been guilt tripping me about not  doing more to show her off! So here she is!

While I have been trying to get back into the rhythm of bear making ..i find myself sort of collating and re arranging new ideas and skills ..seeing how they fit into my furry friends. I have been learning alot about layers recently. It started in digital scrap booking and carried over into my jewelry making. The more I explore and learn , the more I stretch my imagination.
When I looks into this bears eyes how deep can I go? It may just be an unconscious process for some people as they grow and improve in their craft. The first bears I made were cute..but I know they weren't where I wanted to go eventually. The subtle differences created by needle sculpting, shading,trimming...all add up to layers . Layers of personality! Much has changed with the economy and I am trying to regroup and make some changes I how and where I sell bears.
( and my other crafts !) so stay tuned folks! More to come in the next few months!
Meanwhile I am greatly enjoying all the amazing talent I find in blog land! It's wonderful to be part of such talented generous friendly artists!

My new Year resolution!

Is to get back to making bears! All the holiday gifts are made and delivered..the house will be back to normal soon i hope ( furnace being fixed now)..the garage is almost finished., so my craft stuff can come out of hiding again ! Have lots of bears in progress,,now need to get their ( and my) little heads together and focus!
 Working for a living can be so distracting don't you think?!

All wrapped up!

Ok because I get excited about new crafts all the time...and have again..let me show you my latest fascination! Wrap bracelets! This is my 2nd one. They are so much fun to make and rather addictive! She who dies with the most mohair wins..and apparently that's true with beads too! LOL.
It's a three wrap bracelet and has a vintage button closure.and since I want to make more and need to support my new habit..this one is for sale!

$ 55.00 and I will pay shipping .
Now let me go sort through my button stash!

Fall is here!

Well Reilly is the only bear I have left so I need to go back to finishing some i have started. Do you ever start a bear and then get distracted or redirected? I do and end up with several "in process"bears waiting to be born! Too much going on at once! We brought home a stunning chainsaw bear from Chester, Vt last week. He is so beautiful! I will have to post his picture soon! Stunning talent at the chainsaw competition! Fall is here and i hear Christmas coming...ok I'm a self winding stress case.! time for bed right now!

Chester Craft Fair-I Love Vt!

We has such a good time in Chester last weekend! Even with the rain there was alot of people in town and  sales were good! I love Vermont but certain towns i hold particularly dear! Chester is just beautiful with all the old historic stone house! There are great restaurants there and in Ludlow, Vt. Fun shops and loads of antiques! Come visit folks, the roads are fine! Color will be peak in the next two weeks we had our first frost last night..so they will start changing in earnest now! Chicken pie suppers, hot apple pies..and Georgette at the Hugging Bear is a little bit of Teddy bear heaven! 9,000 bears and a great collection of Stieff!

Complete Inertia!

I am supposed to be making bears fir the show in Chester, Vt Oct 1st..but so many other things
Keep popping up. Including just sheer exhaustion! We started a simple floor project in the bathroom..click in place vinyl. Which led to a new sink (cuz we had to pull out the old one anyway..) the Terry cracked the toilet re installing it...sloop we have anew one of those to!
Which led to shopping for towel bars we couldn't find. I have officially corrupted him..I showed his some steam punk towel holders made of galvanized plumbing pipe ..and he was off!
They came out great! Very clever my husband! Too bad we ran out of money because we really need to update the tub too! Will post pictures soon! Now where is that bear pattern?

I hate spiders ...

I have been sparing with a spider the last few nights..and he may have a friend . I refuse to think I am seeing 2 spiders because I would have to burn the house down. I have tried in the wee hours of the morning to kill it ( glasses would help but oddly enough I don't sleep in them!) staying a safe distance away. Tonight it was on the base of the sink . AND I MANAGED TO SCARE IT TOWARDS THE BEDROOM! Augh!!! Can't spray I might poison the cat ( the totally useless sleeping ..ignoring the spider cat ) where is my gun?

Work Progressing..dust still drifting!

Well the re pointing of the brick is still coming along. There is still dust to be remove every night before we can open the windows.And more money to be printed..sigh..
My husband has been working steadily on the milk house. Repairing the walls at the moment. Discovered they are insulated! Hope the up coming long weekend will mean more progress all around! And maybe that tree out back will finally start blooming money! Excited truly about the end results but the process can be so expensive and tedious!

I have staked my claim!

After years of working on our old house we have finally arrived at a where there may be a new garage this summer and mostly cleared land where the barn was. We kept the little milk house because we just couldn't part with it. And yesterday I said MINE! I want a studio of some sort! And this is apart from the house..it's concrete based and therefore fire proof mostly! And lo and behold my own little elf is out there repairing the roof on it today! Yeah. I told him if he cleared more of the high grass around it I would help...not liking the snakes that use go be residents !I mean BIG snakes for Vt. Aauughh.. Makes me crazy just to think about it! Have to photgraph the progress! Smile! Just ran out and snapped a quick photo.

My flea market find!

Isn't he a cutie? I have been wanting a new small bear and there he was on a table just waiting for me!

Introducing Reilly!

I don't know how to describe his color..it isn't rust or even close to pink..but it sure is pretty with its dk. blue backing! He has wool felt pads and German blown glass eyes. I lifted one paw because its hard to see but most of my bears have these huge thick paw pads..the better to hug you with! He is $140. plus S&H His nose is hand stitched in two shades of brown and there is light shading on his muzzle. the pictures are pretty true to color.Hope you love this bear as much as I do!

Long nosed bear in blue!

I am finally getting around to adding bears to the blog! Isn't it awful how working for a living interferes with the fun stuff? But then again it pays for it too...! Do what you love kids!
One of my long nosed bears ( my version of the Steiff cone nosed bears..fell in love with one on EBay I couldn't afford! ) in a beautiful navy blue mohair. "Karl" has blue wool felt pads , and is lightly weighted with copper shot. German blown glass eyes and a daring green hand stitched nose complete his look! Karl is $140. Plus shipping and handling.




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Another Bear..in Red!

 This is a lovely vibrant red mohair and her 

face is a white curly matted mohair. Wool felt pads and German glass eyes complete her  look!

Her name is :Hope" and she would look lovely this Memorial with a flag to hold ( maybe I will sneak one in with her!) or equally fun at Christmas! She is filled with polyfil and beads for weight and all the love I could stuff into her! ( Hmmm,... Valentines day!) She is $140. plus S&H

New Bear to Post!

Ok I am Finally making time to post Pictures of the new bears! Hope you like her ! She wears a vintage doll sweater and I have shaded her face and distressed her a bit. She is for sale..$110.00 plus S&H. I accept PayPal and checks ( will hold until the check clears) She is a lovely soft pink Mohair with antique shoe button eyes. Firmly stuffed with Polyfil and weighted  lightly with copper shot. Not child safe!