Shy.

Good morning folks. Sorry about the whingey post yesterday , I've been thinking about the situation and maybe the problem is with me really. Cris feels indifferent about the bears , he neither loves them or hates them and he has the right to think whatever he wants about them . I guess it's hard when someone close doesn't share your passion . I also think that I'm a little embarrassed about it because I'm a grown woman who loves teddy bears but I've gotta get over it!

I showed this little nameless bear to Cris last night and he was surprised cos seemingly to him the little cutie had appeared from nowhere! I'm not gonna be so secretive about my craft any more . Anyway I'm pleased with my new creation , I love the blue eyes and rosy cheeks ( which don't show up too well on the pic) . I tried out a new technique for the nose . I think it's my best bear yet ! There's still some tweaking to be done but there's a certain shyness about this one that I really like. Will show the finished bear next week . x

Hats versus bears.

Hello, it's been ages since my last post and that's because I've been busy with the hats again. Those damn hats ! I love them and so do other people, I just sold some more today and I know that's good but they're getting in the way of the bears ! Something else that's sabotaging my bear making is my husband! Now I don't mean that literally but I know he doesn't like bears and I'm sure he thinks I've gone quite mad. I can't explain to him how wonderful it is to take a piece of mohair and see it transform in your hands into a bear , he just doesn't get it! I'm embarrassed to admit that I hide any signs of bear making from him . Pathetic I know but it's just easier , I'm really sensitive and can't cope with the fact that he dislikes them , anyway he's gone out so I'm gonna finish the bear that's been a wip for weeks. I'll post the pics later tonight, sorry for moaning on x

Fun football and bears.

Hooray for summer ! The sunshine has given me a real boost and I've been spending a lot of time outdoors tidying the garden and sowing seeds , even hand sewing bears ! There's a delicious breeze that blows over from the pennines so that even when the sun is blazing there's usually a little cooling relief . I've had a busy week and Friday has come around very quickly. I went to Manchester on Wednesday ( day of the UEFA cup final ). My sisters were singing with a band in a Albert square where the council had put up a big screen for the fans. They were the pre match entertainment . We took the train into town and from the moment we got into Piccadilly station I wanted to go home! I hate crowds and this was the biggest I'd ever seen , there were 100,000 Rangers fans in M/CR that day , the roads were grid locked but not with traffic , with people! The police had relaxed the law on alcohol consumption in the street and the fans made easy work of drinking the city dry! I have to say that the atmosphere in Albert Square was amazing and the fans were all in good spirit. The band went down well and I eventually relaxed enough to enjoy myself but things soon turned sour when one of the big screens wouldn't work! As you can imagine there were some very angry people ! We made a quick dash to the station and got there just in time for the train to take us home to our peacefully quiet village. I know it's easy for me to say but there was lot of mistakes made that day and a lot of people out to make a quick buck selling alcohol and all because a few men are kicking a bit of leather around on some grass. Sorry I just don't get football! Anyway on a lighter note I've a new bear coming together nicely and should have some pics on Monday. Hope all is well , enjoy the sun and have a great weekend!! xx

Back with the bears.

Thank goodness ! Things have been busy around here lately and bear making was put on the back burner for a while but I'm back in production now and having fun with new patterns! I love the way that even a small pattern alteration can make a HUGE difference. Betty and Flo are my latest bears and I'm so pleased with them, they're a more sophisticated version of my very first bears. Flo is already for sale on eBay and Betty goes on at 9pm tonight . I'm in work today and so looking forward to the bank holiday weekend when I'll be spending time with family and friends . I hope you all have a great weekend - the sun is shining right now , hope it lasts! Hugs Ginie-Lee xx

Hello it seems a long time since my last post but I've been v busy getting a little hat collection together for a new shop that has opened in Stockport. For anyone that doesn't know Stockport, it's main industry used to be hatting and it now boasts the countrys only Hat Museum which is housed in one of the original mills from the turn of the century, I just love that place! but then I just love hats! On the bear front, Amy has gone to her new Mum and I'm working on some new head patterns which are quite similar to my very first bear heads only with a higher forehead , I'm eager to see the results. Cris has taken a week off work to give the front garden a makeover . Yesterday I had a quagmire instead of a drive but today and four tonnes of gravel later I have a nice new drive! Just need a nice new car to put on it now!!

Amy

Here she is finished at last! she will be on eBay tonight at 10pm GMT . Hope you like her , if you've been reading my blog you'll know that I took inspiration from a pink vintage Chad Valley bear. She's a little chubby baby bear so nothing like the old bear really but I just love the pink mohair with the biscuit colour backing and I managed to get a similar colour by dyeing it myself. She's a 7 inch bundle of pink joy! edit .Amy's natural colour is the one you see in the outdoor pics not the indoors where she looks a tad orange (too much fake tan ???? maybe........)

Hi ho hi ho.

Yes I'm off to work. Oh how I wish that I could stay at home and just surround myself with mountains of mohair , and make bears until I was dizzy!! But it's off to work I go and very reluctantly too because I really need to finish my pink bear in order to start my next! I don't know about anyone else but I'm beginning to feel that I can't work on more than one bear at a time. I feel that the rhythm is broken if I start another project and then the spark is lost and it's so hard to go back to. Maybe it's because I'm so new to this and still developing my techniques , I have a hilarious reminder of just how much I've learnt when I look at the first bear/"thing" that I made. It was made out of wool boucle with quite a lot of stretch to it so when I stuffed the head it just kept getting bigger and bigger and BIGGER!! Does anyone else have any pics of the first bear or softie that they made??????????? Please share ;-) . Hugs Ginie-Lee xx