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Of all your "adorables" this one really speaks to me...maybe it is the color, and the name, or those eyes placed just so....probably the whole package. Wonderful bear...no one could help but smile with Cinnamon in their hug.
Pat 
I hear you 
Dishes are a weakness of mine (when I was younger it was hats). So coming upon this set has me imagining it in my dark pine hutch...hmmmmm 
what do you think? Bears and dishes! What would guests think? :crackup: What would husband think? 
"another set of dishes" 
Pat
I found a set of the dishes. Four place settings, very nice for $150.00...they are simply wonderful! I can just see the guests...simply laughing at each dish which sports a different bear pattern doing another outrageous thing...skiing, by the fireside, fly fishing, etc....just adorable.
Pat
I wanted to share with those like me who may not be familiar with this wonderful realistic humorist...I was shopping and found some adorable dishes with her art and discovered her that way...and cookie jars based on her memorable bears.
Enjoy! I did!
http://www.tippycanoetoo.com/wall-art/m … clees.html
Pat
I've assisted at more then my share of those surgeries...always after hour emergencies.
The problem with string objects and cats is that once they start to swallow...it's a one way trip...they've triggered the swallowing response and they have no choice but to keep on swallowing, and swallowing, and swallowing, regardless of whether they want to or not. 
The danger occurs if instead of going through in a clump, in the small intestine it travels through linearly then tends to get stuck at one end and the intestine tends to gather up along the thread, ribbon, yarn, etc. drawn up like a purse string. Which is what it is called: purse string strangulation... . This cuts off the blood supply to the intestines and they 'strangle' themselves. These kitties begin to vomit, cannot keep anything down and need to get into surgery ASAP before the intestine starts to die.
This Xmas if you even think there is the possibility that your pet has swallowed something like tinsel, ribbon, (and we all know dogs will eat anything 
) pinecones, etc. Cat laxative is your best friend. Lots of it! Dogs get the tube full and cats pretty much the same thing too as much as they can take of it over a 24 hour period.
Keep it handy for emergencies...we have avoided dozens of abdominal surgeries with the judicious use of cat lax at our clinic... . 
BUT and here is the big BUT...if your pet is vommitting...SEE THE VET IMMEDIATELY...your pet may have an obstruction.
Pat
Henry certainly knows how to steal the scene! The photographs we re wonderfu...the posing artful...the story beautifully composed. I laughed so hard at the picture of the three bears in their santa hats on the dashboard driving to their tea party...just perfect.
And that last shot of little bear Henry in his hat just stole my heart.
What a wonderful gift to all of us bear folks for xmas...it should become a Christmas Classic IMO
How timely too...since I spent four hours last night shopping (would you believe) for a tea set! 
Beary Christmas,
Pat
Lisa,
Every time I see one of these 'little persons' of yours the first thing that happens to me is that I smile, then I grin, then I just feel warm and happy inside. Their charm is so contagious. I can understand why their people want to take them home and keep them close. So that whenever they need to renew those feelings, all they have to do is take up their little one and give it a good look...and let the cascade of good feelings flow
Pat
The one I'm looking for was from the Teddy Bear Scene magazine and has a double jointed head...Jasper is a five jointed bear, four part body...BUT I'll take it! Thank you! 
How did you find one so quickly...my Google didn't find nuttin'
Pat
Does anyone know where I might procure a copy of the pattern for this beautiful bear ConnieB produced from the Gregory Gyllenship pattern printed in November 2005 Teddy Review magazine as shown in this post?
This is truely a magnificent bear! At least five pieces in the body, I would guess and of course the double-jointed neck.
Pat
Krista, these guys are so amazingingly real I don't know whether you should ship them in boxes or kennels
Their new owners better make vet appointments for first shots 
Pat
Snezhana has such a beautifully shaped head and extraordinary muzzle. Wonderful execution And my personal favorite color. Lovely.
Pat
Thanks guys, part of the fun of building bears is you get to play with them too!
Pat
Tanya,
They are wonderful...so wistful. The shading is masterful as is the felting...gorgeous work...I am in awe.
Pat
This is a prototype grizzly 20 plus inches (I haven't measured him since rearticulating him) shown here with some experimental coat types for cubs.
Poor Chompzworth, he's been rearticulated twice and had three sets of legs since this photo was taken...but he's a better bear for it
Pat
Joanne,
The word that comes to mind---"exquisite"
I cannot even begin to imagine the patience and time involved with your technique of rooting the mohair on the felted muzzle and around those eyes...but the results are sooooo worth all the effort. I cannot think of any other way you could achieve the effect.
But I have got to say I am envy those tootsies and those little toenails (they are so widdle we can hardly call them claws )
Having just completed Judy's felted faces class I can now REALLY appreciate the 'thousands' of stabbings and jabbings that go into felting a piece like your little deer...(again thumbs up in the infinite patience department). He is a charming addition to this piece.
They are both a reminder that some of us better get going on those Xmas trees!
Pat
Christine, I am in awe. I know from my brief and painful struggles over the last four months with my grizzleys how difficult these big boys are to build. He is everything I aspire to. Just wonderful...especially that wonderful neck...boy do I love that neck! And a great stance! Well, I could just gush on
I don't think if I'd built a bear like him I would be able to part with him 
Pat
I like the center seam method...but I split the gusset just before the ears down the back of the head to the neck line, and have a three piece gusset. In addition I added darts in each of the side head pieces instead of the gussett. I'm working with a large head...12" across and this produced just the roundness I was looking for and I wanted that 'part' down the center of the top and back of the head, without the seam line running down the face.
This pattern can be varied so easily to adjust the head shape and character of the bear that I am very pleased and have already created four very different looking characters using the simple mechanism.
Pat
Brenda,
So glad to see they are eating canned food and not dry...good for you...that should keep their waistline's (what they have of them) from becoming more commodious then they are :crackup:
Yes...get that girl into the vet...good idea...although with winter and the diminished light she should stay out of heat through winter unless she has a cystic ovary which I suspect.
Your cats are beautiful...and so's the goggie.
Do pick up a feliway...I keep a diffuser going in the cat room and have for years...with my 'colony' it has been a godsend...I can always tell when the reservoir is empty by the hissing sounds that start to occur, so I know it has been working. One of the first things I noticed was that more than one cat would share a cat tree with the Feliway in place...so they had greater tolerance of each other...which is the whole idea when you have 'many'...
Good luck...and keep us up to date with developments...I'm always up for cat conundrums 
Wow Brenda,
You have ALOT going on in the cat community from the kitty perspective. And it sounds like your boy was already a functioning tom (big boy) if not a practicing one, when you neutered him. That would explain the play biting when he is engaged in petting epidsodes...
The territorial female next door mixing it up with your 12 year old male is significant as it may indicate a hierarchy pattern here. I don't know how long you have had your boy...but he may be thinking about changing his position in the family. Since he has attained the magical age of social maturity for a male kitty (two) (no matter neutered or whole cat)...this may also have spurred his need for greater 'voice' in the proceedings.
The cat in heat is certainly not helping de-stress any of the kitty climate. I do not know how long she has been cycling...but if she is in perpetual heat (depending on her age) try putting her in a dark room for a week or so...no light...this may interrupt the cycle long enough for you to spay her.
If she is not bouncing out of heat even then, you might just elect to go ahead and spay her. We spay cats in heat at the clinic under these circumstances. A perpetual heat can become a medical issue and you can end up with more then an emaciated kitty...a simple spay can become an emergency hysterectomy when a pyrometra enters the picture. This usually occurs after "prolonged" and repeated heats although I have seen it develop as soon as three consecutive heat cycles.
Ideally, your two males need to develop as a cohort and start patrolling their territory (especially the back yard) together...try fostering that relationship...the old guy needs the young one's strength anyway...he should be thinking more in terms of kitty social security at his age...you know...potato couch, tuna caserole, the whole deal Leave the heavy lifting to the muscle. If the youngster is willing to take on the usurper next door, he may just step aside and let him do it. All it may take to convince her to "back down," is a little 'back up"...
Ahhhhh the joys of living with cats. 
There are better photos and more of them on Huffington post with this article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/0 … 46904.html
What will these animals do about winter?
Brenda,
Several questions:
When your male was neutered did he have two descended testicles?
The female who is not spayed? Is she in heat...(possibility of silent heat).
Is there another cat outside your house in the yard that could potentially be seen or smelled by your young male?
You mentioned biting behavior in you cat...how severe? Drawing blood? under what circumstances?
When the tail goes up...does it quiver? And how does he react to the queries of his roommates?
Your boy is now socially mature and he may be reacting to things in the environment that did not perturb him before or (hopefully) there is something new in the enviroment that is attracting his attention.
In the meantime, try Bach Rescue Remedy...rub on hands and around his neck to calm...or administer a drop or two in mouth. Feliway diffusers can also be effective and work on the entire feline social community without having to give anyone 'kitty drugs' and is a natural way to keep the peace in a multi-cat household.
When your kitty is showing this behavior, best not to touch or approach...intervention if you feel it is necessary is best done from the distance through distraction, and something the cat will not associate with you...for your own safety.
Three thumbs up! one for each Paula. They are adorable...reminds me of my witch cat era.
Creativity will out!
Have you noticed you start to 'think' in witchypoo terms during the sewing process? How else could you possibly create such darlings without communing in their lingo.
The story and the character go hand in hand...and imparts to them a little life all their own.
Pat
THEY STAND! :clap:
TWO Big boys are on their two tootsies and have been standing unsupported now for four hours. We'll see where they are in the morning :pray: ...I can still tip them over if I push them but I can reposition them easily, so I guess that is acceptable?
Thanks so much to everyone for all the suggestions and "support" (no pun intended)
I think I used every single suggestion in building these guys... all 23 inches of them.
As soon as they have their best faces on and are all sewn up I will get pictures to prove they really can stand alone. For the next three bears on the assembly line (i.e. me) we have upgraded the tootsies to a size and 1/2 larger sole (1 1/2 inches in length of foot pattern) Hopefully this should translate into even more stability. We'll see tomorrow.
With any luck there will be five large grizzly bears standing on my dining room table! I can hardly wait!
That should scare the dickens out of the cats 
Pat
