Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Yep, me and you Cat love to sew those "different things!"  Must be the twin mum thing we have going on too!

Teehee. I can still be found on Google+ - still looking for my Mojo though.  And yes, my girls have grown quite a bit:

Pocahontas Costume by qdpatooties, on Flickr

My oldest who is now 8 in a Pocahontas outfit I made for her last week.

Crazy Hats #2 and #3 - Don't Worry Mom, I'll Keep My Eye On Her by qdpatooties, on Flickr

The twins now 7 all dressed up for Dr. Seuss "Read Across America" wearing crazy hats for the occasion.

I haven't laughed so hard in a while - totally hilarious!  Not sending it to my hubby though.  He might get ideas!

That's fantastic!  It's really nice to see a fellow bear artist in print!  Congratulations again!

Simply adorable!  You are lucky!!!

Really nice and what a wonderful collection!

Happy Thanksgiving to you too and everyone who is celebrating today.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for myself!

That's wonderful! Congratulations to her and you have a right to be proud!!!

P.S. She is a beautiful girl!

Computer woes can be frustrating - nice to see you!

Hi there --

I think your bear was one sold by the Sekiguchi company.  They were more famous for their "Monchichi" monkeys but they also made bears and cats.  I'm posting a photo of a "sleepy time" one I found on the 'bay but they also made them with wide open eyes and smiling like the one in your photo.  I hope I've helped.  Edited to add - this one has vinyl hands/feet because it can actually suck it's thumb at night - they also made them with stuffed hands/feet.

Very cute! Can't wait to see the rest of him!!!

Cedric Swenson, Snappy Snoman and 9 other creations of my own will be enjoying the company of 74 other artists at the Christmas Treasures Show sponsored by http://www.teddiesworldwide.com.   You can stop by the main website or visit my bears directly on my show Blog - http://qdpxmastreasures.blogspot.com

Have a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!

Congrats!  They are all darling!!!

I thought about this discussion when I was in Ben Franklin craft store yesterday - they had all sorts of vintage looking gears, keys and other items that looked very Steampunk to me.  So, maybe if you are making future Steampunk bears, you might check in the scrapbooking section which is where I found them in their craft store.

He is so sweet - I'm all for adopting older pets myself.  Our Pom was 2 when we got him and our Exotic Shorthair cat was 4.  I'd have a TON more if I could afford them all!

Anyway, darling photo!

I always have to walk through after I donate - it's about 30 minutes from my house so I feel like I have to after traveling that far!  I LOVE looking for old holiday items - holiday items, bears, dolls and books are a few of my favorites!

Aw! There are all sorts of treasures out there when you start looking around!  Really!

So cute both of them - Miss Tiff is a favorite pup of mine.  I didn't know you had Coop.  We had Miniature Schnauzers growing up.  Is Coop full grown or a puppy?

Woohoo!  I already "liked" you on FB.

Thanks everyone for all the kind words about little Good Will.  He was actually my second Steiff find at Goodwill.  At the retail store that sits next to the outlet, I found the largest Slo Turtle with it's ear tag and chest tag several Christmases ago.  They price their stuffed animals at 75 cents at the retail store but they were having a special - if you sung a Christmas song, they'd give it to you half price.  I belted out "Deck the Halls" or something and got him for 38 cents.  I was so thrilled that I knew they thought I was nuts!!!

I will try Ken Yenke through the link although I love seeing him in person.  It's so funny when you walk up to him with a vintage bear in good condition he gets so excited!  I had several of mine appraised by him when we were at the same shows and he is just a nice and very knowledgeable man.

Anyway, thanks for letting me share!

Ooo. So cute - I must enter!

So I went to the Goodwill Outlet to get some old clothes and straw hats because they we're having a Harvest Festival in our development and I'm in charge of helping the neighborhood kids make scarecrows.  While I'm there, they bring out a HUGE bin of toys.  They do it pretty often and there were already two sitting there with HUGE plastic Barbie houses, Little Tykes Kitchen sets, etc. and they were filled to the brim.  I wander over and no, I'm not kidding, I stick my hand in and pull out the vintage Steiff Bear.  Being use to working with mohair, I spied it with my little eye right off the bat.  I'd say (just from reading my Teddy Bear Encyclopedia) he's from the late 1950's/early 1960's because he has the wool felt paws - and he's BIG at about 16" with a growler.  When they made this particular bear in the 1970s, he was made in Austria and had a different paw pad material.  Now they charge $0.59 per pound for their toys at the outlet so he ended up costing me all of $0.20.  I paid $3.88 for the pumpkin!  If anyone knows more about him, please fill feel free to add - sometimes the guide books can be wrong.

Anyway, his name is Good Will (for obvious reasons) and he's thankful to have been adopted just before Thanksgiving.

Sorry I missed it - I'll keep checking back for future shows.  What a wonderful idea to band together with artists to form your group.

Who could forget you Mary Lou?  Your new bears will be just as magnificent as the bears you made before your break.  I've taken a year or two off here and there as well so I know what it's like to miss making bears.  Enjoy and can't wait to see your new creations!!!

I've been doing this for almost 14 years now and I still do that sometimes!  Unfortunately, I usually don't notice until after I've cut it out - LOL!  Then, my "extra left arm" or whatever misfit piece is recycled and used for an ear or two or some other part that I've lost on my sewing room floor.    It's all good!

Thank you Becky - I still have him.  I wonder how many of us still have the first bear we ever made?  I still have the first bear I made as a child too - I think I was around 11 or 12.  I'll have to pull him out someday!