Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I have dabbled in lots of crafts, patch working, beading, knitting but since making my first bear 8 years ago I am afraid I am a bear-a-holic..

Gardening is my other interest, have just finished planting 20 punnets of pansies and primulas so hopefully in approx. 1-3 months the garden will be full of colour...

Later today I will add some piccies of our trip just to show the diversity in our country...

From beaches, countryside hit by drought and also some of the re-furbished buildings.
My niece travelled around New-Zealand in a RV, had the time of her life...she reckons.

Depends to what part of Aussieland they are visiting.

All I can give info on is where I live.

Sept. is the start of spring so can have beautiful days but also still lots of rain.
I live in Victoria which is at the bottom end of the country, Queensland (at the top end) is really good at this time of the year.  We went there in Sept. and there was lots of sunshine and not too hot.

Haven't been to Darwin (tropic) or Perth (west side ).

It is a very big country and there is such a lot to see, even living here and doing a lot of caravanning trips we will not see it all in our lifetime...

I am interested too Sandi, what does it involve, as I have never done anything like this before...

Not happy, complain and then  find an alternative. If enough people complain as these changes are going to effect everyone, you don't know what will happen..

Are there anymore auction sites available... Bid4Bears is one I can think of for the bear community..

Might have a google and see how many I can find...

Thats the great thing that we can do, be free to make choices.  I guess if we look hard enough there are alternatives that suit some but not all.

Unfortunately big business is here to stay, and its all about making a profit, but hey don't we bear makers like to make a profit...I know most of us are not BIG business, but we do like to come out ahead when we sell any of our little critters.
It may sound like I am sticking up for the big profit makers far from it.

Its all about choices and choosing whatever it may be that suits us. 
Be it lifes choices or selling stuff choices..

Maybe, craft markets, bear shows websites can be the other alternative for selling our craft.  Even here, on TT. How many of us have sold a bear from this site, TT doesn't take a percentage.

Choose what works for you....

Just read this announcement on another forum (caravanning).

Out of the 3 methods of payment for bears, Pay-pal for me is the one most frequently used... I really can't see a problem with this, if I need the money urgently, funds in my pay-pal account can be transferred to my bank account, yes for a fee.

But lets get realistic here, e-bay like banks is a business not a free service and so I think one can expect that there will be changes and charges to rear their ugly head from time to time..

The money I get from my bears is not for putting food on the table but allows me to buy more bear stuff or the occasional other luxury stuff...pin money I suppose...

I have been making a polar bear from this book too, and I have had a little trouble as well.
The first was when I put the head and the neck wedge together....I felt the neck was TOO long, giraffe looking and so at 3.00am one morning I unstitched it and shortened the neck wedge, looked so much better.

The next problem was I tried to use lock-nuts for joining the limbs, what a battle...
I ended up with nuts stuck on the bolt and no futher down would they go...I even had hubby helping...with star screw-driver, spanner and shifter...I then drew blood on the fingers and marked the fur..

Very colourful language....so I then had to cut out two more front legs and a body...lucky I had extra fabric..

At this stage all the pieces are sewn together and I am going back to my usual method of cotter pins for the joints.

I have also made a little penquin to go with him...all will be revealed soon..

The internet was a great help in this search....there was an organization in Melb. who specialize in these sort of searches, we even paid them a fee but when Leith showed them all the information WE had collected they gave him a refund.  The staff member even asked him if he wanted a job with them...

The next search is for the half-brother...may be a little harder as he was only 10 or 12 when his mother died and so he could be living anywhere in Australia now...He would be approx 50 - 55 now. Maybe ads in newspapers over the country will be the next step..

We will do our best though to find him..

It was very hard,  anger crept in as to him being told so late in life...but we have to remember his birth Mum had her reasons for giving him up and his adoptive Mum was unable to have children of her own so she was happy to get him...

His birth Mum had a brain tumour and died at the age of 47...

And most of all, if his life had not panned out as it did, we would not be together, we wouldn't have our beautiful children or our 7 grandchildren..

Life is just amazing...

Not sure if this is the right spot for this, but I just have to share it with you.

My husbands mother died in November 07 and a week before she died she told my hubby that he was a chosen child, that he was adopted.

At 60 and hearing this from his Mum who was on her death bed just blew him away.
Not wanting to upset her with too many questions at the time, we have spent the last month looking for his Mum.
We have had so many emotional ups and downs but as of last night it will be all up from here.

We found his Mum, but unfortuately she passed away in 1967, he found where she was laid to rest and that was a very emotional time.

He has now found his cousins and he also has found out he has a half brother. He spent last night in Melb. at one of his relatives homes and is on top of the world.
He has even managed to get a photo of his Mum.

We have only heard of this sort of thing happening to others, he thought he was an only child and now he has so many relations that he is yet to meet, the next family reunion of this family is going to be so exciting.

All I use is an outside spot, usually undercover but with good light coming from the right side.  I use a piece of brown velvet as the background and then I start snapping,  I have the prop the bear is sitting on at camera height or my eye height so I am looking directly at the bear...works most times...

Enjoy, Patsy..

We saw him in Melbourne quite a few years ago and it was a terrific show..

Brenda, what a lovely thought for your hubby to do this for you, hoped it cheered you up as it certainly cheered me up... It is a wonderful bear and has an even special meaning now..

I use the spray stuff that quilters use. 
To stick the lining on the pelt  I cut the patten out of muslin or light cotton,I spray each patten piece which I have cut out  and then press this onto the pelt with my hands.  Let it well and truly dry and then cut out the pieces...I tried watered down white craft glue once, what a disarster...

He does look so real....Pandas are one of my favourites .....and I just love this one..

I go to the re-cycling shops here in Aussie land.  I have 2 mink stoles, 1 full length mink coat, 1 short mink jacket, 1 mink hat and about 6 little mink collars and 1 piece of grey lapin fur.   Plus all the mohair and synthetic... I don't think I will be buying fabric anymore in my life-time.

I love making the mink bears but sometimes the fingers get a bit sore from pushing the needle through so switch to the man-made fibres to give the fingers a rest..

Have a wonderful V. Day too Lynn..and all TT's too..

I have dabbled a bit with this, or should I say stabbed..(poor bears).

I needle-felt directly onto the muzzle and I find that to get it smooth I feather the felt with the tip of the needle..smaller needles are the go too.

Tiger looks so contented...and happy..

Woo-Hoo Karen, way to go girl... Congratulations..

I leave the body open at the back but with the arms and legs I leave the top open.  The limbs are stuffed and closed off before I attach them to the body..

:hug:  :hug: lovely Patsy...

Not sure how to respond but I think I will be checking my hair fall out now to see what my follicules are doing!!!!