Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thanks Ellen,  yes, lots of good info.  Making sure the seams go the right direction when stuffing is key, I think.  Good ideas on how to do that.  When they go the wrong direction, it seems for me, it's the fur on the head side pieces goes awry.   I was even thinking about gluing the seam to one direction with a little fabric glue before I turn the head right side out.    That might be overdoing it. 

I've read about cutting pieces on the diagonal if the fur goes that direction.  Do you ever find that the backing stretches at all from being cut on the bias?   That thought has always made me afraid to cut that way. 

I always pick the fur out of my seams with my awl after stitching.  I'm afraid if I trim it beforehand, I'll trim too much and have bald spots next to the seams. 

I have two pieces of fur, a red and a green, that I ordered from the "end cuts" because I only needed small pieces of each.  The fur on both of them goes in every direction imaginable.  I was wondering how I was going to straighten them out.   I'll try your method with water, brush and hair dryer.

I made a bear and the head came out too big. So, I made a smaller head for him (and adjusted my pattern).  Now I have this bigger head, with only enough of the fur left to make paws.  So, that's why I bought the red and green.  I thought I'd make a Christmas bear out of the big headed mistake.

Thanks again!!   

Thank you all.  Jenny, do you place the seam down towards the outside or inward towards the center of the head???

When I stuff my bear's head, sometimes the gusset seam gets turned the wrong way and the fur at the seam from the eye spot to the ears ends up shooting out the wrong direction.  It's pretty hard to fix once the head is stuffed.

Do you have a way you make the gusset seam lay one way or the other before and while you stuff??

Any tips would be appreciated by my bad hair day bears.

SPANISH MOSS ON A RIVER IN CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA.

  Sorry, I didn't seem to take pics of Spanich moss in Savannah.

Adorable bunny!!!  I love his eyes.     

The moss is Spanish Moss.  We made a 4000 mile road trip in May from Tennessee to Savannah and up the coast to Washington DC, NYC, Pennsylvania and Niagara Falls, Kentucky and back to Tennessee.  (Our daughter and son-in-law live in TN.  We flew there and rented a car for the trip.)

Someone in Savannah said that Spanish moss has bugs in it and they used to use it to stuff their mattresses, hence, "don't let the bed bugs bite."

I think Savannah was one of my favorite places and is full of trees with the Spanish moss.  In fact we saw the bench in Savannah where Forest Gump sat.  I'll see if I can dig up any spanish moss pics from our trip.

One of my all time favorite movies is Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman.  Labrynth has to be up there on the list too.  Oh yeah, Napoleon Dynamite.  :crackup:

How beautiful. . .  Imagine living in a place where you see parrots in the garden!!!  You lucky duck.   

Here where I live we have hundreds, no maybe thousands, of wild turkeys to look at in our yard.  They are not very pretty and they chase my dog.

Oh thank you, Dilu.  I guess since I've exposed him to all of TT now I might as well let him out of the drawer, but he will have to hide descreetly behind another bruin.

And Marion, I want to clarify my post above.  I wasn't laughing at your mouse, I was laughing with him.  He is a funny, funny mouse.   I don't think he's ugly at all.

Just goes to show ya . . . either beauty is in the eye of the beholder or we are all too critical of our own work?????

OK Marion,   your mouse made me laugh out loud.  I'm speechless.    :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :clap:  :clap:

Here's an easy powertoy I use for resizing photos.  Click on this link and download.  Then whenever you right click on a photo, you will have the option to "resize photo".  Click on that and you will get a window that gives you size options.  I use small or handheld sizes for posting here.  It's free, easy and quick.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/ … ySetup.exe

OK, here is my UGLY contribution.  This is the first small bear I made.  I keep him tucked away in the back of a drawer.  Everything is crooked and what was I thinking with that nose????

        :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Dilu,  I think your creations are very cute and whimsical. 

What's a matter for your hubster!!!???   

     :crackup:

I will find my ugly and post a pic. :photo:   Then you can show the hubster what real ugly is.

I think I remember that if a black cat comes to your house, it's good luck.  Bad luck if one crosses in front of you.  And, bad luck if a white cat comes to your house.   I don't believe in superstitions, but that's what I heard.

However a full moon?  I think everybody is a little out of sorts.   When I was a respiratory therapist, the hospital emergency room was always busier on a full moon night. 

Oh yeah . . . I know what you mean.  I have restless leg syndrome.  I'm up until 2 or 3 o'clock every night.  I get quite a lot done from 10pm when my husband goes to bed and 3 when I go to bed!!!  My doc says 5 hours sleep a night is all I require.  Well I say, "cool".  More hours in the day that way.  Isn't that what everybody wants??   :crackup:  :crackup:

Beautiful bear, Paula.  I love him.    

WOW. What a great bear.  And crocheted!!  Who knew!

Now that is about the cutest kitty I've ever seen.  You can almost hear her purrrrrring.  Excellent work!   

Aha . . . so that what a wombat looks like.  Well, yours is adorable!!!  I love the way you did his nose too.    

I just love these little fellas!!      

I love them!!          I'd love to go see them at Ally Pally but I don't have a passport.   

Thanks, Renae. . . I'm pretty sure that was my problem.  I was going too fast.  I don't know why I thought you had to do it that way.     " pokepokepoke   instead of     poke       poke     poke   slow down  watch what you're doing"    :doh:   I tend to do things that way anyway.  You know, I'm always 10 or 12 steps ahead of my husband when we walk.  "Come on, catch up."  Well, now I know. 

I'm going to buy some of Bobbie's needles too.  I can't wait to get my little bear finished.  Now that I've had to wait for needles, I've had different ideas of how to finish him.  Hmm...good to wait sometimes, I guess.

Thank you, Gladys !! 

Hugs,

He's real, isn't he?  Oh my gosh, it looks like he's going to hop right off the screen.  Ribbit.

She is a sweet bear.  Very prescious.  I love her big innocent looking eyes that say "pick me up and hug me".    

Verrrrryyy cute!!   I love his blue eyes and what a great nose.