Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

OK Jodi,  here's my angel bear ornament.       I used feather wings and a little gold glittered grape vine wreath for her halo.  I also sprinkled Christmas diamond dust on her.Hope you like her.

Another great thing about this little pattern . . . you don't have to sew on ears!  :dance:

Congratulation Sophie !!! Very exciting.   :clap: 

But . . . if I may ask, what is Secourism??

Very cute!!!   :clap:   How did you make his eyebrows?

About the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Love them!      

Well, this isn't my story but it's so cute I have to share.  My dad built his and my mom's home in the mountains when he retired.  When my daughter was 8 years old, she was watching my dad build the spiral staircase.  He told her, "Tracy, my dream is to one day see one of my girls come down this staircase in her wedding dress."  When Tyson asked Tracy to marry him, she said , "YES, but we have to get married at my grandparents' home so I can fulfill my grandpa's wish.

First pic:  Tracy on staircase under construction 1987
Second pic:  Tracy on staircase 2003
Third pic:  Tracy and my dad
Fourth pic: TNT

By the way, Tracy and Tyson met at church.  Tyson's sister, Tiffany who is married to Terry, told Tyson, "She's a keeper, her name starts with T."  His other sister is Tammy and brother Tyler.  We refer to Tracy and Tyson as TNT.

Thank you Wendy.  Your excellent platypus bills give me something to aspire to!!!  I shall carry on . . . . as soon as my needles come in the mail.

DITTO THAT ! ! !

Thanks Nancy.  I'll keep plugging away at it as soon as I get more needles!!

Whew, do I have a lot to learn!!!  I've perused the needlefelting posts and not found anything so detailed as you all are telling me.  Thank you all so much for your help.  I know I should have taken a class or bought  a book, but sometimes I just give things a try flying by the seat of my pants , which is what I did today.  As a complete beginner I soooo appreciate all the advice!!

How lucky am I to have the Needle Felting Pioneer helping me with my quandry???  Pretty darn lucky I'd say!!!   

Well Bobbie, I bought the needles and the wool at a bear show last month.  I hadn't tried NFing yet, but thought as long as I'm here I might as well pick them up so I'll have it when I get the urge to learn.  So, I'm not sure what kind of wool it is.  But I think you're right, it seems medium.  The needles, I don't know what kind they were either.  They came in a pack with  sizes 20, 32, 36, 40 & 42.  I broke the 32, 36 and 40.  The 20 does seem huge.  I wondered what it would be used for and the 42 tiny tiny.

When I started out, I'm pretty sure I used 32 then 36 then 40 and broke each one as I went along.  I probably am guilty of not pulling the needle out at the same angle as it went in, and I'm sure I was going too fast.   Perhaps that's why I broke my needles?  Also, at times I was needling over his embroidered nose, not sure if that makes a difference.

The little bear is of short, sparse mohair and the muzzle is stuffed firmly.   The needle tips didn't get stuck in the bear's head, thank goodnes.  They all fell out on my desktop.  Yep, that would hurt.  I did say that I wasn't  unhappy with the results.  But I was quite unhappy about breaking all my needles.

So, for a complete beginner, what would you recommend for wool and what kind of needles for felting on top of mohair??  That's where I'll start.  I know I'll want to needlefelt an entire critter soon, though.  I'm going to go directly to the website you recommend.

I'm determined to get this right because just this little bit I've done so far has me hooked already!! 

  Daphne, I will post a pic when he's done.  I'll have to put him aside, though, until my new needles come in the mail.   :cry:

Again, thank you all so much for your help.

Dave and I were introduced by mutual friends.  I had been divorced about two years with two daughters, 5 and 10.  Dave was in the middle of a divorce.  (A very messy one which caused us much heartache in the first few years of our marriage.)

Dave worked with Glenn and I had known Dana for years (our mutual friends).  They thought we would hit it off and invited us both for dinner at their home, and we did hit it off.  We were married one year later.  We will be celebrating our 16th anniversary in November.

Bonus, my girls LOVE LOVE LOVE Dave.  We have all been blessed!!!

Here's a pic of our wedding on November 2, 1990
.

Thanks for your advice ! ! !     Who knew . . . a learning curve!!!     :doh:   Wendy, I'll check my needle size and follow your instructions.  And Gemma, I'll slow down.  I do have a tendency to do things in hyperspeed.

I've ordered new needles from Edinburgh.  How am I ever going to wait until I get them to finish my little bear??    

Here's how far I got before I broke my needles:

HELP

I'm trying needlefelting for the first time.  I'm needlefelting a face on a small (4 inch) bear I made a few years ago.   I'm not unhappy with the results so far, but, I've broken 3 needles; a 40, 36 and 32.  Now I'm down to a 42 and a 20 neither of which are working on this little bear.

Do you think I'm needling overzealously? 

Do I need to buy better needles? 

Does anyone else have this problem?

I just said a prayer for you and your husband.  Will keep you in my prayers and thoughts in this difficult time.

Try Neysa Phillippi's website.  www.purelyneysa.com

Pretty sure she has some pretty cool ones.

Soooooooooo funny.  My fave is the scarecrow.  OK my doggies are wearing costumes this year for sure.

Wow again.  He looks so real, I think I saw him sitting on my back deck this morning.  Excellent!!!    :clap: 

Wow . . . So realistic!!  I remember my hamster having those chubby cheeks full of sunflower seeds.   :clap:  :clap:

Thanks, Jodi and Gladys, 

And YES, it was fun to make

, and quick too.  I went into my scrap bag for the mohair.  I have another one cut out.  He (or she) will be a Christmas bear.  We're going to Tahoe this weekend.  I think I'll cut out a couple more to take and work on there.

Jodi,  Thanks so much for the pattern!!!

Here's mine.  I made him a Halloween bear, though. 

Hugs,
Patty

Oooh, I hadn't thought of it for bears before, but I have a video editing program where you film in front of a green screen and then put whatever background you want in place of the green.  I think I'll try this with a bear photo.  I could put my bear, in . . . say,  Tahiti or London, or Mt. Everest or well, any place that I have a photo of.

Count me in!!!  I'd love to make them to give to my girlie-type relatives at Thanksgiving (which I always have at my house).

Marion,  Your Bostons are GREAT!   You gotta love Bostons.  Buster's not too dog friendly either.  It takes him a while to warm up to other dogs.  But we love him!!

How did you do that thing with the blocks??  That is sooooo cool!   :clap:

Ooooooh yes.

That's a pretty darned good first bear, Jodi.  Mine is toooooo embarassing  :redface: .  Maybe I'll dig it out and post it someday.  My daughter wouldn't let me throw it away.  Maybe I'll give it to her.