Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Ok don't be jealous but I broke from work on the 21st and am not back til..................................7th Jan
I always tack a few days on, I should go back on the 2nd to my day job

As for bear making this is the first time that I have really had quality time to enjoy the making process

Ladder stitch and stuffing seemed to feature in my christmas day :hug:

Oh dear, I have a book on household remedies but unfortunately it only mentions mould on walls and windows and the remedy is bleach, a no no for the dress, have you tried stain devils, they do several types of stain remover and may have a milldew one, other than that it may be worth a trip to the dry cleaners, cos they are great for being able to deal with things like this...................although I would have thought there would have been an old fashioned remedy
PS dress looks fab on you :hug:

Hi Chad and Victoria, I bought my copy just before xmas and thought what a great article, your bears are just amazing :hug:

Oh Jane, what a lucky escape, lets here it for the detector :clap:
Years ago (about 20) I was away at college and my parents back boiler on the fire became blocked, over time my mum and dad just felt more and more ill, luckily one day mum spotted a funny coloured flame in the fire and called the gas man, he said they were a week away from being dead, so you cannot be too careful with these things

Glad you are all ok

Having just read yours Debbie, the actual trip is not booked yet as they only fly from April to September (its a gift ticket for a future flight), so I may contact the company at the time we book it to see if they would offer a discount on a second ticket, I think that it is a really good point over the memories shared thing.
PS I hate heights :crackup:

Dilu, yes I have raised a wonderful young lady and for the way she has behaved over it, I treated her to her first steiff (the catalogue bear) for an extra for xmas. crossed fingers it arrives in time. Don't be too hard on yourself an arc welder is most mans dreams (I did that one a few years ago, although he has not really used it yet :crackup: ) but trust me I am sure he loves you for it. :hug:

Edie, its a great idea and I did think of it for a few minutes but it was £143 which I know was a special offer with a gift pack included (binocs,dvd etc), the trouble is I know hubby would only worry that Catherine would have a fit on the trip (she has epilepsy)and thus would not fully enjoy it himself, you see since she was little, hubby has been a big baby were that was concerned and it would mean I would have to go as well (3 x £143??? heck). I did say that if she wanted to do that instead of a party for her 18th then I would do it for her.  :hug:

Oh dear, a terrible thing has happened, I bought my hubby a balloon trip with well known company for xmas, it has been his life long dream and as he turned 40 this year. I am so bad at keeping secrets I had to tell someone, so I told my daughter.

About 3 hours after telling her, when hubs was out of ear shot I said "what do you think....."
the reply was "Its going to be great, I can't wait....." Ugh!! "No Its for your dad not us"

30 minutes later her sobs subsided..........................oh do I feel bad, she had assumed, as we do most things together, we would all be going. She was great about it and genuinely wants her dad to enjoy it, which made me feel even worse. I realised through the guilt that I had a great kid (16 yrs old) no tantrums, shouts or anything just racking sobs followed by "don't worry mum its ok, I don't mind really "

the guilt though is unbearable

So many best wishes Iva, you look fab.

Wow, well we got married 25th June 1988, thats 19 1/2 years.

But isn't it amazing that so many of us have been married long times, most of my friends are divorced or on 2nd/3rd marriages/relationships, maybe it a teddy loving thing, we all end up surviving, most of us

:hug: that is for those that have had bad times :hug:

Hi Chrissi, I can knit both the continental way and UK way, I do find that my tension (size of the stitches on the row below) goes abit wobbly with continental.
The video looks great but it kept pausing on me.
Years ago I had a book similar to the one suggested, as my mother is left handed-a nightmare, my first project was a very unusual shaped garter stitch jumper in pink and my next was a picture sweater with a house and sheep(all the rage in the early 90's-don't laugh).
Moral- DON'T give up, knit squares, you can always sew them together for cushion covers, very hip and retro at the moment and if you vary the size of the squares/rectangles you could have a front, back and 2 sleeves of a bears jumper before you know it :dance:
The very best thing I learnt was how the stitch held together with the next stitch and the one below, it made it so much easier.
Hope some of this helps :hug:

Congrats, a well deserved win, they are both adorable and I'm so glad it turned a bad day into a good one :hug:

Hi there, you don't say if it's mohair or faux fur, I am allergic to all soft furred animals -short haired cats, rabbits and greyhounds.
I have found that I am ok with mohair but have a problem with the luxury faux fur because it is so dense, my solution when trimming is to do it outside, if thats not possible then have a plastic bag on my knee and only do a few pieces a night.
An old knitter trick for mohair is to put it in the fridge over night (or freezer for a short while) it stops the mohair from shedding.
Much luck it may be just the actual fabric you are using so an excuse for more buying of different types-short, sparse etc  as if we need an excuse for buying

PS the two bears I looked for who appear in the main first page as featured bears,one by a fellow TT'r, I still can't find at all and have tried variations on the options  

Hi Guys What a BLXXDY mess, have just spent this diner looking at it, my observations are that the listing criteria is different in UK to US now, after the first page on Uk selling it goes into all sub catagories, but the US doesn't, could not find any UK artists who list in US ($)in catagory "brand"-bears followed by sub cat "artist" instead found a few in "brand"-not catagorised, it appears if listing in US ebay it puts you anywhere, therefore forcing our hands to list in UK ebay, and what about our neighbours across the water so much for a single worldwide artist section!!!!! hope you all understand the ramblings, have had to be very quick and am a bit mad

Gemma -thank you, your bears are lovely and deserve their place :hug:
Carol -I am so glad you like my website and bears, your words are very encouraging
Chloe -you sure made me smile "mentally unwell" indeed!!!The website was very easy, the worst part was fiddling with the size of the photos, I used freewebs and would definitly recommend it :hug:

Chloe, a massive congrats, I just knew they would pick you :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

Now, you go girl and wave that Grantham flag as high as possible :clap:

do we have a flag????poss not :crackup:

Maria -Being ones own worst critic is bad for the heart but I have always said that, that is what makes you guys the best in this business, to strive for perfection again and again, so maybe I should listen to myself??

Lisa -Thanks for looking at my web, I am actually very proud of it, it is only basic, I have no experience at all, it took me a week by myself of 7am to 7.45am each day with a cup of tea. As to the nominations I just knew, when I saw yours and Chloe's entry that you should be awarded a place :hug: 

Ruth -Thank you for the words of encouragement, you truely are a soul sister, I do so know where you are coming from, I wish I didn't but I was made this way with help from my dad, who I love dearly but boy could he be harsh. I do have him to thank for alot, as I am my families sorter outer :hug:

Jenny -thanks for the little gentle kick. YES fight another day, move onwards and upwards
You guys just make me feel so much better :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

Thanks Maria, I think that I tend to look for faults in my work, so this only goes to making me feel worse. I am not the type of person that can turn round and say mine are as good as everyone elses, I wish I could.
Congrats for the best in show, big huggies back :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

Firstly a very big Congrats to all those from TT that have been nominated :dance:  :clap:

But how does one feel if you aren't??

Cos I'm feeling a bit blue about it, hubby words were " your not going to be mardy now are you?"
So a lot of sympathy there
I am sure I will be ok tomorrow but today is a different matter, I'm just a bit down but don't want to take the shine of those that have been nominated, cos their entries are wonderful. Sue XX

PS I have been building a website so please take a peak. let me know what you think

Priceless, the tears are rolling down my face, love the last line :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

:clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap: Lets here it for ebay

And such great news that US bears will be seen in the UK, less hopping about

Congratulations on your retirement as an advisor, I am sure that it was a hard decision to make, to let a child go is the hardest thing, I am not going to say you will be missed because that sounds as if you are going for good and I sincerely hope you are not.

I will say that I do look forward to your continued help (when you have time and when you choose)

You see you forgot 1 thing..............once a giver always a giver :hug:  :hug:

I voted in the awards, some of them winners and some not.

I think that it is difficult to say whether some bear or some one won out of popularity or canvassing, as Catherine above, I voted for what I liked, you could say that one of my votes was biased due to the fact that she is english (she did not win but should have) I voted for her because I absolutely adore her work and she inspired me months ago to give it a go, BUT it was my choice with no influence, everyone has their favourites and I presume that the bear maker who won several catagories is hot property at the moment, I feel that they did deserve to win and if I was them I would be pretty upset to think that I had not got there on talent, I also voted for them to win in some catagories. I would also presume that due to the volume of votes that they receive it would be difficult for one artist to generate that much votes for themselves

I hope that this has not offended, it is just my opinion, typed very quickly as need to go to work :hug: sorry

Dearest Nina, I can not add any more than Shelli,
Take each day one at a time you will have good ones and bad,
Your egg is truely stunning, it is both a work of art and  a life long treasure

Sue xxx

He is absolutely stunning :hug: