Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

OK...I'm signing up. Unfortunately the North County site is down just now.
Are you supplying a pattern that we make and then felt or do we pick our own?

Marion

I've been felting it right onto the mohair. Cut the mohair back somewhat and then sort of pre-felt your roving into a small ball and then felt it on. If it's not right you can add more to it. It makes great noses.
Now I cd be all wet cause I haven't taken Judi's course yet but that is what I'm doing now.
Marion

My boss assured me that all I had to do was cut off the plastic end and pour out the shot. Told me it would not be dangerous....however he is a  lawyer and maybe he wants to replace me with a cute [INVALID] younger model:/
nooooo. what am I saying...he's helpless without me!
snicker snicker,
Marion

OK...you've shown us all up Judi...you are the best! I want to take your on-line course but have been waiting for the details to show. Can you give us a hint of what the course will be about. I'm hoping you'll be teaching us how achieve the great looks of your face felted bears!

Marion

I asked my boss if he happend to have any steel shot since I know he hunts sometimes. He just had his 10 yr old daughter deliver two boxes of shotgun shells to me. He said I can open them up and use the shot! Do you think he's trying to get rid of me? Do you think they'll explode? I'll get my husband to do it - he's insured.

I had to explain to the girls that I wasn't going hunting - it was for teddy bears!

Marion

I donate several bears a year to different charities or whatever. I make one each year for the Girls Inc. auction. We have a family reunion at our farm each year and many of us donate craft items which we raffle off. This year we had about 70 people and raised $415 which was donated to Girls Inc. Our bear making guild makes a couple of bears for charity each year as well (we each make a piece) and donate them to different charity auctions. I also like to give away 'care bears' if I know someone is in need.

Marion

These are some of my feltie creatures. I love felting but have put it aside for the summer. I have a new pattern from Bobby Rippenger for a realistic polar bear but I want to finish a couple of mohair bears first and then there is the thread bear I've been working on....and unfortunately work keeps getting in the way.

Marion

I got Barbara Allen's book last winter when I wanted to try felting. I found it informative and it did give me a start. There are a lot of free resources on the net for felting and I just bought a pattern from Robert Ripperger for a felted polar bear that is absolutely fantastic. Haven't started yet but her technique is different and I think will give you an even better start in felting. If you google her you'll find pics of her work. She also gives workshops but is taking this year off to write a book on felting.
I have felted noses on bears but want to do more. I'm signing up for Judi Paul's course on felting faces cause she is the master (mistress?).

And I agree with Heather...felted hair would look great. I've just felted a mane on a lion.

Marion

When I visited Calgary recently I went to Out of Hands Shop Needle Arts.  It's a marvellous store with great patterns, a smallish amount of mohair and great accessories. Most of their patterns are by Bramble Bears and what was especially nice was there is a made bear that you could see for almost every pattern! They also carry a nice selection of quilting materials, some roving etc for needlefelting and materials for other crafts. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff and they also give courses.
web site is www.out-of-hand-com

I also order on-line from Disco Joints in Ontario, Sassy Bears and Fabrics in the States, the 1 Stop Bear Shop in Alberta and Mignonettestitch.com in New Brunswick.

I'm also fortunate in that a friend of mine here in Brockville runs a smallish bear supply out of her home.   

So many bears - so little time!

Marion

Great bear! I used a similar fabric several years ago for a large bear that also turned out to be a Yettie! I didn't do the embroidery and I remember the fur was flying all over the place. I'll have to check my home computer and see if I still have a pic of her cause my sister took the bear from my home.

Marion

I've found for the past 6 years that working on a teddy relieved my stress! I let my 4 kids live thru their teen-age years (it was hard) and now they are grown and GONE!! Unfortunately I lost my Mom suddenly last year and my Dad was also ill and now requires more help. They both have lived with us the past 20 years. The stress of that plus a bit else has made me crash emotionally and I need to take celexa. I tried not taking them and even I realized that I was not doing well. So I will listen to my doctor and try them for another few months. Please everyone - don't tell Tom Cruise on me!

Marion

I use a coated copper wire that my husband gave me. He joins it to a thingey that goes over the cotter pin. Sorry - my description leaves a lot to be desired. If you want I will ask him for a more comprehensive description and send it to you. The wire is light and bends anywhichway and depending on the size of the bear I use it doubled or single. I believe it is very cheap to obtain at RadioShack or whatever.

Marion

Shelli....a tat; you devil you.
All of my children have tats and last spring I decided to get one too. I got a little daisy on my shoulder in honour of my mom.  Amazingly enough, my husband has none and he was in the marines stationed near Tiajuana!  I'm thinking of getting another one; apparently they are addictive - just like bearmaking.

Marion

I was sooo bad, especially in my teen years: partying, drinking, bikers, etc etc. I'm the oldest of 11 so my parents trusted me more than they should have. Was not able to get through high school - entirely my fault. Fortunately my kids don't know of most of my shenanigans so I can still lecture them on the pitfalls of life without sounding like a hypocrite - not that they listen much anyway. I married the biker 35 years ago and now we live a fairly quiet life on a small farm. He's now retired but still has long hair (now grey) and a full beard - looks scary but really a pussycat. I've been working in a law firm for the past 17 years - can't get much more respectible than that!   I find bearmaking is a great stress-reliever.

Marion

Dilu - what you said is so true. I'm in Ontario and our gas prices hit $1.03/litre today. I remember 6 years ago it was .38...and our gvt says there is no collusion between the gas companies in pricing! Since the gvt gets a hefty portion of gas prices by way of taxes and the taxes go up proportinally with the price I don't see that they have any interest in controlling the price of gas! We are fortunate in our health care h/e the gvt is starting to privatize health care so the wealthy don't have to wait so long.
We are almost debt free - I did so want a new car last year! It's not a gas guzzler h/e. We've tried to bring up four kids up as socialists and politically savvy, mostly by example. I wonder where we went wrong with one son - he's conservative and a financial adviser:rolleyes: but hopefully he'll grow out of it:)
I shudder when I see the debt most families carry these days. I was thankfully able to stay home and raise my kids. Now both parents really have to work to be able to earn a decent living. When we married 35 years ago we started out with 2nd hand everything. Now when kids marry they get all new furniture with those buy now pay later debts, not to mention the school debt most of them also have.

Marion

Your macaw sounds lovely. Most people don't realize how smart and loving the larger parrots are. Unfortunately some people get them cause they look so beautiful and don't realize how much TIME they require, often more time than a cat or dog. If they don't have your socializing time they can become unmanageable, even insane, and since they live such long lives, tend to be passed from owner to owner. My Bentley loved to cuddle with me and just about purred when I scritched him. He'd lie on his back to get his belly rubbed and spred his wings for more scratching. He was firmly convinced that I was his mate for life and would stop anyone from approaching me. I know I don't have the required time for a larger bird now since my Boston's would strongly object to sharing any of their quality time.

OK...so what's wrong with Easter bunny for Easter! Actually, my bloodthirsty kids used to pick out the rabbit they wanted to invite for dinner and watch the whole procedure. I must admit as well that they would set Easter bunny traps in hopes of getting more candy. These were anything from a cardboard box with a stick and  string attached to a jar of my zuchinni preserves (in hopes of poisoning the bunny I think).

Hey, is it only my kids. Haven't any of you guys found threatening notes left for the tooth fairy?....Christmas wish lists left in obvious places....maybe our whole family needs therapy!!

Groan,

Marion

goodness, I must have been lucky. I only got "warm flashes" and they only lasted a few months. I was also in my early 50's at the time. Quite glad to be done with all that nonsense although I still have those nightmares where I wake up thinking I'm pregnant, even tho I was fixed 25 years ago after having 4 kids. :o

All of you be forewarned however. If you let your kids have pets it's most likely when they move out they'll leave the pets behind. I presently have a dog and cat of my daughters - for some reason she didn't want to take them to Thailand. My son left his Dalmatian, who died last year of old age...and all of them left their darn turtles who grew to the size of dinner plates. Make them sign a contract that the pets leave with them! Then there'll be more room for your pets!

Hugs,
Marion

OK, Ok... so we have bunnies as well. About 20 or so. They are not pets....need I say more.  And then there are the 6 pigs, 30 chickens and 6 cows. We've cut down somewhat; we usually have some lambs, ducks and turkeys as well. It was funny the other day, the pigs got out of their yard somehow and I snicked as I watched them happily follow my husband back into the yard cause he was carrying the food pail. Pigs are really ruled by their stomach. As my husband says...we feed them for 6 mths and they feed us for 6 mths so it's a great arrangement either way.

Marion

Your parrot sounds like the mitred conure I had. This previously abused parrot took over the house. Hated everyone in the house except for me and he showed his love for me thru 'love bites' that left lovely bruises. He terrorized the dogs, including my Newf, and the my cats left the room if he was free. Some of my kids were home then too and boy, did he ever hate them and my husband - to the point of flying swoops with claws extended. If he was in his very large cage he would shriek if my son was trying to watch tv. We had him for 6 yrs and then 3 yrs ago I found him a great home in Ottawa with people who were experienced with parrots. The jig was up and now he's perfectly behaved.
My kids still miss him tho - they were looking forward to that very special Thanksgiving meal with him as the main course.

Marion

Yeah, we no sooner get rid of our kids and then start collecting animals. I never let my kids in bed with me. Now I wake up to three Boston Terrorists sleeping under the covers snuggled up to me and usually a cat on top. My husband also insists in sleeping in the same bed! Then it's downstairs to let everyone out and the tiel is screeching good morning, the downstairs cat is trying to trip me and usually fighting with the upstairs cat and the dogs are just generally all over. Luckily I'm over the big M tho. Accordingly to my husband I was mean and nasty for a couple of months during it but he was smart enuf to not say anything and I let him live. My nurse practioner recommended supplements to help me over the worse - Vit E, Valerian and I think St. John's Wort.

Marion

If you're sure you fitted it properly from the nose to the neck and it's still a bit short then maybe you can just cut a strip of mohair and sew in on the end. It won't show anyway under the head. Or...as you said, cut the head since it's only 1/2" short. 
I have found that sometimes the head gusset doesn't fit properly in a pattern. Often I sort of measure the pieces before I sew if I'm not sure of a pattern.

Regards,
Marion

OK, here's a couple of pics of my work. The dragon is felted and now living in Thailand with my daughter. The blue mini is living with Heather in Calgary and the clown mini's are with my brother and other daughter in Calgary.

Marion

This is a pic of some of my felties.  As you can see - the bear on the far right is the one she bought for her husband and used for the purse.

Marion

Ok - I think this is it! Thanks Dilu.

Marion