A Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I sculpted this seasonal fellow from paper clay.  Due to lack of snow, he is covered with glittery artificial snow.  Ho ho, ho!

Christmas is coming...

I'd like to thank the lovely collectors who adopted bears at the Christmas Treasures online show!  It is always lovely to know they have gone to loving homes.

I haven't posted in a while.  Unfortunately, my health has not been good this year and this has impacted on my bear making.  In fact, I have had to withdraw from the Great Brighton Teddy Bear Event this weekend.  Apologies to collectors who were hoping to see me there.

I have been finding it more and more difficult to work on large realistic bears, especially their armatures, and so in future I will only be creating smaller teddies without armatures.  It is difficult to explain the amount of strength needed to create large bears.  I do have three large, realistic bears  that I will offer for adoption over the next few months, but they are likely to be the last.  For the forseeable future, I will be developing my smaller whimsical designs.  This is a very difficult decision for me as I adore realistic style bears, but I need to put my health first.
I hope to launch my new Whimsical Teddies  designs at Hugglets in February.

Wishing everyone a lovely Christmas

Hugs

Sue

The Christmas Treasures Preview has Begun

Ooooh!  There are some lovely preview bears on show at:
www.teddiesworldwide.com

You can vote for your favourites until November 14th.

I've had great fun creating my preview bear!  I adore polar bears, and Christmas is a great excuse to make one...or more! 

The show is open from the 15-17th November.

Not Just Twiddling my Thumbs

I may not have been blogging much lately, but have been very busy Chez Teddybuys.  Here is my 'To Do' list:

1. I am busy creating bears for the Christmas Treasures online show in November.  I am not allowed to show any of my creations before the show opens...not even a peek!  
2. I am also starting to create for the Great Brighton Teddybear Event in December.  There is a sweet photo of Teddybuys Whisper  in the October\November edition of Teddybear Times.
3. I have a collector and a shop waiting for bears, so am fitting these in around everything else.
4.  I am beyond delighted at the prospect of becoming a grandmother for the first time next April!  Of course, that means making a cot quilt for the new arrival.  Progress can be followed on: http://www.mygreatquiltingexpedition.blogspot.co.uk/ 
5. I am also making mug rugs for the Quilting Bloggers Fall Inspired Swap.  I have a lovely swap partner, Zanna, who is South African but living in Bahrain.
6. Oh, and I started the Advanced Quilting course at Kathy's Patch last Thursday and need to finish my New York Beauty block.  I have made New York Beauty before, but this is a more complex block. 
7. I also have some polymer clay sculpts waiting for completion.

I'm not sure it was a good idea to make a 'To Do' list (now that I see how long it is)!

Thank You

Thank you to the lovely collectors who adopted my bears at Hugglets yesterday!  You make all the time and effort that goes into the bears worthwhile!
Hugs
Sue

Hugglets Preview

I'm nearly ready for Hugglets in London on Sunday.  I will be upstairs on table 129.  This time, I am taking my more realistic style teddies and smaller, whimsical bears.  I won't have many bears with me this time.  My wedding, poor health earlier in the year and commissions to complete have all reduced the number of bears I've had available for adoption. 

The Big Bears

The big bears are all made from either Schulte or Helmbold German alpaca.  They all have nut and bolt double-neck joints, and jointed legs.  They all have wire armatures in their arms and legs.  Their noses have been individually sculpted by myself using epoxy clay.  Mischief and Damson are designed to stand on all fours.

Mischief

Max

McTavish

Oscar

The Whimsies

I cannot resist making designing and making these smaller, mostly hand-dyed by myself, grungy old fashioned style bears.  

Daisy

Pixie Rose

Plum

 

Eliza

Forget-me-not

Another Finish for Hugglets

I have just finished this large, 22 inch polar teddy bear, ready to take to Hugglets two weeks tomorrow.  I am really pleased with this design...a fusion between teddy bear and realistic bear.  He is made with beautiful, soft Steiff Schulte white alpaca.  His paw pads are appliqued and trapunto stuffed.

I may now need to go back to smaller teds as working with heavy wire armatures and stuffing large bears is playing havoc with my tennis elbow, my wrists and hands!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Bear making is in full swing chez Teddybuys.  After the euphoria of finishing TWO bears for Hugglets last week, I've made some changes to my head design to create a new polar bear.  Actually, the head is as far as I've managed to get so far!  He is going to be another big one.  I can't resist polar bears.  They are one of the most difficult bears to 'give a personality' because of all the white fur...but I cannot resist trying.  This chap is being made using gorgeous, Steiff Schulte alpaca.

 

Whisper

Wow, two updates in two days!  No, I really cannot make bears that quickly!

Whisper has been sitting on my worktable waiting for a head!  She is a brown bear cub made from the same alpaca as Max.  She has been designed to stand on all fours.  She has a double neck joint and nut and bolt joints in all four legs.  Her limbs have a strong wire armature, allowing her to stand in a number of different poses.  Her nose has been sculpted by myself using epoxy clay.  I have tried to capture the appearance of a vulnerable, young cub.

She will be coming to Hugglets with me on the 8th September.  She has been adopted, so will not be coming to Hugglets.

Hugglets is less than a month away...

I have struggled to come down to earth after all the excitement in July.  A delivery of my favourite tipped Helmbold alpaca arrived while I was away. 

I have completed the largest bear I have made in years.  His name is Max and he is about 22 inches tall.

He has a sweet, gentle personality to go with his large size and can stand on his own if posed carefully.  Max will come with me to Hugglets if I can get him into my cases!

I have an all fours bear nearly finished and am busy dyeing mohair for my little, whimsical teddies.

The Honeymoon is Over...

The wedding is over...the honeymoon has come and gone, my birthday will not happen for another 364 days...so no more excuses.  It's time to get back to reality!

I am working on a new large bear for Hugglets...

Big Catch Up

The last month has been a complete whirl - the Teddies Worldwide Online Show, followed 5 days later with my marriage to Mike, and sailing off the following day for two weeks.

I took Matilda and Lucky into the garden before packing them up for their long trip down under.

Mike and I had a lovely wedding day.  We were a small party,  with just close family.  We were blessed with good weather - sunny but not too hot.

 My family

 Our family

 

 Mike's family

I decided to make and decorate the cake myself. I made all the flowers, leaves and decorations from sugar paste.  The top tier is a chocolate cake, the bottom is fruit cake.

I made mug rugs as wedding favours as small gifts for our guests. 

There are better photos of these on my other blog:

http://mygreatquiltingexpedition.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wedding-favours.html

We had a wonderful two week holiday.  The ship was wonderful...with far, too much delicious food.  I even took water colour painting classes onboard.  We travelled to Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Norwegian fjords.  We even saw a whale while leaving an Icelandic fjord.   I have attached a few of the 700 photos we took, below.

Oh well, all the excitement is over and it's back to reality.  I need to get on with creating bears for Hugglets!

The Teddies Worldwide Show has Begun

I have five pieces available for adoption until Sunday evening. If you would like to adopt one of the bears or other animals, please go to: www.teddiesworldwide.com

Matilda - Lunch with a Friend - Adopted

Lucky - an American Black Bear Cub - Adopted

Chico Adopted

Old Circus Ellie

Pull Along Piggie