We're having a heatwave

 

We're having a heatwave

As I sit here, relishing the breeze wafting across my shoulders from the fan conveniently placed behind me, with my dogs snoozing in front of yet another large floor fan, I must admit I feel rather lazy and a little bit sleepy! The summer heat is back here in the UK and that means the temperature in my workroom is on par with a sauna, the garden is scorching as the strong sunshine beats down outside ... and my energy for all things creative, is well and truly zapped!

It has been a while since my last blog post, so now seems as good time a time as any, to tap away on my keyboard...

Besides making teddy bears and walking my three dogs, I have recently re-introduced my 'Tiddler' sized teddy bears after their brief sabbatical.  If I am totally honest, they are not my favourite to make, simply because at only slightly bigger than my coffee mug, I find the small scale a fiddle... but even I can't deny their cute appeal and they certainly do look super cute perched among my bigger bears. How some bearmakers cope creating miniature teddy bears, I really do not know. That is a skill far from the ability of my own bear-making fingertips... the Tiddlers are the smallest bears I think I am ever likely to make.

Last week, the postie delivered some fabulous mohair all the way from the US. One piece I must set aside for a special commission order, promised for early Autumn. The other two pieces are so glorious, I may decide to use them together to create a summer clown bear ... although I am also tempted to save the wonderfully vibrant orange for Halloween ... Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Summer can be a strange time for making teddy bears. Working with mohair becomes tricky when the weather is so warm and my workroom becomes stuffy. No bearmaker really enjoys working with their hands when they are hot and sweaty! Also, teddy bear collectors are usually otherwise occupied at this time of year, with 'treat funds' naturally redirected towards family holidays, summer wardrobes and special days out... and of course, school holidays mean my 'Nana Duty' is reinstated with long days to fill entertaining two lively Grandchildren... not that it is a chore you understand, we really do love our time together, but of course, it means that just for a few weeks, there will be a little less time available for work.

With luck, we may take a last minute short break somewhere with the dogs too; after all, summer wouldn't be summer without giving them the chance to splash through a few waves! Fingers crossed I can whistle something up, I am definitely craving a change of scenery ...

In the meantime, I have been ploughing through a stack of paperback novels to while the afternoon heat away... today I placed Rob Rinder's second novel, an engaging legal thriller titled 'The Suspect', on my 'ready-to-pass-on' pile and slipped a bookmark (aka All Bear postcard) into the cover of David Nicholls' latest book titled 'You are here'. I watched the author interviewed on 'This Morning' recently and thought his book sounded like my cup of tea, so ordered it straightaway, much as I dislike ordering brand new books... (at heart I am a secondhand book reader and always try to buy used copies where possible. However, this time, I made an exception and by the magic of Amazon, a shiny new hardback copy arrived yesterday, with perfect timing!) I also read books by Kristin Hannah, Percival Everett and Rebecca F. Kuang over the past couple of weeks ... the Kristin Hannah books were by far my favourites, so I will definitely read more of those; the other two books were okay but not really to my lazy day, easy read, summer heat, requirements.

Hopefully this wearisome heat and humidity will ease soon. It is the second heatwave we have endured of late and already I am bored with it, so are the dogs. By August, days usually start to feel more pleasant with a promise of autumn ...  so for me, a much nicer time for making teddy bears ... and perhaps some knitting too!

Anyway, I seem to have rambled for quite a considerable while, so I will sign off now. Please bear with me if the website seems on the quiet side through the coming weeks; I will still be working on new teddy bears, but likely at a slightly more leisurely place!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog.

Catch up soon,
Paula x

Hickory-Dickory

Never in my wildest dreams (not that my dreams are usually particuarly wild!) did I imagine I would be sharing my teddys under home confinement, due to a worldwide health pandemic and Government Lockdown. It seems the world has turned upside down, inside out and back to front of late and it is all extremely discombobulating, to say the least...

Nonetheless, the little things of life continue here without much interruption and I am extremely grateful for the calm of my teddy bear sanctuary, during these unfathomable times...

We have now completed our first full week of Lockdown here in the UK and I must say, it has been most strange to be prohibited by the Prime Minister from visiting my own family! I miss my children and grandchildren hugely, but at least we are able to keep in frequent contact via the magic of 'Facetime' and of course, by chatting on the telephone. Receiving a video call from my Grandchildren is a rowdy affair and seeing their excited faces and race to share news of discoveries, games and treats, makes my Nana heart absolutely sing!

I purchased writing paper last week, so plan to dust off long forgotten handwriting skills and send a few old fashioned penpal type missives t0 my Grandchildren by snail mail ... that will surprise them, if nothing else!  I have been recording stories for them too and it has been fun to revisit Winnie the Pooh and share his world with Toby and Izzy thanks to the miracle of modern technology. Not quite the same as snuggling together on the sofa to read of course, but at least a good way to keep our life as normal as possible until we can see each other again ...

... and I pray that won't be long.

Stay safe.
Stay busy.
Stay positive.

Tick. Tock.

Much love,

Paula x

A pretty Petal

Gardens everywhere are bursting with pretty Spring flowers at the moment. I am enjoying them immensely in my local area as I walk Polly and Betty each day, so much so in fact, I was inspired to make a Tiddler teddy girl called 'Petal' this week ...

8.5" Petal has been adopted

I am delighted to tell you, my little Spring Petal caught the eye of a collector as soon as she made her way to my website and will be flying overseas on the Spring breeze next week!

:-)

Time for a Tiddler!

Little Jim is such a cutie!

'Little Jim' has been adopted

Little Jim will meet his new owner in person next week and hopefully this sweet wee bear will make a big impression upon arrival!

If you have been waiting patiently for a Tiddler to arrive, you might like to know I will have a Tiddler girl teddy arriving on my website in a few days' time. 

Please visit www.allbearbypaula.com a bit later next week, if you would like to meet her. 

Thank you!

:-)

A travelling companion?

After compiling my 2016 portfolio of teddy bears, I noticed I hadn't made any little bears last year ... not even one! I had a piece of Doodle's mohair left over, so I decided to put it to good use by making a tiddler sized teddy. I think this cheeky wee chap would make a lovely companion for a bigger bear, so am hoping he will find a special friend to sit with, after he is adopted.

8.5" Little Mac

I don't think I will ever make a smaller bear than this as little bears are quite fiddly and almost as time consuming as the big 'uns, but I do like this size. Little Mac sits comfortably in the palm of my hand and would happily slip into a pocket to keep his owner company on an outing.  In fact, now I come to think about it, he would make the perfect travelling companion!

If you would like more information about this pint sized teddy, you are very welcome to visit my website. Little Mac will be delighted to see you there!

www.allbearbypaula.com 

:-)

Update: Little Mac has been adopted!

Long live the big bear!

When I first began to make bears, for some unfathomable reason, I was always drawn to design new patterns in BIG, then gradually scale them down to more manageable proportions.  I'm not sure how other bearcrafters went about designing their bears back in the mid 90's, but for me, big was and still is, always best.

Monty is a magnificent 25" in height!

There's something immensely satisfying about designing an enormous teddy bear.  A bear to sit proudly, confident of his place in the world and not afraid to make a statement.

Over the years I have found myself reluctantly reducing the stature of my biggest bears to fit with many collectors' requirements for less space hungry teddys, but no more!  Now it's time to bring back my BIG, 'Big 'uns'!

And on that rather defiant note in these space dictated times, I would like to introduce 'Monty', an unashamedly area consuming 25" alpaca teddy bear (shown with Max, an 8" Tiddler bear).  I am happy to tell you 'Monty' was adopted straightaway upon completion, thanks to a keen Twitter follower who had been closely watching work-in-progress pictures published daily from my workroom table, directly to my Twitter feed: 

https://twitter.com/allbearbypaula

I firmly believe we should take care not to lose our big bears in favour of more clinical, minimalist homes.  Big bears are such an important element of the teddy bear's heritage and I for one, am proud to do my bit to help keep his heritage secure ... 

Long live the BIG BEAR!!!!

A big name for a little bear

Hey, it's a double blog post day!

 Thought I'd add this little teddy before I go to bed.  

I just finished him this afternoon ...

I named him 'Maximus' - a big name for a little bear!

He is a shade over 8 inches and happy to sit neatly in the palm of your hand.  He really is a sweetie!

I'll pop him on my website now (www.allbearbypaula.com) then it'll be up the wooden hill to bed for me.  

Sweet dreams everyone!

 :-)

Slow off the blocks

2015 has been slow to fire up my creativity; usually I'm pretty quick off the blocks, but this year there seem to have been a hundred and one other tasks, not least of which is my Tax Return, stealing time away from my new year's bear-making schedule!

14" Lumi

That said, I've been trying hard to make bears between other commitments and have at last finished a lovely wispy bear, created from softly tipped mohair.  As it's Winter here in the UK, I have called him 'Lumi', meaning 'snow'... not that any has fallen here in Kent yet, but I suppose there is still time!

8.5" Tucker

I popped Tucker on my website right before Christmas, but unfortunately didn't have time to photograph him in my studio and had to make do with a quick snap instead.  Hopefully this clearer photograph will help find him a nice new owner soon.

14" Tian Tian is a shop exclusive

One of the reasons I have been slow to add new bears to my website is that I have also been working on the shop order promised to 'One More Bear' before Christmas ... I didn't manage to complete the order in time because the rotten 'flu bowled me over!  This mohair panda bear is part of that order and so is little 'Guthrie' the alpaca bear in the pic below ...

8.5" Guthrie is a shop exclusive

With any luck, I should have three other shop exclusive bears ready to join them in the next week or so and I have also promised to create a special birthday bear for a collector by the end of this month ...

Once my decks are clear of January's catch up, I intend to take full advantage of my 'no Hugglets show' freedom in February and give myself permission to work on the bears waiting patiently in my head!

Onward Paula!

Shuffling through Sunday afternoon

The only clues to Autumn today, are the leaves turning wonderful browns, reds a golds!  The sun is hot, the sky blue, it sure is a beautiful day ... a little too humid for me though, so I've been keeping cool this fine Sunday afternoon, while my Itunes library keeps me entertained on 'shuffle'. 

8.5" Acorn 

How odd, as I type this post, Itunes has shuffled and hit upon one of my Dad's favourite songs, 'Nine million bicycles' by Norah Jones - I haven't heard this for years!  It's made me remember Dad coming to my house for a cuppa one afternoon and just before he drove off up the road, he told me I must to listen to this song ... it was playing on his car radio and he was bowled over by it.  Isn't it strange how music has the power to transport you somewhere you didn't expect to be?!

The real reason I popped on here on this lovely Sunday afternoon, is to let you know about the little bear above ... I've called him 'Acorn' and he is now available to adopt from my website.

Enjoy your Sunday ... memories and all x

Update: Acorn has been adopted.

A Tiddler of a show update!

This may well qualify as my smallest show update ever, but nonetheless, it IS a show update!

8" 'Thimbleberry' will be coming to the Hugglets show

There were moments when I questioned if I would actually succeed in making enough bears to display on my stand at this year's 'Teddies 2014' show (on Sunday 9th September) but by some miracle, have managed to create a select group of Autumn flavoured bears just in the nick of time to show visitors on Sunday - phew!

My Autumn collection of show bears ranges in size from 8" to 19".  This group of bears is sized smaller than usual, so hopefully, those of you who are space compromised and in need of more compact teddy bears, will be able to find a lovely new teddy to fit your needs.

If you would like to know more about the 'Teddies 2014' show, please visit the Hugglets website:

www.hugglets.co.uk

I am looking forward to saying hello in person!

Twinkle and Sparkle time!

I just finished this cheery little Tiddler clown for a collector ... 

She has been named 'Ophelia' by her new mum and will be meeting her later today ...

 Little Ophelia brings my order book to a close for this year, so time now to think 'twinkle and sparkle' and start work on a few Christmas bears in preparation for the 'Great Brighton Teddy Bear Event' on the 8th December. There are only three weeks until show day, so I'd better embrace the season, dust off my Christmas playlist and get cracking ... fa la la la la, la la la la!

Christmas Kisses

The Guild of Master Bearcrafters' challenge group members always relish a festive challenge, so this year I set one titled 'O Christmas Tree', with four creative elements to choose from: members could design a 'Star of Wonder', 'Christmas Fairy', 'The gift', or a 'Beary Tree Decoration' ... and if they had the time and were feeling inspired, they could also create a vignette incorporating three of the four festive tree elements!

'Christmas Kisses'

As I have mentioned in previous posts, finding time has been a challenge in itself lately, so there was no hope of me ever completing the advanced challenge in time for the deadline, but I did manage to squeeze in one of the standard challenge elements and had fun designing my first Tiddler Christmas Fairy, complete with beaded wings!

Many thanks to my fellow Guild challengees for spurring me on to design 'Christmas Kisses' and to end this year's creative work with a lovely new Tiddler bear design!

Approved! The Winter Woolies

My little shop exclusive Tiddler collection 'The Winter Woolies' has been approved by One More Bear in Stoke on Trent today, so I am delighted to tell you, they will be hopping into a box on Monday morning to make their debut on the Trentham Estate next week!

8" 'Dickie'

8" Harriet

8" Marvin

8" Nola

Waiting for client approval is always a nail biting time, so I am delighted this little crew of Tiddlers has been warmly received and I wish Tracy and her team every success with them in the run-up to Christmas.

'The Winter Woolies'

Bon voyage little Tiddlers!

Maggie May

It may not be late September as the song says, but if I tell you quite unashamedly I have been singing along to Rod Stewart on my Itunes playlist whilst finishing this little girl bear, you'll probably guess where the inspiration for her name came from ... yes, she's called 'Maggie May'!

8.5" 'Maggie May' 

Besides which, it's May Day today, so 'Maggie May' seems particularly apt ... thanks for your help Rod!