This Sceptered Isle

I know much of the world is in a right royal fug and wherever you live, disgruntled folk will no doubt complain about weather, economics, Government, neighbours - even the numbers of potholes in local roads!  Yes, you name it and I'm sure someone will be moaning about it.  

'Victor' 2008

But I'm an old fashioned girl and have never been touched by the 'grass is greener' lure of the great wide beyond.  I'll pack my flip-flops, hop on a plane and dip my toe in warmer waters once a year with the best of 'em, but despite potholes a-plenty in my tiny corner of the world, a depressing economic climate and weather so unpredictable you might be wearing t-shirts one minute and raincoats the next, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

'Jack' 2010

I love our beautiful British countryside, the hustle and bustle of historic towns and cities, the freedom to wander up hill and down dale ... yes, I confess, I even love the mystery of our English weather!  (After all, whatever would we talk about if the sun always shone?)

'George' 2011

So, on this sunny November day, here in the 'Garden of England',  I would like to introduce you to three special patriotic bears ...
Victor, Jack and George.

And a rather lovely poem ...

This Sceptered Isle

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall,

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England

From Richard II, Act 2 (Shakespeare)

Challenged ... part 2!

As I was about to tell you yesterday, before I started work on my challenge bear's white bits I discovered I didn't have any suitable blue paw fabric;  fortunately though, I did have a piece of white felt tucked away in a storage box, so before I could go any further with my project, I had to nip back down to the stove ....

And after a little more hubble bubble, my scrap of white felt soon became the perfect matching shade of blue!

My plan for this project was to tackle the advanced element of the Guild's 'A Teddy Bear World' challenge by creating a 1950's 'Chiltern Hugmee' style bear, in clown style.  After scouring the internet for information about the Chiltern Hygenic Toy Company, I only managed to find a couple of photographs of their clown bears dating back to the 1930's, but that was enough to tell me Chiltern had once manufactured teddy bears in clown style!

1930's Chiltern clown/harlequin style bear

As my first childhood teddy was a 1950's Chiltern Hugmee and I have always had a fondness for this most English of bears, I decided to meet the Guild challenge criteria by attempting to create a 1950's Hugmee type bear in patriotic clown style ...

My mohair dye bath worked perfectly, giving me the vibrant red and blue colours of our national Union Jack flag.

And once sewn, I could begin to see my design taking shape!

As the Chiltern Toy Company used excelsior in their bears' heads, I decided I would give it a go too ... but it was such a messy job, I don't think it's something I'll be repeating in a hurry!

Chiltern Hugmee bears were stuffed with a natural fibre called kapok, so that's what I chose to use for my challenge bear.  Boy did that stuff tickle my nose ...  from now on, I will be forever grateful for my usual, non-tickly, polyester!

Something old, something new!

I have really enjoyed the opportunity this Guild challenge has given me to step away from my usual style of work and do something completely different.

 So here he is, introducing my challenge submission 'Jack' ...

I do hope you think he might have made an acceptable addition to the 1950's Chiltern Hugmee range of teddy bears!