Indian Summer?

Good day fellow bloggers and blog followers!  Yet another month has skipped past me and I have no idea what I have done with all that time!  Naturally I have been busy sewing, getting ready for a show next month in Sheffield, my only show this year!


This last week has been an odd one.  Not only has the weather been acting strange but my mind has been following suit!  We have been having temperatures up in the high 20's which is most odd for this time of year but we must make the most of it as no doubt it will be a long cold winter.......which I have to say is most welcome to me as I am a winter loving girl!  Nothing makes me happier than long cold wintry walks, howling gales and snow!  I can put on my thick jumpers, wooly socks and curl up on the sofa in front of a nice coal fire and read a good book..........heaven!  I hate loathe and detest hot weather, it makes me all uncomfortable and grumpy!


As  for my mind being a bit odd well that is fairly common place really, I have always been an out of the box thinker and some of my ideas are a tad 'out there' but recently it has been my beary business that has caused me great consternation.  Sales have been horrible this last few months and I had to consider giving it all up and going back to main stream work (yeuch).  But not being a quitter I have decided to struggle on and see if things improve over the next six months.  Mercenary though it may sound, I am waiting on the outcome of my husbands claim for compensation.  If he gets enough money we can pay off our debts and the burden of having to make a certain amount of money a month is lifted from my shoulders and I can suffer some bad months a lot easier.    I have however decided to reduce my prices to make the bears more affordable to everyone who wants to collect but is in the same boat as me!


Also I got sick and tired of my website!  I was having huge problems with it just not doing what I wanted it to do and I get plain old fed up with paying for something that was not giving me value for money so I moved the whole lot over to blogger and now run my business from there.  It is much easier and I rather like the look  of it too thanks to Shabby Blogs who have some amazing templates to make it all look lovely!  My new website/blog can be found at http://thingumyandco-bry.blogspot.com .


Lastly I have been working on a new design.  Well it is an old design that I love but there was something missing so I fiddled around with it and now I am delighted with it, hope you all like the new bears that I have created from it.

It only remains for me to say ttfn and speak to you again soon :0)x

Autumn is here.....hoorah!

My apologies for the huge gap in musings!  I can't believe it is already the 7th of September!  I haven't been on here since mid July!  I wish I had a good excuse but I don't!  I have been busy sewing as usual and have even taken a small break and disappeared off to South Wales for a few days but apart from that life jogs along as normal.

I love this time of year, the trees are all turning and changing out of their green coats and donning the reds and oranges of Autumn.  The winds have started to blow a chillier tune and the sky has turned a paler blue and the sun is losing her heat.  I adore the Autumn and Winter months, I positively look forward to the end of summer as I like nothing more than rain and sleet, snow and ice.  I have no idea why I guess I am just a home bird who likes to snuggle up in warm sweaters and have log fires and warming food none of which you can get away with in the summer!

My darling hubble is going into hospital next week to have more spinal surgery.  I am not looking forward to this as I do worry so but this op is supposed to be easier and quicker than the others he has had so I am hopeful that he will not be in hospital for long and that his recovery is quicker.  

I also have a show coming up in November and I am plodding away with my schedule to get lots of bearies done in time.  I am managing to fill up the fair box quite nicely but have decided on doing no more commissions this year, maybe never again as I find them so draining and sapping on the old creativity!

I have a couple of little lovelies to share before I go, there is Skipper the Beagle Puppy who happened by chance and is a real dream boat and a couple of little Ellies and mini bears that I produced in August, hope you like them :0)

Until next time.........ttfn xxx

It's been a while

It feels like such a long time ago since I last posted on here!!  It was in fact only last Friday, wow!!!  To be honest not a huge amount has happened in that time, just the usual day to day life plus the normal family hassles and nightmares!  When my hubby and I decided to be parents we had a very different idea of what that would be like than it actually turned out to be!  I adore my kids, they have given me a depth and meaning to life that I would never have wanted to not know but at the same time they have given me more heartache and despair than I thought possible!  I imagined that by the time they were all past 18 years old they would be either at Uni, working, in relationships or doing something cool and maybe even crazy!  Not so, my oldest is just on the cusp of moving in with his girlfriend, he is there more than he is here but he can't find a decent job and works in a sports bar, he is happy enough but is a bit adrift where work is concerned as he just doesn't know what he wants to do.  My daughter who turns 20 in a few days works part time in a supermarket, she is really intelligent but suffers with mild Aspergers and a serious lazy streak!  She seems to be so completely adrift, I worry constantly about her future and she seems to be choosing some extremely questionable men to get involved with too!  Then there is child number 3, he is probably the most switched on of the three and takes all opportunities when they come to him, he hasn't worked a proper job since he left school and couldn't even get into college because the course he wanted to do were all full.  He would love to join the army but they won't take him cos of his foot problems so despite looking for apprenticeships and applying for everything going he remains out of work (well he does two short shifts in the supermarket).  I can do no more than I have, I encourage, cajole, shout, scream and push them as much as I can but it seems to me that our youth have lost interest in life!  When I was 18 I was living away from home and having a really good time, out every night making the most of my youth, what has changed?  We didn't have computers then, only the basic machines like the Amstrad with the tennis game - anyone remember that?  Even so, why now would you want to live your life on a computer rather than getting out there and finding something interesting to do with your life?  I don't understand it at all!


Anyhow, I should not waffle on about my kids, they are good kids at heart and have never been in any trouble and have hearts of pure gold.  I just worry about their future and I want my house back!!!  LOL


I had a fabulous show last weekend and sold 8 out of the 10 bears I had on offer, it was great fun and unlike the real life shows I could sit in my PJ's throughout the whole thing!  Can't do that at the in person shows!!!  LOL  The little Ellie and bear left have since found new homes so all in all it was a great success.  I thought I would share the three critters to have made an appearance this week, first is Lord Popple  a vintage style prim bear, a whopping 11" tall (big for me), next is the diminutive Piri a mini vintage ellie and last but not least, Bun Bun (rather unimaginative name I know) who is a new bunny design, which needs some adjustment but is rather cute nonetheless!

Lord Popple

Piri

Bun Bun

I must get on with my day, hope you all have a fabulous weekend, I shall be back with more nuggets of wisdom and hopefully bears next week!

TTFN x

The time is nigh..........

..........for Bears on Parade.  In just two and half hours from now all the bears will go live on the internet, I hope lots of you get the chance to pop along and see all the wonderful creations on offer. I finally managed to get 10 bears done and have dropped in a wee taster of the bears for you to see.

If you want to see more then pop along to the show at:

I am currently working on some new and exciting pieces of art which I should be able to share with you soon,  totally not bear orientated but pandering to my rather quirky nature.

Until next time.....TTFN xx

Bears on Parade

I may have previously mentioned that I am participating in an online show called Bears on Parade and tomorrow is the preview for it.  There will be a picture from each participating artist so it will be a great opportunity to get a taster of what will be on offer when the show starts on the 15th of July.


Click on the picture below to visit the site:

I really hope you can make it to the show on the 15th, where I have got lots of lovely scrumptious bears all waiting patiently for new homes :0)

Now that bit of blatant self publicity is out of the way I thought I would share some piccies of the kittens.  They spend most of the time running around my workroom like total loonies!!!  My feet are scratched to ribbons where they keep practicing their hunting skills on me!!!  They are all still totally adorable and I still do not want to part with them.

This is a rare moment of rest!!  I have made the fatal mistake of naming them all and have changed my little kitties name three times now but this last one has stuck.  The little black one is called Noir, the tabby is Minerva, the little Bengal lookalike with the white tip on her tail is Winky and the one without is Moo-shoe!!!  I know that Moo-shoe is supposed to be spelt more like Mu-shu but I like the phonetic spelling better!

My sons operation was cancelled at the last minute yesterday and I am not at all happy about it, neither is he and they have given us no clue as to when surgery will be rescheduled for, so it is back to the waiting game again!  It means that I can do a bit more work before the weekend whereas previously I was going to be looking after the invalid!!!

I must get on, lots to do as usual

TTFN xx

Musings......

I never know what title to give my blog updates, perhaps I will go with something a little different in future, something random like blibble or flump!!!!  

Anyhow, I am sweltering here in Lincolnshire it is 11 in the morning and already I feel like I am melting and have my fan on full blast but it is just circulating hot air!!!!  Thank goodness the heat is only supposed to last today and hopefully by tomorrow it will be more comfortable!  That is one of the problems with this country, we get everyone else's second hand weather and so we have one hot day, two rainy days, a thunderstorm, hail and a bit more rain then sun and so on!!!!  Today is forecast to be 31degrees, too hot for me!

My youngest child Andy is finally getting his foot operation done this week so I will be busy running up and down to Leicester.  We have to go today for his pre-op and then back again Thursday at 7.15am for the actual op.  Fortunately he is just in for the day as it is a small op and then I guess back up there in a few weeks for a check up.

I received my copy of the Teddy Bear Annual, a really fantastic twice yearly magazine edited by the lovely Kathy Martin today.  They have written a brilliant article about me and my furry little creations and I am over the moon with it.  On the back of this article I have been asked to teach a Master Bear Class next Autumn with Jean and Bill Ashburner of Bear Bits fame and am absolutely over the moon about that too!  I will keep you posted on that one as it is not until next year.

Anyhoodle, there was an article in the magazine of a rather controversial nature which has had some bear artists up in arms.  It was written by a lady by the name of Sandi Smith of Barely Sane Bears in Australia.  I don't agree with her views altogether although she does raise some good and valid points and I commend Kathy for putting it in the magazine.  We need controversy sometimes to make us sit up and not get to stagnant.  It is easy for us to do the same thing day in and day out and get into a rut of apathy.  Then along comes a person with strong views who airs them in the most public manner and we all suddenly wake up and take notice!  Sandi believes that the bear making industry needs regulating and a code of ethics by which we should all stick.  This is totally unrealistic and I can't imagine that there would be a soul out there willing to take on that particular job!  However she has said that 'some' artists are deceiving their customers by putting OOAK on their work and that this implies that the bear is a one off never to be repeated pattern.  Here I strongly disagree, One of A Kind means that this bear in this form will never be repeated.  It doesn't mean that I am only going to use this pattern once, that would be ludicrous and I don't think that one of my customers has ever seen me produce the same bear twice unless I sold it as an edition!

The only point in which we were in agreement was that she finds the blatant copying and passing off work made from someone else's pattern abhorrent, I do to.  I used to sell some of my patterns but stopped having seen my patterns used and sold as the bear makers own work.  However the only solution to this is either costly court cases or just don't sell the patterns in the first place which is where I am now.  I will never ever sell another pattern.

The last comment she made was that too many of us call ourselves artists.  Um....excuse me but I am an artist.  I have a design book which holds every bear I have ever created in its original drawn form from which I make the patterns.  Yes I design but the bear itself is a little work of art, it is not to be played with but displayed and enjoyed.  I wouldn't give my kids a Rembrandt or a Picasso and say....'go have fun with this'!!!  I believe that most professional bear makers these days are most definitely artists and should have no fear or guilt in using that title.

There, my rant is over!

I have to sign off now as I need to leave for the hospital, but before I go I thought a quick update on the kittens...................they are running around, climbing up my legs and being a general nightmare but still uber fluffy and so very cute!  I tried to get some photographs but they move too fast so I need to catch them at rest!!!

Also I thought I would share the latest bear......Rosaria Cupcake, she found herself a new home very fast, hope you like her.

Have a wonderful week..........TTFN  xx

Garden update

As you know I have been doing my best to battle bindweed and try and do something nice with my rather concretey garden.  We have lived here in Lincolnshire for nearly 10 years now and have never really done a great deal with the garden, either we have been too busy or the lack of interest flag has been out and we have just let the chickens run wild.  Chickens do not like to eat bindweed so for a number of years that was the only thing that grew!!!


Since David had his accident he has not been able to do any digging or weeding so the garden just went from bad to worse.  Since giving up work at the beginning of this year I decided to put some time and energy into making it a pleasant place to sit in the summer.  I have done about all I can do for this year and it is just a question of keeping it weed free and hoping the plants grow and survive!  

So this is how it looks today, the sun is shining and lots of my plants are flowering and all my pea plants are thriving and today I picked my first crop

On the right hand side of our garden we have the original wall built in the 1800's but it was hidden behind yet more bindweed and some rather well established forsythia.

Well a few weeks ago we dug most of the forsythia out, thinned back the Laurel which is growing by the back door and had a damn good dig over of the rather pathetic soil there.  We found this fabulous old concrete sink set into the wall which the cats have been using as a sort of bed but I have cleaned it up and am using it to put my pots in.

Now I have added in some plants and the majority of the tomato plants it is looking much better.

I am ridiculously proud of my efforts this year as the majority of it I have done on my own and turned my horrible concrete weed infested dog toilet into a pleasant place to have a brew and enjoy the sunshine.

I have great plans for next year which involve some bricklaying, fence building and even a touch of lawn laying!!!  How much gets done is dependent on many things but watch this space.

I will leave you with a piccie of one hot and bothered canine and some gorgeous tealights which are hanging in my maple (will get some night time pics soon when they are lit).

TTFN xx