OUT OF THE LOOP

I have spent some time on the computer today, doing a little catching up. I feel like I have really been out of the loop for too long! DID YOU MISS ME?

I've been away for the best part of eight weeks, some of which was business. I taught three workshops, (one in Germany and two in England) and traded at the Hugglets show in London.

With business out of the way, I was joined by my husband and daughter for some down time in southern Spain and Morocco. Now, if you want a relaxing holiday I suggest you don't try Morocco! What an assualt on the senses our visit there was. Eventful, colourful, smelly, dirty, astonishing, overwhelming, amazing, beautiful, bountiful and completely stunning, but definitely not relaxing! I thought I'd share some photos with you and let you know I'm still on the planet. When I'm feeling a little less jetlagged I'll share some tales.

This is the entry to Casa Perleta, our accomodation in Chefchaouen (Ville Bleu)

One of the less crowded markets in the Medina in Marrakech, yep that's my back view :)

Home

I'm home again after a successful trip to England. Hugglets was a wonderful show for me with some good sales and new contacts. I spent some lovely days with family, especially my daughter and yes, I got to go a brambling in the hedgerows. The berries we picked are bubbling away in demi-johns to become wine. I sat listening to the brews one day and it sounded like they were having a good conversation. Perhaps this is a foretaste of the amiable conversations to come over dinner, fuelled by Doug's palatable but potent brews!

The workshop went well, Lockerbie was cancelled when some ladies withdrew. This was just as well really, as the hotel proved to be impossible to contact and it transpired that it had closed, with no notification! (Visions of me arriving and balefully knocking on the door....let me in.) At least I had a full class in Wincanton and all the girls enjoyed a workshop packed with lots of new techniques and some lovely bears resulted. You can see from this photo, that Susan has an absolutely fabulous space for workshops with light streaming in to make sewing a dream. If you look closely you will see a few headless bodies sitting on the table. For this workshop the ladies needed to have the body assembled and ready for the head if they were to have any chance of getting the bear anywhere near completed, and I'm glad to say they all had their homework done. I must say, though, it did look very strange to see all these bodies on the table awaiting their heads.

The trip ended on a somewhat sour note when my ipod, glasses and sunglasses were stolen from my bag in Melbourne's Tullamarine airport. In fact, an accumulation of little disasters brought me down to earth with a resounding bump! After an extended flight delay into Tasmania, I arrived home late on Sunday and after sharing a bottle of red wine, I slept soundly..... only to be woken by the alarm and the realisation normal life had returned and housework was beckoning. Ho Hum!

A Dream Show!

The online show at the weekend was an outstanding success for me, with a sellout! Thankyou Sandi Smith http://www.bearlysaneteddies.com for all your tireless efforts in creating the site and congratulations on how smoothly everything ran. You really do amaze me with what you do and I am extremely grateful to you for your commitment to us all. This amazing woman is already planning the next event, Be My Valentine, which will also have a special collection of bears available for Bobo, TBACA's sponsored sun bear. All these bears and critters will be donated by the artists and all the funds raised go towards the wonderful work of Free The Bears, http://www.freethebears.org.au/, for their bear sanctuary in Cambodia. All the bears at the sanctuary have been rescued from intolerable lives, some as "pets" but most as unwilling prisoners in bile farms, none of these bears can be returned to the wild so they live out their lives at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. You can read more about all this on the Free The Bears website.




It's full steam ahead for Hugglets now, just three sleeps till I fly out! I have a small but very nice collection of bears to take with me. I'm hoping I might even see some sunshine while I'm away because we certainly haven't been getting any in Tasmania! The English countryside should be looking very pretty in all it's golden Autumn glory, I might even get the chance to do a little berrying in the hedgerows near my brother-in-law's house in Somerset.




Here are the bears I had on offer over the weekend, they have all found new homes here in Australia.

Time

Here it is, the last day of my forties! EEEEK. Trouble is I don't feel old enough to be this old! I don't feel middle aged, if the mirror didn't tell me otherwise I could imagine I was still twenty (I wish!). I guess I've grown a little wiser with age, and I certainly made choices when I was young that make me cringe now! As they say "youth is wasted on the young", it would be so good to be able to go back and have all that energy, with a head full of the knowledge that only comes with experience. The things I would get done! Truth be told I'm actually in better shape than I was ten years ago, physically stronger though definitely wrinklier, my hair has only just started to show a little grey, so I guess not too bad. I do enjoy being a grandmother, I have found this new role in my life very fulfilling, though lately I just haven't had time to see enough of my precious grandson. Hopefully this will change when I get back from the UK, even though my calendar does look rather full with workshops in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania in November and December.

I'm beavering away at getting a collection together for Hugglets, my fingers are very sore. The other day my "thimble" finger lost it's callus which will make miniatures difficult. I do wear a leather thimble when working on my bigger bears, but find it too inhibiting when working on minis. It will take lots of sewing to work that hard pad back. This happens from time to time, usually when the tip of my finger has got to the stage where is has no feeling left in it, that's when it will peel off revealing the healthy new pink skin underneath, ready to start all over again.

Not long now to the next online show. Having got the bears done and the photos off I keep forgetting that it will be on soon. I can't wait to see what everyone has done, this show is quite small but there should be some really great works exhibited, I do hope you all will find the time to drop in on the 5th and 6th of September. Here's another little peek at what I will be offering.

Correction

I thought I had better make a correction on my last post, we have gone beyond ridiculous with the weather, here in Tasmania. We've had a once in forty years flood and the river has been raging through The Gorge in Launceston in a spectacular fashion. Apparently we're in for much more over the next month or so, with a series of fronts blowing in from the West. I must admit I'm rather sick of the rain now, and it would be lovely if we could have some real sunshine for a few days. Everything is so wet!

At least it's great weather to be holed up indoors making bears, which is imperative with Hugglets just a matter of a few weeks away! I'm just back from Adelaide where I managed to sell a few bears. They're all panda mad over there at the moment, because Adelaide zoo is about to get a breeding pair of these fabulous animals and they're counting the days to their arrival! I sold more pandas than anything at the show :) Next year I'm booked to teach a workshop after the show, and you guessed it, it's going to be a panda!

I've added another little peek at what I have coming up in the "When You Dare To Dream"(www.teddybearsandcritters.com/whenyoudaretodream.htm ) online show on the 5th and 6th of September, one of these days I'll figure out how to make a collage but I simply don't have time for fiddling about on the computer right now, I have bears to make! So this little teaser will have to suffice. Cheers for now from a very sodden Tasmania.

Kiko, my workshop bear for the UK

I have just sent Kiko off to Susan Davies (http://www.bearbasics.co.uk/) he's the sample for the workshops I will be teaching in September. At the request of last year's workshoppers I designed a Polar Bear. Kiko has lots of features which will keep the workshop participants very busy for the whole two days. There is my trademark leather nose in addition to an open mouth with tongue and eye teeth and I have also included sculpted paw pads with claws! So there will be lots to learn in the two days. One workshop is being held in Lockerbie and the other at Bear Basics in Somerset, both are being organised by Susan.

I can't believe how fast time has flown these past few months, it doesn't seem long enough ago that I was discussing going over to the UK again this year, I felt I had all the time in the world. All of a sudden I feel as though there isn't enough time to get done all that needs to be be done, with another online show to prepare for, the South Australian Doll and Bear Fair and then Hugglets in London!

I don't think I will be doing much blogging over the next few weeks, I just won't have the time! It will be head down and tail up for this little duck!

A Sneak Peek

At last I have finished all my pieces for the Black and White Ball, I submitted all the photos almost by the skin of my teeth, (if there had been any internet problems it could have been embarrassing) and now I can give you all a little sneak peek at what I will be offering when the show begins on June 1st. This is only half of them, the others are in the Australasian Creative Design Awards and have to remain annonymous for judging and for the public vote. It has been such fun and a real challenge to take part in this web venture, I'm looking forward to the next one.

We have a new show in the planning, this is an exhibition of some of Australia's master bear artists and is called "When You Dare To Dream", it will run for two days in September (5th and 6th). By visiting the TBACA website (http://www.teddybearsandcritters.com/) you can read all about the show and see the list of the participating artists, there should be some exceptional works on offer at this one.

I'm going to be such a busy girl over the coming months! I have to prepare for this show, design and make samples for Teddy Bears of Whitney's 2010 catalogue, design and make the samples for my workshops in the UK and NSW, prepare for the South Australian Doll and Bear Show in August and Hugglets in September! Will I have time to breathe I wonder? As they say............. "housework only comes before sewing in the dictionary" ;)

Road Kill?

The bear I'm working on, is looking like road kill, according to my daughter! Oh dear, the poor thing has all his limbs attached and I've added a locline *spine*, which is protruding from his body as the epoxy glue dries. I suppose Laurel is right, it really does look like it's been hit by a car! She must be almost in Hong Kong now, she flew out of Melbourne late last night, heading back to England. There were tears at the airport again, I thought it would be easier this time, (been there, done that), but no. I wonder how long it will be before she comes back again? I think it will depend on how well she can save her money, as she wants to travel Australia when she returns. How wonderful to be so free! She seems to be able to find work whenever she needs it, and then travels where she wants!

I'll be seeing Laurel in September, I'm flying over for Hugglets, Teddies 2009 and then I'll be teaching two workshops, one in Scotland and the other in Somerset. I really must get onto making a sample and sending it off to Bear Basics. Susan Davies is organising both workshops, she did such a wonderful job last year, at very short notice. No doubt this year with plenty of time, they will be even better! I'm planning a Polar Bear for these workshops, at the request of last year's ladies :) I bought some lovely alpaca from Susan, which I made Yuki in, so this bear will have the same coat. It's a lovely *dirty* white, I don't like a really stark white for my bears, I think this is just perfect.

It's an overcast morning today, I wonder if we are in for any rain? We could really do with a nice, big downpour, we're in drought, and have been for a number of years. Our dam hasn't filled to overflowing for a few Winters now, things are looking so very dry. I feel for those in Victoria, again, this weekend they're in for another horror time, with high winds, and temperatures and a crisp, crisp countryside already burning!