Monday 22 February 2010

Disappointments and Gifts

Oh Boy have I had a week of it and to be honest my latest adventure or non adventure was too upsetting till now to tell you about.........................ok lets start at the beginning, where all good tales should start.
The Friday before last we had cavity wall insulation installed, its great, you get a grant and your electric company contributes leaving a balance of £129-ish to pay. The guys who fitted it were noisey but nice and I think it was worth it. I had booked the day off plus the following week off, so was looking forward to it. My first disaster was my daughters laptop, having been "away" at the menders for months it finally came home, to daughters delight. First things first......................full internet security, so I got an all singing dancing Kapsersky program, loaded it onto my pc fine but when I went to load it onto the laptop, it wouldn't download properly...............when it was finally sorted, I had a run issue, followed by a Windows Vista problem.....................you get my drift!!!! 8 calls later, being cut off 3 times, I lost the plot and I mean really really lost the plot. I rang sales and demanded to make a complaint. Now I will give them their due, I had a manager liaise with me and a technician call me and sort everything......................................time taken 6 hours.............um...............deep breaths.

The following days were a bliss of bear making magic, as Kelham Doll and Teddy Fair was on the Sunday. Oh mustn't forget the 2 hour fight with the laptop to load iTunes, but hey I knew that would be to the death, we have battled before and a trip, clothes shopping to Lincoln.
Anyway Sunday drew close and I was all ready for the fair, now you have to understand I looooooooooooove fairs, the chatting, the collectors, the mohair, just getting excited talking about it. I do 5 a year..................Kelham and Nottingham, so hopefully by now, you are getting the picture, they mean so much too me.

Got up Sunday and guess what SNOW, white out blizzard actually, I waited and waited hoping it would stop but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I had to cancel, I was so upset I barely said a word all day and believe me that is very rare. The icing on the cake has to be my husband, you see we do own a 4x4 but I have never driven it. After I had cancelled, my "dear" husband offered (begrudgingly) to take me, by which time it was too late to get there and set up.
I have to admit, between you and me, I sobbed, great big ones, when I went to bed.

So I have a few bears that missed their limelight, I have added a couple to my website.




This is Cappuccino, he is about 14 inches tall and I adore him, every now and again, any bear maker will tell you that they make an extra special bear......................one that has the X-factor, well Cappuccino has it.

I got the material from a very dear kind friend Jean of Little Scruffs
She very kindly gave me a piece, wasn't that lovely of her.
Thanks Jean xxxx
PS I have just noticed Jean is having a little competition, so if you fancy a Little Scruff pop over to her site and enter.



His adoption fee is £70.00 plus p&p
He can be found on : Old Style Bears

This little girl is Beatrice, so so sweet. I have listed her on ebay and she will end about 9pm Sunday 28th February.
She is about 4 inches tall and gorgeous


Ebay

Well I hope you are all safe and warm, wherever you are.
Beary Hugs
A heartbroken Sue
xxx


Wednesday 17 February 2010

Vinage bear thoughts


Isn't this picture just sumptuous ????
This is my new stash of vintage fabrics that I purchased from Barbara Ann at Norbeary Fabrics, I had hoped to have a finished bear for Kelham on Sunday but time is ever my enemy, LOL.
It oozes quality, very yummy indeed.
As you can imagine I am very busy sewing stuffing and screaming, I am off this week and what seemed like plenty of time is now turning into not enough.
At the beginning of this week I read a great discussion on a teddy forum about giving up work and making bears full time............................oh the life, the dream. What would you do?
My instant answer was YES, as much as I love my day job, I just really don't have enough time, I do things in bits, a bit of web update, a bit of forum, a bit of creating, a bit of shopping, a lot of working.................................you get my drift. I end up feeling frustrated that I am not giving enough time to each of those bits. As I read through the replies on this discussion I was struck by the difference in replies..................the have's and the have not's................myself being in the have not group. Those that were making bears full time, the have's, were happier but the strain of the bears being their main income, at times, was incredible. The have not's were very like me, not enough time but the pressure was not the same and making bears was still very much a freedom of expression, so what is best.................................yep you guessed it, winning the lottery and making bears full time!!!! Until that point I will continue to juggle my bears in the air and feel the strain of time but as for the pressure, I will be grateful that my life does not depend on how many bears I sell, or make.

Oh and don't forget if you are Nottinghamshire way, please say hello, I will be the harried, stressed one at the Kelham Doll and Bear fair on Sunday
I love to chat, so be prepared
Sue
XX