It's Happened Again!

Oh my! It's happening again.....
The year is disappearing AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT'S GOING!!!
So.... it's high time I brought you up to speed with what has been happening in Bensonbearland.
After Christmas and New Year I got straight back into full bear-making mode, getting ready for Hugglets in London and Teddybear Welt in Wiesbaden.
It was quite a shock to the system to arrive in London in February when I had been enjoying our lovely Tasmanian summer. Of course I caught a cold from the man sitting behind me on the flight between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur, (it seemed he was about to cough his lungs out!) and by the time Hugglets rolled around I was feeling entirely miserable. Even so, with a dose of cold and flu meds I enjoyed the day and managed to snaffle myself a Gregory Gylenship bear! Such a lovely classic fellow who gets to sit on my bed! I also bought a metre of beautiful mohair which is waiting to become......

This is Timothy, by Gregory Gylenship

After visiting with family for a week or so, I then flew to Bremen for three days of workshops. The weather was still very cold and early on Friday evening it had started to snow, by morning the world outside was white! Of course all my German friends thought I was entirely mad for getting so excited about a bit if snow (they were all thoroughly sick and tired of it and yearning for Spring to arrive). However, I decided it was a good opportunity to get some photos of this polar bear and his antarctic friend and took them out into Claudia's garden for some fun in the snow.

Fun in the snow near Bremen

 The workshops all went very well and at the end of the weekend we had some sweet mice, pigs, polar bears and penguins! I must be doing something right, as they keep asking me to come back (next year, when the weather is warmer)
After all the busyness of the workshop days it was lovely to wind down with a few days of sewing, keeping quiet company with Claudia and her cats as we prepared for the show in Wiesbaden on the following weekend.
Now, this show is really something! It is HUGE with so much to look at and tempt one! I found me another bear this one from Fabian Song.

Acus by Fabisn Song

I found lots of other cool stuff too. Some lovely old ribbon, and best of all.... some bunches of fabulous old keys, and I'm talking really old! I also bought another metre of fur, this one a lovely creamy alpaca. I was so excited about this one that as soon as I was over THE WORST CASE OF JET LAG EVER, I made this big fellow. This is the biggest bear I've ever made (he took almost the entire metre of fur). I gave him one of those bunches of keys to wear, I hung them on a piece of the ribbon I'd bought in Wiesbaden.

The biggest bear I've ever made! (Almost born)

He came with me to our little Doll and Bear show here in Launceston at the weekend and created quite a stir! He found a new home so now I really want to make another bear like him, I honestly thought he would be with me for a while.

Creating a stir in Launcesten

I think that's about all I have to write about, there wasn't really much in the way of sightseeing this trip, most of it was spent indoors with brief ventures outside.
Shortly I'm off to South Australia for another doll and bear show in Hahndorf followed by a three day workshop.
Our days are drawing in as we head into late Autumn and Winter, we are still picking plenty from our poly-tunnel and our apples are ripe and beautiful (picked fresh from the tree with the morning's dew on them) I like Autumn, but there is always a little tinge of sadness about it too. Our Autumn days are usually gentle, the skies milky with moisture, so welcome after the harsh, sun-drenched, crispy dry days of Summer (and we can relax again with the fire season at an end....). In this weather bear-making becomes more pleasurable, so that's what I will get on with now, I need to replenish my stock for up-coming shows.