A Sigh Of Relief

I've had a stressful couple of days. Midnight on Saturday was the deadline for submissions for the "Be My Valentine" show with the TBACA, which was fine. I spent some of Saturday with a few last minute tasks on the bears before a photography session out on the patio. The battery on the camera ran low before I'd finished so while it was recharging I wrote the descriptions, making good use of my time (this is unusual for me) Then back out to finish taking the pictures.

Do you think I could remember how to do the photo editing to get them into the right format for Sandi huh? After fiddling with the computer for a while and getting flustered, I sent a text to my son for instructions and he put me on the right track :o) It was starting to get late by then and time to cook dinner, so I left Chris in charge of the photo editing while I banged about in the kitchen for a bit. After finishing dinner and the bottle of red we'd opened on Friday night, I sent everything off to Sandi along with an email asking for confirmation that all had arrived. I then settled down to a little sewing in front of the telly, keeping one eye on the computer while I waited for Sandi to reply. Nothing! So I sent a couple more emails. Midnight passed and still nothing came from Sandi. By now I was feeling pretty anxious. I stayed up til about 1am and then decided it was pointless getting too worked up about it. I didn't sleep very well and in the morning we discovered our mail server was down! Our ISP is based in Queensland and with the wild time they've been having lately I suppose we should really have expected this. I sent a message to Sandi on Facebook and she replied saying that all had arrived and that obviously I wasn't getting her emails........PHEW! Slowly over the course of yesterday the emails arrived, and yes there was the confirmation from Sandi sent soon after I'd submitted everything! (stuff was going out but nothing was coming in)

I suppose that will teach me to leave everything so late, and I should be more organised! But I'm sorry, I really don't think this old dog can realistically learn that new trick. I've been lurching through my life from one deadline to another for too long now :o)
So here's a photo of our patio, my photography studio. It works surprisingly well, with a white cloth hung to cut the glare of the sun and one of the chairs up on the table draped with a cloth on which to pose the bears. I could have taken a pic of the setup, but we had an unexpected guest for dinner last night so I had to dismantle in order to use the table! It's a lovely spot to sit out in Summer, especially on a long balmy evening with a few candles for light.........ahhh relaxing.

Happy Holiday

On New Years Day I visited Adelaide Zoo with Tobias. I was determined to go, and having our grandson with us provided the perfect "excuse"! My motive was to go and see Wang Wang and Funi the pandas. I had never seen real live pandas and this was an opportunity I couldn't miss. It was an extremely hot Adelaide summer's day, but the pandas have a wonderful enclosure where they are protected from the worst of it. Funi (the female) had a big "popsicle" which had pieces of fruit and bamboo leaves frozen into it, and she was making a determined effort to get at the goodies in the ice.

I remember seeing a comedy skit years ago involving a couple of guys dressed as pandas, as the panda exhibit in a zoo, and it was brought to mind when I saw Funi and Wang Wang. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a zipper there somewhere and I was looking at a couple of guys in panda suits! The animals don't look real to me, maybe animated soft toys (or men in suits). Pandas don't have expressive faces, even though they are just about as cute as you can imagine any animal to be (this has something to do with the huge muscle mass they need in their jaws for all that bamboo chewing they do, making them look somewhat toylike). I'm so pleased I had the chance to see them and got some good shots. Tobias was more interested in climbing on things and pressing the buttons on the interactive displays than the animals, but he had a fun day with Nanny and Poppa and we had a lovely day with our adorable grandson :o)
I'm inspired to make a panda now :o)  

Merry Christmas To All

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year and to thank you all for visiting and leaving your lovely comments. I feel blessed to count you among my friends, and I hope that our journey together continues through the coming year. Some of you, I know I will encounter on my travels, and I look forward to perhaps meeting more of you too! Where ever you are in this world, we come together here and share a bond. It truly is a "small world".
So, enjoy the season however you choose to celebrate it. I wish you all the best in the New Year.
Beary Hugs
Linda

(BTW this is my 100th post, so look out for another giveaway soon!)

What On Earth Was I Thinking?

You know my bears, you know that I like to make realistic bears. You have seen my stash and seen all the lovely "beary" colours I have in it. Soooooooo...... what was I thinking when I bought these two pieces of hand dyed alpaca recently? And what am I going to do with them? Sometimes a gal just has to break out I guess :o) I'm sorry, but you will have to wait until the new year to see what comes from these. I'm quite looking forward to having a little play, but right now I'm busy with a few last minute Christmas orders and I have a plum pudding to make! Late (I know) but it's a super recipe I have been making since I was a teen and it always tastes so good, even when it hasn't had the customary months to mellow and mature.

All the lovely "beary" colours in my stash

And what was I thinking?

A Christmas Treat

Once again I took part in a Christmas swap with the TBACA. I was lucky to get Robyn Roe from Mima's Bears as my swap partner. Greentwinky Jnr is the bear I received from Robyn. He's such  gorgeous bear in silk plush, with the most beautiful handpainted twinkly eyes! He looks very sassy with his little bottom sticking out, as he pulls a Christmas tree along behind him in his little Christmassy wagon.

Rollo and Ding are what I sent to Robyn. I had such fun with this duo, I thought they looked quite the part in their red Chrissy hats :o)

More Family Talent

This is one of my neice's pencil drawings, the daughter of my very talented doll maker sister, Susie McMahon. I have never know Selty not to be drawing something, even as a little girl she needed to get her daily "fix" with pencil and paper!  Selty has an incredible eye for detail, and amazing patience in capturing it on paper. If you would like to see more of her work you can visit her blog. She has just started it and I'm sure she would love to have a few visitors.......and maybe some comments to encourage her.

We Have A Winner!

Late, late last night, Sue Jenning's name was drawn from the hat. I want to thank you all for your lovely comments and welcome to my new followers. Stay tuned, I'll be having another giveaway draw soon to celebrate my 100th post! This is number 96 so hopefully it won't be too much longer :o)

Wee Bear

This is Wee Bear, I'll be making one just like him as the giveaway gift. I thought he looked a little Christmassy and it being December and all........
For such a small bear ( 2.25"), he has lots of features. He is made in alpaca fur, has a tiny sculpted leather nose, sculpted feet and paws and he even has claws! His little jingle bell hat is sewn from the softest leather.

So if you want to be in with a chance to win this little bear, become a follower of this blog if you aren't one already and leave a comment here or on the previous post. If you mention the giveaway and add a link to your blog I'll add your name twice.That's it, nothing to it really, I'll draw a name on the 10th, in the mean time I'll put my skates on and get the bear done!

Where I Come From And A Giveaway!

I grew up in a family that was always doing and making, our parents encouraged us in all our creative activities and as adults we have all continued to make stuff. This little bird was made by my mother, it's stumpwork embroidery and is a late birthday present from her. When I went to visit back in August, just after my birthday, Mum said I'd have to wait for my birthday present because she'd sold it! That's ok with me, this little wren was well worth waiting for. I wanted to show it to you, so that you can see where I get my love of textiles from. Mum is 85, and I've never known her not to be busy with some kind of handcraft. I only hope that I manage to keep going like her, somehow I doubt that I will. I have aches in both hands at the moment after a really intense week of workshops in Victoria. But that might be because I had several weeks off from sewing while on holiday and then got straight into a big day (it was a bit like going back to the gym after a break). I'm hoping that after a while things will settle down and the pain will ease. I'm busy with new bears, I have a show in 11 days and more workshops. After that I can be home for a while.

I've just noticed that I now have 200 followers......time for a new give away! Now I don't yet know what it will be, certainly a little something made by my hand. If you want to be in the draw; become a follower if you aren't one already. Leave a comment here, if you have a blog spread the word with a link here and I'll add your name twice. (You can grab the button for you sidebar if you like) I'll draw a name on the 10th of December.

Keep checking back, I should have a photo of what's up for grabs after I get back from NSW

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 :)