A Beary Sweet Pincushion

I have been having fun in the designing area of things. I have been working on a bear pattern....well...actually it has been in the works for several years. Kind of an off again, on again thing. This pattern has been tweaked and redone so many times. Finally I have a pattern that I am ok with. It is still not perfect, or actually it still has some flaws, but I am happy about it. I have made many bears over the last 15 years, some I gave away, some I sold (in yard sales) and a few that I have hung on to. Most of these were made using a pattern designed by someone else. I have made some bears using my own pattern, but like I said before, these patterns really needed tweaking. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to show you the funny little bears. I absolutely love the process of making a teddy bear. The only problem that I have really run in to is that it is really hard to find the mohair. The company that I use to use Spare Bear Parts shut down a few years ago. Most of the companies that I have found are located overseas, Australia, Europe, etc.  So the shipping on these orders is usually around $20+. Bummer. Must do more research for US companies. I do love The Old Pincushion's mohair and her bears are so cute. She has very reasonable prices, but is located overseas. Her shipping is very fast, though. By the way, she also has a contest going on right now and you can win the most adorable pig.

Above: Little bear cut out and ready to stuff.

Above: Stuffed with excelsior, this is the traditional stuffing of vintage bears. She is also stuffed with wool and a little bit of poly stuffing.

Above: A vintage quilt square. Can you see the old newsprint? The ladies use to make patterns from old newspaper. Most of these prints are vintage feed sacks. I used this quilt square to make a pincushion. You will see it in the pictures below.

Above: Little bear almost finished. Trying to figure out with ribbon looks the best.

Above: WHOA.... Creative chaos at it's finest. What a mess!

Above: This sheet of paper is my work surface. For some reason I can't keep everything stored away. As soon as I am finished with a project I put everything away.

Above: Little bear all dressed up. She is sewn to the pincushion and the strawberry is sewn on also. It is stuffed with wool to keep your pins from rusting. 

Above: She is all finished except for her eyes. They have been ordered. The ones that I had for her looked too big. She is 7 1/2" (standing up) and those eyes would probably look better on a 9" bear. So, as soon as her eyes come I am going to list her on Etsy.

Above: All you need is a little bit of mohair and 15years worth of pattern goofing. This bear was the first bear that I have actually used mohair on. The other bears were made out of all types of stuff: fake fur, wool felt, old jackets, cotton fabric, velvet, blue jeans (really tough to work with-don't recommend it) and other fun stuff.

Have a wonderful and blessed day, and don't forget to keep those fingers busy!

Holly

Whatcha' Working On

June has just flown by!! I can't believe that July 4th is next week. The garden is growing nicely. We have picked a few tomatoes, jalapenos, bell pepper and one squash. We ate the squash in a salad last night. Tonight we are having pasta salad and crusty bread for supper. I am going to add a couple of cherry tomatoes from the garden to it. I will post the recipe tomorrow, if it gets the thumbs up tonight.

Just a few crafty things to post. Mainly a "whatcha been working on" kind of post. Most of them are on Etsy now.

Woolly Bear Caterpillar.

Little felted mouse with her woolly bear pet.

Above: Taking Woolly Bear out for a stroll.

Above: new pedestal pincushion. Made out of 100% wool.

Needle/Scissor fob

Above: I stitched designs around the pincushion. Mouse, kitty and house. Kitty is flying a kite. The two hand sculpted pins were a blast to design. The cheese was especially fun. Poking the holes in it to get Swiss cheese.

 

Above: scissor fob. See how handy the needles stay, right by your scissors. The red thread keeps them looped to your scissors, so that when you are sewing in a crowd and someone has scissors just like yours, you can tell them apart. All of the stitching on the pincushion and fob was hand stitched, using various stitching methods.

I will be back tomorrow with some more. My computer is very slow tonight, taking forever to upload the pictures.

goodnight,

Holly

Finally......Time for Blogging!

Boy, sure is nice to be back on schedule. The past few weeks have been a whirl wind. With school winding down, teacher gifts to be made, D#1 graduating from High School, D#2 graduating from preschool and Son getting his learners permit and driving us crazy.....ahem....I mean wanting to drive us everywhere and I mean everywhere.
I am in the process of relisting some things on Etsy and adding some new stuff. I have a few more things I want to list and probably won't get that done until this weekend.
Anyway, here's some pictures and I promise that I will get a "good" post in sometime this weekend :)

New listing on Etsy. Chef Mouse on his Cupcake Pincushion.

Two pins are included: sprinkle container and spoon with icing.

Mouse is only 2" from the tip of his hat to the tips of his toes.

Above: Betsy Ross clothespin doll.

D#1's graduation. She's the one in the purple.

Above: What in the world? She blurred...... Thank goodness for the professionals. I'll order my picture tomorrow.

Above: the traditional hat throw.

Have a great night and I'll be back tomorrow,

Holly