Bear in a kilt!

Good morning!  If you follow me on Facebook, you will have seen these pictures already.  My aunt made some clothes for one of my oldest bears - a kilt, sporran, and beret.  They look absolutely fantastic!  This bear (who was called Wanda, but I'm thinking of her more as a boy-bear now) is one of my favourite designs.  I wonder if maybe, because she's all white (with very pale eyes and nose), she was just a bit boring without clothes(!)

I am taking her/him with me to our next fair, which will be in Bradfield, Essex on Saturday 28th November.

In the meantime, I have not forgotten the Design Challenge.  Last week, I made a body (which seemed sensible, since in the previous challenges, I made two arms and two legs).  The idea was to recreate the body of a lovely bear I made a long time ago (but long since lost the pattern for).  I think I got it right, but I didn't photograph it for the blog because it looked rather sad without a head on its shoulders.  This week, hopefully, I will recreate the head, and then I can attach the arms and legs, and  photograph the whole bear for the blog.  

Everything has been breaking down on me this week.  My copy of Photoshop Elements died suddenly, and is apparently unfixable since I bought it from the App Store and not directly from Adobe (grrrr)!  And my computer has been doing some funny things, so I've got a feeling I need to start saving for a new one.  And!  And I dropped my phone and cracked the screen!  Luckily it still works.  I'm not sure how much it costs to have a cracked screen repaired, but there's no way I can afford it right now - not with Christmas coming up.

On the plus side, I have joined Instagram.  You can find me at @bigfeetbears.  I was going to say you can find pictures of my bears with #bigfeetbears, but I just did a search and found nothing (where has my picture gone)!  Anyway, I'm on there somewhere.  I was really chuffed the other day: I searched for Dedham Art and Craft Centre, by location, and found - among other photographs - a picture of my meerkats!  I would love to make more of those!

I've also been creating Etsy Treasuries recently - based around particular bears.  First I did a navy-blue themed treasury, with my blue bear, Ronnie.  Then came a hibernation-themed treasury,  based around Donald, the sleepy bear.  Then last week, I created a Treasury around orange 'soft-sculpture' toys, with a big ginger bear called Rory.  It's quite a lot of fun.  Once you start digging on Etsy, you can find some really cracking stuff.

Currently I am working on another group of 10 bears - in my little vintage-style pattern - timing everything minutely!  Today I am going to put them aside for the Design Challenge, but whatever happens, tomorrow I must get back to them, if they are to be finished for Bradfield!

Anyway, have a wonderful, productive day.  Hopefully the next time I'm here I will have a newly-designed bear in tow!