Small long-legged bears

I went to work yesterday, and several people asked me whether I'd been ill - since I hadn't updated the blog for so long(!)  I am fine.  I have been making the 10 little bears above.  They are hand-dyed in different colours, but all the same pattern, so it seemed silly to update every day.  They do pack quite a punch when they get together as a gang though, don't they?

Their names are, from the left, (deep breath)... Rose, Foxglove, Petunia, Fuchsia, Peony, Sweetpea, Honeysuckle, Lavender, Dandelion and Wisteria.  Thank you Barbara of Embar Pottery for your help naming them.

When sitting, they all measure approximately 4.5 inches above the surface of the table and, if their legs are dangling over the edge, 2.5 inches below.  They are £32 each.

Birkin, Caspar & Deuteronomy

I finished my pandas!  They are very sweet, and quite solid and substantial, although I think I prefer that design made in a long pile fabric - the neck looks a little too narrow without the fluff of the mohair.  

I was going to send the pandas to the Tannenbaum Christmas Barn - I really, really wanted to send them there in fact, because the panda is one of my best designs.  Unfortunately though, the christmas barn only accepts cash, so £30-£35 is about the maximum price recommended for any one item.  The pandas will be a little more than that.

So, the pandas will be on Etsy, and at the Art & Craft Centre.  I will take a couple of the Cheeky-style bears to the christmas barn instead.  

Ellie

I haven't posted for a while because I got distracted, researching angora goats. 

I would love to keep angora goats! 

The trouble is you need about a quarter of an acre of land per goat, apparently, and goats are herd animals so one goat would be lonely - you'd need a minimum of two - a minimum of half an acre of land. 

And, I read somewhere that if you have your goats on one piece of land for too long, you get a build-up of parasites.  The thing to do apparently, is to divide your land into four and then rotate the goats around each of the four sections - thereby preventing the parasite problems.  I'm not sure whether you divide your half an acre into four, or whether you actually need two whole acres, divided into quarters...? 

I'm thinking though, angora goats - with their long woolly coats - maybe they're not your ideal 'starter goat'?  So do you start small (literally), with pygmy goats, or - given that they'll be with you a good long time - do you leap in at the deep end with angoras?

Needless to say, these questions are academic right now - I don't have two acres of land, sadly.  It is a dream for the future.  In the meantime, I will content myself with reading up about them.

Anyway, I have managed to get one little bear completed.  This is Ellie - a tiny little bear, about 4.5 inches in height when sitting on the ground.  She comes with a yellow brushed cotton pouffe, with a turquoise button.  Seated on the pouffe, she measures about 6.5 inches.