This is for my Jessie Poodle, my constant companion, shadow, protector and guardian. I miss you so much.
Wendy and I where looking through all the old photos and I realised how frail and delicate my little girl had become. She had such a strong spirit and just kept going no matter what. So thank you so much for almost seventeen years of companionship, it is so quiet without you.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

To all the family, friends and special collectors that read my blog I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and all good wishes for 2009.
Thank you for your support and encouragement through the year and next year will be better and I am sure I will have some interesting stories to relate.
Today we went out at 7:00 am to avoid the crowds and managed to do all the last minute shopping and be back home by 10:00. We got a turkey and other trimmings but have no dining room table so we will be sitting around the coffee table. It is fun and will be a Christmas to remember. We have packed some more boxes and are going to take a break tomorrow and be lazy.
I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing family time together tomorrow. Happy Christmas.

If you have a bit of time please go and have a look at the Christmas Parade of Artists Favourites. Click on the banner and it will take you straight to the page. Ellen has done an amazing job and there are some wonderful bears and friends to look at.

I have been busy helping Wendy pack and try to tidy up and throw stuff away. The heat has taken some getting used to but it has been kind to me the last couple of days. There is stuff everywhere and I find it a daunting task sometimes to decide what stays and what goes. I love my 'stuff' and am a complete pack rat and have never met a book that didn't have to live with me.
We are starting to see things being sorted out and have most of the stuff that we don't want out of the house. It is a strange Christmas this year as the tree and all the decorations are packed away in boxes but the consolation is that next year we can go crazy with all the decorating that we usually do and we will have a white and cold Christmas.

I have arrived.
Yoon-Mi and I left the flat and took the hour and a half underground journey to get to Heathrow airport. Check in was easy and fast with the new online system. I have now found out that you cannot travel with Christmas crackers - they are classed as 'dangerous' and have to go in your check in luggage, not that I had any but it was one of the questions that I got asked.

The plane was supposed to leave at 11:30 but it arrived late so we only got boarded 1/2 hour late then we got told that the airport was fogged in so nobody was flying out. The plane finally got in a queue an hour later, it is quite something to see all the planes lining up waiting to take off, it makes you realise to a small extent how many people fly everyday.

Finally get to Frankfurt airport and let me tell you don't spend any length of time there you have looked at all the shops in half an hour and then spend the rest of the time bored out of your mind. I like people watching but even that gets a bit much after hours of nothing to do and that airport has a serious lack of seats so if you move you lose your seat and spend 1/2 hour wandering around to find somewhere else to sit. At least they don't allow smoking in the building anymore, that nearly killed me last time. I was so bored that I even considered sending a postcard home of Frankfurt airport building with 'bored in Frankfurt' on it but didn't want to waste the money. I took my cross stitch to do and managed to get some done, will post a pic soon.
The plane was supposed to leave at 10:50, it was so full that there was a standby list of 28 people. So we all finally get boarded and then all the juggling of seats and people wanting to sit with family etc happened and that delayed us as well, finally took off at 11:40. Never fly with Lufthansa, I always find them disorganised and late.
There were dreadful electrical storms over Africa so we had rather a bumpy ride and landed late but here I am and boy is it hot, it is going to take some getting used to this climate again.

I am so glad to see my Jessie poodle and the kitties again, I keep on bothering them, they are going to ask when I am leaving just now. I will be posting pics of them soon, can't resist.

Christmas Bears

The Christmas bears are done and can be seen on our web page if anyone is interested. I am so happy with how they look and Wendy has made a couple of beautiful ones for the collection.

I had a lot of fun making them but also some stress, I can laugh about it now but there were some tense times. Over the years Wendy and I have just brought whatever craft supplies we needed and because we had a dedicated workroom I just didn't think about how lucky we are. When I wanted something be it ribbon, paint, all sorts of scrap booking supplies ( I don't do scrap booking but I have an enviable collection of stuff that is used for the bears but all in South Africa) etc, we had it on hand and the only problem was remembering where we had stored it.
Well of course when I moved I had two suitcases to fill and that was it, now I know I can do without a lot of things but some clothes are necessary and there wasn't a lot of space available. I packed as much fabric and basics that I could and didn't think about all the decorating that we do on our bears.
Fast forward to now and I have a modest collection of ribbon, embroidery thread and knitting yarn, a half full bottle of glue and one tin of dye. Sounds pathetic but I have lots of fabric and that is the most important thing. I really wanted to make special bears for Christmas and herein lies the tale.
The Christmas Santa looks so lovely all in cream with the vintage lace on his clothes but I had to buy gold paint and a paintbrush ( I can add that to my stash now).
The Victorian cone ornament was an amazing idea I saw on this blog http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/
I thought it would be so pretty with a bear sitting inside the cone hanging on a Christmas tree. I managed to buy the card on eBay and thought it would be easy to do the rest. I went out to buy glitter and couldn't find it anywhere, time was running out and I was getting desperate so I found some embossing powder and duly brought it home. I made the cone and then had to wander round holding it for half an hour because we don't have any clothes pegs which would have helped to hold it as the glue wasn't setting.
Now to make the holes for the ribbon, the punch that I could have sworn was in this house has disappeared down the rabbit hole so I had to use a knitting needle which I promptly bent.
I don't have anything to antique the cone with so I go back to the old standard, a teabag but am not concentrating properly and manage to get some very streaky lines but it looks okay. Now the embossing powder, Aleene's tacky glue doesn't like being watered down to spread on the cone so we have some bare patches when it is rolled in the powder, still okay. Now I have to heat it and the hair dryer is not hot enough so I have to resort to the stove top, it is interesting what goes through your mind when you are trying not to burn your fingers and get the powder to melt and of course my mind was wandering so it got a bit more toasted than I meant it to.

I would be surprised if anyone wanted to buy the poor bear now but for all the drama I am really happy with how it came out and am already planning to make a couple of cones to put on the Christmas tree - without bears at the moment.

The other sorry tale to tell is that I walked past the dining room table last night and managed to trip over the laptop power cable. I grabbed for the table and hit the glass of water sitting next to the computer which promptly fell onto the keyboard. Luckily it wasn't much water and the computer is still working which is such a relief because I have managed to kill one keyboard by 'throwing' water all over it.

Not long till I fly to Cape Town, I can't wait to see my parents again and most importantly my little poodle and the kitties.

This is a work in progress shot and please excuse the bad lighting, I took it an hour ago at 10:00 at night with the light shining on my desk and the computer on in the background - not the ideal way to take photos.

I am getting over my flu, luckily it wasn't too bad, I just have a stupid cough and a wheezy chest. It did however set me back a bit, but what else is new. So the photo above is the start of the Christmas bears, hopefully to be finished by Wednesday.

I feel as if I have been hibernating for the last week, I have been trying to finish 4 1/2 bears for an order and you know how I am with orders - leave them till the last minute, wonder why I ever agreed to do them, tear my hair out trying to get them to look as if they belong to the same family and then when the poor little bears are finally finished - I think, okay that is why I like making bears, all the little faces looking at me and waiting to be sent to a new home.

I think I am coming down with flu, the kind woman standing behind me in the very long and slow post office queue coughing and sneezing all over me has had the last laugh. It was on Monday and the time is right. I hope if I do succumb that it is not too bad, Austin has been battling with flu for two weeks now and I managed to avoid it but it finds you no matter where you hide.

I have just put a new bear on eBay, I really love purple and it is not easy to find in the miniature fabrics. A very kind collector sent me a whole lot of mini bear fabric and this piece of purple was just enough to make a bear. So if you have a minute please go and have a look at VIOLA, I had to trim her with pretty little flowers, it seems to suit the lovely colour.

I am busy stitching the Christmas bears, it has become a tradition to make a special Santa bear every year and I love making them but this year I seem to be even more behind schedule than normal. My desk has bits of bears, half knitted jerseys and clothing in various stages of completion and I don't know when I will see it in any order but have to get finished as it is not long till I fly to Cape Town.