MEGAN CHAMBERLAIN

This was the sunrise at 7:00 this morning, absolutely beautiful. Of course I do wonder about getting up at that time on a Saturday in the freezing cold but I had places to be. I went to Portabello Market to find some vintage lace and see what else I could find.

The market is aimed at the tourists, especially when it comes to the prices but you can find some nice stuff and can bargain with the stall holders so it is an interesting morning. That is why I was up so early, the stalls open at 8:30 and the tourists only start appearing at 9:30 so you have a bit of time before it becomes chaotic.

It was so cold and I think it was getting worse by the time I left at 10:00. I found some lovely lace which will be showing up on a bear soon, a couple of old keys, not tiny but for a 4" bear they are perfect and then I gazed in longing at some vintage postcards and velvet flowers but the money is limited so I left those. On my way back to catch the bus I stopped at a table and in a box on the ground was this poor old bear.
Well he had to come home with me, having one arm is a bit of a problem but I used to restore old bears so I can fix that. He was only £10.00 and I just couldn't leave him behind. Of course that was the grocery money but who needs to eat.
He did have one glass eye but when I got on the bus I realised that he had lost it on the walk, it was very careless of me and the bag that he got put in had a hole in it (wouldn't you just know it) so it could have been lost anywhere.
So poor bear is now one armed and blind, I am going to have to try and find out where I can get old glass eyes from in this country (if anyone knows please email me, an old bear would be very grateful)
So tomorrow I have to wash him and he can sit on the radiator to dry. I can't put him in the freezer as it is tiny and he wouldn't fit so I can just hope that the extreme cold he was in outside will have killed any potential bugs.
He has got a Chad valley label on his foot so he has got a good pedigree.

It has got really cold today so I have spent the afternoon wrapped in a blanket with the heating on stitching bears. I will have a couple of new ones on the website next week.