Thank you, my dear readers...

... for sticking with me through this time of quiet on my blog.  As you know, I've been having a bit of a time with my health and even though my brain has been more than mushy, I've had an order of 5 bears for Silly Bears in Scotland weighing on my mind.  To my relief, I mailed all 5 of them yesterday. 

I think the 5 of them turned out pretty well.  To my surprise one of them, Evangeline, even won a 2012 TOBY Industry Choice award! (I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have won a second TOBY award.  Unbelievable!)  I'll post photos of the 5 bears next month when they debut at the February Hugglets in London.  For now, I'll just give you a little peek at Evangeline.

I hope I'll now be able to regularly tend to my blog.  I started a new medication last Friday that seems to be helping.  I'm on a very low dose, but my pain is a bit more bearable now.  I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I must admit that I have dreams of becoming more like a normal human being when I get on a higher dose.  I think I should keep that dreaming in check though, because I've had that dream dashed more times than I care to remember over the last 11 years.  Oh, well.  I'll just hope for a bit more of an improvement then.

Take good care of yourselves!

Warmly,

Cheryl

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

I hope you are all having a lovely and loving Christmas day.  This Christmas didn't turn out exactly as we had planned.  We were planning on traveling to Michigan so that we could spend Christmas with our families.  However, my health put an end to that plan earlier in the week.  So instead, the four of us are home enjoying each other's company and looking forward to sharing our Christmas dinner with a dear friend and neighbor, Jean.

Although Christmas has not gone as we had planned, we are all very happy and holding our family in our hearts.  I know that I feel truly blessed for more things than I can count--and all of you are in that count as well.  May you all feel the warmth and blessings of the season.

Happy Christmas!
Heaps of Hugs,
Cheryl

Using a Locknut Joint

I recently received a question about how I joint my bears, so I thought I would share this with all of you just in case some of you might find the information useful. Okay, now for the confession. I'm going to just cut and paste a portion of the text from the directions to Sammy's pattern. So here it goes!

I generally chose to use locknuts and bolts to joint my bear’s limbs.  Unlike cotter pins, the limbs will be stuffed after the joint is tightened.  Place a metal washer and then the appropriately sized fiberboard disk onto the end of a bolt.  Insert into the limb, and push the end of the bolt through the joint hole....  Slide the end of the bolt through the corresponding hole in the body.  From the inside of the body, slide a fiberboard disk and then a metal washer onto the bolt and finger tighten the locknut onto the bolt.  With a locknut, the all silver side will be facing away from you and the side of the locknut with a small plastic “donut”in it will be facing towards you.  Note that you will only be able to make a couple of turns on the locknut by hand.  Repeat this procedure for the remaining arms and legs.

After all of the limbs have been loosely attached to the body, tighten each joint using a screwdriver and pliers.  You’ll want each joint to be able to rotate using about the same amount of effort. The joints should be a little difficult to turn, but not so much so that you can’t move them or that you feel like you could rip the mohair.

I wish I had photos to help explain this more clearly, but, alas, that will have to wait for another day.  Also, don't forget to trim any fur that would be caught in the joints over the fiberboard disks.  This is especially important if you are using longer mohair.  Be careful to stay within the width of the disks. I do this for all four limb joints.  However, I don't tend to do this for the head joint because I generally use wobble-joints for the head and the extra fur is helpful in hiding the heads of the cotterpins.

Hope this helps! 

Warmly,

Cheryl

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Sheryl of Gone to the Dogs!!

Sheryl of Gone to the Dogs was the lucky number 144 in my Bingle Bears' St. Nicholas Giveaway.
 

I've already emailed her to tell her the good news.  Benvolio is just quivering with excitement!

Thank you to all of you who participated.  All of your lovely and supportive comments just melted my heart.  I truly wish that I could send each and every one of you something to show you how much I appreciate you.  You are each a lovely gift to my life.  Thank you so much for reading my blog.

Heaps of Hugs,

Cheryl

Unbelievable Gingerbread Houses

Can you believe that this is a gingerbread house?

 A traditional English garden complete with a water fountain and gazebo.

Or this one?

The onion domes in St. Petersburg.

How about this one?

A Gnome's House

To celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season, we visited a local exhibit of gingerbread houses made by individuals, families, and professionals.  All of the houses are made entirely of things that are edible--we saw peanut brittle used for everything from steps to fences to walls.

The variety of work always astounds us and makes it rather difficult to choose our favorites.

The little red an white things are gnomes.

Canal boats going through villages on the Erie Canal was a popular theme this year--appropriate considering this area's heritage.

So, as you can see, there was quite a variety of "houses."  Of course, there was also the occasional traditional gingerbread house, but always with a twist.

Mrs. Rabbit's house was very sweet!  It even had stockings hanging on the fireplace mantel in her kitchen and draperies decorated with green wreaths in the family room.  And, of course, a proper snowman stood guard in the front yard.

 Welcome to the Christmas season!  It will be St. Nicholas's day before we know it!

Warmly,

Cheryl

Finally Some Bears to Show You!

Here are the two latest bears that I just sent to Teddies of Mt. Holly.  However, before I could show them to you, they were adopted!  So, alas, I still do not have any available bears to share with you.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to remedy that after the New Year.

Xavier 13 1/2"

Aurora 13 1/2"

I'm really pleased with how they turned out--especially their little paw pads!  Now I'm off to complete a big boy that's destined for Silly Bears.  He has his caramel-colored silk vest, but I really think he needs a silk cravat to complete his look.

Warmly,

Cheryl

Sweetest Little Ornaments

I found a pattern from Gingermelon Dolls for the sweetest little ornaments.  I just HAD to share them with you.

from Gingermelon Dolls

I recently bought a copy of the pattern for these Babushka Bunnies and all three girls here (including me!) can't WAIT to start making these.

from Gingermelon Dolls

If you, like me, just can't resist these sweethearts, pop on over to Gingermelon's Etsy shop to get a copy of the pattern for yourself.  Shelly makes wonderfully detailed patterns.  Everything you might possibly need is in them--including all sorts of different embroidery patterns to embellish your little Babuska Bunny.

Warmly,
Cheryl