Christmas Treasures Preview

As the saying goes 'time flies when your having fun' which is just what I've been doing while getting ready for this online show ! 

Merri

 Merri is my Christmas Treasures preview bear and she's wearing a two tone red hand dyed mohair suit and Santa hat in readiness for the festive season, so pop over to www.teddiesworldwide.com where you can view all the fantastic preview bears and vote for your favourite too from each category!

  The show opens on 18th November 4pm New York time with 75 artists from around the world participating and is definitely something special to look forward to!

Beautiful and Busy Days

Just realised there has been a long gap between posts here! Bears, garden and family things have been keeping me pretty busy.

We've had a glorious couple of months weather wise and typically dry for this time of year, so it's all hands on deck in the garden getting things in order before the start of our wet season. Lots of mulching, plant feeding, pruning and so on, the things we can't do in the wet.

I don't put food out for the wild birds but I do make sure there is plenty of water for them, especially now in the dry, and so we have five bird baths in various spots around our two acre garden.

It's such a pleasure to see the birds these baths attract and late in the afternoon just last week, we counted 10 different bird species enjoying themselves, either in the Grevilleas for nectar, or having a drink and a freshen up in a bird bath.

There have been some unusual bird sightings too of late and one that is not usually found here is the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. They are fascinating birds to watch and there has been a big mob of them hanging around the Cairns district for a few months now.

Of course our resident Sulphur-Crested White Cockatoos are totally put out by these beautiful black interlopers and let them know in no uncertain terms, dive bombing them as a last resort to get them to move on! The Black Cockatoos are not fazed by this, they are real laid back bushies and take their time, much to the white cockies disgust!

However it hasn't been all birds and garden, I have been working on three new bear designs, one of which is a sweet little panda, and also getting ready for my next bear show, now only SEVEN days away! Eeeek!

I'll be travelling down south next weekend forThe Brisbane Bear Fair which will be held next Sunday 18th September between 10am and 4pm at the Holiday Inn , Roma Street, Brisbane.

This will be the first Brisbane Bear Fair organised by Melissa Kemp of Bear Fairs Australia, so looking forward to a successful event that hopefully becomes a regular date on our bear calender here in Queensland.

And here are a couple of teds that will be coming along to the show with me,as you can see they are still bare bears, but not for long though as they are both a work in progress!

I'm looking forward to catching up with my bear friends at the show !

 

Last but not least we are thinking of our American friends today and remembering.

Beary best wishes,

                    Robyn.

Happy Days

My grand daughters are in the middle of a two week school holiday break, so it has been good to spend some time with them and catch up. Early last Friday morning we set off to Rusty's Markets, this is an icon in Cairns CBD, which sells beautiful fresh local fruit, veg., produce, and all manner of things from Friday through to Sunday. We like to get our supplies there as opposed to the supermarket so it's a weekly pleasure to go and shop.

After Rusty's we headed off to visit HMB Endeavour which is a replica of Captain James Cook's iconic ship of discovery.  Endeavour is making it's first circumnavigation around Australia and is currently visiting Cairns.  We had a fascinating time exploring the ship and we were amazed how small it is considering it accommodated a total of 94 sailors, not to mention sheep, pigs and poultry as well !!

Then off to find a yummy late lunch on the Cairns Pier, a lovely end to the day.

The Gold Coast Teddy Bear Fair I attended 3 weeks ago was a very happy event even though we had unusual cool and rainy weather for the first day.  For some reason the photos I took have not come up clear enough for me to post but Kympatti will be posting photo's of the event soon.  I'm also happy to report two adoptions this last week that were a direct result of the show, so that was a nice post-script.

During the week following the show I attended two workshops held in the Kympatti Studio at Broadbeach. The first was a terrific one day felting workshop with Geri Williams, entitled a Bunny in a Shoe ! and the second a two day workshop  with Linda Benson.  This was a wonderful workshop creating Linda's 'Gregore' who has open mouth, with tongue, open shut eyes, leather nose and leather trapunto paws detail, as well as extra neck and wrist joints. 'Gregore' kept us very busy indeed but Linda, in her inimitable easy going style, created a calm and very happy atmosphere.  Needless to say I haven't finished my pieces but as soon as I do I will show you here.

The girls are off in a swimming camp today, the weather is just right for that sort of thing here at the moment.  We'll have a couple of days to do things together at the end of this week, then its back to school for them.  

Wishing you a beary good week,

Robyn.   

Don't miss out

Linda Benson is having a giveaway !  So don't miss out,  visit Linda's blog and name this cute little fellow to be in with a chance. 

What a cutey !

Almost Ready

My bags are almost packed and ready to fly south early tomorrow morning, heading for Brisbane and then on to the Gold Coast to attend the Gold Coast International Teddy Bear Fair.  The show starts on Saturday 11th and continues to Sunday12th, from 10am to 4pm both days.  I'm really looking forward to seeing all my 'bear friends' there and catching up in person, we were away in the UK last year so I missed attending the show.  I love a 'hands on' show, as I'm sure collectors do too, and the Gold Coast International always has a happy and friendly atmosphere.  I have 12 orphan Teds for the show, that's about all I can fit into my baggage allowance, so fingers crossed they find new homes.

By the way this is HBT (Hand-Bag-Ted) or HB for short ! He is the first small ted I made back in 1998 and he has lived in my hand bag ever since. HB reckons he loves it there 'cause he gets to travel around and he's managed to go to Africa, UK and Paris too, in his bag house. He's looking forward to the Gold Coast but he's definitely no orphan, after all he'll be at home in the bag !

And this is Blue Bobby who will be at the show and looking for a new home !  Beary good wishes to you for a happy weekend coming up, I'll be sure to post pics when I get back home. 

Hugs for now, Robyn.





WOW News

I'm very happy and honoured to let you know that my Ms.Musky-Roo has won the 2011 Australian Creative Design Award for High Achievement in Design and Workmanship Excellence. The theme this year was to celebrate Beatrix Potter and I tried to find an Australian character but in the Potter spirit .... this tiny tropical Kangaroo who lives in the rain forest ... a bit rat like but definitely a roo with a pouch, was the perfect candidate for me to imagine through Ms. Potters eyes !  I'm very proud to receive this award and appreciate it is a result of hands-on-judging ... with many thanks to Sandi Smith for creating and setting the high standards for these challenging awards.!  Congratulations to Linda Down (Lombard Bears) and Ruth Bowman (Flutter-By-Bears and Friends) and Ina Smirnova (Bears and Roses) for their awards, and to all the participants !

And to finish off, looking forward to next years 2012 ACD awards entitled Under the Big Top, it's bound to be  fabulous, click on the banner below to find out more !

Stepping out

I have been repairing and cleaning this charming old leather baby boot in readiness for a Geri Williams workshop being held at the Kympatti Studio  Broadbeach on the Gold Coast the week following The Gold Coast International Teddy Bear Fair on 11th and 12th June.  I've been sewing madly in preparation for the show, which is always a lot of fun but so are the workshops held over the week after the show.  Geri's workshop is about creating a felted rabbit or bear who lives in a shoe and I'll be sure to post a photo of my efforts here when I get back home.

 Time is running out for voting on The Peoples Choice Award in the Australian Creative Design Awards, so do hop over if you haven't already done so and vote for your favourite piece just click on the bunny below.

Beary best wishes, Robyn.