100th Bear & A Giveaway!

This is Bai - her name means 100 in Chinese (according to Google translate) and she is my 100th bear! I decided before I started sewing that I would make her as a giveaway and I'm going to stick to that even though I've fallen in love with her myself! I attend a craft club at my local library once a fortnight, the next meeting is this coming Wednesday, 10th July, which is the date on which I'll get someone to draw the winning name out of a hat or something as that seems to be the fairest way to find Bai's new home.

One hundred bears sounds like a lot doesn't it? But I made my first bear back in March 1999, so its taken 14 years to reach this point!  For some reason after I'd made my 99th bear, I didn't pick up my needle and thread for days, I felt as though there was a lot of pressure to do something special for my 100th bear, but then thought that if I carried on stressing over it, I'd never get my 100th bear made at all!  So in the end, I selected a bag of bear bits I'd already cut out some weeks ago and just got on with things.  I have taken my time on Bai - firstly because my hands have been playing up lately, but also because I didn't want to rush such an important bear - I wanted to enjoy the process.

Bai, like the majority of my teddies is around 8cm (just over 3 inches) tall, she is made from Sassy Long Pile white and frosted lilac fabric with ultrasuede paws and black glass beads for her eyes.  She is NOT a toy, she is suitable for bear lovers/collectors over the age of 14.

I'm going to post Bai's photo here, on Facebook, and on my Flickr account so that hopefully most of my friends can have a chance at winning her if they want to. If you'd like to be included in the draw, please leave a comment below. I'm sorry I haven't allowed a lot of time for this but I don't want to get too attached and Bai is very impatient to find out where she's going to live.

Good Luck Everyone!


UPDATE - 10th July 2013 - Our Fibro group met at the local Wetherspoons this morning and a very nice lady who worked there drew the winning name out of the hat - I even found an actual hat  thought it looked better than a plastic supermarket bag! Anyway the person who won little Bai Bear was.... (drum roll) Clare from "Summerhouse by the Sea" who entered the draw via this blog page... there was an amazing 48 people entered in the draw! As Clare was sitting right next to me when she name was drawn, Bai has already gone to live her new home. xxx

Minstrel Needs A Home

This is Minstrel.  He's around 8cm tall and is made from a mixture of mini-bear fabrics - American Velvet and Cashmere; he's stuffed with polyester filling and his feet contain steel shot which gives him the stability to stand independently.

I made Minstrel for an auction arranged by some friends of mine in a group I belong to.  All the members of the group are creative people with chronic health problems and all the items have either been donated or handmade and donated by them - Minstrel is my contribution.  The auction is now open to bids, which can be made up until the closing date - 28th April 2013 - and the person who has made the highest bid will win the item.  All the money raised will be shared equally between Macmillan and Invest in M.E.

If you're interested in bidding for Minstrel you can access him directly here - alternatively you can access the rest of the auction site here.

I wish you very happy bidding, I am happy to be contributing to two great causes which are both very close to my heart, and I hope Minstrel finds himself in a lovely new home very soon.

If you want to know any more about the organisations we're supporting, please follow the links below:

Macmillan Cancer Support

Invest In M.E.

Time To Make a Start

I've been crafting for pretty much my whole life in one form or another, I've never really written about it in a serious way before, but I've come to the conclusion that its time I got started with a crafty blog!

I don't know how often I'll have the energy to post but I'm going to do my best to add new creations on a reasonably regular basis.  Just don't expect my posts to be all about a single craft, I have quite wide interests which I'm going to let you discover over time.  However I shall start you off today with one I made earlier...  

Hope the Bear was made at my sister's request as she decided she wanted to raise some money for Ovacome as part of her 50th birthday celebrations.  Her original idea was for Hope to be a raffle prize, but in the end she auctioned the bear separately and  raised £110 with her.  I was so proud of my sister that day!  In total, she raised over £400, with her employers donating a further amount at a later date.  The photo probably makes it hard to determine size, but Hope measures just over 3 inches (around 8cm) tall.

I hope you like her too.