Amelia

Amelia is an 18" bear made from Mongolian lamb faux fur. She has blue English glass eyes & her pads, paws & inner ears are made from cotton fabric. Her handmade hat matches her pads & is trimmed with lace. Her necklace is also handmade. She is loosely 5 way cotterpin & disc jointed. She is also incredibly soft & cuddly, although she is designed with the adult collector in mind, she is not a toy & is not suitable for children under 14 years old.

Red is a new creation for me. He is made from a 1950's Simplicity pattern. Red stands at 9" & is completely handsewn. He has safety eyes, his mane & tail are sewn on as is the ribbon round his neck. Red is not suitable for children under 14 years old.

This little chap I finished a couple of days ago. Elphick stands at 4", is made from dusty blue, natural laid mohair. His inner ears & footpads are made from vintage 40's eiderdown fabric. He is 4 way thread jointed with safety eyes.

It is sometime since I have written a blog but I have promised myself that I must try to keep up to date more, in case any of you are followers.
I have listed some new bears below. These have been in the making over the last few months.
You can see more on my facebook page. I am also set up for Pay Pal now, so should you see a bear that you like you will be able to adopt one by emailing me.

  

 This is Quinn, he is one of my larger bears 16" standing. Made from faux fur with wool felt pads, paws & inner ears. He has safety eyes & is 5 way cotterpin jointed.

This is Molly a little 5" standing mohair bear. She is made from a Ginger Melon pattern. Molly has safety eyes & is 4 way thread jointed.

 This is Petra, a little felt pony. She stands about 5" & is 4 way thread jointed. She has safety eyes. Her mane & tail are made from hand spun merino wool with synthetic yarns threaded through. Petra is also made from a Ginger Melon pattern.

Leo is a 17" bear made from a peacock, long lemon, white tipped faux fur. He is 5 way cotterpin jointed, with safety eyes. He has a key to your heart around his neck.

Barclay is a 16" bear made from a black, white tipped faux fur. He has vintage velvet pads, paws & inner ears. Barclay is 5 way cotterpin jointed with black safety eyes. He is a very posh bear with his handmade waistcoat, satin ribbon bow tie & monacle.

 Garnet is a 10" bear made from a claret & black crushed faux fur. She is 5 way cotterpin jointed with safety eyes. She wears a rose quartz pendent around her neck.

 Cappuccino is a 12" bear made from a chocolate white tipped faux fur, which is really thick & luxurious. He has a gold heart on one of his footpads. He is 5 way cotterpin jointed with safety eyes.

These two little bears are made from cotton fabric. Minnie is made from a retro fabric & Tilly is made from a mixture of 40's & 50's eiderdown fabric, purchased from Jenny Stacy's Handmade Happiness shop. (Jenny has a blog spot under Handmade Happiness.) They are both about 6 1/2" standing & are 4 way thread & button jointed. They have faceted glass bead eyes

This lovely poppy is in my garden, I would imagine by courtesy of a bird. I never planted it. The photo does not really do the plant justice, but felt I had to share.

These are some of my newer bears that are featured on my facebook page under Lane's End Bears.The top photo is of Bisto, Coco & Ebony. Ebony wears a ribbon saying happy birthday.

The next photo is of Crumpet, Norris & Crunchie.

Underneath them is James, Pru & Melvin, these little bears are just 3" standing. 

Lastly is Valentine & Valentino. Hope you like. 

Tomorrow I am off to Arundel for two days in the Norfolk Centre. Hope the weather stays fine & lots of tourists visit the castle, as we are situated right by the main entrance & they usually visit us before & after their castle visit.

Dude is a 61/2" bear made from a dense pile faux fur. He is 5 way cotterpin jointed with glass eyes. He has ultra suede pads, paws & inner ears. He wears super cool shades & has a little ribbon tie around his neck. He has a brother, Mr Kool, who is very similar, made from a slightly different pattern but has a red & white bandana around his neck.

Was at Midhurst Home & Garden Event last Saturday 12th May, had a nice day making new friends, buying some bedding plants & this wonderful bag, which is huge & will fit just about everything into it.

Will be at the Norfolk Centre in Arundel for two days next week, Tuesday 22nd & Wednesday 23rd May. Hope the weather stays fine & lots of people visit the castle because that means we get plenty of people popping in!!!!

Introducing Bourneville, a 16" bear made from faux fur, with handmade & hand dyed felt pads, paws & inner ears. He is 5 way cotterpin jointed with genuine boot button eyes. Mocha is approx 9" standing, made from faux fur. He has safety eyes, is 5 way cotterpin jointed & has the same felt paws, pads & inner ears as Bourneville. Both these bears will be at The Midhurst Home & Garden Show at the Grange on Saturday 12th May.

As promised the other day here is a selection of my blue/white & navy/white. All the items painted are sourced from either charity shops or car boot sales. 

I found this photo yesterday, in a drawer whilst looking for something else. It was still in the envelope that it was sent to me in. This was taken some 10 or 12 years ago & was a long distance ride of 25 miles from Duncton & surrounding countryside. (I must have been fit in those days) It did bring back some lovely happy memories especially as I had lost this little horse 2 years ago.
What was I looking for in the drawer? can't remember, so obviously didn't find it!!!!

This chap has been made from fur fabric, given to me by a friend. He stands at 17" & is, as yet, unnamed. He is 5 way cotterpin jointed with safety eyes & polyfilled. His pads, paws & inner ears are Alpaca handmade felt.

While most of my blog is dedicated to the bears that I make, I do also paint. This I started a few years ago with the Narrowboat style. I then moved onto my own design of blue/white, which is very popular. I now do as well, the above, which is also proving to be very popular. I will take some photos of the blue/white & post them for you to see.

Rain, rain & more rain, still I suppose it is a good excuse to stay in & paint or finish a new bear I am in the middle of making. Or perhaps some housework aghhhhh!!!!

These are Stripes & Cash, both are made from recycled items from charity shops. Stripes is made from a Per Una cardigan & Cash from a M&S cashmere jumper. They are both 4 way thread & button jointed with button eyes. 
Below is a picture of Sybil, she is made from a gold mohair. She has ultra suede pads, paws & inner ears. She wears a snazzy little hat adorned with flowers. She has a black necklace, black velvet handbag with a genuine Swarovski crystal & handmade specs. 

Tawny Nursery

Did a charity craft event for our local hospice on the weekend of the 14th & 15th of April. This was not a good event unfortunately but still had a nice time catching up with people & buying a few plants for the garden.
Did another event the following Sat.21st, this time for a local church, this was also quite poorly attended although trade seemed to pick up in the afternoon. Perhaps people just don't have the money or the inclination to buy craft any more.
Well I am not doing anything now until bank holiday Monday 7th May. then perhaps things will start looking up.

Easter Craft Fair

Had a really nice weekend in West Wittering, catching up on some old friends within the craft world.
It was really quite a busy weekend with lots of people coming through and spending their hard earned cash. I was actually quite surprised at the amount of people coming through as it was Easter and I thought they may be doing other things.
I sold several pieces of my painted wares and 4 bears were adopted.
So all in all it was a successful show for me.
This coming weekend I shall be at Tawney Nursery for a charity event in aid of our local hospice, St Wilfred's.
This is always another nice event, not too many craft stands but lots of people coming to browse and look round all the wonderful plants.
Will catch up next week with news of that event.

Hi it has been sometime since I posted a blog.
Did a couple of two day shows at the Norfolk Centre in Arundel, one a fortnight ago and another that finished yesterday.
The weather this week really brought the tourists out in force, although I have to say they are being careful with their hard earned cash. It would appear they are buying what is necessary rather than on a whim.
I have one more show there, in May, this year and the castle will be open then so hopefully there will be more tourists and perhaps a little more money to spend.
I am in West Wittering over the Easter weekend, not sure if this is the right thing to do but time will tell.

Briefly, going back to Arundel I had a couple of nice comments about a 16" bear that I made a couple of months ago, which I had aged. He has bald patches scissored into his "fur", he is stuffed with plastic pellets, rags and polyfill so he has a lovely sqiudgey feel. I did a "repair" to his front seam and nose seam and also a patch on his arm. His nose is just a few strands of embroidery silk. I coffee stained him to make him look a little dirty. This was all to give the appearance that he had been around for a few years. And from the comments this would appear to have worked.

Hi, it has been sometime since I posted a blog, mainly because not a lot has been happening.

Made a few new bears so I am now posting their photographs. The top bear is Diamond made to celebrate the Queen's jubilee.
The next one is Linford to celebrate the London Olympics.

Here is Milo a 6 1/2" bear bear made from sparse golden mohair.

Here is Robson, he is a 12" bear, made from felted mohair, with handmade felt pads, paws & inner ears. He has boot button eyes & as you can see his pads & paws are overly large. He has a great character about him & the photo really doesn't do him justice.

Milo is a 6 1/2" bear, made from sparse mohair, he has ultra suede pads, paws & inner ears. He has brown glass eyes & plastic pellets in his tummy.
These are bears I have made over the last few weeks, ready for a new round of craft shows this year.

Maisie & Monty Mouse

Robert Rabbit

Wilf, Seth & Tickle

Tickle the smallest bear has now been adopted.

Galaxy

George

George has now been adopted.

Gingernut

I have been particularly lazy over Christmas & New Year, not much done around the house, but have sat & made these new bears & tried my hand at the mice & the rabbit.

I was interupted by the storm we had last Tuesday by way of a 15 hour power cut. 4 trees came down in the lane straight through the power cables. The electricity board brought in 9 generators to enable us to have electric until the repairs were made.
It was very much the Dunkirk spirit, cooking & boiling a kettle on a primus stove & playing i spy by candle light.
Today, though, I have decided on a "not quite" spring clean. Bears must wait & I really must get back to doing some painting!!!

Here are a selection of photos of some of the family over the Christmas period. First is Sian, our eldest grandaughter and mother to Bobby. Next is Sam, her younger brother who is joining the Royal Engineers in March. Marc is next, our eldest son and father to Sian and Sam and grandfather to Bobby. Then last but not least is my mum with Bobby, her great great grandson.