nimbleknot

Fall is here

Another little creation to commemorate Halloween. I have been calling it Boo Bear. But my daughter didn't like that. We thought Scary Larry was funnier. Either way, this little guy is available. Please contact me for details.

I really love fall and the color that comes with it. Usually in Texas it's still 95º at this time of year. But we're actually being blessed with rain and cool temperatures. We need it badly but it keeps me off my mountain bike and that bums me out.

I am toying with the idea of ending my blog. I have neglected it so much over the last year and feel like it might be time to let it go to cyber heaven. That doesn't mean I will stop needlefelting,  it just means I won't suck at my blogging anymore. I will still post my bears on Flickr and put it in my etsy shop if it's available. I haven't decided completely yet, but I feel like I am headed that direction.

Another breed

My ideas always start with a color palette.

I thought I might try something different. My last several creations have been bears in pink. I had some fabric I hadn't used before and I really wanted to try an elephant.

I named her Suki and she is 7 1/2 inches from the base of the cupcake to the bobble on her hat. Her arms and legs are string jointed for movability although she is lightly sewn to her cupcake pincushion. She is made of Corriedale and Merino wool.

Suki is available for adoption. If you are interested in adopting Suki, please send me an email.

Daisy

I told you I was still needlefelting! This gal took awhile. My hand surgery in late May really threw a monkey wrench into everything. I never thought I would still have the pain 8 weeks post-op. But I should know by now, this is the third surgery on this hand.

There's only 2 1/2 weeks left before I go back to work (public school). I cannot believe how quickly the summer has gone by. I had so many things I wanted to do and probably got to only half of them. One of the biggest ones was cleaning out my 7 year old son's room. Holy cow, I don't know how he crammed all that stuff into his room. But it's better now and I can see the floor.

It's hot in Texas

This is Barton Springs Pool. I have lived here for 16 years and went to this beautiful natural springs pool for the first time. Now I know why...it was COLD! I hate being cold. But when it's 106º outside, who cares.

So much has happened since I last wrote in December. I must say that it is absolutely impossible to do anything creative during the school year. There is so much going on that I can barely find an empty day on the calendar. But I am still making bears. Honest.

If you read my blog you know that I had the flu at Christmas. Well, exactly a month later, my son got it and gave it to my daughter. Then a month after that, we all got the stomach flu. Which I have to say was a nightmare. My son actually ended up in the hospital. We were all heaving at the same time and were in our beds for 3 days. 

For time sake I will list what has occurred since last December...

- We all got the flu 

- I got a new camera for Christmas, it's awesome

- We all got the stomach flu

- We had the hailstorm from hell

- I raced spring mountain biking series

- My daughter got straight A's all year

- Carlos the bird...sigh...sadness...I will share that story soon

- We got a new Mac, my husband finally went to the dark side. LOL! He was a hardcore PC user.

- I had hand surgery

- My hand abscessed a week before I went on vacation (scary)

- I went on vacation, the vacation I have waited 18 years to take

- My sister and husband visited from California with their 5 kids

- I went to Schlitterbahn for the first time in my life. Schlitterbahn is the #1 waterpark in the country, and now I know why.

When my husband and I got married we said, "We'll go for our 5th anniversary." It came and went.

 Then we said, "We'll go for our 10th." 

"Okay, we'll go for our 15th."

"Well crud, maybe for our 20th."

We finally went...9 days of fun in paradise...with our kids. Just shy of our 18th anniversary.

Go ahead kids...get in. It's the PACIFIC ocean, not the Gulf of Mexico.

We couldn't believe we finally made it. We are 5 hours ahead in Texas. So the first day we woke up at 4:30am and headed down to the beach. We didn't have to go far since our hotel was ON the beach. We stayed at the Outrigger on the Beach. Absolutely the best service and hospitality I have EVER had at a hotel. It's sandwiched between the historic Royal Hawaiian and Moana Surfrider Hotel, the oldest luxurious hotels on Waikiki Beach.

Later that day, my son wasn't sure of the waves. That's me in the pink tube coaxing him in the water.

It didn't take him long.

My husband took about 1700 photos. He's the photographer and you can really appreciate the photos on his site since I have really reduced the quality. I think I snapped a few hundred. More to come...

Oh, and thank you for checking my blog. I do check the stats and know y'all are reading.

The flu for Christmas

Really. It's just not fair. My salsa, potato salad and gingerbread house sit unmade. I think what makes it so bad is the fever. Fever makes you feel like garbage no matter what. Fortunately, I squeaked out this bear before it all hit the fan.

I didn't realize, after all this time, my own mom didn't have one of my bears. And she collects dolls! I think she'll be surprised to open her up on Christmas morning. I made her a matching box too.

Well that's about all the energy I have right now. Hopefully my doctor can prescribe something to make me feel human again. And dangit, I want to make my salsa because it's a thousand times better than store-bought!

The holidays are here...where have I been?

I feel really bad that my last post was four months ago. Geez. But I have been busy as you can see. Above is Christmas Carol, a little kitty with a small stocking and candy cane. I made her a matching quilt and traveling box so she'll be cozy in her adventure across the sea. She'll be traveling with Fifi.

Fifi is a little rabbit with slipper mules. I have to admit, Fifi is a cutie. And then there's Opal...

Opal is another kitty, complete with whiskers and a sucker. And yes, that is a yellow pin in her dress. I put those in for stability in shipping. I forgot to remove it for her photo. Oh well. I am working on another cupcake bear right now. So if you are interested in buying him or her for the holidays, let me know and I can dress him or her in your favorite color. There won't be enough time for overseas shipping but I can surely get it to you in the states.

More of Sally

I wanted to show you just how little fiber I use for a toe.

Man, I could use some lotion! Really though, pretty small amount. Same for mouth too. Once I get all the limbs done I lie them all out on the sponge to make sure everything looks even. Wouldn't want one leg longer than the other.

I string the legs first to get the bear balanced. Then add the arms.

It looks pretty easy but I always stress out during this phase. The legs have to be perfectly straight otherwise the bear won't sit right. The legs must move freely in all directions. Same with the arms, they have to be balanced over the legs and around the tummy. Once she is all strung I take a big sigh of relief .

It's fun to choose the material for clothes. It's harder than you think. There is so much gorgeous material out there. But when you cut a 2x2 inch piece, the design totally disappears. So I have to look for fabric that maintains it's integrity and feel at two inches square. A lot of fabrics I use are geared toward quilters which hold much larger designs than I can use. So sometimes it gets a little tricky. Plus the fabric store loves it when I toss 6 bolts on the counter and say, "I'll take 1/4 yard of each please."

I think she likes her outfit. Look at those eyes.

I sew all my clothes by hand. There's no way I'd ever attempt to sew a 1/16 hemline on a machine. I love sewing the clothes. There is something very therapeutic about backstitching. But Sally still needed something else. A hat? No. A bow? No. Hmm...I know..how 'bout wool slippers.

Yes. Perfect. With snowflake buttons no less.

A little step by step

Dang. It's taken me six tries to type this paragraph. Typepad has changed their compose editor and it's like a snail. Hopefully I will get through my post without screaming.

My bears always start out like a stranger. You have to spend some time with them. Discover their personality. They become more familiar as they grow. But always, they start out like a blob. Much like a new baby.

I don't know why but this photo always makes me squirm. I guess I know what it feels like to have one of those felting needles jabbed into your skin. Although, it hasn't happened in a VERY long time.

A better view of the head and body. I always start with the trunk.

Then move onto the limbs.

I know, it looks like nothing. But really, there is a foot in there.

It's coming...

The finished foot on the right took about 45 minutes. The blob on the left is about 15 minutes worth of work. And what you see below is almost 90 minutes of work.

A pair.

Okay, so Typepad's bug fixer actually works. No curse words were spoken. Although I need to fix the picture size next time. I feel like I am leaning to the left.

New Name

Whew! Did you think I had abandoned my blog? Apologies. Teaching school has it's plusses but when you are in school, it's very busy. Now that school is out I can attend to my blog and make more bears! I have pondered a name change for quite some time but put it off. I see a lot of misspellings with nimbleknot and it's not the easiest thing to prounounce. Plus it doesn't elude to bear making at all.  Everytime I get email or a bear request, people refer to my bears as "cupcake bears." So I went with the obvious choice.

Busy

Just when I look at my calendar, shiny and new, all blank...it seems to fill up immdiately. From dentist appointments, to birthday parties, business meetings, school events, etc. Time is going faster. I know it.

I am making bears. It's just I am making them for people that are contacting me. So if you are interested in purchasing a bear, please shoot me an email. I can make one for you in a color scheme you like and give you an approximate timeline.

I don't use patterns. Each bear turns out a teensy bit different. Take this one for example.

She stands up by herself. I don't plan it. It just happens. I really like the color scheme, warm, fall, farm house-type colors. I think of apples and cinnamon when I look at her.

I did her star twice. The first one didn't have beads. It didn't have quite the pop I was looking for. So I took it apart and re-sewed it with beads. I like it MUCH better.

I also purchased more vintage jello molds. I did not realize how tough it is to find these cute little cups! There must be a bunch of jello mold groupies out there. Guess I am one of them. I had the flu a couple weeks ago. It was bad. However, in between my husband waking me to take ibuprofen for my fever, I remembered I was bidding on some jello molds. I couldn't even get out of bed. My husband brought his laptop to the bed so I could watch my auction and try to win. It was ridiculous. There were 11 bids on this particular auction. I propped my head up and bid up until the last second. I lost. It took me another week and 4 more auctions to get a great collection of molds.

I think I am going to go back outside right now. It's a balmy 80 degrees in Austin, Texas. That is exactly why I live here. Shorts and t-shirts in February.