nimbleknot

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.

Lookie what I learned...

...yep. Wanted to learn for two years. I wanted to take a knitting class in 2006 but broke my hand. Injury, surgery, more therapy, another surgery=no knitting. But finally it happened. I took the class.

And I have to admit, it was tricky for me at first. My 40 year old brain was resisting. Plus holding the needles was a little tough with my less than perfect hand. But the knitting instructor had to be the most amazing and engaging lady I had ever met. Pat Tittizer was fantastic. She has been knitting for 50 years. To be able to sit and listen to her talk about her endeavors, plus show me how to knit was the absolute best way to spend two hours on a Monday evening. Pat is a retired programmer for IBM. But now, knitting consumes her entire life. While volunteering at a couple local knitting shops, teaching knitting and crocheting at the local Michael's, heading up a knitting guild, teaching knitting in the local school district, teaching knitting at University of Texas, she also has a display at Texas A&M University. A beautiful showing of her work. She is an absolutely lovely woman who cannot stop talking about knitting and was just as interested in what I was doing and creating. She has a zest for life and is passionate about her work.

While this is just a sample of what she was teaching me, I thought the yarn was a bit too fat. The circular needles were very clumsy for me, even though the idea of them is a great idea. So I ended up purchasing size ONE needles and a tiny bit of Perle embroidery tread. After a lot of squinting I figured five rows were equal to that of a postage stamp. That should be perfect for a bear scarf, no?

Oh yea, and while I thought last week couldn't get any worse? It did. I got sick with the flu. Bad. Five days. Don't get the flu.

The week from hell...

...somehow worked to my advantage. My daughter ended up being really sick with fever for five days. My husband and I took turns staying home from work. She ended up getting sicker and had to go back to the doctor today for more antibiotics. Flu. It's bad. She sleeps, I needlefelt.

I am liking this color scheme. Icy colors. Perfect since it's 30º outside and trying hard to sleet. We are wimps in Texas when it gets cold and even worse if things freeze. I sit at my kitchen table to work with a cup of coffee. Today I listened to 6 hours of Hannah Montana on television. Of course I can't watch it, otherwise I will stab myself.

Alice turned out quite cute. Someday I will have to make one of these bears and actually keep one. I love beading. It's therapeutic in an odd way. One stitch and bead at a time, so uniform and so lovely when complete. Another thing I like is backstitching, which is how I assemble the clothes. So simple yet so strong. I think that's why I love needlefelting and quilting. To take the most basic supplies and create something unique, lasting and hopefully memorable. To make something out of nothing, really.

Gee, she's almost as big as Effie.

I was so excited to find woolfelt by the yard at my local fabric store. I used to be able to get fat quarters of woolfelt at another store but they discontinued it. There is nothing like beading on buttery wool. I really want to try an elephant. My mom really likes elephants and thought I might take a stab at one, literally.

As I sit here I just remembered I was tagged by a couple people. I totally forgot. DANGIT! It's such a nice gesture and I have been a total slouch. Well crud. I need to go back and find out the questions I need to answer then make a list of the people I want to tag.

Effie

"Mommy, I found the biggest acorn EVER!"

Running across the street...

"...and I am naming it Effie."

My son yelled to me from across the street that he found the biggest acorn ever. Sure. Little did I know...it would fill my hand. I am used to the tiny acorns that crunch under my feet. He was right, it's the biggest one ever. I have never seen an acorn that big. Don't tell anyone, but I think Effie is on steroids.

WIP

I got a new sponge. Oh and there's a bear on it. It looks like the middle of fall but it's winter. It was 70º today and breezy. One more reason I love living in Texas. I am further along on this little bear but I am so darn bad about posting. I want to finish her up so I can have my husband take the photos.

Today has been all about ears. First, the vet. My lovely little poodle has hairy ears and the vet needs to pluck them and irrigate them. Our groomer plucks the hair but apparently it needs to be done every 4 weeks because our doggie's hair grows so fast. I also got some irrigation-type fluid for his ears. I have to fill them up every 2 weeks and massage it down the ear canal. It's just one of those things poodles need.

After irrigation, shots, ear plucking and a fecal exam, it's now time for a bath and teeth brushing. He's gonna love that.

When I got home from the vet my son was crying, "MY EARS HURT, I CAN"T HEAR." He never complains unless something is really wrong. He's hot and red in the face. Crud. It's Saturday.

I call the doctor and the answering people say their office is open at 1pm for a few hours. My husband doesn't wait to call, he drives over there. No lights, doors locked. He tries calling. Nothing. Drive home.

We call Urgent Care. "We don't take that insurance." Call two more urgent care places. No answer. What the hell? We call our insurace to have them tell us where to go..."I am sorry, our office hours are M-F 8-5..........." Sigh. I really don't want to pay $150 for the ER, but I will if I have to.

We call another urgent care..."Yes, we take that insurance but we need a referral from your primary care doctor. Then the co-pay is just an office visit because the paperwork is processed through your pediatrician."

THANK GOD! Now to get a hold of the attending physician on a Saturday evening. We call. Somebody says the physician will call us back. Yeah right.

Less than 10 minutes later the doctor calls and tells us to head over to urgent care and she will process the paperwork on Monday morning. I have to admit I was really leery that anybody would call us back, let alone the doctor and in less than 10 minutes.

I say all of this on the heels of watching Michael Moore's "Sicko." Which, if you live in America, this movie will scare the living crap out of you, even if you have health insurance. And if you don't have health insurance, I am really truly sorry. It's just not fair and the healthcare situation in this country is horrible and a real disgrace.

Anyway, my husband drove my son to the doctor. I stayed home because I have to get my daughter at a birthday party in a couple hours. Thought I would change sheets on everybody's bed and take a few moments on my blog. I think I'll crack open my new bag of Gold Coast Starbuck's coffee because that bear is going to be finished my the end of this weekend!

P.S. I know I got tagged by a few people and I want to do this very bad! I think it's a fantastic idea. I need to finish my custom order bears first, then I can clearly think about playing the tag game. Thank you to the people that tagged me!!!!!!!