Christmas is coming, and I'm in a flap!

I must apologise, I've been so busy making & selling, blogging came a long way down on the 'To Do' list! With so many fairs, both craft & Bear, booked for the next few weeks, and having sold nearly half the stock I took with me at the last Salisbury Guildhall fair, I've been in a minor panic! However, despite having our new puppy, Minnie, to cramp my style, I've managed 6 bears/bunnies/elephants this week, so feel a bit less pressured!

Minnie is very small & cute, but has serious separation anxiety, having always been with her mother till she came to us. She has transferred that security aspect to me, so it's like having a toddler again - i.e. I can't even go to the loo without her!  But she's been very good about not helping herself to the bears, tempted though she clearly is!

I've made quite a few buddies with Christmas in mind, but not so 'Christmassy' they'll be out of place all year round - bears need hugs all the time to to sustain them, after all! I shall be doing the Beaulieu Bear Fair on Sunday the 1st December, and there is a competition on the theme of 'Fruits of the Forest', so here is a quick preview of my entry :o)

I don't expect to get a prize, but it's always fun to work to someone else's choice of theme.  On the 30th November, I shall be at the last Sherborne Artisan fair, at the Digby Memorial Hall. This is a lovely little fair, small but always quality, both exhibitors and public - roll on next year's dates!

As you can see, much of my Christmas theme is based on red & white, subtly accessorised, which certainly isn't an exclusively winter colour combo! On the 5th of December, there's a short, Christmas fair at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton, from 5pm - 7.30pm - give my Fayre Exchange friends a last chance to grab a festive bear! Then things get a bit frantic, on the 7th we're back at Salisbury Guildhall (be nice to have good sales, but please don't clean me out!) then straight down to Brighton, for my biggest Bear Fair since returning to making bears, at Hove Town Hall - I think we'll be dishrags by Monday morning!

After Brighton, assuming I don't sell out, I only have one more fair - back to Salisbury Guildhall on the 14th, when I plan on reducing my prices to give everyone a chance at a bargain as my seasonal gift to my customers! Anything left after that will go onto the website at seriously reduced prices for my online buddies, so everyone gets a chance.

So, there's a taste of my upcoming festive friends, and a reminder of dates where you can come and have a trial hug! I'm taking the weekend off, so the hole in my finger from sewing so much can have a chance to heal, and I'll be making more next week (a blue bunny is cut out, ready to go on Monday)

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Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness . . . . .

Wow! September already! This will be the last 'quiet' month for us before we start an increasingly busy run up to (sh!) Christmas. I am also preparing for 3 specialist Bear Fairs in the last 3 months of the year, which will mean I'm putting my bears in front of a more knowledgeable sector of the public (not that my existing customers aren't knowledgeable, but they're not, on the whole, people who are so bear obsessed that they go to specialist fairs!) So, to impress people who are that immersed in bear 'stuff' I'm going to have to show my best work! Of which, at present, I don't really have enough for one show, let alone 3!

 

The first Bear Fair I'm doing is the Telford Teddy Bear Parade, at the Park Inn, in Telford on October 27th, run by the excellent Mohair Bear Supplies, who have a truly inspiring range of bear making fabrics and components.  I did this fair a few times in Orkid's first incarnation, when it was run by Bears On The Square, in Ironbridge, and it attracted an impressive array of exhibitors and discerning, but not too bonkers, customers! I do hope the same customers come as used to, and maybe some of my Gloucestershire customers will consider a day out and a wild, new experience?! Check out http://www.telfordteddybearanddollparade.co.uk/ for more information ;o) I'm really looking forward to it, though we're going to be exhausted come Monday morning!

 

 This month I only have 2 fairs - Sturminster Newton's Fayre Exchange next Saturday morning, and the Artisan Fair at Sherborne's Digby Memorial Hall on the 7th, but next month I still have The Fayre Exchange on the first Saturday, but there's Telford and the first of 4 fairs booked at Salisbury's Guildhall, on the 19th. This fair is run by Kevin Murphy, and the very first outing for my bears, in 1997, was to this Salisbury fair, so a circle is being closed!  

My 'realistic' bears seem to be being well received, so I shall pursue this further, perhaps in both larger and smaller scales, and I can see I shall have to get some more of the very long pile, dense velvet as soon as I can afford it! It's quite expensive, but obviously you, my lovely customers, like it, so what you want, I must supply ;o) 

I also have some loyal knitting customers, so they're keeping me busy - mittens for the coming cold weather at the moment, but my selection of Aran patterns is with a customer now, for her to decide what she wants, so I'm looking forward to that challenge!

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is coming, with all those rich colours and yummy harvest from the summer to look forward to - how inspiring!