Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Posts: 751I have just completed a bear I started approximately four years ago ... yes, I kid you not!!!!
Initially the head looked too large and the limbs too thick ... so I put her in a plastic bag.
Within the the last couple of weeks I got the "urge" for a pink bear - and I remembered my poor bear suffocating in the plastic bag. So I got the critter out and hand sewed a wider seam around the legs and arms. The head was a complete redo job - as some of you know I never feel I have done a bear properly unless it has had at least 2 attempts at the head. The foot pads I resewed using cotton linen with a floral pattern of purple and pink "lilacs".
Added a pair of twinkling large black eyes, a feather "boa", lace collar and broach and yureka! my bear of four years had come to life after spending SO long in hibernation.
I then spent most of the night of her completion taking little peeks at her - hardly believing I had made her!! My latest bear is always my favourite until the next comes along - but this one is different. I have called her "Fleur".
Can anyone else beat 4 years for a "bear in progress".
The Littlest ThistleHeh, well I'm glad she finalyl made it into the fur!
Little Leaf Bears by ShannaWhen do we get to see her?
Good for you! 
Would love to see a picture of your completed bear! :photo:
Yes, sadly, I must confess that I've had a bear in progress for more than four years. 
Due to many life circumstances, including the adoption of our two teenage daughters from Ukraine last year, I have had a bear in progress since 2002. 
Poor patient soul! He's pictured in my personal picture behind my avatar, and I wrote a post about him on my blog called Bears (Still) in the Works: http://newavenuecrew.wordpress.com/2010 … the-works/. But I AM working on him, bless his heart. I've been really enjoying working on my bears again lately.
Thanks for starting this topic. 
Debora
Little Leaf Bears by ShannaDeborah,
The bear in your personal photo is so cute! What happened to have you put him on hold? Congratulations on your adoption! I had a bear that was nearly finished for a long time, but he had all of his parts, I just wasn't completely happy with him and didn't know how to change it. I'm still thinking of tweaking him a little more.
Shanna
Aw, thank you, Shanna! That is sweet of you to say. I'm so glad you like my bear. 
I've recently worked on his face some more and removed his head from his body to make the body smaller; I wrote a more about it on my blog. Poor patient bear...
I work full-time as a proofreader, so my eyes get pretty tired after a day of looking at the computer, and that eye fatigue is a big factor. We also had some things like a move from the Seattle area to Colorado, and just the busyness of life, healthful eating (involving a lot of cooking from scratch), etc. The adoption took up a huge amount of time, though it sounds very buttoned up saying it happened last year; it was just completed last year. 
There is so much work on the front end even doing research and coming to the decision to adopt, and then we hosted our eldest daughter in our home in the summer of 2008 for 10 weeks, and then we jumped into the official adoption process right afterward--paperwork, home study, classes, and so on. Much time and money, many prayers and tears. And, to be honest, it has been harder being a family than we ever thought it would be, and it's hard to focus on much of anything when the girls are home. 
So, all that to say, things happen and demand attention. But I truly have needed to get back to being creative again. I have an art degree, but I had put any artistic longings on the back burner for far too long. I didn't feel like myself anymore; I just felt like a babysitter of sorts much of the time. 
But the girls like the bears and the creativity, and they like to do their own creative things, too, which we encourage.
Thank you for asking, Shanna! :hug: Like you, I have had a few bears I have put away for a time because I wasn't sure how to fix what I didn't like about them. Ah, but we are blessed as bear makers that these little ones are patient and forgive us!
Bear hugs from Colorado,
Debora
Little Leaf Bears by ShannaDeborah-
I have two adopted siblings and my mom is an avid follower of many of the international adoption blogs. She is crazy about them and will often show me what is happening with one family or another when I come over to visit. The adoption process, I've learned, is always complicated with lots of adjustment periods. I too have put my bears on hold until just recently. I've been working on a Masters degree in biology and have been too busy to devote any time to the wee ones. However;l this summer my circumstances are going to all me to just focus on making bears (well, and a little thesis writing if I can muster up the motivation) and I am so excited about this. I wish the market for selling them was better. It can get discouraging. So the bear in your personal photo, is he done now? Will you be posting him for sale?
Shanna
Shanna, it's so neat to hear your mom follows the international adoption blogs. I sure did, and I still follow a few families, many of whom I know personally. We're all connected with such an interesting bond. Feel free to point your mom to our adoption blog (http://hoffmannclan.blogspot.com); I plan to update it at least one more time, maybe this coming Saturday, our 10-month anniversary of arriving home. It's also neat that you have two adopted siblings. I had always wanted more siblings, but now that I'm an adult, I'm glad to have my sister; we both live in the same city as our cousin. We all made the move here many years apart, and it's great to be close by.
Oh, wow--you are a busy bee, working on a master's! Kudos to you! My sister has her bachelor's in biology; mine is in art. I'm sure you're looking forward to this summer; it sounds lovely to have some time for bear making. I snatch my moments here and there between my job and family and household tasks. I'm sure I'm in the same boat as many!
I am working on completing four bears right now, and the bear in my personal profile photo is one of them. He will likely be the third one I finish because two others are nearly done now. I've redesigned his body and cut it out of the original bigger one, and it's ready to sew. Then come the arms and legs; I think I'll make a little tweak to the size of them and will then cut them out and choose paw pads. Can't wait to see him come together, especially since he's been waiting so long. 
I love his sweet face and his fur; it's nice and thick and curly. I do plan to post him for sale once he's finally finished; he so deserves a loving home, since I've enjoyed him for so long. I'll alert my mailing list first (send me your e-mail address if you'd like to join), then I'll post him on my blog (http://newavenuecrew.blogspot.com), and then I'll put him here on Teddy Talk. I can't wait to list my very first bear for adoption here on Teddy Talk! :dance: I sure hope it will be very soon!
Bear hugs,
Debora
[Edited to fix a typo--cold hands can do that! ]
Honey Valley BearsOkay I don't have a bear in progress for 4 years or more, however I think I'm the queen of bears in parts. I checked the other night, as I have a bear show coming up the end of the month to see what bears i had at various stages that I could finish off for the upcoming event. With broken ribs I haven't had a lot of energy to work on them, and broken ribs are on my right side and I'm right handed so after a long day at work, I'm not up to much sewing and I hand stitch every single stitch on my bears. I found 35 different bears at different stages and no idea what to do with any of them at this point. My mom started helping me out so I have some with heads that are done, some with bodies that are attached but no limbs and it is just a weird collection.
Little Leaf Bears by ShannaDebora-
I sent you my e-mail address (I think 
) so you can add me to your mailing list! I am excited to see your bears when they are finished. I clicked on the link to your blog and didn't see much that pertained to your newly adopted daughters. Keep in mind that I am slightly (ok, very) blog ignorant. I'm sure my mom could find them in a heartbeat. Is that information just in older posts?
I also have a bachelors in biology, what is your sister doing for work? Do you know what she emphasized while getting her degree? There are so many little sub fields of biology. I must admit as a biologist with a bachelors degree I found attaining a job in my field extremely difficult. This is why I am back in school (though I do have a particular fondness for academia). Hopefully after the masters degree (if I'm not a student FOREVER, which is what it feels like), I will have an easier time. I think the past couple of years have been hard for many. I actually graduated from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. I am in Minnesota now and must say that I desperately miss those mountains. I lived on the west side of and hiking was so convenient. I loved going into Woodland park to study at Java the hut. I wonder if that is still there? I also adored Breckenridge and Winterpark when I was fortunate enough to do little overnight visits. I could live there again, that's for sure! Soak it all up for me, okay?
Shanna
Shanna, I got your e-mail--thank you! I sure hope I can get out more this summer to see more of Colorado; we've been here five years, but have only done a few jaunts. I'm ready for more!
Our adoption blog (http://hoffmannclan.blogspot.com) is really just the story of our long adoption process, our journey while in Ukraine, and our arrival home. You can go back to the very beginning, if you want to, but we left for Ukraine in May 2009, so you can just bring up those posts. I will probably update it this month as a final post, and then I'll talk about the girls every so often on my bear blog.
My sister is working as an administrative assistant right now. She worked for Kaiser Permanente a few years ago. I don't remember her emphasis in school.
Amber, I'm sorry to hear you have broken ribs! That must be terrible! :hug: Get better soon! It sounds like we work a little differently. I try to keep all the parts for a certain bear in a Ziploc bag so I don't misplace anything. But you could probably do something really fun like mixing and matching! Glad to hear some are taking shape. I'm sure you'll get there eventually. Have fun with it!
~Debora
Little Leaf Bears by ShannaDebora-
I had the wrong blog, no wonder! Thanks I can't wait to read about your journey.
Shanna
Honey Valley BearsDebora- I start off with them in zip lock bags then the heads seem to travel. *laugh* Then the bags get moved. It's just the way it seems to go, lucking I only have one bear out of each fabric type at a time.
I can see that happening, Amber. My bears' heads travel a bit, too. I will usually set a head I'm working on in a teacup, hoping it encourages me to finish the poor bodyless bear quickly. 
Posts: 751I have a headless critter waiting for a body! When I LIE I DID did make up the body parts and got as far as stuffing the arms. Unfortunately that was my downfall - I started "distressing" the arms and "went to far".
Now you a going to ask - "Well why didn't you make another pair?". Answer: because I only just had enough material to cut everything out, and it was a super piece of material in "the bargain bucket" at a show - never to be got again!!!!
The head is a sort of "old" lilac with black hairs in, so I am thinking of doing a body in black, put on a ruffle and making her a "dolly-bear" like Steiff made in the 1920's.
Poor creature - she is even older than "Fleur". I could just never bring myself to throw that head away! I CAN be quite ruthless with them though, particularly if the head goes wrong and I have no more more material!
Karon
