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my only two big teds ...

You have seen Hamish on my blog before, but he wanted to get in on the act, whilst on the subject of bears. He is a Merrythought bear, and a growler!



Now on the other hand, this is the first appearance for Hamley. He is a big squishy, cuddly bear and very lovable!

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meet violet ...

Violet is a little Martha's Makes miniature artist bear, handmade by Emily Harris. She was given to me as a leaving present from a friend at work, Pauline. She knew of my love for miniature bears, so as you can imagine I was over the moon with this tiny vision of lilac. I said I would give this girl bear a name, well I have now chosen one, Violet, obvious really!

In the background is a beautiful illustrated countryside journal which another friend from work Fiona, gave me. It is split into sections to record wildlife, birds, flora & fauna, countryside walks, places of interest, home grown, pickles, preserves and recipes and countryside remembered. Another one of my loves, the garden, a fact Fiona knows only too well!

I also love pottery from the West Country and in the photo on the left is a pretty Collard Honiton lidded pot and on the right is a Devon violets scent bottle, which is one of a rather large collection!

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hamish the merrythought bear ...

Hamish is a growler bear, I asked him to model this for me, he was feeling quite 'manly' until I stuck this on his head. I mentioned two treats in my previous post well this is the second, a lovely 'blue domino' shower cap, from Sainsburys.


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The photo above is for Fuchsia Girl who lives on the beautiful Isle of Mull, 'wish I was there'. Hamish has got tartan pads and paws, he is a true Scottish bear at heart, even though he was born and bred in Shropshire!

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buy nothing day ...

My little bear friend wants to tell you something. Nicola from Four Friends and a Blog lives over in Canada and she says on November 23rd is Buy Nothing Day, I wonder if we mark this event over here? It would be a good idea to pull in the reins and tighten up the purse strings for just one day, or if you just can't quite manage to totally abstain, then maybe grab yourself a bargain from a charity shop instead? My friend up top cost pennies from a carboot sale, he seems to think he is a Peter Fagan 'Colourbox' bear?

Thanks Nicola for the information, she says. 'The reason for this date being chosen is that it's the day after US Thanksgiving and is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year as everybody rushes out to do their Christmas shopping.'

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wendy boston bears ...

The little bear sitting on the right revolutionised the soft toy industry as it was washable! From the 1950s new codes of safety for toys emphasised hygiene, so all synthetic Wendy Boston bears were a hit, made out of nylon with a foam stuffing. The printed labels specified washing instructions and some specified a branded washing powder too, and even the ears were cut specifically to enable them to be pegged on the washing line without risk of them coming off!

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the teddy bear book ...

I love this book, it was a great find from a table sale for 50p. Full of lovely photos and information on English, German and American bears; there is also a chapter called bear care on how to repair and clean, also how to store with this great picture of a little bear wrapped up very securely in a brown paper papoose, as you can see looking very snug indeed!

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steiff bear ...

If you would like a few bears but have very little space to give them a home, collecting miniatures is the answer, I only have a handful, the smallest being 4 inches and the tallest being 7 inches, but I am pleased to have them, they are so sweet and each has its own individual character!

Meet Gainsborough, my favourite bear, he is the tallest measuring in at a staggering 7 inches standing and wears a short-pile coat, he has a small hump on his back and fairly long arms, beige pads with four black thread embroidered claws on both hands and feet, small jet black button eyes just outside the face seams, which is an identifying factor of Steiff, and a horizontally stitched nose.

Steiff had a major setback in the 1970s, a falling birthrate cut the market, and cheap Asian imports brought competition. Steiff tried out cheaper toys without success, but by the end of the decade the ‘great bear revival’ allowed them to go the other way producing more expensive ‘super-bears’.