Bears

A few years back our craft group went crazy making bears. I still have enough mohair to start a small shop, I’m sure.

I made a few bears from commercial patterns and my husband kept asking “why don’t you design your own?”

So I did!

There were many odd looking bears before I ended up with a pattern I liked!

And I liked quirky – big noses, big feet! (It has been said maybe, too big. I will admit that, on occasion, that’s been an accurate assessment!)



I entered some of them in the Canberra Show, where they did quite well.



This one was a collaboration between Gary and I . He thought tiny and made of suede would be good. It was painful to stitch and, as you can see, I didn’t do a very durable job of the joints. He’s only 11cm tall. He has tiny (1mm) glass eyes, one of which came off when my niece came to visit one day! I could never find another glass eye the same size, so it became clear that a patch was in order.



But I haven’t made a bear in quite a while. The last one I made was actually needle-felted. It was really good fun – and very cute, too. This is from a pattern by Barbara Allen, based on “Gubbifluff” (with my own take on the feet!), as seen in Australian Homespun Magazine No.54 Vol 8.11. The other one, Lilly Pilly is my own design.

The little bear is 3“ (sitting) and the big one is 10“ tall (from head to toe).

I have given a lot of the bears away and have packed a few away (they used to be all over the house), but these two are a reminder that not everything you do is the focus of your life forever, and what you do leaves an impression (sometimes quite tangible, like the bears, and sometimes far more subtle but no less real). I loved making bears – and I may love making them again one day. But for now I’m happy to just enjoy what I’ve done and move on.

Are there any crafts you used to do and have moved on from in your world?