Mr Jingles invited me..

Mr Jingles invited me to the Christmas open day at Teddy Bears of Witney last Sunday - but sadly, with my usual transport problems (not having any) and Andy working all day, I couldn't get to town. Which is a shame, as I would have liked to have met some of the regulars who were at the 25th anniversary party earlier this year, where I did my first needle felting demonstration. Also a shame as the pencil sketch of Mr Jingles is courtesy of me.



I very rarely do any *proper* sketching from life - even though it was just from a photo. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because I have filled out sheets and sheets and even more sheets of sketches for work this year and there is only so much sketching one can do. To fit him in the left hand corner of the card I flipped the original image from the catalogue photo -

And moved his position slightly with a bit of artistic license. I am very fond of certain types of teddy bears, but strangely I have no desire to make them.



Today my lovely Christmas card from the shop arrived, featuring of course, the real Mr Jingles.

And this afternoon my wood order arrived - I have changed supplier for the first time in eight years and for about the same price we got more - and cut to smaller size too. With Andy at work and with the logs blocking access for our neighbours cars (and we wouldn't want that, or World War Three would break out) - there was only one thing to do...


...stack the blessed things. I can confirm that piling up what must have been about half a ton of wood to more than six feet high is excellent physiotherapy. Even better, this should see us through to the New Year if we are careful.

Rambling Rose

Ramblin’ rose, ramblin’ rose

Why you ramble, no one knows,

Wild and wind-blown, that’s how you’ve grown,

Who can cling to a ramblin’ rose?

(Nat King Cole)

I am back to work and not before time - my piggy bank is decidedly convex after so many weeks of not earning. Rose was commissioned almost a year ago and what with one thing and another, she has taken some time to finish. She is not just a pink elephant, she is half a load of wood for the wood burner and a big grocery shop for my depleted store cupboards; appearances can be deceptive.

Now she is on her way to America, to join her new owner and I am almost finished with another back-order. I have a list of people who want to know when I will have new stock for sale, but I must get the last couple of things made before starting new designs. I'm thinking moles and hedgehogs, maybe a squirrel. Red of course.

The client asked for a photo of myself with Rose, before she was shipped off. I am 100% camera allergic, but after many, many tries and deletes, we managed to come up with something passable and as I don't think I've ever posted a picture of me here, this is my dubious gift to you in the season of giving.

I have also finally begun selling postcards of favourite toys, the first set is of chaps, printed on glossy card, six to a pack without envelopes and going for the princely sum of $6/£4 from my Etsy shop. I'm really impressed with the new changes Etsy have been rolling out, and for all those in the UK who get flummoxed by dollars, you can now chose to see prices in Sterling as well. If they take off I'll be getting more sets printed. If not, I'll never be short of stationary, ever.

Arm update - (yawn) - I had my first physiotherapy session today and been properly examined by someone who really knows about these things. Seems I've been using my shoulder blade to compensate for what would normally be movements from my socket, so I've got a set of 'tough love' exercises to stretch and unstiffen the bits which have become recalcitrant. No pain, no gain. Oooh. Ouch. Argh.