I'm so excited that New Avenue Crew will be participating in the ONLINE Teddies Worldwide Teddy Bear Extravaganza Show March 17-19, 2017.

I've been hard at work on my first two bears for the show, and I love them already! You'll be able to see preview pictures and vote for your favorite bears starting Friday, March 3. Then the show starts on Friday, March 17. I hope you will drop in and visit all the wonderful bears!

I have been part of two Teddies Worldwide shows before in November 2010 and March 2011. You might remember a couple of my bears from those shows. The little brown bear is Mullins, and the large light green and ivory bear is Sprout. They are both adopted.

Sharing Saturday

Welcome to the second edition of Sharing Saturday live from the Crew studio! My husband snapped this shot of me working on my most recently completed bear...the bear who has no hair. I will have to tell you about him soon when it's time to find him a new loving home. For now, he is keeping me company here in the studio as I work on a new bear (with hair this time).

Sewing the final seams closed

Mohair, Luscious Mohair...

Hello, everyone! Happy 2012! I can hardly believe we have reached the year 2012 already. I remember when I was in second grade and we changed from 1975 to 1976; it was so difficult to get used to writing 1976 on my papers. Am I the only one, or do you have memories like that?

It has been all quiet on the bear-making front here in the studio. The Crew members and I have been taking a long winter's nap (which has been much longer than winter). I am hopeful that I'll be able to jump back into the fur and fluff soon. I think that Sebring is eager to oversee the making of more Crew members. Oh! I need to introduce you to Sebring. Soon. I'll do that soon.

Speaking of fur and fluff, there's a new group on Facebook for art, craft, and bear-making supplies. It's active with a lot of great materials on offer. Go on and take a peek and join up if you like!

Because of the group, I pawed through my stash of fur yesterday to see if there was anything I wanted to sell. Mohair and alpaca are such beautiful fabrics. I really enjoyed stroking the different pieces of fur and dreaming of the bears that might come to life someday. As a result, I had bear ideas cavorting through my head all night! Now, if I could just find the time to make them! Did I find anything to sell? Yes, a couple of beautiful, soft synthetic pieces and a piece of alpaca, as well as some mini fabrics. But the rest? I couldn't bear to part with it! I kept all the mohair pictured below--and then some. Ah, mohair. I do love it. Do you?

Then and Now

See the photo above? Garth found it today and scanned it into his computer. I just love it! It was taken 11 years ago this month (April 2000). It hardly seems possible that so much time has passed! Let me tell you a little about the picture. (You can click on it to see it larger.)

The blond bear in the foreground is Trudi. Early in 2000, I created a pattern I called Bear 2000. The first bear from that pattern is named Trua, and she looks very similar to Trudi. The bears from that pattern had the look I had been wanting to create since I started New Avenue Crew in 1996! The pile of black fur and the tiny pile of golden fur next to me on the ottoman became Gunnison (pictured down near the bottom of the right-hand sidebar), also a Bear 2000 bear.

Behind me (yes, that really is me!) is Garth's setup for painting. We were newly married, and this was our first apartment. We had the living room set up for painting and bear making--it was our very first studio. I really enjoyed our time creating together! And to my left, out the window, was a balcony, and beyond was the Santa Ana River (we lived in Southern California). We were able to watch so many different varieties of birds visiting the riverbed, such as cormorants and falcons and pelicans. Beautiful!

And above is a picture of me in our home in Colorado. I'm pictured with Sprout; he is such a sweet, cuddly bear. I finished him in early March of this year, and he was adopted during the Blooming Bear Show. He is not a Bear 2000 bear, but I suppose you could call his pattern Bear 2010!

Show Preview on Tuesday

I've been working diligently on my bears for the upcoming online Blooming Bear Show...and it's been hard to not share them with you! (We're to keep our bears under wraps until the show opens on March 12.) But on Tuesday, March 1, I'll be able to show you a preview of one of my bears. Can't wait! And the other artists in the show will also have a preview photo of their creations to share on the show website.

I'm off to finish sewing on an ear. Ta-ta for now!

I've Fallen Off the Face of the Earth!

I've been quiet here on the blog lately, but I haven't really fallen off the face of the earth. I am just working hard on my bears for the upcoming online Teddies Worldwide Blooming Bear Show happening March 12 and 13. Did I mention that it's online? Yes, you can visit in your pajamas, if you like! I would love for you all to visit me here in the New Avenue Crew studio, but since we live in such diverse places around the world, visiting online is the next best thing.

Speaking of visiting online...from all around the world...I love seeing where you all come from. There's a fancy free gadget that will do just that for your own site: Google Analytics. I live here in Colorado, and it's a thrill to see visitors coming from as far away as Brazil, India, and Russia, as well as from here in the States and in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Israel, Singapore--what fun!

So what am I making? I am not able to show them to you yet, but I can tell you a few things about them. I'm creating three bears with a spring theme for the show. It has been nice to think of spring and its warmer weather, new growth, and lovely pastel colors during these cold winter months. Spring is definitely something to look forward to! Today I'm working on stuffing, and then I hope to start trimming one of the bear's faces so I can start to see him emerge from all that fur. It is always fun (and a little nerve-racking) to work on a bear's face. With a trim here and a stitch there, a face and a personality slowly come to "life."

Here are two of the bears I made for the November online Teddies Worldwide show: Goldenstern and Cinnamon. This is when I had finished cutting them out of the mohair fabric and assembled their parts to get a glimpse of what they would look like when they were all complete. It's fun to watch bears go from flat to fluffy.

Motivation

I must confess that I'm lacking somewhat in the motivation department of late. Maybe it's the colder winter weather. Maybe it's the days that get light so late and dark so early. Maybe it's just me.

Yesterday, I received a nice package from a friend of mine, and inside were all manner of trims and trinkets. Many of them can be adornments for my bears! I know I'll have such fun mixing and matching. Thank you so much, Anna!

So I'm still not completely motivated, but I think I'll turn off this computer and start trimming seams on the bear I finished sewing recently. I'm eager to see what she'll look like. She'll be one of my Crew members for the online Blooming Bear show coming up in March. Can't wait! (OK, I guess there's a little motivation there, after all.)

Teddy Bear Tidbit Tuesday: Show Scramble

Today on this teddy bear tidbit Tuesday, I want to give you a taste of my final 11 days before the online Teddies Worldwide show and sale opens on Saturday, November 20.

As the title of this post suggests, I am scrambling to get everything ready for the show. Many things have happened these past few weeks that have derailed my bear making, but I am determined to finish the three bears I've been creating especially for this show.

Let's back up a bit.

I signed up for the show back in September and right away started brainstorming about the bears I wanted to make. Because the show has a holiday theme, I decided I needed to get in the Christmas mood. I didn't even have to bring the holiday music CDs up from the basement; my head offered up a ready supply of Christmas carols for inspiration. I started jotting down many ideas for special bears and then thought about them for a couple of days.

The next step was to paw through my stash of fur for the perfect colors from which to create my little Crew members. Memories from Christmases past and the sights and sounds and smells of that special season filled my head and helped me select just the right mohair pieces.

Out came my patterns and scissors, and I was off and tracing, cutting, trimming, pinning, sewing, combing, turning, and stuffing. I worked on all three simultaneously, which is not usually how I make bears. Most of the time, I create one bear from start to finish before moving on to the next one. It has been kind of fun to make them at the same time and see them progress together.

My favorite part of making bears came next: finishing the head. I partially stuffed all three bears' heads and then chose one to move forward with. I stuffed the chosen head all the way and then trimmed the muzzle area, paying particular attention to the area where I would be embroidering the nose with pearl cotton floss.

After the nose was complete, I sewed the mouth on and then put two black-headed pins in position for the eyes. The next step was sewing the neck joint into the head. And then it was time to put the real glass eyes in. Sinking the eyes on a bear is my favorite part of working on the head because that's when the bear's personality starts to emerge.

(Above is a photo of Juniper when I had just completed his head. I am holding on to the cotter pin neck joint that goes into the body to fasten the head to the body.)

Once the eyes were in place and tied off, I then sewed the bottoms of the ears closed and pinned them in place on the head. As I do when I position the eyes, I view the head in a mirror to check the ear placement before sewing them on.

I also enjoy shading the bear's face to give it some depth. A little here, a little there, and bear #1's head was finished. And you know what? I love this bear.

Moving on, I completed bear #2's head (another cutie!) and then stuffed both bears' paws and feet and added claws. I am now ready to move on to bear #3. And you are up to date on my progress!

There will be some new sew-in labels coming in the mail this week. I am very excited about them; my New Avenue Crew logo has been printed on Ultrasuede labels. When they arrive, I will sew one into the back seam on each of the three bears' bodies and will be able to joint their heads and limbs to their bodies, stuff them, and sew the openings closed. But can I complete all three bears in time for the show? I sure hope so! I am determined to have three sweet Christmas-inspired bears to present to you.

Remember to visit the online Teddies Worldwide show and sale website on Saturday, November 20. Look for the link to Debora Hoffmann and New Avenue Crew, because this blog is NOT where the bear show is being held. If you would like a reminder e-mail from me, you can sign up for my mailing list in the sidebar at right. I hope you'll drop in to visit me and my bears during the show, and I hope you'll like my new Crew members!

Oh, and one more teddy bear tidbit: I updated my blog header last night. What do you think?

Fun Fur Facts Friday: Pieces and Parts

In these final four weeks leading up to the big online Teddies Worldwide show and sale on November 20 and 21, I am trying to grab every spare minute I can to work on my three show bears. I am pleased with how they are coming together so far! All three are sewn, and I've been stuffing their heads and paws. So what I'm seeing now looks a lot like this:

But all three have their legs and feet sewn and turned; this photo shows what the legs and feet look like before that step. This is actually a photo of Logan when I was making him. And below, Logan is pictured with Ben (both bears have been lovingly adopted).

Where was I? Oh, yes. Pieces and parts.

Because I'm surrounded with the pieces and parts of my show bears, I thought you might like to see a teddy bear in progress. My typical bear has 19 pattern pieces that need to be sewn together. The top photo shows teddy Logan in various stages of completion. The head is stuffed, most of the pieces are sewn and turned, and the legs and feet are still awaiting attention.

What else is pictured in the photo? There are two stuffing sticks, which help with pushing the stuffing into the far reaches of the arms, legs, body, and head. There are two "ropes" of stuffing. I pull my stuffing into ropes before putting it into a bear's furry mohair "envelope" pieces. I find this helps the stuffing go into the parts more smoothly. And then there is a plastic zip-top bag for keeping all the pieces and parts together so they don't get lost. I also keep the joint disks and hardware in the bag with the bear parts, so that when the time comes, I can put all the pieces together into a sweet little bear.

Here are Ben and Logan all put together, before they were completely stuffed and finished. I kind of like their saggy look.

And so, I am enjoying having all these pieces and parts around, but I'll be quite happy when there are three little bears looking back at me, all ready for hugging and eager to appear at the show.

Peekaboo!

I couldn't resist giving you a sneak peek of a little white bear I'm working on. He is only a head at the moment; I haven't even designed his body, arms, and legs yet. But his personality is already apparent. He looks a little mischievous, perhaps impish, don't you think?

Ah. Can you see his little grin? He has been making me grin, too.

As I work on my bears' heads, I place them in antique teacups on my desk. That way, I can look at them critically to see what else needs to be done. Seeing their faces also helps motivate me to finish them.

Next step for this little guy is to shade his face, and then I'll get out my pencil and paper to design the rest of him. I'm so glad he's patient.

Pumphrey the Clown

Happy Teddy Bear Day to everyone! A friend of mine told me it was Teddy Bear Day today, and I thought it was so fitting to introduce you to the newest Crew member today. Please meet Pumphrey the clown, who I've affectionately been calling my "grand experiment":

Why is he a grand experiment? A few posts ago, I shared that I had the crazy notion one day to design a two-piece head pattern instead of the typical three-part head with gusset piece. I also decided I wanted this bear to have a ski-slope profile, so I put pencil to paper and came up with a pattern with darts top and bottom. After I cut the pieces out of mohair and stitched them up and stuffed them, I worked on the face. The head sat in an antique teacup on my desk during the process so I could look at him, and he at me. He looked so funny when he only had pin heads for eyes! When I finished Pumphrey's head and liked it, I designed his body and limbs.

I wanted him to be very different, so here also I didn't do my typical traditional-style bear. Pumphrey has shorter limbs and a longer body, perfect for a clown! He also has a little tail!

Pumphrey is named after my great-great-great uncle (there might be another great in there somewhere), whose middle name was Pumphrey. He and his wife, Imelda, were affectionately known as Aunt Meldie and Uncle Pun. Looking at their portrait and the twinkle in Uncle Pun's eye, I can just imagine how their nicknames fit.

Pumphrey the clown bear is 13 inches (33 centimeters) tall and made from curly matted tan Helmbold mohair and a lovely purple Schulte mohair. He has gold wool felt paw pads and black glass eyes, his nose and mouth are embroidered with pearl cotton, and I've given him light shading on his face. Pumphrey has his very own clown hat with a vintage flower button from the button box of one of my grandmothers or great aunts. He is stuffed with polyester stuffing and plastic pellets and has a wobble head joint for those quirky clown poses.

If you would like Pumphrey to come live with you and keep you entertained, visit the AVAILABLE BEARS page on this site.

I have very much enjoyed creating Pumphrey and having him around the studio. I have been posting updates about him on my Facebook page as I've been making him, and I know I've kept many of you in suspense waiting to see him. I'm glad I'm finally able to share him with you!

I hope you've enjoyed meeting  Pumphrey the clown!


Note: You can click on the photos to see a larger version and more detail.

Pattern Play

Since I emerged this spring from my self-imposed hibernation* from bear making, I have discovered that I love creating new patterns. It is so satisfying to start with a piece of paper and an idea, then take a flat piece of fabric and turn it into a three-dimensional little "soul" that looks at you so lovingly.

When I dug out my bear-making materials earlier this year, I found four bears waiting to be finished, three of whom had faces that looked up at me so trustingly. So sorry I made you wait, little ones! The biggest one, my very patient big brown batik bear, needed a smaller body and some limbs, so I set to work. A sketch here, a test body out of paper towels there, and I had what I thought would be a good size to go with his head. Same thing with the limbs, though I didn't make paper towel tests for them. (It all sounds so easy and breezy, but there's a lot of drawing, erasing, testing for fit, and so on in pattern making.) The batik bear is now jointed and mostly stuffed. I think I haven't completely finished him yet because I love him and would like to keep him around a little while longer.

Because I like the batik bear so much, I decided I needed to make a smaller size version of his pattern. Once that was finished, I cut the pieces out of beautiful wavy distressed pink mohair. Now I need to trim the fur from the seams and sew her up!

And then I got a wild hare of an idea and decided to design something completely out of the norm for me. Two somethings, in fact.

The first is a first for me: a rabbit. Can you believe that in 14 years of bear making I haven't made a rabbit before? I've designed and made three cats and even a pig, but not a rabbit. So I gathered photos of rabbits--so cute--and designed the rabbit's head. But I haven't gone farther than that with the pattern design. If you look closely at the two photos of my desk in the post that shows where I create, you can see it. It's only a sewn furry "envelope" in the pictures, but now it's stuffed and has test eyes in position. Nothing else. So funny but endearing at the same time.

And the second is what I'm calling my grand experiment. Why is he my grand experiment? Because he is such a departure from my usual designs. He has...drumroll, please...a two-piece head. Yes, you read that right. There's no middle gusset piece. He also has a different body and limb style than my usual bears. Right now, he is waiting for me to tighten his limb joints, just lounging here on my desk looking cute. I can't show him to you just yet, but when he's finished, he will appear here on the New Avenue Crew blog. I like him. I hope you will, too.


*By the way, I plan to stay OUT of hibernation. I am enjoying playing with the fur and fluff far too much to give it up, and I plan to create my Crew members for a long time to come. I've found that I really do have a need to create, whether it's sketching, writing, or making a teddy bear "come to life" with my hands. I believe that's the way God wired me!

Inspiring Finds

Lately, I have been inspired in my bear making and other artsy pursuits by so many things I've found here and there. One of my inspirations is the work of other artists, whether they make teddy bears or dolls or other fiber arts, or even paintings. I am also inspired by things that are antique, vintage, or just plain old. My mom always had old things on display in her house; she inherited a lot of it from her Aunt Lily. I remember hearing, "That was Aunt Lily's" or "Remember when we went to Aunt Lily's house to go through her things after she passed away?" And though I was very young, I do vaguely remember us (Mom, Grandma, and I) going through Aunt Lily's things at her big old house...though I probably played more than I helped!

The premier issue of the magazine Prims is one place where I've found a treasure trove of inspiration. The layout of the pages, the little details in the photographs, the artists' inspiration and imagination, their techniques and supplies--it all comes to life in this volume, which is more like a keepsake than a magazine. It is printed on high-quality paper that feels thick in my hands, and it is priced higher to indicate the quality and encourage the reader to keep it.

Though I am not "into" dolls, the dolls in this magazine are inspiring in their details. A few of the artists use antique fabrics to adorn their work, though they say they have a very hard time cutting such materials. I understand that: it was hard for me to cut into my first piece of mohair because it was such expensive fabric. And now that I've jumped back into bear making, I have noticed that the prices for my favorite mohairs are about $100 more per yard!

Two artists featured in Prims really appeal to me, and I am finding that I'm having more ideas for unconventional (for me) and "aged" pieces: Karen Brady Hammontree of Brady Bears and Susan Pilotto of Crowsnest Pass Primitive Folk Art. (Both are listed in my sidebar of bear artists and other creative sorts.) Be sure to visit their blogs to see their creations.

With the little "aged" bear I'm making, I know I need to be brave as I age him. Honestly, it is not easy to rough up a sweet little thing who looks up at you so innocently. I tell myself that the bears don't feel anything while I'm making them, though! I'm the sort who had trouble as a child putting anything with a face up into the attic for storage. Are any of you like me? And one day, I understood my angst a bit better, when Mom and I were going through a trunk in my Great-Aunt Milly's attic: I discovered an antique electric eye teddy bear! Of course, I though about his feelings being in the trunk so many years...and now, I wonder how he'll feel when Mom plucks him from my childhood bedroom and sends him to me in the mail. There must be a story in there somewhere waiting to be written.

On Looking Old and Loved

Aging doesn't come naturally to me. I am hesitant. I am far from brave. A dash of color here, a trim there, some sandpaper...

Dear readers, please don't be alarmed. I am talking about aging the little bear who's pictured in the post below (on the left) and having a quiet conversation on my other blog. When I'm facing a little bear with scissors, some form of stain, and fine-grain sandpaper, it sometimes seems that I should apologize to the little soul before I begin, during the process, and even afterward. And, not being the brave sort, I hesitate to go too far, because, gulp, the fur doesn't grow back!

Last night before bed, my daughter entered the room where I was working on aging the little bear. She said, "Oh, he's cute!" and asked to hold him. When she saw him up close, she exclaimed, "He looks old!" I just smiled and told her that's what I was aiming for. I only hope I can get the "loved" part in there, too.