Bears, beading and the year of the Dragon ...............

The polar bear companion pieces are all complete and ready to be posted.   Making repeats is not something I am very good at, each bear I create is totally different from the one that came before.    Guess that means I am human and not a machine!     To prove this point 'tho just look at these two little bear's faces, they are similar but no way exactly the same.......

 

I could most probably stitch and make a teddy bear with my eyes shut but beading is still somewhat of a learning curve for me.    One of my Christmas presents was a wonderful book called 'Mastering Beadwork' by Carol Huber  Cypher,  written with humour and clarity for those people who like me, are somewhat not mathematically inclined.   My plan was to make a sort of sampler journal of each of the different kind of bead weaving techniques.   In theory an excellent idea but I am rather a run before I can walk sort of person.   I spotted a pattern stitched in right angle weave to form little flowers using two needles and I just had to try it out.   My beading has to be fitted in around making bears so I have not achieved very much especially as I have undone and re-done this little piece of beading several times, perhaps I have got the idea at last.

 

We have visited all the local charity shops over the past couple of days looking for accessories such as tiny tea cups and boxes for our bears.    Unfortunately not a successful search but did find two large vintage linen sheets at the local animal shelter which were being sold as dog sheets for just £1 each.    They are showing some sign of wear but after a good wash will be wonderful to cut up for small embroidery projects.   Also found the following lace flower cloth and a blingy diamanté bracelet.     The flowers should look pretty used individually and I can take the bracelet apart for some future project.

 
Still have to design or update my existing pattern to celebrate the year of the Dragon.    My Chinese birth year is that bovine creature, the ox.     I recently discovered this means that I will work hard and that combined with the day of the week on which I was born (remember the old rhyme about 'Saturday's child works hard for a living') looks somewhat true!  

Keep a green tree alive in your heart and a songbird may come to sing there.