The latest bear making class

We had a very relaxed bear making class this week. Everyone except one had made a bear before on my earlier classes so the pace was good. Everyone had finished by the end of the class even with a very long lunch break. Maureen made us all laugh as Ted (her husband) what a good name!!! had marked in her diary that a new bear was to be born that day. Maureen texted to let him know when “the head was out” Yes!!! she is THAT mad but then so were the rest of us. The Thing About Bears is…… they make you smile and act daft. They seem to speak to you and give you that look that makes you start chattering away to them. But enough of this soppy talk. You must want to see the latest bears. Here they are…..

I’m sure they would love to see your comments…..

Another busy needle felting class

We have had another lovely felting class with lots of chatter and many beautiful creations being made. The classroom was absolutely full again with all 12 seats taken, meaning no seat for me (not that I would have time to sit down anyway)

 

It was great fun and everyone is now an expert as far as I’m concerned so it’s time for a new challenge.George needle felted character doll

The bigger projects! I’m not sure if I ever blogged about George but he was my first needle felted character doll that

I made using an online workshop by Kay Petal of Felt Alive. She is one clever lady.

I know some of my ladies are itching to start their bigger projects so I am hoping to teach a few new techniques to help them get started. There is talk of needle felted ET, Dobby from Harry Potter, Minnie Mouse, Rosie and Jim and even Betty Boop. All sounds very interesting and I can’t wait to get started. Now that Anita has got all the supplies into Swanstitch for us we are raring to go. So watch this space and when the photos start appearing, please leave comments and let us know what you think.

Bear Making Class

We have just had another very successful bear making class. Everyone was using the same mohair as Pickle shown on a previous post. After lots of singing along to my playlist on my ipod and general chatter plus a few short silences where deep concentration was needed, five very beautiful bears were born. But don’t take my word for it…….. have a look for yourself below.

 

Latest needlefelting

I haven’t blogged for a little while so I thought I would share a few pics of the needle felting everyone has been doing on my Thursday evening classes. We have had such a wide variety of felting and they have all been fantastic. Here are a few of the wonderful creations.

Here are the sample bears for the bear making classes

 

 

Meet Smudge and Pickle

 

Bear making ClassThese are the first in my range of forgotten toys. They have the look of well loved bears. A little bit worse for wear but I’m sure they have lots of lovely memories.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like things firm…………………….. Ladies get your minds out of the gutter please, lol (especially you Mavis)

With these bears I have had to train myself to understuff to give them that squishy soft feel of a bear who has been carried around constantly. I found this very difficult with Smudge as I was definitely out of my comfort zone as it went against everything I have learnt  but I am gradually getting used to it now and found stuffing Pickle much easier. In fact I quite like the feel of them.

They are made from the same pattern but different mohair.

 

Smudge is made using  grey sparse mohair Smudge

And Pickle is made with Sparse Ratinee  oatmeal mohair.

For those of you who came to the last bear making classes this is the same mohair we used before. I think it is very popular and a few people have said that they would like to use the same again

Pickle

 

Both bears will be cut and pinned in PERFECT condition. You DO NOT have to give bald patches, add stitching or smudges.

The distressed/aged look is entirely optional.

All you need to do, is let me know as soon as possible whether you would like the grey or the oatmeal mohair so that I can get the mohair ordered. I will take the bears with me tomorrow night to my felting class and leave them at the shop so you can see them in the fur.

If you can let me know your mohair preference by the weekend, that would be great as the cutting out process takes a very long time and I would like to get started as soon as I can. You can email, text, phone or message me on facebook or you can phone the shop.

Hope you all like my new little friends, please leave comments  ……………………………….

 

 

Mohair/needle felted hedgehog Class

 

Dates for the mohair/needle felted hedgehog class have now been decided.

Saturday 29th June
Sunday 7th July
Saturday 14th September

Cost  including all materials £30

If you would like to book please either contact me on 07790783559 or Swanstitch on 01304 366915