Daffodils

This last week we have been enjoying 70 degree temperatures and the daffodils seem to enjoy it. These are a few images from the front yard.

All wrapped up

Out for a peak

Enjoying the sun
I enjoy photography in addition to all my other hobbies. I got back into photography when digital cameras got to the point of having enough pixels to do fairly large prints. I have an Olympus C7070, a high end point and shoot. It has lots of manual capability so I can do lots of different types of images. I like to do macro photography of things going on in my yard. Stay tuned for my yard this year.

Thank you for stopping by.
Mark

head coverings by my talented bro!

As promised here are the pics of the head coverings Mark sent to me... aren't they cool? The brown one is made of, I'm not sure, almost a velour? but thinner and is very soft and almost shines different colors in different light. The purple one is definitely velour, right Mark? (shows how much I know my fabrics) and is really really soft and very very cool. While I wasn't feeling particularly glamorous at the moment, i at least have eyeliner and mascara on...

Thanks Mark!

New projects

Well I’ve been busy starting my new projects. I know someone who may be lurking out there that will be happy to see me back on my teddy bears. I have four cut out and in the preliminary assembly stage. These guys and girls take me about 13 – 15 hours each. Each one is slightly different, you can see from my photo from Jan 23, 2009 post that they are all from the same family but each is slightly different.

On a bad note I found out that the woman that promoted the Albuquerque Teddy Bear show each May is giving up promoting entirely, this includes the one she did in Austin, TX. I still plan on doing the November Doll and Teddy Bear show but nothing is planned between now and then. With the economy as it is I may be better off to lay low for a while. I’m thinking of opening an Etsy shop. If any of you have any thing to say about that endeavor please let me know.

I have been working on head coverings for my sister, Pam. If they look good on her I hope she will show them off on this blog, no pressure Pam. :-)

I have also started working on the yard. Spring is not here yet officially, but the temperatures here in Albuquerque have been in the 50’s to near 60 and some of the plants and trees are starting to put on buds. After 20+ years of cutting grass I decided to go with a Xericscape which is gardening in ways to reduce or eliminate the need for suppelmental irrigation. Here you can see my front yard looked like before Xeriscaping.

Below you can see my front yard as it ended up last year the first month after taking out the lawn.

Since we live in a high-desert environment Xeriscape is the way to go. As of today we have only received a trace of precipitation since the start of the new year, with continued dry conditions forecast for the next week. My Xeriscape is different than most of the landscaping here in that I put in a small portion of very Xeric plants and a larger portion of low water plants. Most people like to do rocks, rocks and more rocks. I am a plant lover so the area includes 40+ plants and shrubs in the front yard. I hope to include photos of this year’s progress. Stay tuned.

Thank you for stopping by.
Mark

The unveiling

The time has come for the unveiling of my latest creation. I promised that I would have him finished by this Sunday. He gets formally introduced to his new owner on Valentines Day. First you can see a photo of the real cat.

I got overall impressions so I had an idea of what he looks like. But I had to email my friend to find out what color eyes he has so I would at least get the eyes close. You saw those in my last post. And here he is.

I would have named him but I think his new family can have that job. He’s 14” long from his rump to his nose and has a 7” long tail, not quite full-size, but close. I put floral wire in each of his legs and tail so he is posable. You may have noticed slight differences in his position between the photos.
The really neat thing is he doesn’t eat so there’s no need for a litter box, he doesn’t bring in mouse presents, doesn’t get you up in the middle of the night to go outside, and he doesn’t claw the furniture :-) On the bad side you won’t hear him purr or wrap himself around your legs.

As you can see here there is already a potential discussion between our Babee and this new kid on the block .

Thank you for following along. I hope to get some photos of the happy family.

Mark

Cat continuation

Hello everyone. I have been working on the black cat seen in my last post. He’s coming together and is now all black. I joined his back legs and tail to his body.

Today I got his glass eyes in the mail. They started out clear and I’m painting them yellow as requested. I stopped at Michael’s Craft store to buy some pebeo – porcelaine 150 paint. You can see how the eyes started and what they look like now. In addition to the yellow on the outer portion of the iris the center of the iris next to the pupil has a few gold spots. Now I have to wait 24 hours for the paint to cure then put it in an oven for 35 minutes to finish the paint.

Since I have to wait for the paint to dry I will go back to my mohair bears. I have 4 in waiting.

Thank you for stopping by.

Mark

some headgear

Hi everyone. just including some pics of different headgear... I will take some better shots and close ups of the actual bead work too, kinda hard to see on some of these.

The green one is with 3 small posy pins from that same Bead & Button mag mentioned in a previous blog. I just used different beads and made them smaller. Already lots of compliments on this!

The pink hat was a Christmas gift from my bestest friend, Julie. She and Sam beaded the flowers, which Julie actually got the flowers from Knot Just Beads in Milwaukee, and then they embellished them with seed beads...

These 2 headbands were made by Julie too...

Sam thinks they make me look like a hippie, but I think they are cute. One is braided fibers with beads on the ends that I can just tie in a knot behind my head or wherever, (not tightly around my neck!)

and the green/gray one is beaded on leather

with fibers and is more of a headband as it has elastic in the back that can stretch to fit around my head/scarf/hat....

It has beads (of course) of all sorts embellishing the tassels...

And here are my absolute favorites:

The flower barette I posted before, but shown here attached to a scarf on my head...

I have to revise the knot-tying of the scarf a bit...

And here is an EYEBALL barrette and it is the most awesome barette I have ever seen. I love the unusual and have been eyeing (LOL!) up these eyeball cabachons for AGES.... Julie finally purchased one from her bead-maker friend Robert Jennick (who makes gorgeous glass beads and has most of his beads at Knot Just Beads in Milwaukee) and laborously created this barette for me.

Is it spectacular or just creepy? Sam finds it a wee bit creepy but all I can imagine is people seeing me from behind and feeling like they are being watched!!! LOL... what fun I'm gonna have with this one! Here's a closeup...

Pam adding in here...

Just wanted to add some pics of 2 pins I made. I got the original pattern from an old Bead and Button mag - so not quite originals because of a few changes, but they are fun to make.

The purple/blue one is for

a friend of my mom, she has

made me several hats for when

I lose my hair to chemo....

She's made me several out of fleece and they are nice and soft and large enough to cover my entire head.... (okay, but not like a paper bag over my head!)

this pink one is for a friend of ours who loves to can.

Every year she and her 90-year-old-something mom

can everything under the sun:

pickles, jalapenos, horseradish,

banana peppers, beets, tomatoes

that they make into awesome salsas

and relishes.... anyway...

this is a small token of my

appreciation to her....

Needle felting update

This weekend I had the opportunity to shoot my latest creations, as promised in my earlier writing. It was nice and sunny, about 60 so I took advantage of the weather.

Here’s Theo, my second cat. Theo’s whiskers are actual horse hair. I found small packages of horse hair at http://www.crazycrow.com/ they have all kinds of Native American stuff. Good for beaders!
My third cat is still a work in progress. I have included many photos during the construction of my third cat. I included small, 22 gauge, floral wire in each of the legs and tail allowing me to pose my cats. Please ignore the mess, this is my work area.

I want to warn you the next set of photos is not for the faint of heart! There are cat parts all over the place. :-)

Note: No animals were hurt in the filming of this blog!

It is not your imagination, he does not have eyes at this time.

I make the general parts out of white batting as this is much less expensive than making the entire part out of each color. To apply the color I take thin layers of wool and wrap it around the base part then needle it in place, I add additional layers to fill in the color as needed.

Thank you for stopping by.

Mark

Okay okay, Pam has shamed me into making my additions. One of my problems is, and I have many, that I do not type nearly as fast as Pam so it takes me many minutes to get down on ‘paper’ what I want to say. I have been around her when she had her own business and couldn’t believe how fast she could type. I’m the get it down on paper and edit like mad type of person.

My other problem is this four letter word called work. I will never make enough money at my bear making or my newly found needle felting hobby so I have to work. I am very happy to say that these two hobbies are the first hobbies of all that I have gone through that are almost paying for themselves. (Sue, my wife is not convinced yet)

I’m the Southwest part of the North by Southwest blog. I will fill you in on the good and bad of the Southwest some other time.

I have been making collectable mohair teddy bears for 5 years now, the last four years are my own designs. I’m up to around 60 of my own creations with over 40 of them adopted and living somewhere other than my bedroom dresser. My dresser been crowded for the past few years with anywhere from 17 – 25 bears competing for a seat. The good thing is I don’t have to dust my dresser :-) You can go to my website www.marksbears.com to get a closer look at these guys and girls.

My needle felting hobby is only about 9 months old. I’m not even certain how I got started with this new endeavor. Probably surfing the net and thought ‘This is cool’. I took Kay Petal’s class; part book and part online, it’s a great class, I recommend it to budding needle felters. She does human caricatures and imaginary creatures. I also found Birgitte Krag Hansen’s site and like her animals. I decided I like doing the animals better so you will see animals pop up here from time to time.

I made several small, 3 – 6” teddy bear Christmas ornaments. Like anything else small is harder to make than large. You have to pay a lot more attention to what you are doing; if you are off by ¼” it’s pretty noticeable on a 3” ornament. I’ve since moved on to larger animals. Henry, my first mouse, was passed on to a dear friend who happens to be a mouse lover, figurines, not the real things :-) He is now living among her teapots, I go to visit him every once in a while.

I’ve since moved on to cats, another friend wants me to make a cat for his wife so I’m on cat #3 which I hope to finish before Valentines Day. I’ve included photos of my first cat; she’s about 8.5” tall. I’ll try and shoot my latest work in progress so you can see how my cats are created.

I don’t have any of my needle felted projects on my website at this time. Visit it every once in a while and they will show up someday, I’ll probably have a big announcement here.

Thank you for stopping by.

Mark

more samples of quilts and a "bear" by Mark

I am just going to be adding willy-nilly here to our blog.... because I am very proud of all the things that my bro has made over the years.

First we have Sam's quilt, which he gave to her when she was 10, it's called "Samantha's Kaleidoscope" and was inscribed "may you have many wonderful dreams". Aren't the colors gorgeous?


Then our quilt, which I am sorry I don't remember what year he finished it, but it's a wonderful display of foliage and birds to grace our bed here in the Northwoods...

Here's a baby quilt he made for Sam eons ago... I wasn't one for the traditional pinks/blues/yellows for babies... I had stenciled her room with jungle animals.

Here's an iris wall hanging he did for me - iris is one of my favorite flowers.

and here is "Bear," a mohair cat that looks like our cat Magic (when she was thinner and younger, and not so crabby!)

I'm still waiting for Mark to get going on here

and start posting.......... ;)