If you know me at all, you will know that I have a thing for teddy bears. I am not really sure how my collection started, but start it did and I now have hundreds of little furry creatures in my home. Actually not all of them are furry - some are porcelain or pictures on a wall.
There was one Christmas when almost every gift received had the "bear factor" - every gift was different but certainly followed a theme.
For a while, I tried to name each one - there is Bartholomew, Belinda, Bertrum, Betty, Bear, Brenda, Barbara, Baby, Baxter, but it became increasingly difficult to think of names starting with B and then remembering which was which. I know some farmers do it with their cows but it was just a bit beyond me.
I don't buy bears very often any more. However, if I am travelling overseas or elsewhere in the country, I try to find a bear that relates to that particular trip. On my first overseas trip to Europe I came home with 12 bears! Among this collection are bears from Australia, Germany, England, Holland, Belgium, America, Wales, Scotland, Singapore. The international bears have a wall of their own - in time this room will be my memory room with all sorts of other treasures gathered throughout NZ and elsewhere.
At Christmas time, my "ordinary" bears go into hibernation and I bring out my collection of Santa Bears. Farmers has been producing Santa bears since the early 1990s and I have at least one of each year since then. Some years I bought both Mr and Mrs Santa and sometimes even a Baby Clause ... so this collections is now quite large and of course grows bigger every year. A small part of this Christmas display is shown in an earlier blog. And if you click on this picture on the left, you can get to read the small captions I have created :) This is just a small part of my collection but it gives some idea of what I have.
As a quilt maker, I also try to incorporate a bear into every quilt I make. Sometimes it will be part of the label and other times it might be a tiny bear in a piece of fabric. Just my little trademark.
I am now considering starting a new collection - something quite different. I love bells and have half a dozen of them. I also love glass and have a nice selection of crystal decanters of all shapes and sizes. More about these another time.
There was one Christmas when almost every gift received had the "bear factor" - every gift was different but certainly followed a theme.
For a while, I tried to name each one - there is Bartholomew, Belinda, Bertrum, Betty, Bear, Brenda, Barbara, Baby, Baxter, but it became increasingly difficult to think of names starting with B and then remembering which was which. I know some farmers do it with their cows but it was just a bit beyond me.
I don't buy bears very often any more. However, if I am travelling overseas or elsewhere in the country, I try to find a bear that relates to that particular trip. On my first overseas trip to Europe I came home with 12 bears! Among this collection are bears from Australia, Germany, England, Holland, Belgium, America, Wales, Scotland, Singapore. The international bears have a wall of their own - in time this room will be my memory room with all sorts of other treasures gathered throughout NZ and elsewhere.
At Christmas time, my "ordinary" bears go into hibernation and I bring out my collection of Santa Bears. Farmers has been producing Santa bears since the early 1990s and I have at least one of each year since then. Some years I bought both Mr and Mrs Santa and sometimes even a Baby Clause ... so this collections is now quite large and of course grows bigger every year. A small part of this Christmas display is shown in an earlier blog. And if you click on this picture on the left, you can get to read the small captions I have created :) This is just a small part of my collection but it gives some idea of what I have.
As a quilt maker, I also try to incorporate a bear into every quilt I make. Sometimes it will be part of the label and other times it might be a tiny bear in a piece of fabric. Just my little trademark.
I am now considering starting a new collection - something quite different. I love bells and have half a dozen of them. I also love glass and have a nice selection of crystal decanters of all shapes and sizes. More about these another time.
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