Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Rounding Out the Last of the Show Photos and After

These are the last of my show photos that are decent enough to share. It’s Tuesday here and I now have a sufficient amount of rest to be able to look back at the show and truly say I wish I could go back and look around just once more – leisurely. Oh well- there you have it. Now for the photos . . .

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Tina Jensen of Tiny Bear – look how sparse her stand was at the end of the day!  Well done!  I did not get her permission to post this photo so I hope she won’t mind.

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Lots and lots of mohair and lots and lots of shoppers perusing it.

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The Essential Bears table – each one a darling little creation – such grand details.  Wendy and Megan Chamberlain

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EJ Bears – they have a nostalgic feel to them.
No website but it you want the info just send me an email.

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Susan Smith – Kessey Bears  She’ll be at TBAI this year too so if you missed her at Hugglets you can see her lovely bears in Binghamton in August.

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Here’s a snapshot of The Old Post Office Bears – adorable right?
Then check out these two close-ups of two of her bears.

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Okay, now check out how they become even more delightful when you can see the scale of them with my hand next to the black one.

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The show was over before I knew it and then we had to see if we could find something to do in London on a Sunday evening that would compare to seeing all those lovely bears.  This is what we came up with – a walk beside the Thames River in the evening.  And very nice it was too – even if there was only one little bear to be seen.  He was very good company.

rotlotspaa_10A view of St. Paul’s from the Millennium Bridge.

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London Tower Bridge

rotlotspaa_12Sebastian at the back of the Tower of London.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you enjoy these photos.

Monday, February 27, 2012

More Hugglets Photos + The Great Grilled Cheese Sandwich Adventure

Here are a few snapshots from various locations throughout the show. If I have information to go along with them, I’ll add a caption.

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This is a partial view of the room where my table was.
It could have been a show all by itself.

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So sweet!

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After seeing bears on the Internet for so long, I found myself surprised over and over again at how incredibly small many of my favorites were in person.

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Karen Alderson Bears

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Now in my opinion these bears are wonderful.  Really wonderful.
Expertly made.  Loads of detail – beautiful.  But in person, wow!  They are incredible 
– and check out their tiny sizes below.  Louise Peers

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This is Sebastian happily posing for size comparison.  He is a mere 6 inches tall and don’t tell him, but he looks like a giant here!

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This a view of the big room.  Oh my.  There was so much to look at.  If I were a visitor and not an exhibitor, I would have come early and stayed until they closed the doors.

Now for The Great Grilled Cheese Sandwich Adventure

The day before the show, we went in search of a famous grilled cheese sandwich. Yeah, crazy I know. The way we look at it is getting there is half the fun. We always see things we would otherwise miss if we weren’t going down some crazy path.

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So the grilled cheese part was the end of the journey but the adventure was in wandering around new-to-us parts of London in search of Borough Market where this particular grilled cheese sandwich is made only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. So, as you can see, we had a limited window.

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We found the market after a bit – you know turning left when you should turn right. Then going back and retracing your steps. After finding the market we then had to find this particular vendor among the seemingly endless numbers of stalls with all kinds of delicious looking food.

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Eventually we found the place. If we hadn’t seen the sign “Kappacasein” we surely would have seen the line.

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It was almost comical seeing people standing in line salivating at the prospect of finally getting this cheese sandwich in their hands. We found ourselves among them.

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Was it worth it? Most definitely!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

The 2012 Hugglets Winter Bearfest

I have so many photos of the Hugglets Winter Bearfest Show that I know I won’t be able to post but a few tonight. Also, once I locate the place where all the artists bear photos are posted on the Internet, I will direct you there so you can get a good look at all the talent that was on display today. It may take me a while – perhaps it might even be after I return. In the meantime, I will do my best to post a few now and whatever else we happen upon later in our travels here in the UK.

First there’s the queue outside the entrance- a long and winding one!

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Here’s Elanor’s table – Shantock Bears.

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I also took a photo of this wonderful display of bears – theme and color coordinated.

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Here’s a photo of a the Silly Bears stand . . .

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and a close up of my friend Cheryl’s bear on the left. Bingle Bears

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Lovely fabrics for little bears.

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This is very sweet Chloe who stopped by for a visit with Sebastian.
He was flattered I can tell you!

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There are loads more photos but they will have to wait for another time.
I’ll stop here for now with a couple of shots of my table.

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It’s a huge show and very little time to go around and visit properly if you also
have a table to mind. I’ll share more later so stay tuned.

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Friday, February 24, 2012

Your opinion please.

We have arrived safely in London. Thank you for all your good wishes!

yop_3This station looks as if it has been freshened up recently.  It’s very impressively clean.

Sebastian desperately wants to fit in here.

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Here’s Sebastian waiting for the Tube to arrive.

He decided one way that it wouldn’t be so obvious that he isn’t from around here would be to ride the underground like any normal Londoner.

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“Sh-h-h.  Pretend like you don’t know me.

So what do you think? Does he look like all the other commuters to you?

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Misunderstanding

It started a few days ago when I excitedly told Sebastian, “Get your things together! We’re going across the pond!”

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Of course, he knew a long time ago that we were going to London so he didn’t waste any time hopping up from his book.

tm_2Sebastian loves to read.

He took off to parts unknown and began scrounging around for things to take on our trip. From downstairs he hollered, “Is it going to be cold?” So I told him it would be safe to bring a sweater along just in case the wind was blowing.

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Yes on the sweater.

Then I heard him dashing up the stairs and rummaging around in the closet. He yelled, “Are we going to see the Queen?” I told him it was doubtful that the Queen would have time to visit with us.

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No on the crown.

The next thing I knew he was poking around in my bits & bobs. (Thanks to Elanor for teaching Jay and Sebastian this phrase last year.) I heard him rattling things around and finally he lifted his head and asked, “Map or compass?” I answered him with “Going old school are you?” He looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Surely he knows about Google maps, right?

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Take your pick – map or compass.  Either way, I’ll probably use the GPS.

It was kind of cute what happened next. After all that folderol, he quietly walked up to me, held out his hands and asked, “Will they take my dimes and pennies?”

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No on the coins.

“Oh dear Sebastian, they probably would from you but we’ll give you some British money to spend in the shops, okay?” He let out a big sigh of relief. I think he was saving that money for something special.

Then I said to him, “Are you all done? Have you got everything?” And he answered, “I just have one more thing to get!” And off he ran.

He came back with a nice little umbrella and said, “If it worked for Pooh bear, it will work for me.”

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Though I was confused, I humored him a bit and said, “Um, okay, but don’t you think that umbrella is kind of big for you. You know Jay and I will keep you warm and dry – you really don’t need to take it.”

Then he looked at me in alarm. “What do you mean? How else will we get there?!”

“Excuse me?” I asked. “How else will we get there?!”

Then it dawned on me we had a misunderstanding. When I said we were going “across the pond”, he took me literally. The Pooh comment finally made some sense to me. Sebastian thought we were going to “cross the pond” in the umbrella just like Pooh bear.

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I giggled. Then I laughed. Then I explained to him that this pond was way too big to cross in his little plaid umbrella.

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No on the umbrella.

“Besides, wouldn’t it be so nice to fly? Before you get any ideas, Sebastian, you won’t need those fairy wings either. We’re going in an airplane. Now go and pack your things and meet me back here, okay?”

“Okay!” and off he went.

Now I’m not sure what to expect from here on out. Wish us luck!

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Monday, February 20, 2012

These two teddies

will be traveling with us to the UK in hopes of finding a new home or two at Hugglets. Sebastian is busy telling them all about London. He gave them his best advice which is to remember to look right before crossing the street. He is so-o-o-o funny, as if we would let him or any other teddy cross a London street all by themselves.

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I rarely have this much luck.

I took these photos back in January on a cloudy day.

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The colors were brilliant even so.

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We were lucky to find this piece of stained glass a couple of years ago in a nearby shop.

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And even luckier to discover it fit into our second floor round window perfectly.

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As you might have deduced, I am no longer knee deep in bear making.
It must be time to pack some little teddies in a suitcase.

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