An Easter friend!

I was rather sick last week so behind in my Bear making plans, but I now have a new design to try out and hope to start cutting out the pattern tomorrow. I have some gorgeous mohairs I can't wait to create with. I have been really enjoying knitting lately and just finished this little Easter Egg warmer! She stays quite still and only hops around if she smells chocolate!! I made her for my little 2 year old niece so she will be heading off to England for Easter.

I'm also thrilled to say that my Bunny & her Teacup Print is currently being featured alongside other gorgeous Bunnies over at this lovely Blog, thank you Mary x

Right I'd better hop back to work! See you soon, Catherine x

SPRING!!

Finally after a long Winter Spring has shown it's sunny face! The birds are busy chirping in the garden, I've put up a new bird box for them and within 5 minutes the Blue Tits were already checking out their new home! I saw the first ladybird of the season and spotted this very sleepy Bumble Bee diving head first into the pollen! If you click on the photos you can see the pollen all over him! A week ago I was so excited to see the first daffodil unfurling and now the garden is full! Must get out with my camera!




If you want to stroll through my garden a bit more, just click on the garden label at the end of this post. Back soon, Hugs, Catherine x

Step back in time...

On my trip to London a few weeks back I visited Liberty for the first time, thanks to my friend Tracy of Pink Purl saying I must go. It is the most beautiful building with it's stunning beams on the outside, so funny walking along the busy streets of London, taking a side road and there is this building nestled in amongst all the stone architecture. You almost expect to be walking back in time! It is even more fabulous inside, with galleried areas, my favourite department being full of craft supplies!



Driving back out of London I took some shots of the buildings in Kensington, a VERY wealthy area!



I have been busy gradually adding new elements to my Blog, including a new Twitter badge so you can read what I'm up to in between Blog posts. Now I just need to work out how to get my Banner to show at the top, it will not let me at the moment! The daffodils have finally showed their faces in the garden with a few warm days, so I'll share some photos soon. Hugs, Catherine x

Spring Delights!

I'm thrilled to finally be able to share my new Spring time creations with you.

It had been a long winter, the Bears were all rested and the rays of Spring sunshine brought the village to life. The wild flowers brightened up the hillsides and the tress were full of Cherry Blossom. This could only mean one thing to the Bumpkin friends - the Blossom Hop! This dance had become quite a tradition with the first flurry of Blossom in the air - come along and join in!


This Print would make a charming Easter gift instead of chocolate, a gift that lasts all year long! Also in my Etsy Store you can find this adorable set of Easter Cards, showing The Blossom Hop, The Easter Egg Race and My Favourite Springtime Moment.








Next up is starting on a new mohair Bear and sharing photos of a Woodland Baby Shower with you all. Big Hugs, Catherine & Easter Friends xx

Fly with me...

Come fly with me just like Peter Pan! This magical statue is to be found in a leafy glad next to a lake in Kensington Gardens. It was so delightful just as the story of it's creation is - "J.M Barrie published his first story about Peter Pan in 1902 in The Little White Bird. It was inspired by his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family that began in Kensington Gardens. In the story, Peter Pan flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water - on the spot where the statue stands.

Barrie began thinking about a Peter Pan statue in 1906, six years later, in 1912, Barrie paid Sir George Frampton to create the statue and on May 1 st that year it appeared, as if by magic.

There was no pre-publicity or formal unveiling. The statue was erected secretly during the night and Barrie simply placed this announcement in The Times:

"There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived."

Can't you just imagine the delight as little children discovered it on that day. Many just look at the front but I walked all round it and there were beautifully created little creatures all around, squirrels and fairies and little mice and oh those bunnies! Lots of inspiration for my illustrations!




Next to share with you are photos of the beautiful Liberty shop in London, as well as a truly breathtaking woodland themed baby shower which I was privileged to be a part of through my invitations which I custom made from one of my Prints. So lots to share! Catherine x

Walk with me ...

Thanks for all your kind comments about Mee-Mee in my previous post, he has now found a loving home in Germany, so happy days with lots of love for his future. As promised here are the first few photos from my weekend in London, we were so lucky, in the morning the rain was going sideways, but we were cosy in the Hugglets Teddy Fair. When we came out the rain had stopped and it stayed away all day for us, whilst they had storms back home in Belgium!

Kensington Palace and Gardens was just up the road from Hugglets, it was an incredibly impressive Palace. The gates immediately looked familiar to me as I remembered seeing them with seas of flowers in front of them after the terribly sad news of Princess Diana's passing. Diana had lived here in one of the apartments since she was married. The gardens were a vast park where there was also the statue of Peter Pan which was wonderful, with all sorts of fabulous sculpted rabbits and animals around the base. I will share photos of this here soon. In the meantime take a walk with me...
(click on photo to see larger image)


Hugs, Catherine x

Mee-Mee - A Beautiful Dreamer

I promise I will share my few London photos soon but there is a little Panda Bear that is wanting to meet you all first! I have just finished bringing Mee-Mee to life. He is a little dreamer, he lives in his very special world filled with blossoms and the sounds of bird song at Spring dawn. He loves to garden so would be a very happy Panda Bear with a small watering can and a packet of seads. I would just warn your other Bears to put their paws over their ears when he first sees the new little shoots starting to appear out of the soil! He does get rather excited, bless him!

You can see all his photos and adoption information on my website.
**UPDATE 10th March, Mee-Mee has now been lovingly ADOPTED**




Right, time to get back to my Easter illustrations, time is a ticking! Bear Hugs, Catherine & Mee-Mee xx

Hugglets Teddy Festival

I had a great day on my Birthday at the Hugglets Teddy Festival in the grand Kensington area of London. The rain was going diagonally as we arrived but it had clearly not put people off. It had only been open for an hour and many tables were already looking quite empty after Bear's had found their new homes. It was a great experience to see all these beautiful bears (and hedgehogs!) in the fur that I had only admired through a computer screen. Fun moments were spent saying hi to various artists, everyone was just as friendly as expected. I fell in love with many of the incredibly handsome traditional bears, inspired me to look at my designs. I brought a fabulous selection of spring colour mohairs I can't wait to use. It was fun to find a pattern I designed for a supplies company called Bear Basics too. I started to work on the head of a new panda today, I hope he will be ready next week to say hi or whatever pandas say! In the meantime come along to Hugglets with me.... Next stop London sights. Hugs, Catherine x

Party Days

Here we are back safely from a weekend trip to England, for my Birthday and a 70th Birthday Party for my Dad. All my Aunts and Uncles, cousins and kids came along so it was lovely to see everyone, especially my adorable 2 year old niece. I managed to finish a little knitted tunic for her about an hour before I left on Friday evening! I loved knitting again, I found it really relaxing. I found the free pattern for the Child's Playtime Top at Lionbrand.com The flower was great fun to create, I used this pattern.


I spent my Birthday in London, going along to the Hugglets Teddy Bear Festival, it was such fun to see so many Bears all in one place and to meet many artists that I had only 'met' through email and forums. Everyone was so friendly and I bought a lovely selection of fresh coloured mohairs for a range of Spring Bears. Can't wait to start working on some new designs, first I need to finish a Panda that I started last week. I'm also busy creating new Spring & Easter illustrations to launch as Prints & Cards. I'm also patiently waiting for some badges and magnets to arrive in the post that I ordered to show my Art. So lots of excitement. I'll share my photos from Hugglets and London over the next few days. See you soon, Hugs, Catherine x