This Just In - Travis wins TOBY Public Choice Award !!

I am so thrilled to tell you that my tiny Travis - as opposed to my big Travis who is my husband (and, by the way , who picked the bear's name) has won the TOBY Public Choice Award presented by Teddy Bear and Friends magazine. It is one of the biggest honors in the Teddy Bear World made so special by having been voted on by the public. I thank each of you who voted for Travis!! I am so sorry I was not able to be at TBAI this year where the awards were presented this morning. We are doing lots of renovations here and I wasn't able to prepare bears for the show. Additionally, big Travis has a "severe" case of poison ivy from pulling up weeds, etc. (well, the ivy I guess) in preparation for new windows which will be coming soon. I'll bet knowing about wee Travis will help with the itching! I'll be having postcards made with both Travis' TOBY logos on them so if you'd like one just send me an email: donna and the bears at AOL dot com (spelled out here to avoid spam - I hope) with your address if I don't have it!
Thank you again!! I'm dancing on air!!
Travis was a limited edition of two and thanks to Sue and Debbie for adopting them.

Let's go Hawks!

Russell - you might recognize him from my little photo on the right - was thrilled to receive a Stanley Cup Champions shirt from dear friend Pat following the team's win this year!! Pat allowed me to become a temporary Hawks fan when my own favorite Penguins' season came to an end! Pat kindly sent along an official little Stanley Cup Bear and this wonderful shirt which looks as though it was just made for Russell! Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks for a grand season and for winning the Cup!!

My son, Jason, is recovering well from shoulder surgery. I wish the pain he's felt wasn't necessary, but I've enjoyed having Jason around for a couple of weeks. I haven't had much time for sewing bears, but there's been the odd moment when I could pick up yarn and hook, so have enjoyed making lots of flowers. In case you love yarn, you will enjoy knowing that the Knitpicks website www.knitpicks.com is having a big sale. Have a look at my order that arrived yesterday!

I wanted to take a "colorwheel" photo before opening the skeins for some colorful flowers! Just imagine the little bears and bunnies sitting upon the flowers! Knitpicks offers reasonably priced pure wool throughout the year and the sales come along that make ordering a joy! There's a wonderful color range too!



Here's one of my favorites so far - made with the "crocodile" stitch this time in red and green.

While on the deck photographing yarn delights, I was treated to wonderful butterflies and moths on our now huge butterfly bush which often looks alive with scores of wildlife enjoying it's flowers.

With all the rain we've had, our butterfly "bush" is now a "tree" reaching far above my head.