Shadow, Bruno and the rainbow pieces...

This wide-eyed wonder is 'Shadow'. Made this week from a super luxurious piece of hand dyed midnight blue mohair I had left in my personal stash. Teamed with the silver and cobalt blue of his eyes and bow... he's just a blue beauty!

Shadow is currently available in our etsy store. He is made from our Kanoa pattern - so it long and lean, but has a decent amount of weight in that pudgy belly!

We also finished this big boofy-bear from the Collaboration Bear's box. He had a note in his bag saying his name was Bruno, so we kept it for him.

(Random cat pic - this is 'our' Bruno - our British Short Hair kitten. Had to throw a pic of him in too! lol)

Bruno the Bear is also currently available in our etsy store.

We've also been working on some custom rainbow-dyed bears this week as well. On the table above is actually the pieces for 4 new bears.

With colours like this, just pinning and sewing is a pleasure! A feast for the eyes!! More updates of these bright bears will come as I get them completed over the next week :)

Oliver's First Birthday

Oliver is 1 year old today! Seems like we've had him for a lot longer than that! :P



He got a big juicy bone as a treat for his special day. I think he was pretty pleased.

He's a pretty good dog, he has his moments and I have mine (where I think it would be easier and cleaner not to have a dog!), but we're preserving. He still jumps up to greet people though. Usually putting dirty paw marks all over our visitors pants. And it's not just one jump, it's continual jumping that gets a bit annoying. He knows not to do it to us but obviously we missed the whole 'don't jump on guests' bit of his training!



He's not allowed inside as he can't be trusted with food/toys/furniture/bins/anything-we-want-to-keep-nice etc, so he lives on the patio. We gave him an old couch of ours that used to live in my studio before I got my shelves. He loves it! This is where he sleeps, all rugged up with a fleecy blanket and his winter jacket.



We tried putting a kids jumper on under the jacket to give him a bit of extra warmth, but the little bugger can wriggle out of it, even when the jacket is over the top! I don't know how, but he does it every time now. So we don't worry so much about the jumper! :P

Hopefully this year will be a bit smoother with him as we slowly get out of the puppy phase. I would say he destroyed at least one toy a week over the last year. Maybe some days more like one toy a day. So we'll see how the stats work out next birthday!

Kids update

I got to spend a bit more time on my nine little bears last night. They're looking really good, and are almost finished. I'm hoping to get some time to put the finishing touches on them over the weekend. If so, that will mean that I managed to make nine bears in two weeks. Pretty cool if I can pull it off!

But, seeing as the bears are still a few days away, I thought I'd do an update on the kids again.



Byron is now 6 weeks old, and has just starting smiling really frequently! Its the most gorgeous thing - he puts his whole mouth into it! His night sleeping was getting really good there for a few days with only two feeds overnight. But last night we went back to four, and now I am exhausted!





Chelsea is almost 20months old. (Which somehow seems so much older than 19months to me!). She's still a bit naughty with Byron. I got this awesome picture of her giving Byron a cuddle last week, only to have her bite him on the head shortly after it was taken! For the most part she takes out her frustrations on the dog, but he doesn't seem to mind. I think if anything, having Byron come along has helped her relationship with Oliver. She spends a lot more time actually playing with him, and can hold her own when he gets a bit puppy-excited with her!





And lastly, we got couple of new additions to the household (because we didn't have enough already :P) - guinea pigs! This sweet little bundle of fluff is baby Alice. We got her to keep our old old guinea pig company after her sister and cage-mate of 4 years died last week.



A friend of ours was looking after the guinea pigs for us after we had cats attack them at our last house, but they've had to move up north to help out with the building repairs after cyclone Yasi hit the day after Byron was born. So we took the guinea pig back again.

I've had guinea pigs as pets since I was a little girl. And my mum had guinea pigs all through her childhood as well. So I'm quite happy to have them back again. The trick now is keeping them safe from a very, VERY interested Oliver!

Oliver

Some of you might remember this bear... Acorn. I made her while experimenting with different shapes to get different looks a while back. Anyway, I mention this particular bear, as she was part of something very new for me - a swap! I was contacted by a lovely collector who was already looking after another of my bears, who asked if I would be happy to swap Acorn for a sketch of Oliver. After seeing her work I was very excited to have a piece of her art in exchange for a piece of mine.

The sketch arrived this morning. I'd only just woken up (the postman was very early today!), and Mark hadn't yet left for work, so he got to check it out when I opened it. I think it is fair to say that we are both blown away by it! It's stunning!



I am sure that Janie would be happy to take any commissioned orders as well if you have a beloved doggy you'd like immortalised!

Oliver update :)

Mr Oliver is fitting in wonderfully! He still nips at toes (especially Chelsea's), and occasionally does a wee inside (but only when we forget and shut all the doors to the backyard cause its so cold here at night!), but for the most part he is a wonder dog!

He comes when called. He sits and stays (mind you these are very new tricks), he wears his collar without fuss. He eats his food - both wet and dry. He sleeps on his own in the garage at night without crying. When he's tired during the day he just puts himself to bed. If i need to go out during the day, he happily lays in his bed until i get back. He travelled in the car today 40mins each direction to visit Nonna with no fuss - actually slept the whole way there and back! Didn't wee or poo in Nonna's house. Happily has baths and is fine with being towel dried. Happily greets new people, adults and kids. And MOST importantly - keeps Chelsea occupied when she would otherwise be crying at my feet!

This is the scene I found this morning. It was too quiet. And both of them were missing from the lounge room. I spotted them in the far corner of the garden, so quickly grabbed my camera and snapped some stealthy paparazzi shots! They are so gorgeous together, and I'm so glad we decided to add a puppy to our family :)

Taking some time out

It has been one crazy week! I will never be moving house with a 13month old, a 7 week old puppy and being 4 months pregnant again! (at least I can't think of a possibility when that might happen again!).

After we got over the initial shock of having to move into a less than clean house, we started noticing other less than perfect things. I won't go into detail - but basically over the last week we've had just about every trades-person imaginable out to our house, and have quotes for work needed to be done that add up to well over $10,000! I think there is something to be said for building and moving into a new house! :P


I've also got one room fully completed - Chelsea's room. It was even painted purple already which was a bonus.


But today I'm taking a break from all that. I've tried to get back into a semi-normal routine with Chelsea. So this morning we did our weekly grocery shop, had lunch on the back patio and played with Oliver. She is having her afternoon nap right now, and Oliver is asleep by my feet.

We've had some good days and some bad days with Oliver and his toilet training/teething. He hasn't done a poo in the house in a few days now, and tends to take himself outside when he needs to go. I still feel like i have to watch him like a hawk though - the last few inside-poo's were done right next to Chelsea's toy box which was not a nice find. Oh, and his sleeping at night is amazing. No crying at all. He sleeps in his little bed in the garage all by himself and we don't hear a peep from him!

He and Chelsea get along for the most part - but they too have their moments. Oliver, being 7 weeks old, is very enthusiastic (and bitey!) and likes to chase Chelsea and nip at her feet and bottom! Luckily her nappy gives her bottom some padding, but her poor little feet have been nibbled on quite a bit! She cries and pushes Oliver away, which just seems to make him more excited! He's responding more to my voice now when i tell him no. But sometimes he needs rescuing from Chelsea! This morning she tried to pick him up by his tail! Lets just call this training for baby number two!

A brighter day

Today was a lot better. Thanks to everyone for your support. I totally didn't expect that, and it made me feel a lot lighter about the whole experience of moving house.

It rained all day, which made moving stuff a little tricky. But we still got a fair bit done. First thing this morning we headed off to meet and collect our puppy. So that was a nice start to the day. I must say, as excited as I was about meeting him, I was really anxious about how I'd manage keeping an eye on him, toilet training him, keeping him safe from Chels, watching Chelsea, feeding Chelsea, feeding puppy, helping organise boxes to be moved, organising having two of my brothers around helping move things and fix the house up a bit along with a bit of last minute packing... but I did it! I am so proud of myself. And we didn't have one puppy toileting accident!

We've called him Oliver. And he's a real sweetheart. He was one of the more placid of the puppies from his litter, and had spent the day just following us around, and playing with Chels. He loves following her like a shadow and trying to grab hold of her nappy. She thinks it's hilarious, and they both come running to my lap and launch themselves onto it in a pile of baby-puppy giggles!

He's currently sleeping in his little puppy carrier with his padded bed squished inside so its nice and cozy. He actually goes in there willingly too which is awesome. I wasn't sure if he'd like it. Lets hope we have a good night with him now!

A little disillusioned...

So today we got the keys to our new place.

At the moment we live in a little 2 bedroom villa in a complex of 13 other villas. We have a tiny little backyard. A scrappy garden, blinds that are falling apart, a kitchen that needs a good scrub and a bath tub that sinks down when you stand in it. Not to mention the termite damage in the roof and skirting board in our bedroom...

But it has almost brand new good quality carpet that we put in about 18months ago, reverse cycle aircon, ceiling fans, a good size garage and clean walls!

This afternoon, after Mark got home from work, we loaded up some boxes in our cars and took a drive to the new place to check it out. We'd only seen it twice. Once at the open house. Again a few days later, just before we put the offer in. And it had been fully furnished. It seemed so tidy and neat.

Now that it is empty - EVERY mark, scratch, dint, and grubby spot stands out like a sore thumb. The carpet is OLD, and grubby as hell! The railing near the door is wobbly, the cupboard doors feel like they're about to come off when you open them, some of the switches are a bit loose, the backyard has a very distinct smell of wet dog, there are old (and new) dog poo's over the yard, the patio light actually lights up the garden - not the patio, there is no aircon, no ceiling fans, the garage is tiny and is actually the laundry as well...

I suppose I'm just a bit annoyed that the owners sold it to us like that. And hid the grubbiness and damage behind furniture. I know our place isn't perfect, but we're in the process of fixing all damage and getting professional cleaners in BEFORE we even put our place on the market. And it will be sold empty so there is nothing to hide.

I know this doesn't have anything to do with bears. But I really felt the need to vent. Mark is currently at the new place with a 24hr hire carpet cleaning machine he picked up from the local supermarket, attempting to make the place a little more sanitary. I just feel like we shouldn't have had to do that. We definitely shouldn't have had to pick up their dog's crap either! I just feel like we've downgraded instead of upgrading. Which wouldn't be so bad if that was what we'd set out to do... but it wasn't. So it has come as a bit of a nasty surprise...


And that's my vent! On a slightly happier note, we pick up our new Beagle cross Cavalier puppy tomorrow. Maybe he will add a happier spin to this whole transition period!

Mr Fighter (the fighter fish) has a girlfriend

Mark, Chelsea and I went to a local pet shop this morning to find Mr Fighter a girlfriend. We chose a massive shop about 20mins drive away, and we were all in pet-shop heaven! We pushed Chelsea's pram up to the windows with the puppies and kittens, and showed her the baby birds. We did a few laps of the fish area - complete with EVERY kind of aquatic life you could possibly want! There was even a massive blue starfish stuck to the wall of one of the display tanks. The variety of fighter fish colours and tail types was incredible too. (I know where I'll be going next time!).


We found a sweet little female fighter fish and took her home. I floated the bag in the top of Mr Fighters tank for half an hour while the two of them got acquainted.


When I let her out, she successfully hid from him for about 10mins, before deciding to brave a meeting. It was actually really sweet watching the two of them say hello. Mr Fighter seemed genuinely shy! :P (He is now stalking her around the tank with his flares up - but hasn't attacked her yet. Just seems to be telling her that the warm spot near the heater is his. She has been banished to the cold bottom of the tank :P)

A new pet for our house...

I woke up this morning and decided I was going to buy a fighter fish. So I did! But first I had to salvage this old vase from the backyard (where I had been using it upside down to take photos of bears on). Clean it, fill it with water, check and adjust the pH level, put the chlorine remover in, set up the heater (as its the middle of winter here)...


...buy some rocks and plants, buy the fish and some food...


...set up the tank, float the fish, release him and watch him swim laps!


I've never had one like him before (and I've had a few over the years!). He's a really odd mix of pink, blue and red. Depending on how the light hits him, he will appear predominantly a vibrant blue, or sometimes more of a mottled pink.

Missing someone special...

I've been having a bit of trouble getting to sleep lately, and last night got thinking about the pet parrot we had before Chelsea was born.

His name was Kojo and he was a beautiful Sun Conure. We purchased him in an irresponsible 'spare of the moment' decision one Sunday afternoon when visiting a pet shop. We had planned on buying a Cockatiel, but fell in love with Kojo's playful nature. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), he didn't make any noises in the pet shop. And being totally clueless about Sun Conure's, we didn't know what we were in for!



As a heads-up for anyone considering adopting a Sun Conure - they are LOUD!!!! And I don't just mean a little bit noisy, but easy to block out as background noise loud; I mean obtrusive, unavoidable, able-to-hear-from-the-road-when-the-bird-is-in-the-back-room-of-the-house kind of loud!



Kojo let off his first screeches once we got him safely into the house. Mark and I looked at each other and both said 'what have we done!?'.

I would say that it probably took a good 6 months for him to be comfortable with us, and for us to be comfortable with him. We got him to the stage where he was quiet as a mouse when just hanging with us. And if he was naughty he would get a time-out in his cage - in his own room! We let his wings grow back and he would fly from my shoulder to Mark's as he pleased. He was always so happy to see us when we got home from work. He would do his little happy dance and make soft grunty noises. When he was feeling really affectionate, he would nestle himself in the warm spot between my ear and my shoulder, pulling my hair around him like a blanket. I loved him so much! So much that even now, almost 2 years since we had to find him a new home, my heart hurts to think about him.



When we found out we were pregnant with Chelsea, we made the hard decision to find him a new home, sooner rather than later. I knew it would be hard, but I don't think I realised just how hard! I tried a million different scenarios in my head to see if there was some way we could keep him. But it just wasn't practical. Kojo was terribly bonded to me, and had gotten to the stage where he would attack Mark if Mark tried to give me a hug while Kojo was sitting on my shoulder. He would attack any of our guests as well, and actually drew blood on everyone who came to look at him to give him a new home! We knew that this behaviour, along with his volume level, would not work very well with a newborn in the house.



Watching Kojo get bundled into his new owner's car... his little claws clinging onto the bars of his cage, trying to get as close to where I was standing as possible, staring at me through the window as the guy drove away... It just about broke my heart. There was no way I could explain to him that I still loved him, but his new family would look after him now. I don't know how much intelligence to credit him with, but I couldn't help feeling like I'd betrayed him. I'd taken him home, gotten him attached to me, then tossed him out at the first chance.



I cried for the rest of that day. I sobbed all through dinner. Cried myself to sleep. Cried at work the next day. And the day after that. (It probably didn't help that I was about 14 weeks pregnant either! :P). That sweet, annoying little bird had stolen his way into my heart, and going from the reaction I still have now when I think about him, he'll be there for a little longer yet...

New Bear - well actually its a guinea pig!

I did it! I made some little mohair guinea pigs. Following on from an earlier post about how I found that secret stash of mohair scraps, I realised that a lot of them would work well as guinea pig colours. A little bit of brain storming and scribbled designing later - and the result are these two sweet cartoon-like mohair guinea pigs. I was aiming for 'realism' with the shape - but alas the heads are too squat to be realistic. But I am actually really happy with them despite this. I think I'll keep tweaking the patterns with each new piggy I make though - but that's just human nature I think!

Our Garden

One of the positives of having a pet-free back yard is that we can start to fix it up a bit. For the past three years we've kind of let it just do what it wants. The shrubs and bushes have gone crazy and the guinea pigs had little tracks all through the undergrowth. I had a quick weed and 'stocktake' of our current plants this afternoon and thought i'd share this photo of our pink rose bush. My mum gave it to us as a house warming present when we first moved in, and now (thanks to hap-hazard pruning)it's taller than me!

Bella

Chelsea and i took a drive over to 'the other side' of town today to visit my mum (her Nonna). We spent the day hanging out, and chatting and eating! All the best things in life. While Chelsea had a HUGE midday sleep, i sat out on the deck in the warm autumn sunshine with their dog Bella.

Bella is impossible to get photos of because you can't see where her eyes are! And she never stays still. I managed to trick her into this pose by saying 'walkies!'. Seems to be a word most english-speaking doggies understand!

Three things i discovered today:
* The black and white cat that lives down the road has eyes that glow green when my car headlight shines on them
* The local population of rainbow lorikeets decided to have a dusk gathering in the trees that spanned the main road as i drove home.
* I have developed quite a good resistance to Chelsea's cries of protest while i drive!