Snow,Ponies,cats,cowsandShearing Icelandic sheepBeatrice had a wonderful adventure in Iceland , the stunning landscape of waterfalls , black sands and amazing mountains was the backdrop for her visit. Wool and the warmth of friendship at the Pingborg wool centre, just outside Selfoss in the south of Iceland, was the real reason for this visit and Beatrice so loved being involved with the whole process on the farm. She has returned to the Bear Room at the Studio with wonderful tales about her joyful visit .
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Beatrice loves being in the warm and dry growing tunnel with her mum, Liz, while she works hard looking after all the wonderful plants and flowers.
She loves all the beautiful smells and colours of the flowers Liz grows for colouring the wool to use in her felt making..... but most of all she likes to taste all the delicious home grown food ! Today was a the tomato sorting day.... red and ripening tomatoes in one basket ready to make sauces and relish and the green ones into another basket ready for making into jams and chutneys. Yum ! What a kind and helpful bear Beatrice is. She even thought to tuck a few tiny rose red tomatoes into the pocket of her new outfit to share with Bertie later. Nice outfit Beatrice, useful as well as very pretty ! Beatrice accompanied Liz on her recent workshop at Big Cat Textiles . Liz was learning how to customise classical patterns to fit her and Beatrice was very keen to learn the process and show Liz how much she wanted to have her own clothes custom made . The lovely Jeanette Sendler showed Beatrice her wonderful hat collection and her amazing clothing all made specially to fit Jeanette. Beatrice stood very still to have her measurements taken and was so still during the mathematical planning that no one knew she was there. She just loved the green tunic Liz made but decided the colour didn't suit her complexion so has asked Liz if she can help Beatrice to choose a fabric that would be ideal for the coming winter to keep her cosy at the Railway Station. Beatrice is very excited about that and dreams of modelling some new creations soon. Beatrice would like to thank Big Cat Texiles for looking after her and Liz so well. Some people believe a Ceilidh is a Scottish dance night where kilted men dance with their partners to bagpipe music but, in fact, originally a ceilidh was a social gathering of any sort, and did not necessarily involve dancing, and so it was that earlier this week our bears gathered for a special Ceilidh of their own to say goodbye to four of their friends who were jetting off to new homes in America. At their Ceilidh the bears shared favourite stories and poems so that when the bears that were soon to leave left their beloved Scottish Highlands they would take with them a range of traditional tales to be repeated softly in the ear of their new friends...... Wishing safe travels to Saffy Rose, Iona, Egbert and Morven
When bears have that special skill that bonds them to humans- Morven and Mavis are one such Match8/28/2019 Morven Bear loves to handle the soft textile yarns in the Studio where she was born. She loves the smell of the sheep wool and the texture of the fine spun Shetland wool.
She also loves being around when Liz and Andrea have friends visit who sit and knit and chat over a cup of tea - and one such friend is Mavis Clark. Mavis and Morven immediately struck up a friendship. Mavis is a traditional Shetland lace knitter and she teaches this skill around Scotland, Morven became an excellent student. She listened attentively when Mavis explained about the Hap being a shawl the women of the Shetlands wore, the finely knitted kind for special occasions which traditionally should be fine enough to pass through a wedding ring . Morven knew she wanted one very much and watched as Mavis counted the stitches in the intricate design being careful not to speak and interrupt Mavis' concentration . She loved the feather and fan stitch design from the Island of Unst and when Mavis explained about the 'Makkin Belt' - a knitting belt where the women of Shetland hold the ends of the double pointed needles when they are knitting Morven pleaded with Liz to help her make a bear size belt.....needless to say she now has her very own Makkin ! Mavis of course, took the challenge of creating a bear sized Hap, with the favoured feather and fan design, resulting in Morven being presented with her very own unique Hap knitted from natural Shetland wool. No wonder she is a very smiley, happy bear ! Beatrice Bear loves clothes and is so excited when her bear Mum Liz creates new felted clothing for her or some of her 'Aunties ' knit her new wooly designs . Beatrice is a very tidy bear and likes to organise her space in the Bear Room at Dalmally Railway Station. She has the most amazing walnut wardrobe for her special things , made during the arts and crafts period here in Scotland- a real treasure. Beatrice really wanted to hang her lovely costumes in the wardrobe but couldn't find any bear size hangers to suit. Lucky little bear met a very talented visitor who was staying at the railway station for her holidays in the delightful restored rooms on the platform. She explained the problem to her new friend who is a very skilled artist and she kindly spent some time showing Beatrice how to use wire and a pliers to create her very bespoke hangers. Oh dear Liz , new empty hangers means Beatrice might just need some new Bear clothes. Its not very often my rather serious bear Beatrice shows exuberance in abundance but she has had a very special visitor this week. In between International shows and travelling around so many different countries Tokyo Bear took time out to come and visit Beatrice and all the bears at the Railway Station . Beatrice and Tokyo Bear visited some of the amazing local places of beauty we have here around Argyll. St, Conans Kirk was the first place to visit , the bears took their seat belts off and eagerly chatted about the visit to one of their favourite places Wow Beatrice just look at the amazing coloured glass. Not exactly Bear sized but they were very tired bears after investigating the great big spaces in the Kirk Next stop Kilchurn Castle Tokyo is very good with horses but I am not so sure of this Highland cow. The castle was shut by the time we got there but the bears just loved clambering around on the rocks , so lovely to see them enjoying a spot of Argyll sunshine Tokyo feels very much at home here Oh dear Beatrice , I don't think you would make good canon fodder!
Both bears enjoyed a trip and adventure at Inverarary Castle. It was very sad when the time came for Tokyo to leave and get ready for his next international duty . Oh dear Bertie Bear you have spent too much time playing with Billy Bear. Beatrice Bear seems to have a new suitor! Guess which two little bears will having some explaining to do when they meet the professor tomorrow.
Well Billy Bear has arrived and with his arrival Bertie's recent secretive behaviour finally all makes sense ! It was Billy's visit that Bertie has been busily preparing for all along and having caught them together I fear the worst.....two naughty bears with catapults. Oh oh.....
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