K M Bears

Three new bears

2011-12-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

My new Polar bear

Polar playing

Polar wants a new home?

This lovely hand dyed "Rainbow" bear called Daniel lives in Japan.

This little bears is made from long pile sassy fabric in a beautiful purple colour

Sweet peas

2011-12-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

My sweet peas the first photo taken on my new camera

The biggest dahlia in the world grown by my next-door neighbour

A day out in Cambridge

2011-12-26T08:59:00.000-08:00

Cambridge

while we were at Centre Parcs we had a day trip to Cambridge

What spectacular buildings

Squirrels at Centre Parcs

2011-12-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

The squirrels are so tame the even come in to the lodges!

Rachel's Graduation Day

2011-12-26T08:28:00.001-08:00

Rachel’s has been studying graphic design at Bradford collage of arts for three years.

Rachel worked for a Bachelor of Arts degree This is her graduation day we are verry proud.

Rachel Graduated with 2.1 B A Degree.

Rachel's final show

2011-12-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

Rachel’s final show 3 year BA Graphic Design course.

Well done Rachel!

New bears for Hugglets

2011-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here are three new bears ready for

HUGGLETS TEDDIES 2011
Sunday11th September
Hall 4 Stand 141

Kensington Town Hall

Hornton StreetLondon

W8 7NX

All my bears are hand made
one of a kind bears from my own original patens.
I love to make the hand dyed rainbow bears, they are my favourite bears.

I haven’t ever kept one for myself, they have all been adopted.

These will be available at Hugglets.

Centre Parcs

2011-01-30T07:52:00.000-08:00

We have spent a lovely relaxing week with all the family at Centre Parcs, Whinfell Forest, Cumbria.
Although it is January aand we have winter weather was quite mild, and we even had a bit of sunshine.

We all enjoyed a good swim in the fantastic pool each day, the spa pool was so warm. Every one did lots of walking.

This was our villa we had three bedrooms all en suite, a large dining room/lounge area with a big open plan kitchen.
We all took turns in making an evening meal, we celebrated our daughters seventh wedding anniversary with a meal at one of the lovely restaurants.

All eighteen of us had a fantastic time. X

My first knitted cardigan for baby Alex.

2010-09-21T09:14:00.001-07:00

My first knitted cardigan for baby Alex. I have knitted cardigans and hats for bears but I haven’t knitted baby clothes since our youngest was a baby 13 years ago. It took me four months to complete, fitting time in between making the bears and school holidays. My grand daughter said “grandma it has lots of holes in it” I said that is the pattern!

60th wedding anniversary

2010-09-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

August 19th 2010 was Leigh’s mum and dad’s 60th wedding anniversary.
They went away so we didn’t make a fuss and organise a party for them.
When they came home we threw a surprise party for them and invited the family

Alexander James

2010-09-21T08:57:00.001-07:00

Our first grandson Alexander James born on July 14th 2010

A new bear

2010-09-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Tizzy is a 21"(53½cm) one-of-kind Clown style bear made from hand dyed mohair in pink and blue, Tizzy has an old bear appearance, with loose joints, filled with super polyester fibre and pellets to give extra weight, matching ultrasuedet pads, black glass eyes, and a multi coloured perle cotton embroidered nose and fully jointed. Tizzy is completely hand sewn and wears a ruff and has a bell on his hat.

Here are my new “Old style bears”

2010-05-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here are my new “Old style bears” they are made to look like the old fashioned bears we used to have and love as children. I don’t like to make them look too tatty and worn, some are double dyed and have loose cotter pin joints. Most of the bears are made from sparse mohair or old looking mohair.

Sam is my favourite bear.

Whitby

2010-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

After we had visited Goathland, we went on to Whitby.

It was a lovely day although it was cold and windy.

The famous Whitby Abbey is on the top of the hill.
We had to wait a while to cross the bridge to go to the old part of Whitby because a boat with a big mast wanted to go through.

Heartbeat

2010-05-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

We recently had a trip to Whitby, on the way we stopped off at Goathland where the 60's hit tv program "Heartbeat" was recorded.

Above is the garage and below the Famous Aidensfield arms.

New Bears Available at "Hugglets Winter Bearfest"

2010-02-01T03:35:00.000-08:00

Scarlet Sunset
16"(41cm) one-of-kind bear made from hand dyed long pile mohair in rainbow colours (peach, lemon & pink), filled with super polyester fibre and steel shot & pellets to give extra weight, with matching fuchsia ultra suede pads, black glass eyes, with a coral coloured embroidered nose. Fully jointed. Scarlet Sunset is completely hand sewn.

Evangeline
12"(31cm) one-of-kind bear made from hand dyed long pile silky alpaca in rainbow colours, filled with super polyester fibre and steel shot to give extra weight, with contrasting turquoise ultra suede pads, black glass eyes, with a pale pink coloured embroidered nose. Fully jointed. Evangeline is completely hand sewn.

Marcella Marriott
14"(36½cm) one-of-kind bear made from hand dyed mohair in rainbow colours, filled with super polyester fibre and pellets to give extra weight, with matching Fuchsia 100% wool felt pads, black glass eyes, with a multi coloured embroidered nose. Fully jointed. Marcella Marriott is completely hand sewn.

All these bears and more are on my preview page on the web site www.kmbears.com

Hugglets bear guide

2010-01-29T12:37:00.001-08:00

The Hugglets guide is out now I have a small number available

The snow in January

2010-01-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

This was the January snow in my garden
The ice was really bad, the road was like an ice skating rink

the canal was frozen almost completely, this was the only bit where the ducks could swim.

it was nice to walk along, but really cold.

the canal is on the left, completely frozen

A new Rainbow bear

2009-11-25T07:02:00.001-08:00

This is Pastel

She is a one of a kind hand dyed "rainbow bear"

Made from Japanese alpaca.

She is filled with super polyester fibre,

steel shot and pellets to give him extra weight.

Pastel has pink wool felt foot and paw pads and a multi-coloured embroidered nose.

she is fully jointed and is looking for a new home.

Please let me introduce you to “Opal”

2009-11-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

Please let me introduce you to "Opal"

He is a 12"(31cm) one-of-a-kind bear made from soft cream alpaca, this alpaca feels like lamb's wool.

Opla is filled with super polyester fibre, pellets and steel shot to give him extra weight.

He has matching cream foot and paw pads, black glass eyes and has a brown embroidered nose.

He is fully jointed and is looking for a new home.

I am now getting ready to hand dye some new Rainbow bears, these bears will be available in the next few months.

An afternoon in Knaresborough

2009-09-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in Knaresborough.
Now a peaceful Market Town.
This must be one of the most photographed places in Yorkshire.
The famous bridge over the River Nidd
The name of Knaresborough has undergone many changes over the centuries. Its origins are traced from the time of the Domesday Book. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the town is written as Chenaresburg. Though the exact origin of the town's name is lost, its development through various different spellings can be traced through documents going back to the eleventh century.

I stood for ages waiting for the train to move away so I could photograph the station.
I got bored so this is the photo I took!

The castle was first built by a Norman baron on a cliff above the River Nidd.
The castle now pretty much lays in ruins, not much remains.
This is a small part of the castle. I love arches and architecture.

Walking by the river.

During the summer we had a lovely holiday in Wales,

2009-09-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

We visited my favourite place Portmeirion village, we spent the day walking round and looking at all the lovely vibrantly coloured buildings.
With its beautiful gardens full of vibrant plants and trees.

Portmeirion village is famous for the 1960’s cult series The Prisoner, staring Patrick McGoohan he was also the creator and driving force behind the 17 episode series.
Even The Beatles were fans. Its cult status was confirmed with the establishment in the 1970s of the official Prisoner Appreciation Society

Portmeirion is an Italianate resort village in Gwynedd, on the coast of Snowdonia in Wales.

Williams-Ellis designed and constructed the village between 1925 and 1975.

He incorporated fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects. He wanted to pay tribute to the atmosphere of the Mediterranean.

Portmeirion's architectural brightly coloured buildings and deliberately fanciful nostalgia have been noted as an influence on the development of postmodernism in architecture in the late twentieth century.

holiday in Wales

2009-09-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

This is the lovely Caravan club site we stayed at in Wales

Betws-y-Coed is North Wales' most popular inland resort. It is where the River Conwy meets its three tributaries flowing from the west, the Llugwy, the Lledr and the Machno. Much of it was built in Victorian times and it is the principal village of the Snowdonia National-Park. Set in a beautiful valley in the Snowdonia Forest Park, it is ideal for outdoor activity holidays. Numerous Craft and outdoor activity shops are in the village with the popular Swallow Falls nearby.

It’s has a wonderful setting surrounded by dense woodland and magnificent mountains. The beauty of the area is enhanced by cascading waterfalls, hill-top lakes, river pools and ancient bridges.
The main street, Holyhead Road, has numerous inns and bed-and-breakfasts. Shops specialise in outdoor clothes.
Of exceptional interest are the many bridges in the area. Pont-y-Pair (the bridge of the cauldron), built in 1468, is buffeted by foaming water after heavy rain. A number of sign-posted walks in the surrounding countryside start near this bridge.

we visited Caernarfon. Caernarfon is possibly the most famous of Wales's castles. Its sheer scale and commanding presence easily set it apart from the rest.

Hugglets Teddies 2009

2009-09-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Two rainbow bears ready for Hugglets TEDDIES 2009 stand 141A

Lake Windermere

2009-09-01T09:12:00.001-07:00

This was our 2009 holiday to the Lake District
Lake Windermere

Lake Windermere

2009-09-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Bowness on Windermere

The family came up for a visit on Wednesday, we visited the Betrix Potter museum.
They really enjoyed it.
We went to feed the swans

Lake Windermere

The Lake District

2009-09-01T08:21:00.001-07:00

We spent a week in the Lake District in July.

We had mixed weather, with quite a lot of rain at night.

This is the Bridge house at Ambleside .

Rainbow Bear

2009-07-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

The finished rainbow bear!

He is approximately 15" tall,

he has black glass eyes and needle felted dreadlocks.
He is a one of a kind bear and is crafted from hand dyed curly mohair in rainbow colours.
He has ultra suede foot and paw pads,
and is filled with super polyester fibre.

I like to add pellets and steel shot to give my bears extra weight.

He is available for adoption.

Rainbow Dying bears

2009-06-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

How to hand dye a bear.

There are many ways to hand dye. One way is to immerse the whole piece of fabric in to a deep pan of dye making the mohair all the same colour. Another way is dip dye each piece making it have different levels of the same colour.

I prefer to "Rainbow dye" my bears using rainbow colours.

These come in a small packet in powder form and you add water to them. I use the plain white or natural mohair or "Loom State"
The mohair I have chosen is a wavy natural colour German mohair.

I draw my pattern pieces on the back of the fabric and then carefully cut them out making doubly sure I have two body pieces one left one right, two head pieces one left one right, two arms one left one right, one head gusset, four ears and two legs.

I use newspaper to paint the mohair on. I then lay the cut out mohair pieces on newspaper right side up.
I have a brush for each colour dye and each dye is in a small container with an airtight lid, this avoids spillage and you can keep what is leftover for another time.
I then carefully paint each colour on the mohair starting at bottom, dividing in to sections as I go equally painting each piece the same colour.
Normally I paint the mohair in stripes, the bear being painted in the photographs is spot painted by spotting the dye on the mohair.

I start with one colour, doing all the pieces with that one colour at a time. Then I move on to the next colour.
Carefully covering all the hairs as I go, right to the top with each colour.
When all pieces are all covered I place them on clean newspaper and make sure the pieces don’t touch each other and leave them to dry.

When they are completely dry I put them all in to little net washing machine bags with zips and place them in the washing machine, on a rinse and spin cycle with a little fabric softener.
Once they have rinsed and spun I take them out of the bags and brush all the pieces.

I again leave them to dry, and then I take sharp scissors and trim all the fur away from the sewing seams.
The bear is now ready to make up. I normally sew all my bears by hand, occasionally I will use the sewing machine.

I think hand sewing is neater, but that is my personal opinion.
Kerren.

My next post will have the finished bear!

Hugglets guide 2009

2009-05-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hugglets Teddy Bear guides available now

Sherry trifle

2009-05-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy cooking and baking.

This is my take on sherry trifle. I hate to see trifle in a large bowl it is fine until half of it has been eaten and the rest looks so messy.
I make mine in individual bowls, dishes or glasses.

I used with chocolate chip muffins for the base, crumbled in to the glass, and then I add the sherry, strawberries and raspberries.
For the custard I use half a bar of dark chocolate and one tub of low fat double cream, heated up in a pan until bubbling.

I let it cool and pour it on to the fruit and put it in the frige to set.
For the creamy topping I use low fat well known powdered topping, mixed with skimmed milk and spooned on the top, and to finish it off I place a raspberry on the top.

Delicious!

The Worth Valley Railway

2009-05-08T11:55:00.001-07:00

Howarth is the home of the Brontës,
and also the home of the Worth Valley Railway

This beautiful picturesque part of Yorkshire brings thousands of visitors to this Keithly village every year. The steam trains are one of the main attractions here.

It is just a beautiful day out.

Haworth station on the Keithly and Worth Valley Railway line.
Last may bank holiday we started an eight-mile walk from Oxenhope station to Haworth Station and on to Oakworth station.

Oakworth is a Pennine village overlooking the Worth Valley lying between Haworth and the larger town of Keithly in the heart of West Yorkshire's Bronte country.

Oakworth's main claim to fame is probably

for being used in location filming of the classic 1970 film version of The Railway children.

The story is centred around a family who move to a house near the railway after the father is imprisoned as a result of being falsely accused of selling state secrets to the Russians.

The three children, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis, watch the trains on the nearby railway line and wave to the passengers. They become friendly with Perks,
(Bernard Cribbins) the station porter, and with the Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train.

He is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited.
Most of the filming is done at Oakworth station.

Howarth the home of the Brontës

2009-05-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Brontës were the world's most famous literary family and Haworth Parsonage was their home.

The main street in Hawarth, and the famous "Black Bull" public house.

This is now the Brontë Parsonage Museum. The parsonage was their home from 1820 to 1861.
Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë were the authors of some of the best-loved books in the English language. Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre,
Emily's Wuthering Heights,
Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were written in this house over a hundred and fifty years ago.
Charlotte and Emily are ranked among the world's greatest novelists.

My favourite has to be Wuthering Heights.
I can see why it was so bleak and cold on the Yorkshire moors where Cathy and Heathcliff lived. The weather was so cold today I ended up wearing my winter woollies!

Here is the church on Main Street. It is estimated that 40,000 people are buried in the churchyard, the burial registers go back to 1645.

This beautiful picturesque part of Yorkshire, brings thousands of visitors to this Keithly village every year.

Lots of quaint little shops displaying goods from yesteryear, antiques, jewellery, jam, bread, and plants.

We visited York on bank holiday Monday.

2009-04-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely day out in York on bank holiday Monday.
This is another of my favourite places; my daughter wanted to go to Scarborough for the day. Last year we went to Whitby and got stuck in the traffic for hours, both there and back. So we decided against going to the coast.
This is the entrance way to the York City wall.

I have walked round the walls when I was a child, but not recently.

This lilac painted man was attracting attention in the shambles.

There were lots of tourists visiting the Minster.
This is a different view of York Minster.

York racecourse, taken from the car. I wasn’t driving!
We went to Harrogate on the previous Friday but it rained most of the time so I didn’t take any photos.

Successful Pudsey fair day.

2009-03-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

The Leeds Doll and Teddy fair was a great success.
There was a large queue of collectors waiting to come in and find that special bear or doll.
We were kept busy all day.

I managed to sneak away to buy some mohair, only to be called back by my willing assistant to tell me that a lady wanted to have one of my rainbow bears commissioned.
Thank you to the collectors who adopted my bears.
I caught up and had a chat with a few old friends and made some new ones too.

We had a lovely day.
Kerren x

This is Farley a new design.

LEEDS DOLL & TEDDY FAIR,

2009-03-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

LEEDS DOLL & TEDDY FAIR,

2009 is the 28th Year of the 'Pudsey' Fair
Saturday 28th March 2009

Pudsey Civic Hall,

Dawson's Corner,

New Pudsey, Leeds LS28 - 5TA

150 metres from the junction of the A647 and Outer Ring Road A6110.

The fair is open from 10.30am until 4.00pm.

K M Bears will be on stand number 24,

If you can make it please come and say hello,

Kerren

Sunday afternoons walk along the Leeds and Liverpool canal

2009-03-23T06:28:00.001-07:00

Sunday afternoons walk along the Leeds and Liverpool canal

We started our walk from our house approximately half a mile away from the canal; it is a pleasant walk along country lanes and past stone cottages.

We walked to the canal at Rodley and across the bridge on to the path. Quite a lot of barges are moored up between Rodley and Calverley bridge.

We passed the railway pub. I took forty-five photographs on our walk.

I love the smell of the wood burning stoves as you walk past the barges.

Canal walk part two

2009-03-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

Public foot path to pack horse bridge

The Leeds and Liverpool canal follows the river Aire and the railway down the valley. We walked to Apperley Bridge and back

There are little white posts all the way along the canal with mile, half mile and quarter mile indicators on them.
Only 120 miles to Liverpool, so with my calculations its 127¼ miles from Leeds to Liverpool by canal.

A view of the railway bridge, almost there now!

It took us about two and a half hours to walk to Apperley bridge and back home. It was nice and sunny but very windy

Kirkstall Abbey

2009-03-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

The weather was lovely today, I took a couple of bears to Kirkstall Abbey to photograph them.

I didn’t have time to visit the Abbey house museum.

The grass was carpeted with lilac and white crocuses, they looked beautiful.

The old cafe has been changed in to a visitors centre with little displays of the original buildings, showing how it looked when it was built.

I used to live within walking distance of Kirkstall Abbey. I must make time to visit again and take more pictures.

Panda monium

2009-03-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest one of a kind creation, a little pand, named Mai Tai he is 13"(33cm) made from 1" long German shulte curly almost permed looking mohair in black and white colours.

He is filled with super polyester fibre, contains steel shot and pellets and has matching black ultra suede foot and paw pads, with black glass eyes and black and white eye surrounds.

Mai Tai has a black embroidered nose and is fully jointed and completely hand sewn. Available now,

He has not yet appeared on my web site, he is a little shy!

Spring is in the air!

2009-03-09T06:56:00.001-07:00

Well after the cold winter and the snow, spring is finally in the air!
I have been out in the garden pruning and cutting back and looking to see what spring bulbs and plants are coming up. I have snow drops, miniature daffodils, primulars, hellebores and crocuses.

My hanging baskets need a bit of attention and I have to plant up my sweet peas.
I went to a well-known DIY store last weekend and bought some rhubarb to start my veg plot off. and 45 primulars, in "peaches and cream" colours.

The compost bin is nearly full, that will be great for digging in to add some goodness to the soil.
It has been raining most of the morning so I am now doing house work, well actually no I am on my pc thinking about house work!

I did bake a few buns from a recipe from a magazine "cappuccino coffee cakes with crushed meringue and cream on top" they looked lovely in the magazine.

I had already made "Eton Mess" trifle with the other four meringues for family dinner on Friday.

taken from "Not just any magazine"

That recipe needed fresh strawberries, fresh raspberries, 4 meringue nests, vanilla ice cream and double cream (very low fat, I am a weight watchers gold member and have been for three years!)
It was lovely, but I added up the cost for a desert for seven people, it was almost eight pounds to make! I could have bought a nice expensive decorated cake for that, but it wouldn’t have tasted as nice! I didn’t take a photo.

Hugglets Winter Bearfest

2009-03-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

I have finally got round to downloading my pictures from Hugglets Winter Bearfest,
We had a great day it went really quicky.

Thank you to everyone who adopted my bears.

It was good to catch up with other bear artists and collectors who I haven’t seen since September.

I did have chance to have a wander round and visit other stands I love to look around and see all the other bears, especially from the artists who travel from overseas.
I managed to buy some mohair to make more "Rainbow" dyed bears. They will be cut out and ready to dye up very soon.

Welcome to my blog

2009-03-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

Hi welcome to my blog my name is Kerren Morris,
I have been sewing since I was very young and started making bears in 1994. I have been creating and hand crafting mohair bears since March 1997.

The sizes of my bears range from 4"- 25". I really love making hand dyed "Rainbow bears" and traditional styled bears.

K.M.Bears have been adopted to UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, France, Belgium, Japan & Switzerland.

My bears have been featured in the UK magazines.
I attend fairs in the UK, I had a great time at the Hugglets Winter bearfest!