My name is Janet Wilson and I live in Leeds, Yorkshire. I work full time in IT, so only have a little time for my hobbies. I have been collecting bears for about 4 years seriously (before that I only had a couple), and have been making them for about 3 years, though it is only a hobby for me, I don't sell them. My first bear was a Steiff bought by my husband. I then found a teddy bear magazine and was AMAZED at the different bears shown. I went to a bear fair and bought a bear from a local artist, and was hooked! As yet I only use other people's patterns (mainly from our UK magazines or from books). My bears are all in mohair or alpaca. I collect mostly UK artist bears, though I also like some of the Deans artist designed bears as I could not otherwise afford bears by those artists. I am also a collector of Boyds bearstones and other beary items. My other hobby is rubber stamping, which has rather taken over from the bear making this year. Trouble is it takes up even more space than bear making supplies! If you would like to see some of my artist bears and some of the bears I have made please visit my website at:

www.1freespace.com/janetwilson/

e-mail: jswilson@fsmail.net