BONNIE
AT THE CONVENTION

(TY-ing one on in Maryland)

OR.....
EGGS OVER EASY A LA BALTIMORE

The Seminar

SLUGGY told us later how she really enjoyed the Seminar. RUTH FRASER was a charming speaker-so unaffected and genuine! She spoke of her first meeting with and subsequent relationship with TY WARNER with ease and grace.

Here she talks about the bear she is holding which her daughter NOLA HART(another well known early Ty Attic Designer)designed and called "Long Bear". This bear went on to become who we know as NOLA.

And these two early incarnations of the Ty Attic Collectible NOLA were passed around for everyone to see up close.

Bigfoot 1st gen Nolas with pink & black noses.

Here are two early versions/prototypes of FRASER, her name sake critter. On the right is the curly-furred one she approved and on the left is how FRASER looked when produced.
Ruth spoke of the changes she saw HENRY go through also. She designed him to be a light brown but saw him done up as a white bear....

before he was finally produced as a Dark Brown critter much too her surprise!

Here RUTH FRASER shows off the original design for SQUEAKY the mouse. If you look closely you can see this mouse is a much different critter from what was finally produced!



And here is the original prototype for MORGAN the monkey being shown off by Jim Best's daughter. Ms. FRASER recounted how she first designed and sewed this little guy for her daughter NOLA'S Birthday from some scrapes of fabric out of the wasstebasket. RUTH went on to tell Sluggy and the audience that this prototype did not meet her approval for production because the nylon thread used to define his fingers and toes was too sharp at the ends and he could inadverently scratch anyone who attempted to hold/hug him. And MORGAN also acquired a shaved face before his final form.
Unfortunately Mama SLUGGY said she wasn't able to stay to have a RUTH FRASER designed TY Attic signed by her like the others because SONNY was fast asleep upstairs and he had the key to the van where all her critters were locked up! But she said she had a great time listening and mostly meeting a few fellow online Friends there like JIM BEST, his Wife NANCY and his daughter, and the ever Bubbly and Energetic TRISKY-the Head of the Volunteers. After a big hug from TRISKY, SLUGGY was given her Volunteeers Ribbon and her assignment for the weekend.


Eventually SLUGGY was able to wake up SONNY, hook up with their friend KAREN and SLUGGY'S new best friend ROBERTA who came with KAREN and was made an honorary Attic and Beanieaholic for the weekend. We all spent a couple hours in the Vendor's Show Room preparing for the Show the next day and then got acquainted more intimately in the Marriott's Bar... Then it was back to the Slug Suite for more talk, a few attempts to contact the A and B list online and a failed attempt to update the A and B Raffle Winners Page(thank you ever so much PRODIGY!!).
As SONNY and ROBERTA fell asleep I saw KAREN & SLUGGY taking some very strange pictures.....they said something about "blackmail" and giggled. They even posed me in a most unusual position! CODY slept through the whole thing-some bodyguard he turned out to be!! Karen finally drug ROBERTA back to their room at around 3 A.M. We all needed at least a couple hours of sleep before the next Big Day began.

Bonnie Over Baltimore PartIII
Back to Part I
Back to Bonnie Around the World

Slugmama's Gastro-Pad

LINKS TO OTHER CONVENTION REPORTS

Karen's Report
Bonnie Does Baltimore