I’ve replenished the “Hug Me! Slug” population a little over in my Etsy shop. I’ve got some art doll bodies to sew next, but I’ll try to keep adding to my toy collection too.
I made some catnip-filled fleece toys for my kitty, who was a very brave boy at the vet’s this week. He needed to have four teeth and one root of a tooth, that had dissolved on its own, extracted! He’s done very well, and as nerve-wracking as it was for him and for us, I’m glad we brought him in. No one could have anticipated what was going on in there, since he wouldn’t let anyone look. After having these extractions, and the seven he had done before, I think he’s got about eleven teeth left. The vet assured me that he had a great white cat who, after age twelve, had no teeth at all. He lived to be twenty, and he ate dry food. So, even though this may be a genetic problem that may likely continue, the prognosis is excellent for his continuing to happily eat whatever he likes.
I waited for his grogginess to wear off before giving him one of the catnip pouches I made, and he dove right on his. I just drew a shape on some fleece, knotted and inserted a finished cotton strip (a sewn piece of folded bias tape would work just fine) into the seam line (the end of the strip goes inside the toy before you sew), and sewed around the shape, leaving a small opening for turning and stuffing. I then filled each pouch with organic catnip that I got at Target, and sewed up the opening on each one with a needle and thread.
Our vet tech gave me his teeth in this envelope for the Kitty Tooth Fairy. She even drew a cute winged tooth on it. So, in addition to a catnip pouch, he may have received something special from the Kitty Tooth Fairy’s visit. If it was food, I think he ate it before I woke up. He was very hungry the next day after his surgery, and very cheerful too. He’s been on pain medication and antibiotics, and he’s not to have any dry food for a few days, so it won’t disturb his stitches, which will dissolve on their own.
Catnip pouches also make great pillows on which to rest your chin while napping. He’s been doing a lot of that.
The rest of the crew was a bit upset I didn’t make enough catnip pouches for everyone, and I am planning to rectify that as soon as possible. In the meantime, they all got some catnip to roll around on and sniff. I just put a few teaspoons of it on the carpet. They all react differently, playing or just zoning out and falling asleep. Either way, the catnip was a big hit.
I was asked if I could make a fleece Super Slug, and I wasn’t entirely sure I could. Mixing stretchy fabrics with non-stretchy fabrics seemed like asking for trouble. I usually make my “Hug Me! Slugs” out of either fleece or cotton, but I’d never tried both together. I used a mini iron to fuse the “super” emblem onto his chest, and then machine appliquéd it in place. I did the same for his eyes. I wish I had an even smaller mini iron, for the smaller slugs. I can’t touch the iron to the fleece, because it could melt, which makes the process a bit tricky.
I hand-basted his cape in place before sewing it, but really had no problems overall. This opens up some new possibilities in my toy-making. More hybrid slugs are soon to be born.
First, I have to finish these. I’ll be hand sewing their eyes and hearts and smiles.
Speaking of smiles, my fur-kid here needs to have his worked on this week. He wasn’t happy at all about people trying to look at his teeth, but he might need a couple of them taken out. I’m nervous about this, but hopefully all will go great and he’ll feel much better afterward.
I’m glad they are nice memories! This is the first doll Max and I made together, beyond just trading tips and art materials. Her name is Suzie. Our next collaborative art dolls were cats and a bunny. I’ve been working on re-editing more past doll photos and web pages and blog posts for our Ruffing’s site and Suzie was one of the dolls on my list today. I’m making headway, and things are looking good for our new-and-improved blog. I’m going to add as much as I can to it in the next two months, and then I plan to relaunch it on our home page.
Our little garden gave us a yellow squash, a tomato, and some basil. I added some onion, and stir-fried them all together with some extra virgin olive oil. Once again, I waited too long to pick the squash, and the skin was a bit tough. I have to get the hang of harvesting. They still tasted good, with some salt and pepper, over fettuccine.
I’ve now seen New Moon, and I’m ready for Eclipse. I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll even get to see that part of the series on the big screen.
Maybe it wasn’t so far away, or even so very long ago, but I thought you might like to see my first art doll. This is “Serenity Starr”. I made her back in November of 2005. I am giving her a page on our Ruffing’s blog, which had its beginnings before this blog. I am, of course, still hard at work on that blog, readying it for a relaunch.
Serenity was an original, one-of-a-kind, hand-painted angel, with hand-quilted wings, and a handmade wooden stand that slipped in between her body and her wings. My friend, Miko, wrote a cute poem for her, which I printed on her hang tag, and after that I tried my best to write poems for each of the five angels in the set! That was a challenge! I started getting a little redundant with my poetry ideas. Those are all on the new-and-improved blog too.
By the way, this is what can happen to your hair when you are working from home on your web site. I caught a glimpse of this in the reflection on our monitor, and realized I probably never even combed my hair today. On the other hand, this is a very easy to maintain style. Just fall asleep without completely drying your hair, and voila…no effort needed in the morning.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! I hope you enjoy your day. I have a great dad myself, and I’m thankful for that. He’s been extra helpful this past week. I’ve had a flat tire and a dead car battery, one after the other, and he took care of both for me. Yay, Dad!
Here are Horatio and Hannah, Max’s only flying pig, father-and-daughter, original, one-of-a-kind folk art dolls…so far. They were, I think, Max Bailey‘s first sculpted dolls, and two of my all-time favorites. I twisted Max’s arm into trying doll making. I’d been trying it myself, and I had a feeling Max would be good at it and might even like it. I was met with some eye-rolling at first, but that never happened again. I think we were all surprised by just how good Max was at this. It was a perfect fit. Max has been an art-doll-making enthusiast ever since. Horatio and Hannah have been adopted, and I miss them. I think we might just have to collaborate on some pigs, and maybe a cow too. I think that would be fun.
I’ve been redoing a lot of the old web pages and re-editing doll photos, including Horatio’s and Hannah’s, on our Ruffing’s site. I’ve been redoing our blog as I go, getting it ready for a relaunch. I’ve still got the working copy on Blogspot. I think I will put almost the entire site in blog format, and add more original art. I want it to be a real showcase of our dolls and paintings. I’d like to add more art quilts too. I know I keep saying this, but I am pretty excited about it. 
And, I’ll be working on it all summer.
My mom and I were out yesterday, Father’s Day shopping, and we came across a daylily show, at the mall. They were giving out ribbons for all the pretty varieties. When we came back, I decided to take some photos of our own daylily show, which has been beautiful this year.
This particular bunch of daylilies are ones I brought with me from New York, when we moved. I bought them as a set, through the mail, from Jackson and Perkins. I can remember admiring them in their catalog and just having to have them. Luckily, daylilies thrive here in North Carolina.
This summer, I’m also going to try to stock up a little on toys for the next holiday season. Last year’s was crazy. I felt like I wasn’t able to leave the house for weeks. It was wonderful that so many people wanted custom-made handmade toys, and it was great fun to hear everyone’s stories. But, boy, was I a sewing fiend. I’d like to have more of a variety of ready-made handmade toys available this time around, so people can pick them out and name them themselves. I think that would make everything easier for everybody.
Of course, I also want to get going on more original, art doll collaborations with Max, and those art quilts I keep talking about…
I guess I’m going to be busy! Summer here is a good time to be busy with indoor projects. Today is supposed to be between 97 and 100 degrees outside! I think we will end up going for walks inside of stores for a while. Evenings are often hot too.
I’m catching up on the Twilight movies right now too, via Netflix. I had no idea how much I would enjoy the first movie, but I really did. We’ve got New Moon right now, and I’m working my way toward Eclipse. More fun ideas for things to do while avoiding the great outdoors. Oh, but I do miss the great outdoors! I hope we have some cool hours coming our way.
Hug Me, Sock Kitten!
I took him outside to photograph him, and of course, he ran right up a tree.
My own, much larger kitten helped me with another project, removing the overly-scratched carpet from the legs of our cat gym. The plan is to cover the legs with new carpeting and sisal rope. The legs were looking very disreputable. This is only a human opinion.