Stuffed

"Huggy Bunny" is stitched and stuffed. I did some hand quilting on his ears and at his arm and leg joints.

His little tail, and the edges of his clothes, and his pink parts are machine stitched with a zig zag over the raw edge appliqué.

I took a shot at doing a twisted chain hand embroidery stitch on the booties. I don't think mine came out the way it was supposed to, but I liked it anyway. So, I kept going with it. I'll have to try it the right way later. My book arrived today, and it is very nice, with lots of pretty, inspirational pictures. I am still on the lookout for The Embroidery Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden, which I think has even more photos of the stitches. I need all the visual aids I can get.

Mister Bunny seems like an agreeable sort, cheerful, ready for anything. I think I will try raising the arms just a bit when I make his friend/sister/brother, and I think I'll make a simpler outfit next time. This one is adorable, but it took such a long time to make. I'll have to get him posted on Etsy so I can make the Etsy for Animals January challenge deadline. I was lucky to get him done and photographed before it starts raining again.

Later...Ah ha! I was looking through Judith Baker Montano's Elegant Stitches and I discovered that my mutated twisted chain stitch is really a coral stitch. I learned something after all!

Embroidery Beginnings

I used a zig zag stitch to finish some of the raw edges on my "Huggy Bunny" doll, and then I put my newly acquired hoop to use and tried a couple of hand embroidery stitches. I chose a chain stitch for the mouth, and a satin stitch for the eyes, because they seemed simple and appropriate for the task of stitching the face. I only sewed the whole thing to my pants once. So, so far so good. I'm going to try something decorative as soon as my new-to-me book, Elegant Stitches: An Illustrated Stitch Guide and Source Book of Inspiration by Judith Baker Montano, arrives. I bought a copy on eBay last week.

I'll try to get some close-up photos of how to do a chain stitch and a satin stitch, to post on this site, when it brightens up around here. It is finally raining, really raining. NC has had a very bad drought this year. So this is good news, just not good for photographing.

"Did you photograph them yet?"

Yes. Yes, I did. LOL. I know it is kind of strange to make your family wait to eat their cookies while you photograph them, isn't it? Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn't take nearly as long as it seems to take.

These are sand tarts, from my mom's relatively old edition of Joy of Cooking. The latest copyright in it is 1964. I have the newer All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking version, but I wanted to make the same cookies we had when I was little. It could have been a little easier...Those old recipes have you sifting and resifting and sifting this with that. I guess that's why I couldn't find the recipe in my new version. I also couldn't find our "Little Drummer Boy" or snowman cookie cutters. So, the Christmas bunny and the Christmas elephant had to stand in for them. Never heard of them? Well, never mind ;)

I iced them with confectioner's sugar mixed with milk and a couple drops of vanilla, then sprinkled them with colored sugar. Now, they are ready to be eaten :)

Merry Christmas!

"Santa's Visit" by Elizabeth Ruffing

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! Did anyone see Santa? Isn't "Meet Me in St. Louis" on at any time today?? I should have rented it!

I've got some cookie dough to go roll out...enjoy your day!

"Huggy Bunny" Doll and Quilt in Progress

I've got my new doll patterns ready for a test run. This is my "Huggy Bunny" ready for some machine appliquéing. I am also going to try my hand at hand embroidery, a new craft for me, partly in honor of the Etsy for Animals January challenge, "New Year, New Craft" (although I'm not sure I can meet the January 1st deadline), and partly to tie in with a new idea I have for some embroidery designs. I was thinking a sort of "stitch-along" might be fun. I'm working on an original design to post on my website so that anyone who wants to join in, can learn along with me.

My "Huggy Bunny" is part of a series of designs I've been working on since this past summer. This is the quilt variation. I had taken step-by-step photos of the whole machine appliqué process, and even the basic assembly of the quilt top, meaning to put together a tutorial, but, unfortunately, I got distracted by other things. This year I hope to get more organized and fill out this site a bit more. I've got plenty of ideas for new projects that I think will be lots of fun.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Organizing the Accumulation

With all the sales going on, my mom and I have been out stocking up on supplies. I've been prewashing, ironing, and stashing assortments of fabric, which I tried to get into some sort of order by color.

I've put my quilting thread, ribbon, and Rick Rack away in Ziploc bags, and I'm rather proud of my little box (I got mine at Michaels) of embroidery floss. I wound all the colors around white card-bobbins, and did a slightly strange job of arranging them by color too. If I can get my mind this organized, I think I will be in good shape.

Etsy for Animals: Artists Helping Animals

Mom and I joined Etsy for Animals just recently. This is a group of artists and craftspeople who have shops on Etsy, and who love and want to help animals. Many of them donate a percentage of their Etsy shop sales to animal charities each month. They also have an Etsy for Animals Shop. Items from this shop are donated by members, and 100% of the proceeds go to animal charities. You might want to check out their blog too.

We will be donating 10% of our Etsy shop sales (less shipping) to animal charities each month. My mom, along with Max Bailey, and later Abby Laurence, can be found at Art from the Studio of A E Ruffing on Etsy, and I can be found at The Art of Elizabeth Ruffing on Etsy.

Incidentally, I've also added the EFA links on the right sidebar of our blogs, along with a new categories section on the Ruffing's blog. Now it is a bit easier to find things...I hope.

Plodding along/hopping along?

My repair job is done, my next doll face it painted, and I have a few "Rabbit Dances" cards to finish up. I still have more bunny and snow scene cards in my shop. Thanks for all the compliments on them :)

I am also refining a new doll pattern done in machine appliqué style like "Lovely Lucy". There are three variations so far and I think they are going to be really cute. I can't wait to get the first ones together. I hope they come off without needing too many, no, any adjustments to their patterns. I'll give you one hint: they are of the animal variety. The possibilities are multiplying in my mind right now...