Doll Bicycles

I found these great bicycles on Easter clearance. They had bunnies attached, but I carefully removed them, along with the candy that came in the baskets.

I used some paint and epoxy remover to get the glue off the seats, eventually managed to pick it off. I then patched, sanded, and painted the seats over, closely matching the the bike frames.

I think they are so charming, and they fit my kitten just right.

Kitty Couture

I designed and made this dress for my latest kitten doll. I went way overboard altering the outer and inner bodice pieces to give a faux piping effect around the neck and armholes. In reality, the thin line of turquoise fabric that shows is about 1/16 of an inch wide! A matching band of turquoise is set in along the bottom hem too, with a row of light blue Rick Rack anchoring it in place.

I hand stitched a blue ribbon at the waistline and tacked on a matching bow. I find the dress captivating all by itself and its small size makes it even cuter.

Mr Buskit, the Birthday Slug

This is S.B.'s birthday slug. He's based on the pattern for my Valentine bird, with a few alterations. He's got a little painted wooden birthday present in his "mouth", and pipe cleaner antennae with painted wooden beads at their ends. His birthday hat is topped with a tiny pom pom.

S.B. had been suggesting for some time that I make a "Huggy Slug" to go with my other huggy creatures.

His name, Mr Buskit, was revealed during the course of a confused driving conversation:

Elizabeth: "What are we waiting for?"

S.B.: "We're waiting until this bus gets by."

Elizabeth: "Who's Mr Buskit?"

S.B.: "What?"

Elizabeth: "We're waiting until Mr Buskit's by?"

S.B.: "We're waiting until this bus gets by us."

Elizabeth: "Oh."

S.B.: "Who's Mr Buskit?"

Elizabeth: "I don't know. I thought maybe he was a neighborhood pet."

S.B.: "A neighborhood pet?... Maybe that's the slug's name."

Happy birthday, S.B...from me and Mr Buskit :)

Etsy Daffodil Treasury

My "Laurence with Primroses and Daffodils" (above) was included in an Etsy Treasury list called "Willy Nilly, Daffy O'Dilly" by by Susan at anaddedtouch.etsy.com. Thanks, Susan!

That's him in the upper right. The original painting was done in acrylic, and a print is available in my Etsy shop, and on our website.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

This pineapple upside-down cake recipe came from the "All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking". The pineapple, maraschino cherry, brown sugar and butter top came out all nice and chewy and sticky :)

Butterfly doll quilt

I felt my new kitten needed an accessory. My mom had the idea to make her her own baby quilt that matched her dress. First I picked out the dress materials I wanted to use, and then I rummaged through my stash for complimentary calico squares.

I came up with a 10 inch square quilt design and a little butterfly drawing to hand embroider in the center. I used a satin stitch to fill in the butterfly. I hand quilted the doll quilt too, with cotton batting sandwiched between the quilt top and a square of one of the dress materials.

I used my second dress fabric for the binding, which I slip stitched by hand to the back of the quilt. It all got a bit labor-intensive, but I like to quilt. So, I got carried away. It's the cutest thing in person. It's so tiny. I'm still fussing over it, but I should leave it be to make her dress.

Furry and having fun

I added some sculpted fur to my second kitten doll. She looks a little less like a space alien today.

I also edited a bunch of Ziggy photos, probably too many, and put them up on Flickr. I made up Ziggy's web page on our Ruffing's site too.

I really like the photos where he is riding his car. I hadn't thought about putting him on the car and was just fooling around in between setting up poses for him.

He came to life when I started having him interact with the car.

Some of the photos are pretty amusing.

Ziggy will be available for adoption over on his webpage. Please visit our doll gallery and our the Ruffing's blog to see our latest available art dolls.

My second kitten doll in progress

It is very dark and rainy today, but I started in on my second kitten-sculpting project. I will add more sculpted fur another day. It's hard to see details today.

I got better photos of Ziggy using a tan backdrop, and the spot metering and white balance bracketing settings on my camera. You can see his whites now.

Other than that, I am doing some boring-to-me things like editing web pages. I'm trying to get a more comprehensive online doll gallery together for our main Ruffing's site. Max, in particular, has a lot of cute stories to go with all the art doll photos we have accumulated. There are so many cat doll photos on our Flickr doll pages at this point, that we thought it would be more entertaining if they were put back in their original contexts, with the stories that go along with them. I still have to edit Ziggy's photos for his page...