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Happy Father’s Day!

Horatio and Hannah, Original One-of-a-kind Flying Pig Folk Art Dolls by Max BaileyHappy 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.

Horatio and Hannah, Original One-of-a-kind Flying Pig Folk Art Dolls by Max BaileyI’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. Update: The Ruffing’s blog is now on the homepage of the Ruffing’s site. 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.

Yellow DayliliesMy 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.

Red DaylilyThis 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.

Yellow DayliliesThis 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.

Pale Orange DayliliesOf course, I also want to get going on more original, art doll collaborations with Max, and those art quilts I keep talking about…

Red DaylilyI 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.

Yellow DayliliesI’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.

Yellow Daylily

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So much to do, so little time to blog…

Last weekend, my cousin, Steve, his wife, Erin, and their kids, Benjamin and Sophia, were in town for Erin’s brother’s wedding. I got to visit with them, which was great fun.

Their new cousin, Eliana, Ben, and Sophia are so amazingly energetic. You can’t help but enjoy yourself around them.

I even got ambushed…

I was too large to be carried however.

Sophia tied my legs together when I said I was going to be on my way. After securing me, she decided to let me go.

I also made it to the web design group I hadn’t been to for about two years. The nice WordPress theme developer, who was giving the presentation, gave me lots of tips for our web site migration. I was very happy because he was able to answer some questions I’d been trying to find the answers to for two weeks.

Right now, I think I am mostly trying to get up my nerve to make the change. I know that the navigation will not work just right until I’ve got the whole site moved over, and I’m nervous about that. Plus, I keep debating over whether or not I want to put the blogs on the home pages of our sites, or on their own sub-page. At some point, I will just jump in.

In the meantime, the Ruffing’s blog is not active, although it is still up. So, here is our latest offering, “Matilda the Tuxedo Kitten”, an original, one-of-a-kind art doll figurine by Max Bailey. You can read more about Matilda by clicking here to go to her web page.

We are also debating over computers right now. We need a new one, and we’re trying to decide which Mac to get and when. We also need to learn to use a Mac, which adds a little extra excitement. We need a desktop to edit photos, but I’d also like a laptop, to make myself more mobile. I know you can hook the laptop to a monitor, but I’d like the option to take trips or work elsewhere for some variety. The desktop we are looking at is kind of intimidating. It seems like a TV set to me. So, another plunge to take.

Oh, and “Beatrice and Beulah” the lop rabbit folk art dolls by Max Bailey and myself, are up for adoption on eBay this week. The auction ends tomorrow night. You can check out Beatrice and Beulah’s eBay page by clicking here. Once again, I’m putting announcements on our Ruffing’s Facebook page. Please join us there.

I’m also finishing up a small pile of Hug Me! Slugs and a Hug Me! Toad or three. I’ll be putting them up in my Etsy shop as soon as I can.

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Two tutus…ta da

These are Opal (above) and Celeste (below), our two new Pixie Kitten original art dolls. They are a collaborative project, made by myself and Max Bailey. We’ve taken some very pretty photos of Opal with a bouquet of lavender chrysanthemums. Once I’ve edited the photos, we’ll put together a web page for Opal.

We’ll make a run to pick up some cut flowers for Celeste as well. There were flurries here this morning, but we’re making an effort to at least create the illusion of spring.

I’ll keep you updated on our blog migrations. I’ve been looking into re-uploading them at their same addresses. I’m going to have to devote a lot of time over the next two months to our web sites, but I’ll try to keep posting our new dolls. I’m not too pleased right now with Blogger and their blog migration plans, but I’m trying to look at this as an opportunity to switch things around in a way that may, ultimately, be easier to manage. I prefer having our web content in our own FTP folder, as opposed to hosting it on Blogger, and so I’m working on switching to WordPress as a blogging platform. I feel a bit like I’m cramming for exams, given the short notice of Blogger/Google shutting down their FTP uploading option.

I’ll feel better about it all once I get a handle on what I’m doing. I’ll keep you posted. As I keep saying, if anything disappears temporarily, please check either of our home pages, ruffings.com our Ruffing’s Facebook page, for updates.

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Two tutus to do

This is just a sneak peek at one of the Pixie Kittens that Max Bailey and I made. Two of them have been waiting for tutus for a long time. I had been waiting for my other sewing machine to be repaired, but now I’m forging ahead without it.

This tutu is for fitting only, but the final one will be in the same color.

I’ve been working on the Ruffing’s site, trying to make some necessary changes so I can switch our hosting accounts over to Linux. I’m looking into using WordPress instead of Blogger, but it has some features that appear to work better, or that are at least easier to implement, on Linux. Again, if you’re on Facebook, please join the Ruffing’s fan page. I will use that as a place to post an announcement, if I run into any problems over the next two and a half months, while I attempt to get everything moved. I’ll also post any announcements on our home pages of each of our sites, but just in case those pages are down, I’ll use the Facebook page as a backup plan.

My neck and shoulders are so sore and prickly from working at the computer! Ah well. Hopefully we’ll be getting a new computer soon too, as this one is groaning away. Lots to do…