Year: 2008

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Sock Kitty!

I love Sock Kitty! I also miss Sock Kitty because he is a birthday gift for a friend.

Sock Kitty is made from a sock stuffed with Polyfil. His eyes, nose, and hearts are polar fleece, embellished by hand with embroidery floss in a blanket stitch. I used embroidery floss to hand stitch his whiskers and his smile too. His ears are lined with cotton batik fabric.

Sock Kitty is nice and squishy. His paws even have little toes I sewed with upholstery thread.

He is a perpetually happy cat. I am going to have to make him a sibling to keep for myself, a twin perhaps.

In other news, I am tossing around the idea of collaborating with Max on some folk art cat dolls, the dressed and jointed kind with the sculpted faces. I’ve been spreading myself too thin for a long time, and I think if we put our efforts in the same direction, we both might be more productive. Collectively, we have at least three doll sizes, and some possible variations as to type of critter. We are terribly behind with a backlog of dolls waiting to go on our website right now. So, that is the first thing to resolve.

Over the past year, I spent a lot of time trying to have a separate business from our family business, in large part to accommodate someone else’s desire for me to have a separate income, but that has been like trying to spin twice as many plates in the air as I was already spinning. The end result was only that I had to neglect one business to spend time trying to get the other off the ground. All in all, I only got more behind and more scattered, and then we all ended up behind. Now I need to get us all back on track. My desire to please other people gets me in trouble sometimes, and really, as I’m sure we all know…if you need to knock yourself out to please someone else, it never turns out to be worth it. Please yourself, and surround yourself with people who appreciate you for who you are and who want you to be happy.

On a lighter note, is anyone else already hitting the Halloween candy? I am! Naughty 😉
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Sasha the Siamese Kitten, Original, One-of-a-kind Anthropomorphic Cat Art Doll Figurine by Max Bailey

Sasha is an original, one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic Siamese cat art doll figurine, hand sculpted in paperclay and hand painted by artist Max Bailey. Sasha stands 4 1/2 inches tall.

Sasha’s story:

Here is Sasha, the pretty little Siamese kitten.

Sasha loves vanilla ice cream cones.

The ice cream tickles her tongue and freezes the back of her throat all the way down to her tummy.

It makes her whiskers twitch and her little body shiver with delight.

Sasha will let you have a lick of her ice cream cone if you give it back right away. Her bright blue eyes will be fixed on it until you do.

Sasha wears a pretty blue dress covered with pale lilac blue flowers that match the blue of the ruffle at her neckline, and the sash that is tied in a big bow at the back. Her ivory petticoats can be seen below her hemline.

Sasha is an original one-of-a-kind work of art, and she is meant for display only. he has been free sculpted, and no mold was used to make her. She and her ice cream cone are hand sculpted from paperclay, and entirely hand painted using acrylic paints. Sasha’s whiskers are made from stiffened cotton thread.

Sasha is signed and dated, and sealed with matte varnish for protection and preservation. She rests firmly on a turned wooden base that is stained and sealed in golden oak.

Sasha is an itty bitty kitty. She stands only 4 1/2 inches tall.

Update: Sasha has already been adopted. Thank you!

Sasha’s kitty friend is Emmy the Tuxedo Kitten.

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My new sewing machine is here!

Big goings-on around here…I was so nervous waiting for my new sewing machine. I even got a stomach ache while waiting for the UPS man to bring it to the door! I checked the box over before signing for it. The kitty inspectors checked it out too. Okay so far.

The box had never been opened. Everything was pristine.

It started to attract more kitties…

So, I took it into the kitty-free zone of my workroom. My fleece “Hug Me! Slugs” gathered around, while my sock kitty prepared to lounge. It looks perfect.

I read both manuals before I found the nerve to plug it in and turn it on. So far so good. I tried a few stitches. I took some deep breaths. I felt thoroughly traumatized! My mom assured me that is exactly how she felt when we first got a computer back in December 2004, when neither one of us even knew how to turn one on. She felt the same way with the digital camera. Okay, that means we can learn…More deep breaths.

My little Sarah, my first Viking, is still in use, as you can see. I’ll be using her for fleece and fuzzy things, I think. The presser feet are interchangeable for the two machines, and so I will probably invest in some more specialty feet.

I will be going over every stitch function soon, to make sure there are no problems, and to learn my way around. First I have to calm down!