Year: 2008

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Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max Bailey

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyI am pleased to introduce the very royal Princess Anna.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyWhile palace life is really quite nice in many ways, Princess Anna has found that it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. She eats the finest kitty food and wears the finest kitty dresses, yet sometimes she longs to sample just a tiny bit of the world outside.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyOn this particular morning, Princess Anna looks out from her window at the white shapes that dot the distant hillside.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max Bailey“They can’t be snow,” she thinks aloud, “for winter has come and gone, and the sun has warmed the earth.”

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyWhile the palace guards are looking the other way, Princess Anna heads for the hills. She brushes aside the tall grasses that grow in the meadow, and forges ahead.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyShe feels the soft breezes blowing in her hair, and the sun’s rays warming her lovely and determined little face.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyShe is gone for a long time.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyThe palace guards are the first to see her return, triumphantly holding a bouquet of white daisies. They smile at each other and pretend not to see her sneaking back through the side entrance of the palace.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max Bailey“The Princess is happy,” the guards pronounce, and nothing further is said about the matter.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyLovely Princess Anna is as white as the daisies she carries. Her eyes are a soft blue, and her nose is a delicate shade of pink. Anna’s flowered red dress has a gold band around the neckline and sleeves, and is adorned with a deep blue ruffle and matching sash that ties neatly in a bow at the back. Her pale gold petticoats can be seen below her hemline.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyI sculpted Princess Anna and her daisy bouquet from paperclay, and used stiffened cotton thread for her royal kitty whiskers. She is an original one-of-a-kind work of art, meant for display only. No molds are ever used in my work.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyThe Princess is completely hand painted with acrylic paints, then 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, and she stands 9 and 1/2 inches tall.

Princess Anna, Original One-of-a-kind White Cat Folk Art Doll Figurine by Max BaileyUpdate: Princess Anna has already been adopted. Thank you!

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Painting my kitten doll

I’m pokey, but I am making progress. Little Ziggy (I’ve decided he’s a boy now) has been coming right along. He’s got a pastel yellow onesie with a periwinkle blue collar and buttons down the front. I’m having quite a time keeping his whiskers white. I’ve had to repaint them a couple of times and I’m sure I will again. Painting thread is not as easy as I might have thought. I think what takes the most time, aside from painting his multitude of kitten hairs, is deciding how I want him to look. He is a stylized version of a kitten after all, and there are plenty of choices to make about how I want to do that. All in all, he’s a cute fellow.

Just an aside…Those are my African violets in the background. They are getting what looks like white mildew on them. I was so glad to be able to get them to survive, and I am not happy about this new turn of events. Does anyone have any experience with this? I read keeping a fan going helps, but it is cold for that! I’ve been trying to get rid of the infected parts, but I seem to be losing the battle 🙁

Another aside…We’re on “vacation” from our eBay store this week, in sympathy for the current eBay boycott. We’ll be posting our new dolls over on our main website. I’m working on expanding our art doll pages over there so people can visit, take a look at available and already adopted dolls, and read their stories. I don’t know if a boycott will have any effect, as I imagine eBay will continue to cost sellers more and more, but I do think the changes to the feedback system are insulting. In the coming months, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback, but buyers will continue to be able to. Personally, we have never left any or received any negative feedback, but whether buyer, seller, or both, we should all be subject to the same policies. To do otherwise is to invite abuse. If eBay wants to reform its feedback system, I believe it would be more fair to do away with the positive, negative, and neutral signs, and just have plain, honest feedback. I believe if eBay users don’t feel threatened by potential punishment for saying what they think, that they will leave more accurate accounts of their transactions. I think that would be much more valid and much more fair to everyone.

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Valentine Bird

I made this little Valentine Bird using the side, underbelly, and wing templates from this Martha Stewart bird pattern. I added a quilted tail and heart using my own pattern which you may use if you like. Seam allowances are not included…the lines are your sewing lines. I used the lines on Martha’s pattern as my sewing lines as well.

I constructed mine differently from Martha’s site’s directions. I didn’t enlarge any of the pieces. I just printed them on heavy paper, cut them out, and traced around them with a mechanical pencil onto the back/wrong side of my fabrics. I cut the shapes out of the fabric, leaving a little less than a 1/4 inch seam allowance around the outside of my pencil lines.

I took a small piece of yellow fabric for my beak, flipped it right sides together with my bird’s head and sewed along the line where the beak meets the head. Then I just flipped it back the right way, like paper piecing in quilting. Next I sewed the seamline along the back of the bird from the point where the underside of the beak meets the body to the tip of the back end, just sewing along the sewing lines, not past them. I turned it right side out, and then pressed under the seam allowance where the body meets the tail.


The tail, the heart, and the wings where all sewn with cotton quilt batting underneath. I left an opening for turning them right side out, trimmed the batting out of the seam allowances, turned the shapes right side out, and then slip stitched the openings closed. I added a little extra stuffing in the heart first. I hand quilted the wings and tail in lines about a 1/4 inch apart.

I took the quilted tail and slip stitched it to the bird’s body where I turned under the seam allowance. I let the back overlap the tail by about an inch.

I flipped the body right sides together again, loosely (I didn’t turn the beak back inside out). I hand stiched the underbelly to the sides of the bird, right sides together, leaving the area near the tail open by about an inch on either side. From this opening, I turned the bird right side out. I added a small handmade sack of Poly-pellets for weight, and stuffed him with Poly-fil. Then I slip stitched the opening closed, folding the tail in half to get the seam to come together.

The wings were attached with quilting thread run through the openings of heart-shaped buttons on either side, and the eyes are black buttons attached with white thread, also sewn right through, button to button. I hand embroidered my intitials on one side of the heart, with a “+” below them, and my Valentine’s intials on the back, also with a “+” below, using a simple back stitch and yellow embroidery floss. Lastly, I used some pearl cotton to make a loop through my bird’s beak to hold the heart, knotted it, and slipped the end inside the heart by pulling it through with my needle.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Update: I made another variation of a Love Bird later. Please see this post:
http://elizabethruffing.com/2009/09/say-it-with-bird.html

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Monster Chiller Horror Mouse Toy

Black-and-white cat napping with a toy mouse

Toy mouseWe went food shopping today, and I stuck this little toy mouse for cats in the cart, thinking it was cute. This cat toy is really called “The Cat Fancier’s Association Active Cat Solo Play Cat Toy”. I guess it looks kind of real. Kind of. Sort of.

Toy mouseThat’s what I thought anyway, until I heard the cashier shrieking uncontrollably. Mind you, at the time, the stuffed toy mouse was sewn to a card, which was printed in part with the words “cat toy” on it. “Oh, I can’t touch it! I CAN’T touch it! It’s the tail! IT’S THE TAIL! AHHH!!”

She got a paper towel and tried to pick up the toy mouse. She was still shrieking.

“AHHH!! I CAN’T!!! Oh, I can’t touch it!”

The man behind us picked up the toy mouse. I tried to get around the cashier, from the other side, to scan the card myself, but she was holding onto my arm. We were all laughing at this point, even the poor cashier, but she just couldn’t get herself together. She was shaking. I finally grabbed the mouse and scanned the card. She held out a bag for me to drop it into, while trying not to look. I said, “It’s all gone now,” and apologized for traumatizing her. I hope she has recovered by now!

Black-and-white tuxedo cat with a toy mouseBack at home the Monster Chiller Horror Mouse Toy wasn’t nearly as scaaary.

If you are in the mood to make some scare-free completely un-mouse-like catnip toys, check out my catnip toy tutorial for catnip squares, cigars, and kickers with free patterns.