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Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth Ruffing

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingThis is Heidi, a very determined tabby cat who lives in the Swiss Alps with her good friend Helga. Helga is Heidi’s white goose, and her very best friend.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingIt is spring in the mountains, and the flowers are beginning to pop out of the earth. It’s a good time for singing, or in this case, for yodeling. Heidi’s dream is to win the championship trophy at the annual yodeling contest. Helga has agreed to be her partner and lovely assistant.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingEvery morning the two venture high into the mountains to practice. They love to yodel on the very top of the mountain. Their seemingly melodious sounds echo back at them a hundred times or more.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth Ruffing“We are getting very good at this,” Heidi proclaims. Helga nods happily.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingDown in the valley, the townspeople come out of their houses into the square.

“What is that terrible howling-honking noise?” they wonder. They put their hands over their ears, and go back inside, slamming the windows shut.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHeidi is an original one-of-a-kind work of art, created from our own design and pattern. She is made from 100% cotton fabric which has been sewn, stuffed, and completely hand painted with acrylic paints. Her face is sculpted from paperclay smoothed into her fabric head. Her whiskers are made from stiffened cotton thread. She is 13 inches tall.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHelga the goose is made of wood. She has blue eyes and lots of painted white feathers. Her collar is black with gold bands, and is covered in a delicate pattern of little flowers and leaves. Her wheels are gold. Helga is 5 inches tall and 6 inches long.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHeidi is painted in a multitude of tabby colors…silver gray, buff, ivory, gold, and black. Her paws are needle-sculpted, and her arms are button-jointed with antique-looking buttons of filigreed silver on black, so she can easily pose.

Heidi’s curled tail enables her to sit prettily all by herself on a shelf or on a table, or in a cabinet. She will also obligingly sit on a chair, or stand with a doll stand. (Chair and doll stand are not included.) Heidi and Helga are meant for display only.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHeidi’s painted underblouse is ivory, with a scalloped neckline and sleeves. Her bloomers are painted in matching ivory. She wears white tights and black high-button shoes that look just right on her little kitty feet.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHeidi’s pretty Swiss dress features an off-white bodice and puffy sleeves edged in lace, with a tiny red rose at the center of the collar. Delicate patterns of red embroidery run down the front of her bodice and set off the wide hem of her apron. Her black vest has gold embroidery to match its gold lining, and her dress has a full red plaid skirt.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHeidi is signed and dated, and sealed with matte varnish for protection and preservation. They come with a hang tag, a certificate of authenticity, and a copy of her story.

Heidi and Helga, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Tabby Cat Doll and Hand-painted Goose by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingUpdate: Heidi and Helga have been adopted. Thank you!

Beatrice and Beulah, Heidi and Helga, Chelsea the Maine Coon Cat, Original One-of-a-kind Folk Art Dolls by Max Bailey and Elizabeth RuffingHeidi and Helga’s friends are Beatrice and Beulah (left) and Chelsea the Maine Coon Cat (right).

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Heidi and Helga, original tabby cat folk art doll and painted goose, are now on our Ruffing’s site

Heidi and Helga’s web page can be seen by clicking here. I finally got their photos taken and edited and uploaded. Whew. In the spirit of “avian week” last week, I thought it would be fitting to get them up online.

I’ve got two more original, one-of-a-kind folk art cat dolls to get up online, and one waiting for some overalls.

We’re working on writing articles to submit to magazines, something we’ve been talking about doing for a long time, but not getting around to doing. Now is as good a time as any. My mom has now sprained her ankle, and is being a good sport by taking notes and jotting down ideas while she keeps her foot elevated. She is tired of being called “Poor Mom” and so I will refrain from saying that.

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Catch and release

Last night, I had asked a friend, “How do you tell a duck to show up between 7:30am and 5:30pm so we can get him to the vet while the vet is in?” I was dreaming about catching the duck this morning when I woke up. I got out of bed, thinking I’d better check, just in case the ducks really were out there. They were! Right at opening time for the vet’s office!

I got a hold of my dad, who showed up still half asleep, and the two of us followed the ducks around the backyard for about half an hour, with a sheet, trying to throw it over the injured duck, which is what a wildlife rehabber had recommended. The only problem was that we had to avoid the duckling, and all three ducks and the duckling were sticking together, as closely as they could, for protection. The mama duck, the one who likes to talk to me, was the most loyal of all. She would not leave the injured duck’s side. Eventually, my dad got the injured duck to veer to the side, and I dropped to my knees and grabbed the duck, giving up on the sheet. If he hadn’t sat down to rest for a second, I wouldn’t have had a chance.

I wrapped his body in the sheet, with his head and neck sticking out, and I sat with him on the back step, while I called our vet. The mama duck was quacking away at me the whole time. She didn’t like the arrangement at all. I told her it was okay, and I wasn’t going to hurt him. She quacked some more, and then decided to leave him with me. She quacked all the way back to the pond.

I hadn’t been able to get the avian vet, but I had talked to our vet yesterday, and he volunteered to try to remove the fish hook from the duck’s leg. Because the duck is technically a domestic duck, even though he lives in the wild, he isn’t eligible to be treated by the wildlife rehabiliation groups. So, he had to be treated as a neighborhood pet, or that’s what the avian vet had called him.

He was a big hit at our vet’s office. Everyone loved him. They were not used to seeing ducks come in. He got lots of enthusiastic attention from the entire staff, and he seemed to enjoy it. I was told he was affectionately rubbing his head and neck against one of the techs who used to work at a zoo. Our vet gave him an injection to numb the area, and got the hook out. Yay!! Then he called the same avian vet and got some advice on an injectible antibiotic. I could hear him talking on the phone, but when he came in, he tried to deadpan that he was going to give me some medication to give the duck twice a day! Ha!

The staff said they wished they could keep the duck there as a mascot because he was so cute and nice. He had to go back to his pond though. Once we got back, I carried him down the hill, in the Pet Taxi, and when he saw the opening in the brush to the pond, he let out a big quack. The mama duck heard him and started quacking back. I released him, and watched him waddle as fast as he could go into the water. Then I saw the other ducks come running to him, and then the duckling too. He was busy taking a bath.

So, there they are, in the corner of this photo, bathing and napping. I’m sure they all feel better now. I’m so glad there are nice people in the world who are willing to help. I have no idea how those ducks came to live on the pond…they just showed up one day…but they sure aren’t well suited to the wild. They can’t fly, and they don’t migrate. They need some help sometimes. As I said before, I sure wish people wouldn’t leave their garbage behind. It seems like such a simple thing to pick up after yourself. I just wish they would.

On the way back from checking on the ducks, I snapped this photo of the purple Crape Myrtle that is in bloom all over North Carolina right now. So pretty. What a relief that everything turned out okay today.

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The menagerie continues to grow

There are a lot of critters staring at me around here lately. I’m starting to feel a little self-conscious when I walk into my workroom. I’m glad they look friendly.

And they seem to get along with each other pretty well, at least while I’ve been around.

This is Hilda the hippopotamus’ new friend, “Barbara the Hug Me! Zebra”. Like Hilda, she has hand-embroidered features, and a removable, elastic-waist skirt made from quilting calico cotton.

Barbara also has a pretty cool yarn mohawk,

and a tuft of purple yarn at the end of her tail.

It’s been about 100 degrees here, during the daytime, and our injured duck friend has been staying on the water. He’s only come up the hill just this once, this evening, since we tried to help him before, and again, it’s too late to get to the vet 🙁 If we can get the timing right, hopefully we can catch the duck away from the pond during business hours, when we can catch the vet too. He does seem to be doing better, but I’m sure he’d feel much improved once that hook is out. Here’s hoping.