Elizabeth Ruffing, Author at Ruffing’s | The Little House of Cats

Posted on February 6, 2007November 25, 2018 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Me, and a floral and batik art quilt project

Iris and Pansy art quilts in progress, with batik fabrics, by Elizabeth Ruffing

This me, Elizabeth, in my favorite straw sun hat. I wear it when we go out walking. I have other straw hats that I use for gardening or for working in the yard. I love flowers and I’m making two floral art quilts, incorporating my love of gardening, painting, and sewing. One is based on a watercolor painting I did of an iris flower.

I brought many of my iris plants with me, when we moved from New York state to North Carolina. I kept them in containers on the balcony of our apartment, and then planted them behind our new house. Many of them are my grandma’s irises.

I painted one pink iris on an Art Nouveau inspired wallpaper background, which I designed.

I printed this image on canvas that was made for use in our Epson printer. I sealed it with Liquitex matte varnish, because I am going to use this art quilt as a wall hanging.

The second image I am using is printed from my watercolor painting of pansies. It has a light blue border, with decorative flowers.

Pansies are so adorable and cheerful.

The come in such pretty colors, just like batik fabrics, which I am using to frame my canvas prints. I’m using an assortment of cotton batiks, which blend together nicely for quilts.

This is the pile of cotton batik fabrics, waiting to be pre-washed, before I sew them into a quilt. I sewed a zig-zag stitch along the raw edges, to keep them from fraying in the washing machine. I like to wash my fabrics before I use them, to compensate for shrinkage, and because I find the smell of fabric sizing irritating.

I love fabric. I get excited about anything that is displayed in those rainbow, full-spectrum arrangements in the store. I lose track of time on the paint aisle of an art store, or a in a quilt shop, with the fabric bolts, lined up by color. I’m captivated by colorful things.

I’m using the batiks in strips around my canvas prints, like a mat and a frame, only made of fabric. Once sewn together, I am putting cotton batting behind them, and then a cotton fabric as a backing.

I drop the feed dogs on my sewing machine, so I can free-motion quilt the layers together, randomly winding around, to make a stippling effect.

Once the layers are sewn together, I am adding a sleeve to the back of each quilt. I finish the edges of the sleeves, fold them in half lengthwise, and the attach them to the top edge of each quilt, on the backs of the quilts. I hand stitch the lower edge of each sleeve to the back of the quilt. Then I add binding to the edges of the quilts, avoiding the openings of the sleeves.

I am taking a wooden dowel, cutting it to the lengths I want for each quilt, and gluing wooden balls to each end, to make a display rod for each quilt. The wooden balls come in a package at Michael’s or another craft store, and they have holes drilled in one side, big enough to insert the end of a dowel. Just be sure to get the right size dowel for the hole.

I am using coordinating acrylic paints, and a sponge to paint the rods to match my quilts. I varnish them, and when they were dry, I insert them in the sleeves. I tie a ribbon to each display rod, to hang them up.

The finished floral art quilts can be seen in more detail in this post: https://ruffings.com/2007/02/ooak-one-of-a-kind-original-iris-and-pansy-floral-art-quilts.html

Posted on February 5, 2007November 24, 2018 by Elizabeth Ruffing — 1 Comment

My art studio-drawing-painting-designing-sewing room

This is where most of creations have their start. I draw, paint, design and make patterns, and sew in this workroom. Yes, it is February, and the Christmas tree is still up. I’m thinking Valentine’s Day still counts as a holiday where decorations are permissible. Do people have Valentine’s trees? Easter trees?

I’m dangerously close to becoming like that family in “Garden State“, with the year-round Christmas tree, when I leave it up for so long that there becomes little point in taking it down.

I have my work table, my sewing machine, my ironing board, and lots of supplies, all in a small space. I can turn around and grab what I need.

This is my studio after I cleaned it. I am trying to abide by the put-it-back-where-you-found-it rule. Rules annoy me. I really don’t stand a chance. I will just end up having to clean it again.

After I take down the Christmas tree.

Posted on February 4, 2007May 3, 2024 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Lila Lovebunny, Original One-of-a-kind Bunny Rabbit Folk Art Doll by Max Bailey

Lila Lovebunny loves pink. She also loves Valentine’s Day, Easter, carrots, clover, and bright sunny days. Most of all, she loves love.

Lila is thought to be the prettiest bunny in the meadow. She has a special beauty, elegance, and dignity unmatched by any of the other lady bunnies, who love her just the same.

Every year, the president of the white chocolate factory in town asks her to pose for his spring line of Easter bunnies, and every year, she is most happy to oblige. She always looks straight ahead at the world around her, and the world admiringly looks back.

Today, Lila is all aglow with the fact that she’s wearing her favorite pink dress, and the fact that she baked heart-shaped and frosted carrot cookies, no small task for a bunny. She carries them in a picnic basket, and offers one to each of her many friends.

The gentlemen bunnies stand upright in the field when they see her approaching, and their bunny hearts beat a little faster. “It’s lovely Lila Lovebunny,” they whisper to themselves, in awe of her sweetness.

I think Lila is my most beautiful work to date, and she is certainly the largest, at 21 inches tall standing. She is approximately 14 inches tall sitting . She became more endearing in the process of creating her. I started with her head, an original sculpture I made from paper clay. At the point when I painted her pretty blue eyes, she seemed to take on a sweet personality of her own.

I then created the design for her body, which is made from cotton fabric, then stuffed and painted with acrylic paints.

On spring evenings, there are often as many as three or four cottontail rabbits in my backyard. If they notice me watching them, they will sit up with their front paws bent, as Lila’s are, and I wanted to capture that pose. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out how to create bent paws from sewn fabric and stuffing. They are button-jointed at the shoulders for flexibility.

Ms. Lovebunny’s pretty little tail was made from soft novelty yarn, and her whiskers, made of stiffened pearl cotton, were threaded through her head before the paper clay was dry.

Her Sunday best dress is my original design, and is made from pink cotton fabric. I painted the heart-and-flower design down the front and around the hem, in tones of mauve, red, periwinkle blue, and green.

Her fashionable (but not exactly dainty) brown leather shoes, with their white bows and laces, are painted on, as are the striped stockings that match the colors of the design on her dress. The finishing touch was the ruffled collar made from cotton lace, which I think made her look even more feminine and old-fashioned.

Lila’s basket and heart-shaped cookies are made of wood, painted and varnished.

Lila can stand with a doll stand, or sit on a chair or a shelf (chair and doll stand not included). She is signed and dated, and sealed with matte varnish for protection and preservation. Lila and her basket of cookies are meant for display only. She comes with a hang tag, a certificate of authenticity, and a copy of her story.

Lila Lovebunny is part of our personal collection of art dolls and is not available for sale.

Posted on February 4, 2007June 21, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Suzie the Sunflower Fairy Original One-of-a-kind Art Doll by Max Bailey and Elizabeth Ruffing

Suzie the Sunflower Fairy is a handmade original, one-of-a-kind flower fairy art doll, handmade and hand painted by artists Max Bailey and Elizabeth Ruffing.

Here is Suzie, a cheerful little soul created to remind us all on dreary winter days, that spring is on its way. Suzie loves her job as Sunflower Fairy.

When the earth is warming, she calls upon the sun to bring new life. Like magic, the little seeds that lay dormant in the cold of winter emerge as seedlings from the ground. With her sunflower wand, she touches them and gives them the strength they need to become tall and majestic. She watches over them, and loves their sunny friendly faces.

In the fall, when the birds and squirrels and chipmunks have had their fill of the sunflowers’ seeds, she takes the seeds that are left behind and gently tucks them into the earth, where they will emerge again next year.

Suzie is an original one-of-a-kind work of art, created in collaboration by Max Bailey and Elizabeth Ruffing. Suzie is the first art doll Max and Elizabeth have made together. She is 12 and 1/2 inches tall, with a wingspan of 5 and 3/4 inches. Her body is sewn from cotton fabric, then stuffed and painted with acrylic paints. She has warm brown eyes, and brown hair streaked with gold from the summer sun. Her hair is sculpted from paper clay blended into the fabric.

Elizabeth made Suzie’s skirt from a pretty yellow cotton print with rose hearts and green leaves, and Max painted the top of her dress with matching hearts and leaves.

She wears little brown shoes with buttoned ankle straps, decorated with sunflowers. Her green tights are painted on, as are her ruffled white bloomers with rose ribbons.

Her wings are quilted and painted in a multitude of fairy-like colors, from pastels to bright greens and yellows. The sunflower wand she carries was created from wood and paper clay, and it is removable, should you need to borrow it to make your sunflowers grow.

There is a small loop in the top of Suzie’s head, in case you would like to hang her up. Suzie can also sit on a chair, or on a shelf, or stand with a doll stand (chair and doll stand not included). She is signed and dated, and sealed with matte varnish for protection and preservation.

Update: Suzie the Sunflower Fairy has already been adopted. Thank you!