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

Posted on June 20, 2012August 2, 2012 by Elizabeth Ruffing — 2 Comments

Angel, Original One-of-a-kind Dollhouse-sized Maine Coon Kitten Art Doll by Max Bailey

Angel is a tabby Maine Coon kitten. Her expression is always angelic.

Angel wears a forest green dress with a pale green ruffle around the neck and down the front. The ruffle is trimmed in pale gold.

Angel comes with a mahogany-stained dollhouse spindle cradle. Her mattress, pillow, and coverlet are striped in two shades of green. There’s no better place for an angel to take a nap.

Angel is a one-of-a-kind work of art, and is meant for display only.

She was sculpted from paperclay in multiple stages, to allow for drying and detailing.

Angel was painted under a magnifying light, with tiny brushes, one hair at a time.

She is signed and sealed with matte varnish for protection and preservation, and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

Angel and her cradle are 1:12 scale. (One inch equals one foot.)

Angel is 2 inches tall.

Update: Angel has been adopted. Thank you!

Angel’s friends are, from left to right, Isabelle the Ragdoll kitten, Sophia the Siamese kitten, and Taffy the Persian kitten.

Posted on June 19, 2012July 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

All eyed and hearted

This is what I’ve been up to for the past two weeks. I picked up more batiks, feeling inspired after going to a trunk show that featured colorful paper-pieced quilts by Deb Karasik.

I started with greens. I finished the edges of my fabric and prewashed it before I cut and sewed a batch of Hug Me Slugs and Hug Me Bugs.

The batik toys, and cotton toys in general, take more time to make and are a fussier to work with than the fleece toys, with so many curves to clip and Fray Check on the inside.

After the machine sewing and the stuffing are done, the hand sewing begins. Their bottoms are sewn on by hand. I embroidered their smiles and attached the whites of their eyes with a blanket stitch and floss. They looked like zombies. Then I moved on to the hearts and pupils. Now they can see!

I still have to photograph them individually, and post them in my Etsy toy shop.

Hope everyone enjoyed Father’s Day. This is my dad holding me when I was new to the world.

Our lawn was covered with and abundance of pretty dandelions this week, and the butterfly bushes and the shoal creek chaste tree have been in bloom.

The bees and butterflies love them, and they are such beautiful shades of lavender, blue, and purple.

The one above is the shoal creek chaste tree, and below are the two, the butterfly bush arching over the other.

And this is a special sleepy cat flower.

Posted on June 7, 2012July 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

A couple of slugs for Thursday

These Hug Me Slugs have already been spoken for and are on their way to their new homes, but I thought I share them anyway. I finished them today.

I also thought I’d share this mysterious pile of night-traveling newspapers. This was a three-cat job, at least.

Posted on June 3, 2012July 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Turquoise and orange spotted toads

I finished a small group of Hug Me Sock Toad stuffed animal toys today. They all have polka dots.

I will be putting my handmade stuffed animal toys and other creatures in our Ruffing’s shop.

This one is examining a beautiful lace-cap hydrangea that was a Mother’s Day gift years ago. It has gotten huge this year.

This is what they look like on the bottom. I sew signed, handmade tags made of coordinating quilting cotton to each one. I turn under the edges of my tags and stitch them on by hand to make them neat.

Phoebe assisted me with my photo props today, checking out our doll bench and playing with the straw hat I used to cart them outdoors.

She likes to participate in her own way. She’s been letting me pet her on the tail more lately. We’re hoping she’ll let us pet the rest of her eventually.

Bertie, below, is more confident. I think that even shows in her face.