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

Posted on November 1, 2010August 21, 2012 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Celeste the Pixie Kitten, Original One-of-a-kind Cat Art Doll by Max Bailey and Elizabeth Ruffing

Celeste is a cheerful, mischievous little sprite. She’s been known to appear when you least expect her.

From far away, Celeste can hear the flowers swaying to the music of the soft summer breeze. She loves music, and the color yellow.

Celeste hovers over the flowers, and flies in amongst them, encouraging each and every bloom to be as beautiful as it can be. Her golden tutu floats around her body like a gauzy, magical cloud.

If you are out in the garden, Celeste may startle you. It’s very like her to suddenly emerge, and then just as suddenly disappear.

You might think you just saw a yellow butterfly, perhaps a tiger swallowtail. It was probably Celeste, playfully flitting from place to place, bringing her blessings and funny little tricks to all those who are fond of her.

Celeste 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. She is 8 and 3/4 inches tall, and 6 inches tall when seated.

Celeste’s arms and legs are button-jointed with antique-looking, filigreed silver-colored metal buttons, so she can easily pose. Her tabby kitten face was sculpted from paperclay, smoothed into her fabric head. Her front paws are needle-sculpted, and her whiskers are made from stiffened cotton thread.

Celeste has a striped curly tail than enables her to sit all by herself on a shelf or a table, or in a cabinet. She will also sit on a chair or stand with a doll stand. (Chair and doll stand not included.) Celeste is meant for display only.

Celeste is wearing a delightful tutu made from layers of tulle in two shades of gold. It has a hand-sewn waistband of soft gold that snaps at the back, and has an coral satin rose at the center. Her magical wings are made from cotton fabric, and are completely hand-quilted.

Celeste’s bodysuit is painted in a rich gold color, with a half moon of painted flowers decorating the neckline. Her ballet shoes are painted in rich pumpkin brown to match the same color in her wings.

Celeste is signed and dated, and sealed with matte varnish for protection and preservation. She comes with a hang tag, a certificate of authenticity, and a copy of her story.

Update: Celeste has been adopted. Thank you!

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Celeste starts the season

I just put up Celeste the Pixie Kitten’s web page, with lots of photos of her floating around amongst the yellow chrysanthemums. Please visit her and enjoy all the fall color. There is lots of yellow, Celeste’s favorite color.

I got up this morning, realizing it is now November, which means it is time to focus on getting everything going for the holiday season. This tends to be the start of our busiest time of year, and hopefully we will be busy again this year. It’s time to get organized, time to make new dolls and toys, time to take their pictures, and post their stories.

Posted on October 31, 2010January 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Halloween musings

Happy Halloween! A few weeks ago, I decided I really wanted to make a Regency Era gown, and ordered a beautiful Sense and Sensibility pattern. I think I will make one for springtime. As Halloween got closer, a week away actually, I suddenly decided I was going to make a similar gown for a costume. I ran into town and got McCall’s pattern 6141, which is really a Renaissance costume, but rather similar in style to the Regency gowns.

I had recently gathered up a bunch of sheets to use for fabric for other projects, and I grabbed a blue twin sheet set out of the pile, along with a teal sheet for contrast. I spread the sheets, one at a time, out on my carpet and cut out my pattern pieces. I added some trims I got at Hancock Fabrics, to the sleeves and the neckline, and managed to get the whole gown sewn and hemmed by Saturday night, just in time for Jill’s party, which was a lot of fun. I got to talk to some great people, and made good friends with Jill’s corgi too, who followed me all over the house for in exchange for pets.

Jill, and a lot of the people who were there volunteer a local cat rescue, fostering cats and kittens. Just a really nice group of good-hearted people. I enjoyed myself very much.

It also did me some good to make something just because. It’s hard to give myself permission to make something just for fun, but I think I will have to do that some more. I even did a hand-picked zipper for the first time.

It’s funny what makes other things come into perspective. You make a dress, and you realize that you need to give yourself permission to paint a painting too, or take up photography, or make something only you might like, that might never sell or be of interest to anyone else, because those are the projects that come out the best and make you feel good about your abilities.

And you meet some nice people, and you realize that when you like someone, you just like a person. There’s no trying to like them, or trying to be fair, or trying to look past their bad points. You just like them. Since we moved here, I’ve been thinking that people are just different here, harder for me to relate to, but that isn’t true. I just met the wrong people, dated the wrong people, and didn’t like their friends, all for the same reason…they weren’t my kind of people. I had a date once, with a psychiatrist, who tried to tell me this, that people are either nice or they aren’t. I had been saying that people here seemed harder to get to know, more evasive, more secretive, and he said no. People are either open, or not, honest or not. He told me if I had trouble sorting them out, just call him and ask, because he could tell me right away. I’m realizing more and more, that I do know right away too. I just thought I was in a strange land, when I was really just trying to relate to the wrong people. I’m feeling a lot better about these things lately, where I live, what I do, and who I am.

Posted on October 22, 2010January 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Bits and pieces

I’ve been sewing Pixie Kitten bodies, and have a few of them in progress. I received most of what I spent on my ill-fated Viking Platinum from the Post Office, after the shipping disaster that cracked it to bits, and instead of buying a new sewing machine, I’ve been adding parts to my Kenmore 19233, to make it more versatile. I showed you the walking feet I’ve been using to sew, but I also found a straight stitch needle plate that fit.

It’s a Janome part number 200093305, which I bought online from Sewing Machines Plus. Janome made the Kenmore, and so I did some research until I found one that matched mine. This one fits the Kenmore 385 series. It’s easy enough to put on and take off. The larger screw in the upper left corner is what holds it in place. It’s good to remove the needle plate to clean out lint anyway. So, when you change plates, you can get in there to clean too.

With two machines, I’m accumulating a lot of presser feet and miscellaneous parts, and so I got a plastic organizer at Michaels to keep them in order. Some of the feet are left over from the Platinum, but these seem to work on my Viking Sarah, with the exception of the buttonhole sensor foot, which I will have to sell sometime.

I divided up my bobbins by machine too, each group in their own case. I had been finding them here and there, tangled together. I finally got my other shelf up in my workroom, and a couple more boxes to house fabrics. Sometimes I feel like I live in a storage facility, but it is better to have everything somewhat organized. I’m amazed how nice having just one open patch on a table can feel.

I’m still trying to expand my very limited knowledge of photography as well, while hoping to upgrade to a DSLR at some point. I’ve been practicing using my camera when I can. This is Spunky. He and other adorable kitties are at adoption events this weekend. The kitties have been patient with me while I’ve tried to figure out how to photograph them. My camera doesn’t handle the low light or motion very well. Since I now don’t necessarily need to put my postal insurance funds toward a sewing machine, I hope to be able to put it toward a camera instead. This just feels like something I’d like to be able to do better. I’m not sure where that will lead right now, but learning something new, especially something that can be used creatively, is appealing to me.