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Started fusing my appliqué designs onto fabric

Hug Me! Siamese Kitty by Elizabeth RuffingI, of course, redrew parts of my drawings from yesterday, playing around with bunny, kitty, and puppy clothes, and thinning my Hug Me! Slug down a bit. I have to fuss over what I do or I just wouldn’t be myself. Hug Me! Kitty can now be a Siamese or a tuxedo kitty. Today she is Siamese. I really like how her dress came out too. These are photos of the fabric after it was fused onto the background pillow fabric, before I’ve added any machine stitching embellishment.

Hug Me! Slug by Elizabeth RuffingI cut out and fused these two slugs before I thinned them down in my drawing. They’re well-fed slugs. I must be polka dot happy this week. I’m thinking of ordering some solid color cottons too, for variety.

Hug Me! Slug by Elizabeth RuffingIt feels good to be making something with my hands instead of typing, clicking, and moving a mouse around. I’m enjoying “dressing” these little animals too. Once I have the other two characters fused, I’ll start embellishing them with machine appliqué and some decorative stitches as well.

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Took a break and made some appliqué designs

Hug Me! Bunny and Hug Me! Kitty by Elizabeth RuffingI got one of those long-running headaches last week, and decided to let up on my push to get our web site relaunched this week or next. I’ve gotten a lot done, but I was working too hard. My eyes needed a break from the computer too. While surfing the web (I know…I never really leave the computer for good), I was inspired by some fun throw pillows by Robin’s Egg Blue and so I wanted to give that idea a try with my own designs. I found my own favorite throw pillow, and used its 13 x 14 inch size for my drawings.

Hug Me! Puppy and Hug Me! Slug by Elizabeth RuffingThese are the first four designs I’m working on, “Hug Me! Bunny”, “Hug Me! Kitty”, “Hug Me! Puppy”, and “Hug Me! Slug”. I think throw pillows are good for hugging too. These have been modified from previous designs I’ve made of the same characters. I may modify them some more, depending on how they look once they are done up in fabric. I’m starting by picking out quilting cottons for the appliquéd parts, and I’ve got a few yards of a natural cotton I’m using for the background. I’ve been debating over whether to make the pillows with an insert so the covers can be washed, or making them spot clean only, without the insert. Personally, I really like things to be washable, but I know I’d have to charge a little more for the time and supplies involved. Given my own inclination, I will most likely start with covers with pillow inserts.

I can imagine these as quilted wall hangings also, or maybe even painted designs with a name incorporated somewhere.

Pear pieMy dad was given seventeen pounds of pears recently, and I tried my best to do something with them. My first challenge was a pear pie. The recipe was very much like one for an apple pie, only my pears needed extra cooking time. They were very crunchy to start with, the homegrown kind you see in lots of back yards in our neighborhood. A friend suggested poaching them first, which would probably have been a good idea. I put apricot preserves in the bottom of the crust, before layering in the pears, to waterproof it a bit. I got my recipe from The Perfect Pie by Susan G. Purdy.

Pear pieMy second challenge was going to be pear jam, but that’s when my headache got me. I’m feeling better now, but the pears are passing their prime. I think I may just eat some, and share the rest with the wildlife.

I will continue to work on our web site, but I’m going to alternate doing that and sewing. I will be happier that way. As much as I’ve been excited about having a newly designed site, mixing things up works a lot better for me.

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Experiments in sewing, good and bad

Cat doll body in progress by Elizabeth RuffingI wanted to try something different with our next cat art doll, and so I took our original pattern, and a Brown House Dolls’ pattern, and morphed them together. I reduced the size of one, and then lay one over the other on our light box. Then I redrew the whole thing.

Cat doll body in progress by Elizabeth RuffingIt took a lot of fiddling around, and pulling seams apart, and resewing them, to get the new kitty to sit. I wanted her tail to hang downward this time, so she would stand up nicely on a doll stand.

You can’t see her head because she doesn’t have one yet. She’s going to have a fully-sculpted head of paperclay. I glued a dowel into her neck opening, gathered stitching all around it, and pulled it tight. I’ll be passing the doll to Max Bailey, and our next collaboration will begin.

Broken Viking Platinum 775As I mentioned in my last post, my Viking Platinum sewing machine came back unclaimed, from its second trip for repair. After three tries, I finally got in touch with the seller who was going to take care of the repairs. He apologized, said he’d been out of the country again, and asked me to send the machine back, saying he’d help out with the postage. Well, I thought that over for a few days before deciding to give it another try. The only thing is, when I went to put the machine in a new shipping box, I noticed things falling out of it, and off of it. Above is the area over the spool holder, that has the stitch display. It fell right off.

Broken Viking Platinum 775That’s because there is a big chip right in the body of the machine. The back of the machine didn’t fare too well either. Below is the presser foot lever, cracked right off of the body. I packed it well, in its original styrofoam packing, and wrote “fragile” all over the box, which had no signs of damage. I talked to the Post Master about this, and she clued me in that there are no longer any parcel delivery services where packages are hand carried. Everything goes on a conveyor belt. Since the package was never claimed, and was missing for a month, who can guess what it went through.

Broken Viking Platinum 775This machine has made at least six trips, from one side of the country to the other, total, if you count the trip it made from the distribution center to the dealer. I think it just had enough. It was a sturdy machine, but I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be shipped back and forth across the country so many times. I hate to think what is going on in the inside. I hate that I can’t get it replaced, because it is discontinued, and I certainly can’t get it fixed, not in this shape.

I have to wait to see what the Post Office is willing to do, and I still have to contact the seller. This whole thing has been a nightmare. I should never have been asked to send it again for repair anyway. It should have been replaced a long time ago, when it started malfunctioning. The seller could have at least reserved a spare of this model for me, in case he couldn’t fix it, but he sold them all. He’s got a couple of similar, but newer models, but I’ve read they both have known issues. Had the authorized Viking repairman, to whom I initially took it, identified the problem correctly, and had the two faulty step motors just been replaced by the seller, it might have been fine. Instead it is a total mess, and I’ve spent the past ten months trying to get some resolution. Either way, it’s not like I’m going to get the machine I wanted. I’m astounded by how many people there are out there, doing really bad business, individuals, small business, and major corporations. All sizes. I’m just amazed, and I don’t even know what else to say about it.

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Hug Me, Sock Kitten!

Turquoise Polka Dot Hug Me! Sock Kitten by Elizabeth RuffingI was trying to get my act together this morning, intending to head out for a while, but nothing came together properly. So, I stayed home and sewed up this sock kitten! I took some tips from the two sock doll books I have by Daniel, which are great books for anyone wanting to experiment with free-form toy creation. It’s fun, like making balloon animals. I say that not remembering if I’ve ever made balloon animals, but what they have in common is the idea of taking a tube shape and seeing where you can go with it.

Turquoise Polka Dot Hug Me! Sock Kitten by Elizabeth RuffingI was debating over adding the fleece heart, but once I’d thought of it, I felt I needed to give him one. You can’t go back on giving someone a heart.

I took him outside to photograph him, and of course, he ran right up a tree.

Turquoise Polka Dot Hug Me! Sock Kitten by Elizabeth RuffingOnce I got him back inside, he stretched out for a nap, taunting all the slugs a little first, by waving his paws around. They haven’t got any appendages, and so, he was doing some showing off.

Turquoise Polka Dot Hug Me! Sock Kitten by Elizabeth RuffingI think I will make some more kittens, and call them “Hug Me! Kittens”. This sock kitten is in my Etsy shop.

My own, much larger kitten helped me with another project, removing the overly-scratched carpet from the legs of our cat gym. The plan is to cover the legs with new carpeting and sisal rope. The legs were looking very disreputable. This is only a human opinion.

Kitty investigates cat gym reupholstering projectThe feline consensus of opinion was that they looked perfect, as they were. Here is one of the mournful looks I was given after removing the beloved carpeting. She got over it quickly and found something else to do. She’ll be happy when she sees the new carpeting and the sisal rope. I was joking with my mom, saying the cats would be just as happy if I threw the rope and a piece of carpet on the floor. But that wouldn’t look nice. Again, just a human opinion.

Kitty investigates cat gym reupholstering projectOne sorry note for the week…my Viking sewing machine made a return trip from California, where it went for repair, having never been claimed at the Post Office. I have no idea why the seller had his repair technician call me to go over the repairs, and then sent me the address to which he wanted me to ship my machine, and then never picked it up. I’ve received no reply, so far, if indeed I ever will. I’ve had issues before, as you may have already read on my blog, and I’ve had him not answer for a long time, because he’s been in and out of the country. But you would think someone would be there to claim packages at least. Not looking good. Not that it has been looking good, at all, ever, but that is the current status on my Viking sewing machine nightmare. I’ve heard from people who have had similar problems. I don’t know what to say other than I’ll never be getting a Viking sewing machine again.

Using my Kenmore sewing machineI’m still using my Kenmore, pictured above, that I got as a spare. It’s been behaving very well. Once I have some extra money, I’ll ask around some more, to see if I can find someone honest who might be able to replace the faulty and broken parts on my Viking. A friend has suggested a Viking Funeral for the machine, but I’ll wait to see what develops.