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Pixie Kitten in progress

A kitten in a tutu. My latest project. She has hand-quilted wings that I borrowed from another project that I hadn’t finished. Max is going to work some magic on her next. She’ll be taking on some Siamese (or Himilayan, or Ragdoll…not sure yet) kitten features soon. We were thinking “fairy kittens” but then I liked “Pixie Kittens” better. It sounds more mischievous. There may just be a “Pixie Cat” to follow…

Dealing with the tulle has been hysterical. Purchasing it was interesting. We piled the bolts up in our arms, and when we got to the cutting counter, the guy there seemed really angry to see us! He looked up and said, “Oh, you’re killing me!!” After the twelfth bolt or so, cutting half yards at a time, he seemed to recover a bit. Maybe that was because the end was in sight, or maybe he was due for a break. I prewashed the tulle, and then had to fold and iron it. It does take some patience. It’s true.

I cut strips with my rotary cutter, each half an inch greater in skirt length than the next, and basted them together, two at a time. Then I basted the two sets of two together, and pulled up the basting stitch to gather the edge. The longest skirt length goes on top/outside, and the shortest goes on the bottom/inside, so the tutu fans out from the body. The whole thing is sewn to a band, which is then folded under and hand stitched closed. I closed it with a snap in the back, and added a ribbon rosette in the front.

I got a couple of new presser feet too. On the left is my new clear 1/4 inch piecing foot with guide, and on the right is my new clear edge joining foot. The first one allows you to butt your 1/4 inch seam up against the guide, to keep your seam even. I used that when I sewed my doll body. Being able to see through the foot helped me make those tiny, sharp turns. I did mess up the bottom surface of my new foot a little when I sewed over some Fray Check that hadn’t dried yet. So, I will avoid doing that again. I tried removing it with some alcohol, but the surface seems a little damaged. It may have reacted chemically with the coating of the foot somehow.

The clear edge joining foot will help attach lace to dresses, and it also acts as a guide for sewing a decorative stitch down a center line.

I used the clear edge stitching foot I bought before to sew my gathered tulle onto my waistband, as I wanted to sew past my gathering stitches, which had built up from so many layers of basting.

To those of you who sent your well wishes for my family, and your kind sentiments, thank you very much. My mom is doing much better, and hopefully she will be all better soon.

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Collecting supplies

I’m back. No worries. I haven’t gone over to the dark side 🙂 I haven’t grown to 50 feet tall, and no old boyfriends were harmed, at least not by me. I’m thinking if I do ever wake up and notice I’ve grown to gargantuan size, my first thought would probably be, “Cool. Now I can eat all the cupcakes I want,” followed by a zillion worries, the first of which would probably be “I hope I don’t step on anyone,” and then “How do I get some privacy?” So much for wreaking havoc. It’s just not my thing.

I accumulated some more supplies today. Sulky rayon thread, above, for my machine embroidery stitching. It’s going to look so pretty combined with all those Kona cotton colors for doll dresses. Sulky threads are on sale right now at Joann.

Hancock Fabrics is having a sale on lace and trims too. I picked up these cotton and rayon laces and a yard of off-white Kona cotton. I’ve been getting my Kona cottons through the mail at this Hancock’s, Hancock’s of Paducah, and have been happy with them.

I also went over to Jerry’s Artarama and was tempted by these 6 x 6 Claybord Aquabord squares. As you can see, I’ve got a collection of Claybord at this point! I didn’t get all these today, just the 6 x 6’s. They had a pack of 4 x 4’s too, but I decided “cuteness” wasn’t a good enough reason to add those to my pile. They were awful cute though…

Btw, they’re participating in a fundraiser over there, at Jerry’s, to raise money for children’s cancers, which you might want to check out. I was kind of wondering what happened to people’s hair when I went in!

I also, for no other reason than inspiration, picked up these “Day and Night” Notecards, featuring the paintings of Edward Robert Hughes. I love the Pre-Raphaelites, and have long had a love of his “Night and Her Train of Stars”, above. It was part of my inspiration for both my “Moon and Star” and “The Moon Sings a Lullaby“. In fact, I wrote a children’s story inspired by this painting, and those are two of the illustrations from that story. It was never published, but who knows, I may get back to that idea some day.

“Moon and Star”
“The Moon Sings a Lullaby”

Okay, I’ve got some email to answer, so I’d better be on my way. Hope you all had a great weekend.

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The Fairy and The Dove watercolor art by Elizabeth Ruffing

The Fairy and The Dove watercolor art by Elizabeth Ruffing

The Fairy and The Dove by Elizabeth Ruffing“The Fairy and The Dove” is an original watercolor painting. I am making a limited number of reproductions of this image as a signed giclée print as well, on 8 1/2 by 11 inch art paper.

The Fairy and The Dove by Elizabeth RuffingA fairy stands in a field full of iris in shades of purple and yellow, holding a baby dove in her hands. She will soon put him back in his nest. The wind is blowing around her, and the sunlight is showing between the leaves in the trees behind her. I’ve added a border of pink day lilies all pointing inward to enclose the scene.

The Fairy and The Dove by Elizabeth Ruffing
This is what the 8 1/2 by 11 print might look like framed without a mat. (A mat and frame are not included.)

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Fairy Bear teddy bear on pink roses watercolor art by Max Bailey

Fairy Bear teddy bear on pink roses watercolor art by Max Bailey

Fairy Bear by Max BaileyFairy Bears do only good deeds, and are so light they can sit in the middle of big pink roses without squashing them. Mine has a blue wand with a gold star on the end. He can just touch a rosebud with the wand, and it will open into a full bloom. This accomplished, his gossamer wings will carry him off to the next mission.

I gave him a circular border of other garden flowers, already open.

Fairy Bear by Max Bailey“Fairy Bear” is an original watercolor painting. I am making a limited number of reproductions of this image as a signed giclée print as well on 8 1/2 x 11 inch art paper.