hug-me-kittens Archives - Ruffing’s | The Little House of Cats

Posted on July 29, 2016November 13, 2020 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Hug Me Kittens, stuffed animal fleece art toys

I have a new batch (litter?) of Hug Me Kittens in my toy shop. They are fleece and they have my new two-tone custom-printed eyes.

The eyes have one color on the outer rims and another closer to the pupil, with one blending into the other. I made them in all kinds of combinations, many not existing in nature, like lavender fading into purple. I don’t know of anyone who has had eyes like that, except maybe Elizabeth Taylor.

I added some neutral shades of fleece to my collection. An online Etsy course suggested that neutral colors were important, and I realized I hadn’t thought to include them before. I asked friends and they liked the idea.

So here are vanilla cream, oatmeal, and charcoal gray kittens. The oatmeal color reminds me of the adorable Pusheen the cat.

Like all my toys, these are handmade, stitched mostly by hand with a needle and thread or embroidery floss. These kittens have just two machine-sewn seams. The rest is done stitch by stitch.

They come with hang tags that can be personalized with a name and a message.

The kittens are about 9 inches tall.

I couldn’t resist adding color to the charcoal gray, bright yellow-and green-eyes, and teal and rose-red, polka-dotted hearts.

I have been watching movies while I stitch, staying out of the heat as much as possible, but when I have gone out, I’ve spotted some surprise wildlife. This baby robin was out learning to fly. I kept watch to make sure none of the real cats who were outside interfered.

A beautiful fox has come to visit, three times so far, while I was outside, toward the evening. She must be used to me because she stepped out of the woods in front of me and watched me mowing the lawn. I missed her the last time she came for a visit, but my mom saw her walk behind me while I was petting cats. She walked over to our deck, looked around, and then trotted back into the woods. I was sorry I missed that. I tried getting a camera one time she was watching me out walking Jude, but she was gone by the time I came back outside. Jude missed her that time, even though she was about ten feet away from us. I picked him up and took him inside with me, and then went back to keep an eye on the other cats who had shown up for a visit. She is so quiet and graceful, I am not sure who sees her and who doesn’t. But I know she sees us.

Posted on June 30, 2015July 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Yellow stuffed toy Hug Me Kitten

A yellow fleece Hug Me Kitten just joined my slugs. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop. She, or he, has a rose-pink heart with lavender stars.

She has a curvy tail in back.

I have been spending my time sewing what I refer to as “slug butts”, all the circles that go on the bottoms of my toys. I chose to try to make my toy parts in groups, which, I hope, will mean more toys in the long term, even though it looks like fewer in the short term. I do have lots of Hug Me Slugs, in different sizes and colors at the moment, if anyone is looking for one that isn’t in the shop. I can finish them in any order.

The heat has been terrible, but we got a slight break recently. I was able to get one more tree planted late in the day. I also take our cat, Jude, on his walks around the yard, in the evening. There is no negotiating with him on this. Our cat friends next door like to join us for tree planting and cat walking. One even likes to watch me mow the lawn. Last night, I heard rustling in the bushes. I asked, “Who’s there?” and they each popped out. It is cute when they come over in a little pack.

When I put Jude back in the house, I give them some pets. Trouble asks me for treats now. So, I bring him some, which I put on the borderline, so our other neighbor’s cat won’t get angry. I take the bowl away as soon as he is done. I don’t want any kitty conflicts.

The long-haired gray kitty I was trying to catch has made a couple of appearances in the woods behind my neighbor’s house. I can’t catch him for now, as my neighbor doesn’t want us to trap there. I don’t want to lure his cats out of his yard with the food for the other cat, because I don’t want fights between them and my other neighbor’s cat, who hangs out on our front porch, which takes away my options for now. They would all show up for food. I am hoping the woods kitty is already neutered, and maybe belongs to someone on the other side of the trees. It is best for all the outdoor cats, if all of them have had their shots, and have been to the vet, and have been neutered and spayed, but I don’t want grief for trying to help. I don’t have any outdoor cats myself, but I want the others to be safe and healthy. We don’t want a colony to start either. At some point, my other neighbor will be able to set something up at her house, but they have renovations going on right now, to be followed by some construction, which makes the cats shy away.

That’s about it. Back to sewing slug butts.

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Hug Me Sock Cats, dressed!

I am still fighting insomnia, and woke up at 3am again. I woke up at 1:30am a day or two ago. All week, I have been up too early. But, I am working my way through it.

At long last, I finished those sock cat doll skirts I said I would finish a year ago! Wow, I had someone who was going to write an article about them then. I will have to contact her and see if she remembers me! As I said in my last post, I have fallen behind this past year. I am taking steps to rectify that!

These Hug Me Sock Cats, dressed in coordinating skirts, are all currently over in my Etsy toy shop, hugmeslug.com. They each come with a personalized hang tag, with room for a personal message on the back of the tags. I am happy to send a gift note along too, if anyone would like to send one as a gift.

I had such a nice thing happen this week. A repeat customer ordered a Hug Me Slug as a gift for a baby, but had the address wrong. The person who received the package took the time to look me up online, wrote to me, and offered to drop the package at the right house, if it were nearby! I thought that was so kind. I emailed her and my customer, and we arranged for my customer’s husband to pick the box up. I was touched that they all made the effort to do that. It worked out great.

I edited the first of a series of anthropomorphic cat prints by Max Bailey today. We are very pleased with how it came out. I will be posting it over on our Ruffing’s blog and in our Ruffing’s Etsy shop soon. I will probably be working on getting those edited, printed, and posted this coming week and a half or so.

I also ordered and have already received another bunny cage for my workroom. This one is on wheels, and will allow me to remove a big table I have in there right now, making way for my shelves and a new worktable, which will come together eventually, I hope! I have a lot of packing to do, and then building, and painting furniture and walls and trim. None of those appeal to me terribly! I never finished redoing my bathroom due to my lack of enthusiasm for these kinds of projects. I’m going to do the best I can, and tackle it all a little at a time. I have gardening and tree-planting projects on my list that never ends as well.

Everything sure would be easier with a few nights of sleep. I hope I can get back on track with that. I have to accept that I have to stay away from people who upset me, or who treat me in an uncaring way. I always want to understand people I let into my life, and I tend to want to help them, even when I can’t. If people I care about are distressed, I absorb it, and I’ve been trying to understand someone I dated, who I can see is depressed and doesn’t seem to want to seek help. I talked to him, and it sounds like depression is something he has been struggling with for a few years, at least, and I can see obvious causes for it that he doesn’t seem to want to see. Instead, he wants to be left alone, and I’m not sure he even recognizes that he is depressed. I know it is just my perception, but nothing adds up any other way. For my part, I have to stop trying to figure it out, and focus on the things I need to do.