Tag: Soft Dolls and Art Toys

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The latest roundup

The latest batch of slugs are on their way to their new homes today. They are probably driving off from the local Post Office right now, or at least riding in the back of the truck. I have some photos of them to share, but first I’d like to thank some of the people who have been featuring my work.

“The Rabbit Dances” makes an appearance on Annette‘s Etsy treasury this week. Annette is in Scotland, and her treasury is meant to help raise funds for the Buckeye House Rabbit Society, in Ohio, which is holding a holiday raffle where you can make a donation and enter to win an original rabbit painting. The details on the Buckeye House Rabbit raffle are here. Entries for that raffle need to be postmarked by December 1st, but Annette told me she also has a raffle of her own going on to benefit a rabbit and guinea pig rescue group in the United Kingdom. You can make a small donation for the rescue group, and enter for a chance to win one of several rabbit-themed prizes she has, that were made by various artists. You can check out more information on Annette’s blog. It’s open to anyone, and the artists involved are donating the shipping costs of the prizes, worldwide.

“The Frost Angel” was featured on another Etsy treasury by Christine.

Christine picked out some very pretty winter images for her treasury. It hasn’t snowed here (yet), and it is nice to look at frost without freezing!

And finally, my “Marmalade the Hug Me! Toad” was featured on the Found Handmade blog.

Thank you, Annette, Christine, and the folks at Found Handmade!

So, here they are…this Monday’s postal travelers, plus…one “Name this slug” slug. Yes, I managed to get one done! I was pretty happy I was caught up with my custom orders, but that only lasted for about twenty-four hours!

This batch included a custom, small-sized “Super Slug”. His name is Percy.

I think I’m going to make up an Etsy listing for more custom “Super Slugs”. I always thought the idea of a Super Slug was funny, but I’d only made one large one before.

I’m still experimenting with his cape, with how full I want it to be. It is sewn into his back so it won’t fall off while he’s flying through the air, or just slugging along.

This is the “Name this slug” slug, in gold and orange. If someone doesn’t grab her before I can list her, she (or he…not sure there) will be over in my Etsy shop soon.

I enjoy photographing the slugs in pairs. They seem to interact with each other, especially when they are looking in different directions.

Lots of people have wanted this royal blue color, and I’ll try to find some more. (Update December 1, 2009: I did find some more at the store. So I do currently have it!) I have another appealing royal blue, but it isn’t this dark. I have at least one dark royal blue small slug left.

I think Super Slug is checking out his friend Ludwig’s heart here. He must like purple.

Okay…off to Slugland. By the way, I’d like to do some “Name your own” “Hug Me! Toads” too, but I’m not sure if I should try to show some of the socks I have to choose from, or if I should just make them and have them as “Name this toad” toads. Or both. Just thinking.

I also have some neutral fleece colors, like gray, darker charcoal gray, various tans, and brown, in case anyone happens to want a more masculine slug. I have some plans for the neutral colors. I’m going to try my earlier “Huggy Kitty” and “Huggy Bunny” using them. That might take some more experimenting….and more time, if I have some.

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Slugs and surges

Large, small, and medium “Hug Me! Slugs”, all in a row. One is from the first batch of slugs I ever made, and one is from this past week. They were initially inspired by a teasing suggestion that I add a slug to my list of “Huggy” animals, but they’ve turned out to be embraced by people of all ages, in a way I hadn’t expected. That’s really nice. Thanks everybody, for your enthusiasm. It’s a joy to hear that they are loved and that they making people happy. I appreciate hearing your stories. It’s a lot of fun.

This Monday, “Green Bean” left for a baby shower.

I was proud of myself for carefully matching that green plaid. I had to stop to admire how it dovetailed along the seam lines 🙂

Little “Rupert” is going to surprise someone’s dad for Christmas. Slugs are his favorite animal.

Oh, wait. How did he get in there? That’s my buzzard. According to Gund, he is supposed to be a toucan, but I’m pretty sure he’s a buzzard. He just stuck to me in the store, while I was out shopping with my mom. She threatened to buy a stuffed dog that sang Christmas carols if I didn’t put him back on the shelf. But I said no. I told her to go ahead and get the singing dog (she didn’t). I was getting my buzzard.

As I’ve mentioned, my sewing machine went to the shop with electrical problems. The owners of the sewing machine repair service told me that those issues are usually caused by power surges, but I had a surge protector on my machine all along. There were no unusual electrical “happenings” at the time, no surges or lights dimming, and I wasn’t running any other small appliances or electrical devices at the same time. So, most likely, it was caused by something else. Still, to be safe, we thought we’d get a new surge protector. My friend Miko sent me some information on how electronic sewing machines are also sensitive to both surges and to low-voltage occurrences, or “browns”. He suggested I get a surge protector with line conditioning, to protect my machine from surges and from browns.

To be safe, we also wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with the service to my workroom. My dad made an interesting discovery, by checking the wattage on all the things I was using in my room. We had never noticed that I have a 1700 watt iron. Right away, my dad said, “That’s awfully high!” I had noticed, at other times, that the lamp on my desk dimmed when the iron reset itself, which would indicate there wasn’t enough power on the circuit for both the lamp and the iron to be on at the same time. My dad double checked, and the recommended limit on your standard 15 amp household circuit is 1440 watts! That’s means everything you have plugged in and turned on in one room usually! The mathematical limit is a little higher, 1800 watts, but still…the iron all by itself was exceeding the recommended amount of electricity being used on one circuit. Adding the lamp was too much. So sure, low voltage occurrences were probably happening all the time, when the iron needed more electricity than was available, making my lamp dim.

Luckily for me, my dad has been an electrician, something he learned from his dad…whew. He cut a hole under the circuit box, ran 50 feet of wire to my workroom, cut a hole in my wall for a new outlet, and put in a new 20 amp circuit and outlet for my workroom. The recommended limit on a 20 amp circuit is 1920 watts, with a mathematical limit of 2400 watts. Now I have both a 15 amp and a 20 amp circuit in my workroom. The iron and the lamp are plugged into the 20 amp outlet, and my sewing machine gets the 15 amp outlet, with a separate circuit, which protects the sewing machine from any fluctuations caused by anything else that’s on in the room.

Complicated? A little. But good to know if you have sensitive electronics, like sewing machines with fancy push buttons and other electronic features. Most people who sew also iron, but there wasn’t any warning about damaging anything on or inside the box. All the directions said were to avoid plugging the iron in with other high wattage appliances, but even the lamp was too much. That’s not a high wattage appliance, and neither are most sewing machines. So, I guess you can get a low wattage iron, or just avoid plugging it in on the same circuit as your electronic sewing machine.

Anyway, thanks, Dad for saving the day and safeguarding my sewing machine! And thank all of you for reading my blog and for your support. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

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Slug onslaught

I’m still here! Somewhere in the middle of all the slugs. This is the group of “Hug Me! Slugs” that went out on Monday, this week, to their new homes. Yep, these are all spoken for already. I’m working on the next batch this week. I’m currently running at about a two-week time span to finish new custom slug orders.

In this group are my first “Mommy and Baby” slug sets. The babies’ hearts match their mommies’ bodies, and vice versa.

I like the way they look at each other.

They couldn’t wait to get to their new homes. They jumped right into their boxes before I could even get their tags on them. I had to take them out, one at a time, and tie their hang tags around their necks, but they were wiggling all over the place. Slugs just love to travel and they just go crazy with excitement when they get adopted. I’m sure the next bunch will be no different.

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Slugging away

I’ve been having a little rush on “Hug Me! Slugs” this week. These are just some of the ones I am working on. There are others, in boxes, on the ironing board, on the extra table. They’re taking over my workroom right now. Poor little Sarah, my older sewing machine, is having to stand in for my Platinum, which is in the shop for repair. The man who does the repairs thought the feed dogs might have gotten accidentally tugged out of place, a minor repair, hopefully. I think Sarah will have to go in to be serviced next, with all the fuzzy stuff collecting inside of her.

Fall finally feels like it has arrived. The leaves are turning color, and it’s slightly chilly…sometimes. It seems warm compared to NY state. It feels just right to me.

Even though Mr. Duck’s leg has healed, the ducks still come asking for cracked corn treats. We give them a little bit, just to encourage them to forage on this side of the pond and not wander toward the roads in the other direction. It’s not as nutritious for them as what they can find on their own, and you have to make sure none is left on the ground, because mold is dangerous for ducks. But they get very excited about it. I can’t believe the duckling is so big now. That’s him (or her) in front, on the left. Mama duck is watching me. She’s got her baby quacking at me now too. They are a funny bunch.

We cleaned out our flower bed out front, and this little anole has been enjoying the warmth of our solar lamps, which are now exposed more to the sun. He was sitting there sunning himself for a long time. I think I will follow his example, and sit out on the porch with some hand sewing.