Cat art dolls, figurines, stuffed animal plush toys, miniatures, sculpture, fine art, doll clothing
These are my interpretations of the equality signs that are all over Facebook today. My two stuffed toy slugs are equal, even if they don’t quite form an equal sign.
My bunny ears are more like it.
Here’s to equality for everyone, and compassion for all living beings.
I finally got to the cardiologist, and had some tests done. It was sure stressful waiting for the two weeks for my appointment, but it turned out okay. My heart is beating irregularly, but it is structurally normal, which means the improvising it is doing is mostly just an annoyance. It is something I’ll have to get used to, even though it feels weird. It can be set off by anything that throws your body off, like fatigue or stress. Unfortunately, even normal amounts of tension can get it going. I have to work on getting more rest. The cardiologist said if it acts up, doing some exercise and getting my heart rate up can help.
I’m just waiting for some blood work to come back, to make sure I’m not anemic, that my electrolytes and magnesium are in balance, and that my thyroid is fine. I don’t expect any problems with that. The lab technician gave me this pinwheel on my way out. I was so relieved at the time. I’m keeping it as a memento on my desk as a reminder.
I got to see my heart beating on the echo-cardiogram, which I thought was the coolest thing. I wish I had a video. I really do. The valves clap together like little hands, so precisely. They look like the furry hands of Dr Seuss’ characters. It’s amazing to watch. There is something very reassuring about seeing that and thinking about it.
I still feel stressed over the whole thing, which is giving me pins and needles, something else that acts up when I feel tension. Hopefully I will calm down more as the days go by and I’ll get used to the idea.
I tried to get some Easter bunnies made, but people keep adopting Hug Me Slugs for Easter. So, I guess it is okay that I didn’t get my stuffed animal Hug Me Bunnies posted yet. I do have Hug Me Bunnies, if anyone is looking for one. This slug is a gift and the customer asked if I could gift wrap her. I have lots of gift bags. I seem to favor the ones with butterflies on them.
I have plans to make a lot of different toys, but I end up making slugs because people ask for them. I’m glad people enjoy them. I think I forgot to mention before that I passed my 500th toy sale.
I’m trying to rest more when I need to, but I’m also trying to get things done. I pre-washed more fabrics today, and I have stacks of fleece to sew into stuffed animals.
I, at long last, potted my poor African violet leaf that has been waiting in a coffee cup on my desk. I have more violets to re-pot.
I hope to get around to cleaning out the flower bed in front of the porch, before more flowers poke through, but that seems like a lot right now. I have some catching up to do, with rest and with projects both.
The camellias are in bloom. They are so pretty. I picked this bloom up from the ground on our way back from a walk recently.
For the past couple of days, the weather has been dreary. The kitties responded by piling together on my bed for napping. I thought it was so cute the way they lined up in a cuddle chain. That is Phoebe, the shyest of the group, sandwiching herself between two friends.
People sometimes ask me to print messages that don’t quite fit on the front of the hang tags for my toys, and so I redesigned my tags to make room for personalized messages. I made them so they now fold in half, and have a reverse side. They hang lower so the different colored hearts are more visible as well.
This one has a poem about slugs by Judy Darley on the back.
The poem is called “Instructions on How to Kiss a Slug” and it goes like this:
Close your eyes, and hold your nose,
Pretend you’re just smelling a rose.
Purse your mouth, tight and round,
Bend down almost to the ground.
Ignore the slime, kiss him quick,
And don’t forget to wipe your lips!
My customer asked me to include this poem with her gift of this Hug Me Slug for her grandchild. I thought it would be nice to have her message right on the tag, and so I printed it on the back.
Now I don’t have to mess around gluing anything. I can print my tags, slip them into vinyl sleeves, and tie them onto the toys, without having to wait for the glue to set.
I just heard another story, from a lady who is sending one of my Hug Me Slugs as a gift, about one of my toys being passed around and admired at party. She saw him at a baby shower. She said the slug was a huge hit, and there was a baby who loved it. I love hearing things like that.
Hope everyone had a nice Saint Patrick’s Day. These green Hug Me Slugs all celebrated. We had cake. I don’t think the slugs had any cake though.
We have several cats who come to visit on our porch. I don’t usually feed them, but one looked like he needed some plumping up. This is our “visitors” jar, easy to find in dim light, with or without glasses.
The cats have decided suddenly that they all love this one catnip toy kicker that they weren’t especially interested in before. It is about 3 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches and it is filled with just catnip. I had one out on the porch. It was demolished quickly. I have to take some time to make a stash of them.
I’m trying not to be too nervous while I wait to see the cardiologist later this week. My heart seems to calm down, and then I feel it improvising again. I’m staying close to home until I feel more secure about taking trips by myself. Waiting to see what is going on is hard. Hopefully I will feel relieved once I have more information.
It’s been a long time since I updated my blog. I have a few new fleece stuffed animal toys, three coral Hug Me Bunnies and two sunny daffodil yellow Hug Me Slugs.
I’ve gotten some very sweet photos of my toys in their new homes. This sock kitten was a first birthday present from a little girl to her baby sister. There were little ones at the party passing the kitten around and hugging her.
This real kitty loves to cuddle with the Hug Me Slug her mom adopted. She takes naps with him.
I’ve been trying to get some Easter bunny toys ready, in pretty pastel colors. I’m not sure I’ll have them posted by then, but if anyone would like one of the colors below for Easter, let me know. We will put them up in our Ruffing’s shop. I’ll add more as I get them sewn and photographed.
I’ve been struggling with fatigue lately, which makes me feel so slow. I try to keep up a steady pace, and rest when I need to. Over the past two years, I’ve felt slower, and in the past couple of months, I started noticing I had an irregular heartbeat. I didn’t want to make too much of it, and kept hoping it would pass. It mostly bothered me in the evening, and when I was lying down.
I was at sewing and quilting club, on Friday morning last week, and my heart started acting up more than usual, which is probably a good thing, because I was able to get over to a nearby Urgent Care office to have an EKG while it was misbehaving, and they were able to record it. I was having a lot of PVC’s in succession. I have to wait a little while for an appointment with a cardiologist, but hopefully, there won’t be any underlying issues.
It takes some adjusting to. I try to remember to practice breathing more deeply to relax, and I try to stay more propped up when I lie down so it doesn’t bother me as much. I’m watching my diet more, and taking supplements again. I’m trying to take it easy, while I wait for more information. It’s on my mind a lot, which is distracting. My aunt send me a link to a site where people share their experiences with PVC’s, and it helped to read what other people were feeling. It’s kind of like having a bullfrog in my chest who comes out with a random, “Ribbit!” at any time. If I can feel it beating, it gives the impression of pausing frequently, although it is really just the ventricle beating at the wrong time. So, I’m kind of plodding along for now, and feeling somewhat tense.
I have my kitty assistants always offering to help my get my sewing done, which reminds me, I need to make some more catnip toys.
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