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Blue Hug Me Kitten stuffed animal kitten

Light blue fleece Hug Me Kitten, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingI’ve had three blue fleece kittens, waiting for me to finish the details on them, and I almost have all three ready. This is the first, with a red heart.

Light blue fleece Hug Me Kitten, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingI’ve been playing with my pattern, experimenting with the size, making them just a little taller. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

Light blue fleece Hug Me Kitten, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingBertie’s cold is still bad. She looks weepy and sounds snuffly. I hope she feels better soon.

Yesterday, I came across another kitten, orange and white, from the same general location where I picked up our tabby girls. Then today, I found another, the tabby pictured below, in the same spot. She has a serious tail injury. She was circling me, within close range, and meowing at me. She looked like she wanted me to help her, but I couldn’t get my hands on her. I’m hoping she can be trapped, and taken to the vet, but I don’t want to try to catch her myself. I have no safe place to hold her, and I could end up with any number of random cats there, since there are so many, with no clinic appointments for them. The tabby kitten may have to be quarantined if it looks like the injury is the result of a bite wound, as a precaution against rabies. I hope both kittens can be helped.

Tabby kitten living in a feral colony, photo by Elizabeth RuffingI feel so terrible every time I visit that location, because there are always more cats or kittens there, living under crummy conditions. Some were TNR’d (trapped, neutered, vaccinated, and returned), last spring, summer, and early fall, but the clinics are infrequent, and there are so many cats everywhere. Please have your pets spayed and neutered, and please spay/neuter/vaccinate any community cats were you live, or ask a rescue to step in to do it. Pet overpopulation and abandonment are really human problems, which is sad and unfair for the animals and the people who care about them.

It’s hard too, seeing cats and kittens out there who all bear a family resemblance to your own pets, in our case, Bertie and Phoebe. This kitten has Phoebe’s face. I still feel so unhappy when I think about their siblings and other relatives that had to stay. I feel sad I couldn’t take their sister, and I worry about how she is doing. I think about that a lot, wondering how many more litters of kittens there have been, and I hope they are okay, especially with the cold, wet weather.

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A pink bug and a blue bug, Hug Me Bug stuffed animal toys

Pink fleece Hug Me Bug, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingMerry day after Christmas! 🙂 Hope you all had a great weekend. I’m back to making Hug Me Bugs stuffed animal toys today. I just finished this pink one and this blue one. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

Cobalt fleece Hug Me Bug, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingWe took Bertie to the vet today for an antibiotic injection, to help with the congestion she has. She was having some trouble with breathing. Our usual vet was on vacation, and the vet on duty was very worried about trying to examine her. Since the kittens are still overcoming their feral beginnings, vet visits are difficult. Bertie loves to be petted here, but she doesn’t understand strangers touching her. The vet and the tech were both very brave, and managed to give her an injection. No one got hurt either, which was a relief for everyone.

Hopefully she will bounce back quickly now that she has some medicine to help. I hope we get lucky and no more kitties catch the same thing.

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Hug Me Bugs handmade stuffed animals and a birthday

Green polka dot fleece Hug Me Bug, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingI made some fun new Hug Me Bugs this week, in novelty fleece. I also experimented with taking their portraits on bright, cheerful colors.

Pink flowered fleece Hug Me Bug, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingI sewed up bugs with polka dots, flowers, and even pink camouflage.

Pink camouflage fleece Hug Me Bug, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingI will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

Lavender fleece Hug Me Bug, original art toy by Elizabeth RuffingOthers are waiting under trees for Christmas morning, or maybe they’ve been discovered and unwrapped early. I made a pink fleece Hug Me Kitten too. She’s also a gift for someone this weekend.

blue and pink camouflage fleece Hug Me Bugs, medium pink fleece Hug Me Kitten original art toys by Elizabeth RuffingI had some nice gifts of my own this week. My mom made me this beautiful cheesecake for my birthday.

Cheesecake out of the oven, photo by Elizabeth RuffingWe ate it with strawberries on top, after having Chinese food.

Beautiful birthday cheesecake, photo by Elizabeth RuffingI received some fancy cookies, and this super box of 100% cotton Mettler thread. There is plenty of room for even more colors. It came with a nice selection, but I will add some more too.

Mettler 100% cotton thread set in organizer, photo by Elizabeth RuffingA few purples, light blue, and bright light green, and I think I will have a color for just about any fabric.

Mettler 100% cotton thread set in organizer, photo by Elizabeth RuffingHancock Fabrics had a big sale on fleece this week, and so we went to look. I couldn’t resist getting some, even though I have lots of fleece. I wanted to add to my bright colors.

Bright fleece, drying on the porch, photo by Elizabeth RuffingI pre-washed all of it, and put it out to dry on the porch.

Bertie lounging in window, photo by Elizabeth RuffingWe had sleepy, gray weather this week, perfect for napping, and for sitting on the bed, doing my hand sewing. I was beaten to my favorite spot by cats. I kept trying to fit in around them.

Phoebe napping on Berkshire Fluffie Blanket, photo by Elizabeth Ruffing

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Tweed Alley Cat Angel Sock Kittens

Alley Cat Angel Sock Kitten Art Toys by Elizabeth Ruffing, tan and brown tweedI sewed the wings on these two Alley Cat Angel Sock Kittens just in time. I was stuffing wings while I waited for my mom at the dentist’s today, and the only other sock kitten I had available was adopted while we were out. I got my mom to hold these for me while I photographed them. We got lucky. Even though it is overcast this afternoon, we managed to get some cute photos of them.

Alley Cat Angel Sock Kitten Art Toys by Elizabeth Ruffing, light tan tweed, red fleece heartTen dollars from the adoption of these will go a cat rescue, Alley Cats and Angels of NC to help cats and kittens. I have some Hug Me Slugs with a portion going to animal charities available too. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

Alley Cat Angel Sock Kitten Art Toys by Elizabeth Ruffing, brown tweed, yellow fleece heartI always have to wait for winter to find these tweed socks! I grabbed the few pair I found so I can make some more kittens like these. I also have a kind of ridiculously large collection of all kinds of socks, enough for plenty of variety.

Alley Cat Angel Sock Kitten Art Toys by Elizabeth Ruffing, light tan tweed, red fleece heartI’m enjoying the idea of making whatever I feel like making right now. I cut off my custom listings to relax a bit. I think last year, on my birthday weekend, I had a big migraine and was exhausted. I’m feeling very happy to just have hang tags to make, and boxes to pack.

Alley Cat Angel Sock Kitten Art Toys by Elizabeth Ruffing, brown tweed, yellow fleece heartMy art toys come with hang tags that can be personalized with a name, or “For + a recipient’s name”. I’ll still be shipping this week, via Priority Mail, as usual. Priority Mail usually takes about two to three days to arrive.

Alley Cat Angel Sock Kitten Art Toys by Elizabeth Ruffing, hang tagPhoebe and the rest of the kitty crew around here aren’t working too hard. I hope we can find another blanket like this one, in a color my mom likes, for my parents. It really is as soft as Phoebe makes it look.

Phoebe tabby kitten on a fuzzy Fluffie blanket, photo by Elizabeth Ruffing,