A Picture For Oscar ....

A friend shared this pic with me. Her friend had spotted it during a visit to Cornwall and they would have bought it to remember their son but the shop was closed.

My friend asked me if I could help get something like this in the Mum's hands and I said, buy some canvas! 

Measuring the canvas by drawing around it, i sketched out the elements of the composition ...

I used my sketch to cut pieces of fabric out ... 

When all the pieces were cut out it was time to iron them all flat and make them adhesive shapes using iron on interfacing. — at The Raggy Rat.

All the fabric got fixed in place with careful ironing and I threaded my machine with navy thread. I thought that it would be nicer than black. 

I used the thread to draw just inside each shape and draw in some of the details like posts and the lighthouse window. 

Mike helped me staple the back. Then I tucked inside some of my cards and added my label too

Here it is finished. I really enjoyed the sewing part, and also hunting for just the right fabrics too. My friend loves it and the mum who received it was over the moon! — at The Raggy Rat.

Special ...

I shared this drawing on the Facebook Raggy Rat page, and no one knew what it was! It's a very simple looking object, that can be music to your ears, and I have drawn it for the illustrated book I am working on at the moment ...

Here it is in use ...

Happy Easter - Happy Birthday!

some savoury snacks to take with us! Mind you i did not get a photo of Sarah's lovely cake before we all devoured it!



Love Thy Sisters - yes, they do!



Hard work, all this worshipping? Soaking!



HeHe - no matter where you are, bottoms are always funny!

Two Angels!

one angel rat is already winging her way up north ...



both rats kiss goodbye!



i have fun making these tiny wings, and I used pearly buttons to attach them...

special rat girls ...

hello from two very special hooded rats ...



Poppy and Harley like my trolley, too ...



I can often copy a pets markings, and I am about to make a special raggy rat with cute wings!

special husky rat ....

meet chunk and ninja ....

this is chunk



this is ninja



sometimes, it's nice to make something special ...

a new craft project ....

i have two projects on the go at the moment, neither of them are soft toys, but both of them use lovely long fluffy white fuax fur..

here are some WIP pics for one of the projects -
a quick sketch to help me place signiicant features ...



this pattern piece is a strange shape, and here i have fitted a loop of faux suede
fabric with two strong D-rings ...



i have been very carefully scissor sculpting an area in the middle of this piece of fur ... it is secured inside a large embroidery hoop.



these look like ears, of course !



and here are the inside and outsides of the back of this piece ...



what am i making?

Restoration ...

silky, an old bear in need of a good clean up, and some strategic repairs, who belongs to my friend sandra...

who once met with a terrible accident and got a burned foot.

whos stuffing was made of polystyrene balls or bits mixed with foam chips. it was very dirty and there seemed to be lots of it missing. silky was saggy.

i emptied silky partly through the leg hole and partly through the neck seam which had under gone several reapirs, some with black thread, and some with loops of invisible thread and trapping lots of the black dirt from inside silky bear. i turned the bear inside out and hoovered all the seams by hand, soft brush attachment, and on low suck - easy does it! and then i washed the bear in a cold solution of shampoo and a dot of ecover washing up liquid.

apart from this roundish hole where silky was burned, the fabric is in very good condition, lovely to work with and very sound. it is only silky's fur that has matted and worn away in places.

here is the patch i made to repair the leg. matty and daisy are impressed, it is also a scrap of silky, woven backed fabric that i once made a ginger cat out of.

now silky sits taller, and has a plump snout again, and less double chins and spare tyres! i do hope sandra is happy with my work on this dear old friend ...

random image .... coloured rat puppets

once i was asked to make seven magical rats, in fur and fleece, to help tell a story
and here are a selection of them, with their lucky owner ...

i have been commissioned to do many things in my time as the raggy rat lady, and before ...