Go Quackers for Team GB Ruffle Snuffle Ducks!

I'm pleased to announce another great collaboration with www.rufflesnuffle.com Dolly the French bulldog and her human Sarah came up with the idea for some patriotic pooch toys. And its certainly been the weather for ducks this British Summer! Below is an account of the work in progress that goes into making the 'paddling' of ducks a squeaky toy reality, with some help from my little furry assistant Heidi the Border Terrier.

Pictured above (top) are the initial stages of the duck toy creation. After designing the template I set to work ironing the fabric (my least favourite part of any project!) and then drawing round the shapes before marking out the area designated for the Ruffle Snuffle labels. More ironing follows to apply the labels on the front sides. Next its on to the sewing machine to firmly fix the labels on as these are the first thing a dog will try to pull off! once these stages have been completed its time to match the ducks to their backing fleece fabric-a lovely co-ordinating deep red. Back on my retro inherited machine to sew round each duck shape (36 in all) and things are starting to come together nicely.

Using my sharpest embroidery scissors (the ones I don't let my husband cut paper with!) the next step is to cut away the excess fabric from each duck followed by the essential 'notching' around the curved parts so that the fabrics will lie flat once turned the right way out.

Just look at that little face! My furry assistant Heidi goes slightly crazy at the stuffing and inserting the plastic squeaker stage as that's usually something she does to toys in reverse. She wasn't very well at this point and I had to delay this process one day, as she'd finally gone to sleep after 5 very long days and nights without sleep following an operation, and I just didn't want to wake her up. Better now she has the prototype duck to play with!