TAKE a pair of socks, cut them at the right places, add a few stitches and decorations and you should be left with a beautiful, hand-crafted cat.

Ellen Collins, the wife of a former flight navigator at the RAF, has perfected the art of turning socks into embroidered cats.

She hopes her creations will help raise funds for The Meadows care home in Didcot, where her husband Michael, 79, moved five months ago following a stroke.

The fundraising bid will raise funds towards the home buying a new minibus so that residents can go on outings.

Mrs Collins said: “It takes three-and-a-half hours to make one cat and it’s all hand-stitched – I do it all on my own.

“I cut the socks, sew all the bodies, then I sew all the heads, then they all get stuffed, get their features put on and they get put together. It keeps my mind occupied.”

Mrs Collins, 75, has completed 15 cats so far and has already bought extra socks to make more.

She works on the cats early in the mornings and in the evenings, between taking care of her home and visiting Mr Collins, her husband of 51 years, at The Meadows.

Mrs Collins, who once worked as a sales assistant at a craft shop at the Clarendon Centre in Oxford and retired ten years ago, knows embroidery, crochet, and sometimes makes lace.

She began making cats out of socks years ago thanks to a gift from her daughter.

She said: “Many years ago, my daughter gave me a kit. It came in a little carrier bag, with a pair of socks and instructions for how to go about it. I adapted the pattern a little bit and I went from there.”

A mother of three, Mrs Collins said her husband, who used to fly Vulcans, Nimrods and Comets for the RAF, was very well looked after at The Meadows.

She said: “I’m very happy with the care he’s received. He likes the environment and the staff and he seems to be very settled.”

“They need every penny they can get. It would be so nice if they could afford their own transport to take the residents on outings.”

Asked what he thought of his wife’s hobby, Mr Collins said: “She is always fiddling at something.”

The cats will be on sale at The Meadows on November 20, from 11am-3pm.