How to make a window seat cushion and cover for a cat

rI just finished making the curtains for the craft room and had about a metre or so of fabric left over. I love the new look of the windows, but one thing still really bugged me, You can see it here in this picture taken just after the windows were dressed.

Miss Lumikki loves sleeping on the window sill, above the radiator. She has a bright pink fleece blanket that she loves which my sister's children brought off one of their long haul flights home. Sadly, florescent pink doesn't really suit my color scheme. Lumikki is mostly Maine Coon, so she's quite a substantial young lady and tends to overlap most pillows that we give her.

Luckily I had a bright idea! With left over fabric, and some of the offcuts of foam from making the dining room chair, I had the makings of a perfect kitty cushion for a Maine Coon princess.

First I measured up the windowsill to get the right depth & width. I had two different types of offcut foam - one which was quite tightly compressed, and was used for the top covering over the chair seat, and a more fuzzy filler which is generally used for quilting. I used the more compressed foam for the core and the quilting filler as the surrounding shaping and glued them loosely together using a hot glue gun.

I measured up enough fabric to cover the cushion all over, allowed for seam allowance, and started by sewing all the seams. I pinned the fabric so that it joined in the middle of the base then sewed the ends together with the fabric inside out. I then inverted the material back to the right way round and hand sewed the edges of the join together on both edges to reduce the size of the entrance hole. A couple of hooks and eyes later, filling the cover with the cushion pad that I made and we have a new cat cushion for Lumikki to stretch out in comfort on.

Lastly : I promise I didn't pose her for either shot : she just loves hanging a paw out in the rising warmth of the radiator!

The differences between cats and dogs - & Louie

Most pet owners will empathise with the traditional differences between cats and dogs : a dog is a (generally) willing slave, following you about, permanently on the look out for scavengable bits of food, randomly coating you with glutinous, gooey, slime; and vocally expressing its view on life, the universe, and everything. A cat, on the other hand, treats you as its slave : you *will* provide it with tasty food at the appropriate time, it has ownership of all the warm cosy locations in the house, it ignores you completely unless it desires a scratch or some additional padding to curl up on, and generally has minimal desire to converse with you other than to inform you that you have offended in some form.

And then there is Louie the Cat. He is fixated in being as close to you as possible at all times (subject to the cat proviso of warm comfy spot available) and achieves this by selecting every possible awkward location to settle down in - between you and the keyboard, on you in just such a way that his tail obscures the centre of the t.v., on top of the crafting box *just* when you need access to something inside it. He is omnipresent (when food is around, with whiskers trembling just millimetres from your fork) and vocally demanding in expressing a continuous opinion on the world...particularly the disgraceful lack of a continuous stream of treats. And as for the goop factor, his finger chewing fetish ensures that almost everything you wear gets coated in a fine layer of cat slime.

Today, Louie has been ousted from his favourite seat on top of my PC. Previously, I had a lovely smooth expanse of  toasty heated black plastic, in perfect reach to allow a tentative claw to be inserted into my kneecap on a regular basis. This weekend, I finally got around to replacing the PC case - (incidently enabling me to switch the PC on and off as a result) and went for a case with two large mesh covered fans on the top. Will he decide that the warm air fluffing his fur is a price worth paying to continue his knee-accupuncture? Only time will tell.

Silent Protest

Louie doesn't like it if I use the computer, and ignore him. As a result he's taken up a silent protest. Yes, this was taken from over my shoulder, and this is my normal view when interacting with the PC.

Levitating cat....or not

Louie needs fingers. I've spoken earlier in the blog about his bizarre requirement to chew methodically through your fingers first thing in the morning, but I think, today took the biscuit.

Today, he couldn't wait for me to get my morning coffee, so in a desperate attempt to multitask, I hoisted (yes, hoisted, he's a BIG cat)  him up into my arms, with his  rear paws and butt cradled in my left hand and his back against my left arm and crook of elbow so I could feed him fingers inbetwixt pushing buttons on the coffee maker.

Apparently, the length of time it takes to push a button is too long to be bereft of fingers. Before I knew it, he'd managed to invert himself in an attempt to simultaneously balance on and chew the fingers of my left hand.

<facepalm> or should that be <faceplant>?

I wish, I wish I'd had a camera. Louie is currently nursing his wounded dignity on a cushion on top of my crafting box next to the radiator. Fingers no longer have priority in his world.

Cat chaos.

Louie has taken a great liking to sitting on top of my pc. It keeps him warm, and he gets to jab me in the leg with a claw when he wants. The PC however, is not so keen : the graphics card regularly overheats once or twice a day and crashes now. In an attempt to save my technology, I've taken to nudging Louie off when I notice him. He has, however, discovered an even better way to interfere with computer usage : he now comes and sits between the keyboard and me, with a languid claw monitoring mouse usage........

Knitting the threads of life

So, I've decided to try and dent my craft stash some : I have probably exceeded 'SABLE' (stash accumulated beyond life expectancy) but since I'm still unable to stop myself oooooohing and pulling out the wallet at junk sales, craft stores, and miscellaneous thrift shops, it's time to do something about utilising excess materials.

My knitting skills have never been extreme - generally maintaining the right level of tension on the thread has been an issue, with jumpers turning out significantly looser and baggier than intended - so I've eased myself back into it with a basic scarf, out of a lovely 'eyelash' wool in red and gold shades.

Minor hiccup number one : I clearly haven't purchased enough wool when I bought it on spec, and the balls have long lost their identifying labels. Cue an extended search of UK and US knitting and yarn shops in a desperate attempt to try and match the wool. Finally identified through a process of reduction ( I don't recognise any of those brands, it's definitely 'eyelash wool', it's classed as 'fashion wool ) I managed to find the brand and type but, since fashion wools turn around almost as fast as fashion clothing, no shop continued to stock the precise color. However, eBay to the rescue - sourced 2 more balls from a seller and think I may just have enough!

Shibari OCD cat life

Its been a long break. Life kinda got in the way, and somehow I just didn't have the inspiration to write a blog. Most of the thoughts I was thinking weren't really printable, and job applications have a monotony and routine that are uniquely depressing in their own right. Maybe one day, I'll write my "how to apply to jobs" page, but I don't find it interesting whilst I'm in the middle of it. Generally it's a cycle of 'wow, I got a cool call from an agent/interview request/positive feedback' followed by extended silence then 'oh, sorry, you don't have the experience in 'n' industry ( no, really? didn't you read my CV before you made me spend time and money on interviews????)

Still no job, but I've got myself back into crafting and that's given me a bit of a buzz about life again. So I think the 'nomady' will continue - a bit less about travel, and a bit more about whacky wonderful life. As a taster to start the day, let me introduce you to Louie.


Louie is a slightly overweight, extremely verbose, OCD cat that I spend a lot of time with at the moment. He starts the day, with an extended demand to chew on fingers - not just the tips, but a desperate vertical guzzle that maximises his ability to fit the totality of your finger in his craw. And as each finger is duly drooled and munched on, he decides in his own particular fashion as to which finger he will go for next. I say OCD, because if you attempt to disrupt his sequencing ( and it's pretty much identical every morning) he gets extremely miffed and expresses his displeasure in verbose and strident terms. So my morning routine at the moment is two step : desperately dodge cat whilst acquiring coffee, followed by submitting to a feline manicure with coffee drip on hand.

I've been trying to find a way to encourage Louie to exercise a bit more, but as he lives in a 3rd floor flat by a major road intersection, outdoor freedom is not really an option. With a bit of trawling around, I came up with some bits of rope and decided to try some feline shibari to make a harness. Unsurprisingly, Louie was unimpressed initially - but as soon as he got outside, he decided that cats are just as capable as dogs at going for walks.

Louie, the Shibari cat!

Madonna Mia

Today, I fell in love with two Italians - they are both very cute and fluffy, and had very round and full bellies having stuffed themselves on cat biscuits. They also slept very soundly, apart from occasional mouse-disembowling attempts.

Today, I attained a new status with my travelling partners - I am now officially the Madonna of the Kittens.