eviefae | In five months, I did almost nothing

My muse, like many a muse, is mood dependent. With Triss so ill, I really didn't get much done over Winter. The one thing I did make was a new kitty bed for her. I started out taking photos of it during construction, but failed to post about it at all, and then ended up failing to take photos after a bit too. Too depressing. It's still depressing, but I'm starting to feel a bit more like making things again. And that makes me think I should update.

I made a cat bed once before - it's a pretty cool cat bed, in the shape of a giant fish - but it lives at my parent's house, because it's much too small for a cat of Triss's stature. Although it was entertaining seeing her try to climb in (think fish flopping around trying to eat cat!) it didn't really work, so I'd meant for a long time to make her a cat bed more her size. I bought a Butterick pattern that was sized for both cats and small dogs, and went with the small dog size.

I ran into trouble almost immediately - the foam I needed for the bed proved very elusive. After some flopping around of my own I got fed up with it, and decided to just stuff a round cushion myself for the base and use sandwiches of needle-punch & standard batting to give the bed its shape.

Triss was enthusiastic about the project almost immediately. It was quite gratifying to see how quickly she took to the cushion I'd hand made for her - I'd hadn't even finished it when this picture was taken, if you look closely you can see the stuffing trying to climb out. You can see the materials for the rest of the bed in the foreground.

I kept expecting her to get sick of it - but a cover for the cushion didn't diminish her love for it. It was soon well and truly coated in orangey-white fluff balls.

Triss even liked the batting before it was cut out! Aww. Baby-kitty tunnel.

The pieces of the rest of the bed didn't really grab her attention at all, though...

...Right up until I was trying to sew them together, when she decided that she'd just move in before it was really finished. I was trying to pin the next panel in place!

A little later that evening, she was pretty keen on it even minus the front tunnel entrance. By now I was really paranoid that at some point a stage of sewing on this project would ruin it for her, and she'd turn up her nose at what had previously been quite the hit. I attached the tunnel, she still liked it... But my cushion proved to be too big. Over enthusiastic stuffing + a little too much height on the sides = fail. Ooops.

I put a folded-up blankie for her inside the igloo and she loved it. I don't have any photos of her in it at this stage because by this point it was all just too sad. She decided she liked the igloo much more than the cushion, and so I didn't feel so bad about taking it away to change it, and eventually shrank it down to fit. She still liked it with the cushion inside, but stubbornly used it mostly when I wasn't home! That's actually a compliment I suppose - when I was home, she tended to stick close by.

The finished igloo (photographed just a few minutes ago) - I know it looks like the cushion is blocking the entrance, but it's just very fluffy. It squishes down plenty with a cat on it. Which, of course, it doesn't have now. I hope my next kitties like it as much as Triss did.

God, I miss my beautiful kitty. :(