Things To Make & Do - Catnip Toy

OK, so it's official I have gone cat crazy!

We recently bought a cat house so that Beau has somewhere to shelter from the rain when he refuses to come in. I think it's certainly twee enough to classify us both (the BF is as smitten as I am) as cat mad, to be honest, it was on offer at a bargain price to good to refuse, so the possible embarrassment was overlooked, and Beau loves it so it's worth it!


My phone is full of pictures (as you can see), my curtains and clothes are covered in fur, my arms are littered with bite marks (not obeying orders quick enough) and now Beau has left his mark on my crafting too! I did some 'light' stash busting (in other words I barely made a dent) a couple of weekends ago by making a couple of catnip bags and a little cushion for him to sleep soundly in his favourite spot, on the dresser in front of our living room window. The dresser incidentally was supposed to be my sewing table, but I've been firmly relegated to the kitchen, as my sewing distracts him from his favourite hobby of keeping an eye on the goings on in the street!

CATNIP POUCH TOY

(Stash Buster)

Ingredients: 

• Scraps of Natural fibre fabric
• Poly fiber Stuffing- I washed an old cushion which had lost its oomph
• Cotton thread
• Cat Nip - Mine was Cosmic Catnip from Ebay

Tip: When the pouch starts to loose its power, seal it up in a jiffy bag with some loose catnip for a few days. Be careful to shake off as much as you can of the dried flakes, otherwise, you'll have one delirious but sneezy kitty!

I made his window cushion in exactly the same way as the catnip pouches, from the fleece I had left over from the Peppa and George cushions I made a few years back. I think it's safe to say he likes them!

It's a hard life!

As well as making these for Beau, I also made some catnip mice for a local cat shelter. I was prompted to do this by the lovely Lisa's from SnoodleBug, who posted just before Christmas an appeal for knitters and sewers to make cat nip toys for shelter cats. Considering the vast quantities of yarn and fabric I have, I knew it was something I wanted to help with, though it took me a while to find the time, I have now made my first batch, all with the help of Beau, naturally!

"What do you mean there not all mine?"

The sewing pattern I used was based on one by Connie Crawley found here, (there is also a great knitting pattern version found at The Guardian). To make as many mice as possible in the time I had, I needed to make some time saving alterations. I omitted the base piece (so essentially I cut a heart shape out of fabric) added a plaited wool tail, knotted both ends to the bottom and then sewed around the open end catching in the tail and leaving a small gap on the top seam for turning and stuffing. I decided against adding ears and eyes as I feared they may come off too easily, especially if they get attacked the way Beau attacks his.

They are a much simpler version, not as pretty but they do the job and that's the main thing! We took them over to our local shelter The Scratching Post along with some cans of food our fussy boots won't eat (he actually went on a hunger strike for two days rather than eat the Tesco canned food) and the scratching post he refuses to use, as he much prefers to sink his claws into the sofa. They were really grateful and were keen to offer us another cat*, sadly Beau does not mix well with other kitties (or us most days) so we had to decline. We were told that they currently have 52 cats in the shelter, which made me feel very sad, but I have resolved to make more toys over the next few months to hopefully make their short stay in the shelter a little more enjoyable.

Wendy x

*If we did get another cat I'm harbouring a secret (not so secret now) desire to call it Bill, so that I could call out "BILL, BEAU", I think it would be hilarious...just me then, OK :)