Saturday, July 25, 2009

The things you do for love.......


We have 4 cats, 3 are grown and 1 is a kitten. The kitten is too small to go outside yet, so it's difficult because the big cats come and go thru a series of small cat doors. One lets them into the garage and another at the top of the stairs lets them into the laundry room area. They come and go as they please which means that we can't let Nosey Parker out of our room at night because we don't want her following them outside. This creates a problem for our oldest dog who likes to wander around at night and go get drinks of water. (She doesn't want the water that we keep in our bathroom for her, nooooo, she wants laundry room water.)
So we had to come up with a way to keep NP in the house, once she figures out what that flappy thing does. Currently she doesn't weigh quite enough to break the magnetic catch at the bottom, but it won't be long as she weighed in at 3 whole pounds on Thursday at the vet's office. Piglet.

I glued velcro strips to the flap. Glued popsicle sticks together and glued corks to them. More velcro on the corks.




One of the corks is so fitting since all 3 of our boys are lunchy. :)

Now at night we can put the "lock" onto the flap and like the roach motel or Hotel California, the big cats can check in but they can't check out. So instead of getting up to let Paisley out for a drink, we'll be getting up to let big cats who feel trapped out of big doors. But at least the baby will be safe in the house!
I made a couple of pillowcases for a friend of mine out of Alexander Henry's "Spotted Owl" fabric in the light aqua blue colorway. They are SO cute! I trimmed them with a Kaffe Fasset Teal Paperweight material and a bit of a pink mottled fabric. I just love these cases! I hate that it costs so much to make a pillowcase, though, especially when the design runs from selvage to selvage, making it take 1.25 yards of just the main fabric to get a decent sized case. Then add in the trim fabric and you need another 1/4 yard, sheesh. Yes, I have some little scraps of fabric left over, but not enough to make anything substantial out of it. And I really hate to whine about the cost of good fabric, but my job has fizzled out and I'm not earning anything these days. And I refuse to buy crappy fabric, I just won't do it. See what a conundrum it is?

I love 'em, though, they came out so cute! This is such great fabric. I want to keep these! lol And I may get to if my friend decides the price is ridiculous. And I wouldn't blame her a bit. Who pays $40 for a pair of pillowcases these days? Not me, that's for sure. It's crazy expensive to sew.

5 comments:

Lynz said...

You count yourself lucky you're not over here, doll! What is $8 a yard to you is £10 a metre here - so about $16!! It's ridiculous but I have to say, those are *gorgeous* pillowcases! I mean, really, REALLY fantabulous. It's got me thinking about all the stuff I could be making. If I win the Lottery, obviously. Heh-heh.

I love your improv-ed DIY! Plus, I am totally singing "like walking in the rain and the snow when there's nowhere to go and you feel just like a part of you is dying, and ......uh.......dum-de-dum-de-dum......something"

Gotta love 10CC (I'm a muso - I love EVERYTHING!!!! *grins*)

Susan said...

Oh, I shall shut up about prices then, Lynz! Good grief! No wonder you shop the internet.

When the boys were younger and it rained, they didn't care, they played out there for hours. Now they're 6 and haven't missed any meals and think rain stinks. They scream at the doors if they're outside and it starts to pour, instead of running around to their entrance we cut in a perfectly good steel door for them, ingrates! lol

".... And you're looking for the answer in her eyes, you think you're gonna break up, then she says she wants to make up. Ewwwwwwww......" rofl I love 10cc. Especially "I'm not in love".

Hey, thanks for the new earworm, I needed a new one, watched Mamma Mia too many times and I've paid for it with musical dreams for 3 nights and earworms every day.

My friend has already paid for the pillowcase, price be damned. lol She's a good girl. Her name is Gabby. Funniest lady in the world. She doesn't really like cats. One day our calico Tess did a little projectile vomiting from the top of the scratching post and poor Gabby got to watch. She called Tess "Linda Blair" from then on. lololol

Lynz said...

Am googling Linda Blair......stand by.....

Lynz said...

Oh, HER!!!!! Couldn't have told you her name - being a devout coward I avoid scarey films and all associated with them! You can make buck-buck noises if you must, I don't care!! *g*

Susan said...

I don't watch them anymore, I have bad dreams all the time as it is and scary movies make them worse. Last night we ALMOST watched a stupid shark movie but I decided against it and I dreamt about swimming with snakes anyway. If you ever hear that I woke up dead, you can bet it was a heart attack from a dream. lol

I'm not buk-bukking at you at all. Well, I am, but I'm doing it from behind my hand while I look in the mirror. :)