Thermal Cat Pads for this Cold, Cold Winter

It is too cold for November in Tennessee. I am freezing; my cats are freezing. So...I decided I could do something for the cats. Thinking about how to make something that would keep them warm and was not electric, I remembered the mylar rescue blankets I had seen used in the Alps while I was living in Switzerland--light weight and heat reflecting. Suddenly a light bulb went off. I have hoarded  collected various quilting supplies as I was figuring out what I wanted to do with quilting. At one point, in a fit of insanity during a Joann's sale about a year ago, I bought way too much Insul-Bright. I thought I was going to make oven mitts. That never happened. Insul-Bright is also heat reflecting and, best of all, quiltable! Yes! 

So today, when I realized that I had to leave the ugly cat window seat as I was rearranging my quilting space from an office with quilting to quilting room with a laptop, I though AH HA - now is the time to test the thermal cat pad.  

Below is the UGLY and DIRTY cat window seat that Willow loves. I swear to you I vacuum it, but the cover, due to installer (me) error, is not removable. 

To make the thermal cover, I pieced together some Christmas charms I won at my quilt guild meeting  yesterday. Added the batting and just quilted the middle part--two rows of charms--(with fabric that is not my favorite as the backing with Insul-Bright as the batting). Found a baby crib tutorial on YouTube, cut 2 1/2 inch corner pieces out of the sides to made it rounded--watch the tutorial--it will make sense then, sewed a channel, added elastic and VOILA!--non-electric thermal cat pad.

I used it to practice free motion quilting. The cats won't care. Here is the back - the Insul-Bright is under the quilted part.

The front before putting over the old dirty cat bed. Yes, I know the dirt is just hidden, but it looks so much nicer.

In the interests of full disclosure, Willow refuses to sit on the thermal cat pad. She just doesn't know how warm it will be. She is upset by the entire furniture-moving-around day, so I will see what tomorrow brings.

Coffee Cup Sleeves

I wanted to make some prizes for my students for a Jeopardy game we were playing to practice culture and vocabulary, so after some searching on Pinterest and YouTube, I decided to make coffee cup sleeves. As law students within walking distance of a Starbucks, there will be lots and lots of caffeine in the year to come, so the sleeves seemed appropriate.

I still have trouble with written patterns - don't understand them at all and end up doing something slightly different every time, so this YouTube tutorial worked for me. Next time I want to try to make the sleeves using elastic and buttons, but velcro works really well also.

After a trial run during which I managed to sew text fabric upside down and discovered that I am useless with a rotary cutter when my template is also "cuttable," I finally managed to figure the sleeves out. Don't laugh...I am learning. So, I stuck to scissors and drew one pattern on the right side and the other and the wrong side of the fabric I had chosen. Worked well for me...I clearly need to practice my rotary cutting skills. Cutting the fabric took longer than sewing the coffee sleeves.

I think the sleeves are cute though and perfect for caffeine-addicted law students.