LongCat Heating Pad

In honor of the Put A Cat on it! Sewalong I have kitted myself out in several pieces of cat related apparel/accessories! The toasty flannel/fleece cats pajamas make another appearance on the blog (previously talked about in this post); the newest addition is the thing around my neck, discussed below; and I'm even wearing kitty cat studs by Michelle Chang.

I had every intention of making a swishy sundress with a cat/floral cotton. I even went out to Yardage Town and bought some floaty georgette for the skirt. Alas, I moved to a new apartment in the middle of the month, and so my stuff is everywhere, and the sewing table has yet to be set up. (I don't even know where the fabric I bought for this ended up. And you can see the clear plastic bins of yarn and fabric behind my head which tells you what the state of the apartment is like.) I'll still make the aforementioned dress, but it may not get finished until next spring.



However! I have sewn a new cat related thing!

I saw this pin from Sweet Living Magazine and decided that I had to have that. I sometimes get these horrible neck spasms that leave my neck completely immobile for at least an entire day if not multiple days. Hot washcloths seemed to help a little, but they don't stay hot for very long, and they're wet. This seemed like the perfect solution!

Enter LongCat!



There is no printable template in the magazine, so I had to draw my own. Less artistically inclined people may find this somewhat difficult, but I have two suggestions on that front.

1) Print out a line drawing of a cat in similar pose. Use the slash and spread method - cut the paper in half (head and front feet on one side, tail and back feet on other), insert and tape new piece of paper between the two halves and then connect the lines of the body.

2) Make a more 3D type model (like this DeviantArt user) and make a long rectangle with feet on either end. Then attach a stuffed head and tail after filling the main body.

I ended up using half a yard of quilting cotton and something like 3 pounds of rice?  I took the concept one step further though and added scent to my rice!

I used:
- 8 oz. bottle of imitation vanilla (no need to use authentic since we're just here for the scent)
- cinnamon
- nutmeg

I put all the rice into one of those plastic produce bags from the grocery store, but a big ziploc will work too! Then, I added the whole bottle of vanilla, a bunch of cinnamon, and a couple dashes of nutmeg. Mix the whole bag together by mushing everything around and give it a sniff to see if you want more cinnamon or nutmeg. Once everything is pretty well coated, spread out the rice on a rimmed baking sheet in a thin layer. Now you have to patiently wait for it to dry before you can funnel it into your longcat. You could try putting the baking sheet into the oven to dry but I've never tried it and I didn't want to cook my rice.

Tip: don't over-stuff the longcat; it still needs to be flexible enough to drape around your shoulders and neck.

Longcat is perfect for sore muscles but also just to use as a heating pad when it's cold outside. I usually microwave it for about 2 minutes before using.

I don't usually join sewalongs mostly because I never finish anything in a decent amount of time, but I had to join a cat one!  Thank you to Cation Designs for hosting and always providing us with plenty of Walnut pictures :)

Fleece Lined Cat Pajamas

I made some super cute, super warm pj pants! I just couldn't pass up this cute kitty print, but what else can you make with flannel but pajamas?



I used this tutorial from My Cotton Creations to create some almost adult sized pajama pants.



And now you see what I mean. I had to include the selvage in order to get things to fit (and even then I had to flatten out the crotch curve). Because flannel comes in ~45" width, I would not recommend using this tutorial to make pants for anyone larger than a size 0 in RTW sizing. Believe the other lady when she says this is for kids. However! I might suggest using a cute printed fleece, those come in 60" widths (I think) and JoAnn has a pretty decent selection. That way you can get away with buying fabric for the length of your legs! This means one cut of ~1.5+ yards instead of 2 cuts.



Front and back. I copied some pajama pants I own to get the basic shape of the curves, but I needed to flatten out the front curve and add some to the back.



And a very important visual reminder that was not emphasized enough in the original tutorial (that I did actually forget). Make sure your waistband can stretch! Learn from my mistake! Luckily (unluckily), I am shaped like a flat board, so I can get that waistband over my hips/butt without needing the stretch from the elastic, but it's not as comfy as it could have been.



My waistband with useless elastic. I tucked the fleece into the fold of the waistband and then folded under the flannel so it makes a pretty seam.

And here are some more insides shots in which you can see the fleece lining. This is just your basic anti-pill blizzard fleece, nothing fancy. I underlined the flannel with the fleece which means my seams are still sticking out, but it's not that bad since there's only 3 seams. To finish the seams, for the flannel's sake, I trimmed the flannel so it was enclosed within the fleece in the seam and then just sewed it up since fleece doesn't fray. Easy!



The inseam is one looong seam from cuff to cuff.



And the cuffs, same deal with the waistband with strategic tucking and folding. Turned under twice and top stitched down.



Ahh, the perfect length, just grazing the tops of my feet. Usually, I have to roll my pants up at the waist so they're not crazy long.

Details:
Pattern:  Tutorial from My Cotton Creations
Size: Based off a RTW pair I own

Fabric: 1.5 yards of snuggle flannel and 1/5 yards of anti-pill blizzard fleece

Notions: 1/5" wide elastic

Construction Notes: As mentioned above, don't make the same crotch curve for the front and back, copy the back curve from your other pair, and flatten out the front so it's more of a slanted line than a real J.

Will you make it again? Maybe. While I really only need one pair of kitty pajama pants, I would like to have a pair that fit better. And in my infinite wisdom, I already have flannel and fleece for another pair. However, I may try another pattern.

Final thoughts: Yay kitty pants! These things are fun, don't include upside down prints (grr cheap RTW), and are crazy warm thanks to the fleece. In fact, when I was in Philadelphia, I would wear these around the house at night and actually get too hot and have to change into some shorts instead.

And I'll leave you with this hilarious outtake/really bad posing.



Oh pants, you're so funny.

Sleepy Kitty, purr, purr, purr

Gratuitous kitty picture, anyone?



That is all. Just wanted to share the sleepy sweetness.

Some funny things

Some funny things I captured from my camera phone:

 ..This bell pepper from my lunch that's shaped like a 3. (Maybe I'm the only one that finds this funny)

..This bird taking shelter from the rainy weather inside our building, and no one around me seemed to have noticed or cared.

..This pretty (stray) kitty that I've seen a few times on our street, so friendly! She might not be a stray considering how good she looks, but no collar :(

One of my neighbors, a nice old Chinese man, told me that when he takes his walks in the afternoon, the kitty likes to follow him around.  Isn't that so sweet?

Itty Bitty Crocheted Kitty

I just winged it with making this little guy, I think he turned out pretty cute.  Reminds me a little of Beth's ultra-cute Doodlecats. This kitty is super tiny, only 2 inches tall! I even broke out the black sewing thread to embroider little features and whiskers.

Life has been a little crazy lately.  MCATs are coming up alarmingly quickly, so it's time for me to hit the books pretty hard.

Be still, my heart.

Why must he be so cute?!
Also relevant, this.

Sweet Child O' Mine

Day 24. A smile.

A kitty smile that is. I love this picture because she looks so mischievous (like she is).  She usually looks so sweet and innocent in pictures.

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

This is my kitty.  Isn't she super adorable?  She's a total brat sometimes, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to smush my face into her soft fluffy fur.  (She hates that.)

Day 5. Someone I love.

(Oh yeah, and I might love this goofy kid. I think he's trying to say how much taller he is than me!)

((Come What May from Moulin Rouge))

Wild Thing

Kitties roaming the streets.

Sint Maarten, Dutch West Indies

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sint Maarten, DWI (This kitty lived at the "Blue Bitch Bar" and was lounging on some bar chairs with the customers)

Moar Kittehs

Meet Duke and Daisy.


I love meeting other people's kitties. These two are especially sweet, and Daisy (the tricolor) loves to suck on ears :3 It's especially funny when their owner wants to get their attention/back in the house or whatever, she shakes a little tupperware of chicken or turkey or fish and yells "Chicken!" Apparently, everything is chicken to them.

Today, I abducted some poor guy's cat. True story.

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..
...

Not to worry, he was returned about 5 minutes later.

I was walking home and I saw this cat crouched by the side of a car next to a big canyon. At first, I was thinking "Ooh! Kitty!" and then I thought, "Uh oh, bobcat? That's kind of a big animal." I crouched down, and he came up to be pet, I saw his tags on his collar. His name was Princeton. Naturally, I assumed he had escaped from a nearby house, and his owner must be worried. I figured it was my Good Samaritan duty to call the number and let him know I found his cat outside. [This is mostly because my cat just escaped from my parent's house and she has yet to come back or be returned :( hopefully it wasn't coyotes. but anyways, on with this story.] Had some trouble holding the heavy cat and trying to see the number on his tag since it was pretty dark outside, called the number twice, no answer. I decided to bring the cat back to my place since it was not much further, and I figured I'd keep him there until the owner called. I was almost back to my house when he called and said that he would come get his cat. I thought, "Awesome, I bet this guy is probably happy that I saved his cat from running away, yay me!"

Here's (roughly) how the conversation went:
Him: Oh hey, thanks for finding my cat. When did you find him?
Me: Maybe 10 or 15 minutes ago
Him: Oh, where was he?
Me: Just a little ways up the street from here
Him: Oh cool, yeah, he likes to roam around outside sometimes.
Him [to the cat]: Where were you? I was calling for you :]
Me: Oh sorry, he didn't really look like an outside cat, and I didn't want him to get eaten, soo.. [trail off because now I feel embarrassed]
Him: [in an attempt to make me feel better I assume] Lately, he's been going down into the canyon, and I don't like that, so... thanks!
Me: Ok.....bye!

And that's how I accidentally kidnapped somebody's cat.

Here's some pictures of some kitties to make this post happier.







Edit// To save myself from foot-in-mouth, I think every outdoor cat should wear one of these. Maybe not so snarky, but it's still the right sentiment.

Found via Passive-Agressive Notes