Frugal Animal Beds

With four cats and two dogs, I always have animals laying around.  Seriously.  They're just laying around all over the place.  In the past, I've spent money on animal beds, but oftentimes, they were cheap material that couldn't stand up to washing and I need to wash them...a lot.  I needed a better, but still frugal solution.  Two rag towels, an old floor pillow, and twenty minutes later, I had a fully washable dog bed.  It turned out so well that I wanted to make some more animal bed covers, so I headed to Target and bought their $3.50 bath towels and made two more.  (The rag towels worked well, but I didn't take pictures.)  Here is how I did it:

We just use old pillows for animal beds.

Lay one towel on the floor.  Lay your pillow on top of the towel, closer to one edge of the towel.  Leaving the same amount on the opposite edge, cut off the excess.  Don't discard as you'll be making an envelope closure for this pillow.  (Great tutorial on envelope closures here.)

Lay the pillow you're using on one towel.

Now, pick up the pillow, but leave the portion of the towel that had been under the pillow in place.  Take the piece that you've cut off and lay it on top of the towel, matching the cut-edge to the outside edge of your towel.

Putting the finished edge on the inside makes this a quick project.  Your

envelope folds are already finished.

Now you'll take your second towel and cut it to a length that is one half the width of your pillow and lay it on top of the other two pieces of towel that you've already cut, making sure to put the finished edge on the inside of the pillow, just like you did with the second piece.  Pin all three layers together and sew around the outside edge. 

Sew all around the edge...in some places you'll be going through three layers

of towel...just be sure to catch those inside edge.

Flip your pillow cover right side out and insert your pillow.  Lay it on the floor and see who gets it first.



Cat bed?

Dog bed?  Either way, this one is in Buttercup's room now.



Well, either way, cat or dog, it is an animal bed that cost $7 and twenty minutes to make.  It is oh-so-washable.  Just what we need in this menagerie!

If you don't have a serger, you can just zig zag the edges.

Oh, and you'll have extra toweling.  I cut mine into squares, serged the edges, and got myself a bunch of new washcloths.  Not bad for $7!!

Look What I Just Made!

One of the things I wanted to try to make this Valentine's was little decorative towels...dish towels, bar towels, whatever you want to call them.


I found these white towels on clearance at Target and got some remnant fabric at Walmart, plus a little grosgrain ribbon, to embellish them. I traced on to the fabric cookie cutters to make the two different sizes of hearts and hit the sewing machine.

This is my first one, so it isn't perfect, but I'm sure happy with how it turned out. I tried be conscious of how the back would look as I was sewing. I think I did pretty well and the back looks fine. (I used white thread when I attached the ribbon. The contrast was cute.) What do you think?

Christmas Wrap Up...

As New Year's Day fast approaches, Christmas is already becoming a memory. As the deSantafication process continues (oh, come on, didn't you watch the Santa Clause 2?), I'm putting things away and wrapping things up...and filled with warm memories of another terrific holiday. I thought I'd share some of the high points!

On Christmas Eve, the kids decided the three cats needed Christmas presents, too. So, lead by Valiant, they went downstairs and sewed up cat toys on Buttercup's sewing machine. As you can see, Tuck definitely appreciates his. (Notice the little embellishment added to the toy...no plain jane toy for these cats!) Oh, did I mention his little toy is infused with cat nip?

Poor Superman made the mistake of "pinky promising" that he'd make these cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I found this recipe a few years ago and it is amazing. The recipe is actually called Clone of a Cinnabon and, trust me, they are that good! As you can see, he made enough to share with the neighborhood. (Yep, Superman can save the world and COOK! Is it any wonder I thought he was a keeper?)

I made these towels for some friends after seeing this tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew and finding some inexpensive "bar" towels. (What are "bar" towels, anyway?) I wasn't up to the patchwork part, but I did love the fabrics I found, so gave it a go. Didn't they turn out well? Now, picture cute little oven mitts to match, doesn't that sound terrific? Unfortunately, those didn't turn out so well, so they stayed home. Maybe I'll have better luck next year!

Finally, the snow kept us in until Christmas day, so these goodie plates (including those cool Christmas trees) were put together Christmas Eve for Christmas Day delivery. This year's goodie plates were very simple and included these Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies I found via The Mother Load, and these simple vanilla cookies I found in a little holiday cookie book I have. After I snapped this picture, I attached the cinnamon-applesauce gingerbread ornaments we made and we were off. (The cinnamon-applesauce ornaments also have 2 T of white glue and were "iced" with fabric paints, so they last for years!)

Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until blended. Stir in chips with a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough by 1/4 cups at a time onto the prepared sheets. Cookies should be at least 3 inches apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges are lightly

Buttery Almond Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar - divided
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla * (oh, please! Use at least a tablespoon)
3/4 cup chopped almonds (Um, we truly dislike nuts in our baked goods, so I leave these out!)

In a small mixing bow, cream butter and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. Add the flour and vanilla nd mix well. Stir in almonds. Shape into 1-in balls. (Again, I used my Pampered Chef scoop.)

Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown and cookies are set. Cool for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Sprinkle with remaining confectioners' sugar. (I used my shaker.)

There you have it, some of the odds and ends from my first attempt at doing more a bit more of a home-made Christmas. I know I'll do better next year, but I was pretty pleased with what I did do.