Lilo
Sewing: How I mended a duvet cover and added ribbons so the duvet wouldn't slip
I’m still working on mending some things that Lilo the cat ate before she was taking medicine for her fabric-eating compulsion. This project is a duvet cover that she nibbled near one of the corners. I sewed a seam around the hole, at an angle that connected the side and bottom (using white thread, below). I trimmed off the excess … Read more
Mending a chewed pillow
A while back I posted about Lilo, the Incredible Fabric-Eating Cat, and how she scarfed down the corner of a throw pillow my mom made for me a a few Christmases ago. After she made it her prey, it looked like this: I let it sit in the mending pile for many months, because I wasn’t sure how to fix it. … Read more
Re-hemming a torn pillowcase
I have a pillowcase that Lilo the cat decided would make a tasty treat back before she started her medication. She chewed the edging in two places. Instead of throwing it away or tossing it in the scrap heap, I decided to fix it. I used a seam ripper to remove the old binding. Then I ironed the fabric and pressed … Read more
The best cat toy ever — and it’s free
After years of searching for the perfect cat toy, I’ve finally found it. It never fails to entice Lilo into a play session, and unlike with most toys, she doesn’t get distracted after two minutes, but keeps playing until she’s tired out. She loves it so much that she’ll play with it by herself if I leave it lying around. … Read more
Free cat toy! (You already have it around the house.)
Lilo thinks it’s too long since she’s been in a blog post. So she asked me to write a thriftiness post featuring one of her favorite forms of prey: The number 2 pencil! If your cat is not familiar with this wonder, just wiggle a pencil in front of its face a few times, or maybe tap it on the … Read more
Growing wheat grass for your cat: an illustrated tutorial
My cat Lilo has a bad habit of eating fabric. One of the things I’ve done to help dissuade her from this habit – besides making sure that every bit of fabric not upholstered to something or currently being worn by a human is out of her reach – is to grow wheat grass for her. She enjoys eating it … Read more
Better photos with free photo apps
If I were a truly awesome blogger, I would take all my photos with an actual camera in natural filtered sunlight. But given that it’s the middle of winter, sunlight isn’t always easy to find when it’s time to take a photo. And it’s easier to upload photos to the web using my phone than with my actual camera, so I use my … Read more
Illustrated tutorial: Making basic, no-frills wrist warmers and hand warmers (fingerless gloves)
Earlier this week I was in my office typing, and as often happens when I do this in the winter, my hands felt stiff and cold. I often wear regular hand braces when typing, which doesn’t have much effect on my hands’ warmth, but I remembered seeing fancier wrist supports on Amazon that offer compression, so I looked them up. The … Read more
Cat behavior: Keeping cats off the counters (and making an almost-free cat perch—with bonus sweet potatoes)
Remember the adorable kitty who usually sits patiently on her perch when it’s dinnertime? While I was away for Christmas, Lilo decided that was silly. The first night I was back, she jumped onto the counter as soon as I started to put her dinner together, nudging my hand and trying to stick her face in the can. Well, that’s … Read more