When the cat and dog require a warm lap, what to do? Grab some sewing and give them the lap. Yes, this project would have gone quicker with the sewing machine, but at the time power was still intermittent and I was also cold.

The project was a new pad for Missy’s cage. None of the pads available to order quite fit right, so I ordered some fleece and some egg crate foam (twin sized because it was the most economical). The zipper came from my stash, and I hand sewed that in first, sewed the sides, then cut two rectangles of foam about an inch smaller than the case. It helped to fold the foam in half to slide it into the case, the zip it up.

This is unprecedented cold for Texas. Griffin usually doesn’t care about the cold, however zero degrees is a whole other matter. He outgrew the sweater I knit for him ages ago, and we needed something so he could at least go out for a couple minutes to do business. So I took some fleece earmarked to make beds and used some to whip him up a coat. I measured around his chest and added a couple inches, then measured from neck to tail. I cut a rectangle using those measurements, then cut leg holes and shaped around the hips. Strips cut along the neckline and chest made it easy to tie the sides together rather than sewing. Within about 10 minutes he had a new coat. He loves his coat!