Saturday, July 24, 2010

A Tale of Two Tunnels

My most recent sewing projects have been geared toward our two new kittens, Rosie and Angus.
They are so playful together, love to hide and spring out at each other, and often
chase each other at breakneck speed.
I thought a tunnel would be a fun for them.
My first effort was a tube made from outdoor canvas, with embroidery hoops sewn into each end.
To keep the tube open, I sewed dowels along the long sides.
The kitties loved it, made it roll around the floor and had a few comical encounters inside.
But Rosie, I swear, is part flying squirrel, and she became infatuated with leaping from
the table onto the tube, breaking the dowels and squashing the tunnel.
Before too long it was totally demolished!
I think I have a bit of my father in me, because I then became determined to make a durable tunnel!
Dad was forever "inventing" things around the house, and making existing things even better!
 
This time I started with a fleece covered pad, wrapped with some strong corrugated cardboard.
I decided to use large pieces of plastic canvas, reinforced with felt, to cover the top. All of this was 
held together with hot glue and duct tape. Does it sound like I have too much time on my hands?

Here is Rosie inspecting the finished result.

Why go inside when you can squash the top?

C'mon, Angus, let's play ON TOP of the tunnel!!
Oh, look! I just discovered that there is an INSIDE to this thing!
If I lie on my back I can pull myself along the tunnel by clawing the plastic canvas!
We'll see how long this one lasts!!!

10 comments:

Libby Fife said...

I love the one of the kitty inside the tunnel on its' back. Is that Rosie or Angus? I can't tell from the photo:)

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? LOL!

Terri Stegmiller said...

Oh you are such a good kitty mom! I'm sure these two provide hours of entertainment. I'd much rather watch kittens at play than television.

Carla Doyle said...

I love these they are brilliant, and I have 2 Kittys sat on my knee now looking very jealously at the screen....

Karen L R said...

looks like summertime bliss, judy! give 'em a scritchy scratch for me please!

She Who Doodles said...

too cute.

Shell said...

Aw, these are sweet projects. Seems like Angus and Rosie love it too.

Jillayne said...

I am thinking I will have to try one of those fabric tunnel/tubes for our two cats. They get bored in the heat and that might be just the thing to get them up and moving!

Carrie P. said...

That is pretty cool. When we had cats they love playing in the paper bags when we brought groceries home. It was so much fun to watch them play.

Nan and =^..^= said...

Your kitties are so adorable and comical and I love the creative playthings you have made for them and the way they use them (or should I say destroy them?)

quiltcat said...

What lucky kitties to have such a clever and inventive mom! It's really funny how they first used the top of the new tube as a hammock. (I'm glad they had so much fun playing with both tubes...nothing more frustrating than making a toy for the kids and them not wanting anything to do with it.)