Done and Done: Situpon for cats

Let's get critical about a finished project.

Kitty and Gato demonstrate proper use of a cat situpon.

Here's a project from the archives. I made this seat protector last summer to keep cat fur off a red chair in my living room.

I refer to it as a situpon, a nod to my days in Girl Scouts. As a Brownie (a second- and third-grade Girl Scout who wore a snappy brown-and-orange uni in the late '80s; I also wore a beanie), I made a situpon for camping of an old vinyl tablecloth stuffed with newspapers and stitched with a shoelace. It kept your rear dry while sitting on logs and rocks. 

The kitty situpon was my first foray into quilting. The fabric is by Liberty of London; the binding is premade from my neighborhood Jo-Ann store; and the batting is inexpensive and lightweight.

I did a little research on best quilting practices and went to it. I didn't get fancy with my quilting stitching; I drew with chalk perpendicular lines two inches apart (using my trusty 2-by-18-inch clear plastic ruler) and stitched over them. Then I washed the situpon to pucker the stitching.

It's not a perfect quilt (my mitering of the corners could be tighter), but it gets the job done. When I'm in a hurry to tidy the living room, I flip the situpon to the side with less cat fur. Ta-da!

Have you revisited any childhood crafts? What is your impression of them now? Did you also rock a brown beanie? Please share!

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