Cat Beds

I have often judged the amount of work I have done over the course of a week by how full my garbage can was. Still, I wished that I could put those bits of fabric somewhere to use without having to store them myself. I am sure that many of us have been wondering why tiny bits of fabric couldn't be recycled. As I tossed out stockings and holey socks, I wondered if there wasn't something that could be done with them? If they were clean, why couldn't the fabric be used for something else?

Reading Victorian mystery novels didn't help, because they mention 'rag pickers', but who wants that job? I haven't heard of a modern job called rag picker or 'reusable fabric engineer'.

A few months ago, Amanda came to the BAMQG meeting and solved my problem! She told us that she and some friends were making cat beds for a local homeless cat shelter. She asked us to save our tiny bits of fabric including worn out clothing (no underwear!) such as t-shirts and sweatshirts. She would use them to fill the cat beds she was making so the beds would be soft and comfy for the cats.

Despite the fact that I had long thought about saving tiny scraps and doing something with them, I thought saving the tiny bits would be too much trouble. Then I remembered

1. all the times I had been reluctant to toss tiny bits;
2. Pam and what what good care she takes of her cats; and
   
3. how lame I was acting.

I got myself a zipper bag and started tossing scraps in.

Thread, schnibbles, bits of batting, and selvedges all go into the cat bed filling bag. I was shocked at how many tiny bits I had and how quickly I filled up a bag. I brought two bags of bits to Amanda the first time she collected them! I wasn't the only one who brought schnibbles. At one meeting Amanda had two paper grocery bags of schnibbles.

Trimmings from quilting, e.g. the edges of the quilt sandwich fill those bags up faster. It is another kind of sorting to do daily and it is hard to find the right spot for the bags.

I am really happy to do this one small thing to make a cat's life better and to help Amanda, who is doing the heavy lifting on this project. The other good thing is that my garbage can is a lot emptier, which means less stuff going to the landfill.

So, Amanda will be collecting schnibbles at the meeting on November 5. Bring your Schnibbles.