**Spooky Crafting With Cats** **RERUN ~ PART THREE** How We Made A Pumpkin Pouffe and Some Other Really Fun Pumpkin Inspired Stuff

Welcome to

Supurr Spooky Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for Part Three of our Halloween Crafting with Cats Rerun. Mew know we have so much fun making all this stuff, and we hope mew enjoy seeing it!

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, stop by the Crafting with Cats Page and see all our previous projects. Mew don't have to be an expert in anything to make any of them.  Plus, we offer workarounds and no-sew projects for those who don't like to sew.

Previous Halloween Crafting Posts

Part One ~ Bertie the Bat, Yummy Plumpkin Tartes and the Purple Peril Kicker

Part Two ~ Spooky Haunted House + Catnip Pumpkin Toys

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**A quick note before we begin**

All Crafting with Cats ideas and creations are of our own design, and we share them for purrsonal/home use only.

  So purrlease do not copy for commercial/resale purrposes.

Copyright ©BionicBasil®

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TODAY WE'RE MAKING:

Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaf Cushions and Catnip Stalk Kicker Toy ~ OH YEAH! 

Cute Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Halloween Bandanas

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Collar 

First up is the 

Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Catnip Stalk Kicker Toy

What Mew Will Need:

Pumpkin - Orange faux fur - our piece was 1m x 1.5m 

stuffing/wadding - we used the filling from 2 x 18" square cushions we had spare

Leaves - green fabric, wadding, catnip

Stalk - 2 x beige felt squares, wadding, catnip

threads - orange, brown and green

needle, scissors, chalk, tape measure

sewing machine or mew could hand sew if mew wanted

Optional Cat/s ~ Parsley, Smooch and Fudge were today's Craft Room Snoopervisors

TOP TIP

As we've never made a pumpkin before, instead of cutting into the faux fur straight away, we made a toile, aka mock-up of the pumpkin to a: see if the pattern worked and b: check that it was the right size - so if in doubt always make toile out of some old fabric or calico first, as then if it doesn't work mew've not wasted your expensive fabric.

1.  Cut 6 x ellipse shape; ours were approx 12" wide by 27" long.

2. Pin edges together and sew each panel in turn.  On the last panels to be sewn, leave a 6" - 8" gap to turn right sides out before stuffing.

3. Check size suitability - Parsley was on paw for this step, and he said it was purrfect.

4. Stuff to check the overall shape and finished size.

So now that we're happy with the size, plumpness and dimensions, etc...  we took the faux fur to make our pumpkin - mew don't have to make a toile unless mew want a bigger or smaller version than ours and to test it with your pet.

1. to 4. Same steps as above on toile: cut, pin right sides together, sew and repeat with all panels, leaving a gap on the last seam.

5. Turn right-sides out.

6. Begin to stuff with the wadding.

7. Shape your pumpkin as you stuff until mew're happy with the desired amount of plumpness.  We didn't over-stuff ours as we wanted it to be nicely spongy without being too full.  Hand stitch the final part of the seam closed.

8. This is how your finished pumpkin should look.

Optional Catnip Leaf Cushions and Catnip Stalk Kicker Toy

We had a look online as to the shape of a pumpkin leaf and drew straight on the fabric freehand. Our leaves are approx 9" x 9"

1.  We cut 4 pieces of some old green curtain fabric we had in stock from about 1999, but mew could use felt squares or any cotton fabric.

2. & 3.  We used the same technique as we did with our Snuggle Mats to sew the wadding in place: Wadding on the top and the two green leaves underneath with right sides together, and stitched all the way around leaving about 4" - 5" gap to turn right-sides out.

4. Turn right sides out and stuff with as much catnip as mew want, and hand-sew the final part of the seam together.  We grow our own organic catnip, so we used loads, as we think more is better!

And mew should now have something that looks like this. Many apologies for the cat fur, crumpledness, drool and teeth marks; we got a little carried away before the P.A. could take a picture - OOPS! MOL!!

Next, we made the stalk.

1. Take your first felt square as modelled by Smooch.

2.  Fold the edge over approx 1" and stitch the entire length - on the shorter side of the square - to create a ridge effect.

3. & 4.  Repeat until mew have something like this.

5. Fold felt in half ridge sides together, and draw stalk shape and sew.

6.  Cut excess felt away.

7. Turn ridge sides out.

8. Stuff with catnip and wadding to your desired plumpness.

9. Measure the diameter of the stalk and cut a right-sized circle from the remaining felt sheet, as modelled by Fudge.

10. & 11. Check it fits and hand-stitch all the way around.

12. Mew should now have something that looks like a pumpkin stalk.

After all of that, put it all together mew should now have something that looks like this! 

OMC, IT'S FLUFFING EPICALLY EPIC! MOL

Talk about an ALL-IN-ONE solution for snoozing, playing and recreational nip activities; this is beyond purrfection, and let's see who loved it the best! MOL

Well, we think the photo speaks for itself, everypawdy loved it!

Cute Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Halloween Bandanas

What mew will need:

Fabric - we used cat-themed Halloween fat quarters

Mini pom pom trim in orange

Cotton thread; orange and colours to match your fabric

Quick-release collar safety collar

1. This is our fabric; isn't it epic?

2. Cut a triangle-shaped pattern with a straight edge at the top on the sides - this is for the collar to go through. Our pattern dimensions are: 9.5" across the top edge and from the top to the point at the bottom it's 4.5" including a 0.5" seam allowance.

3. Cut 2 pieces of each fabric.

4.  Fold over and sew a small straight edge with a zigzag stitch. Repeat on all other pieces of fabric, so in our case we stitched 8 x edges.

5. & 6.  Place the right sides together and stitch from the bottom of the zigzag seam along to the pointy bit and back up the other side, finishing at the zigzag stitching. Then sew across the straight top edge, leaving a small gap to turn right sides out, as it would be rather fiddly to try and turn it right side out where the collar holes are.

7. Turn right sides out and press.

8. Mew should now have something that looks like this.

9. & 10. Take your pom pom trim and sew it around the bottom edge. 

11. Topstitch across the top straight edge to finish off the seam.

12.  Thread your collars through the holes and mew should now have at least one mega, funky bandana like this.

Don't Fudge and Melvyn look epically EPIC?

**SAFETY NOTE**

Never leave your cat alone wearing a bandanna or clothes of any description.

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Collar 

What mew will need:

1 x collar - quick-release safety type is our fav

Some orange pom poms approx 1" size

  

 Non-toxic glue and/or glue gun

1.  Lay the collar out and see how many pom poms are required.

2.  Start gluing pom-poms onto the collar.

 3.  Continue gluing, leaving the clasp area free.

4. It should now look like an oversized orange caterpillar! MOL

Find a willing kitty model and voila; one pumpkin collar, looking epically epic on our very own Parsley who was the purrfect choice to wear this fun creation.

Doesn't Parsley look SPOOKTACULAR?

**SAFETY NOTE**

Periodically check for loose pom poms, and don't leave your kitty unattended while wearing them.

And that furiends furry sadly brings us to the end of our third Halloween Crafting with Cats Rerun. We do hope mew liked it, and feel free to post your pawesome crafty pics on our Facebook page at:

Bionic Basil & The B Team @Facebook

Amber will be back tomorrow with another furbulous book review, so we do hope mew can join us then.

Spooky purrs

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team

Follow Us @BionicBasil®  at Instacat, Twitter and Facebook

Disclaimer:

We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable fur any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, crafting addictions, glue on cats, paper cuts, misplaced pins and needles, cats stealing your supplies, broken scissors, cat fur stuck on your projects, or your project not turning out as planned.  By using this information you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com

**TERRIFYING TALES FROM BBHQ** A Spooky Tail on All Hallows' Eve with Basil and The B Team

Happy Halloween fluffies

Welcome to BBHQ on this most spooky of spookiest days, and in true time-honoured BBHQ tradition, today we are sharing a rerun of our epically epic terrifying tale featuring lots of spooky stuff, including copious amounts of extra strong catnip, mind-bending cocktails formulated by Smooch, Snowie stuck up in the ceiling, plus 7 out of 10 B Team memfurs wearing the same costumes, yes we really are that original, and let's not forget the most terrifying thing, THE ZOMBIE CAT.

TERRIFYING TALES FROM BBHQ

A Spooky Tail on All Hallows Eve 

It had been a frosty day; the air was rather piquant with a fresh, zingy taste. We'd just finished decorating the bunker in the most spooktacular fashion, and even if I do say so myself, it looked as scary as the scariest place mew could ever imagine. White glistening cobwebs hung in thick swaths covering the walls and ceilings, bats dangled on invisible bungy cords, and there were pumpkins galore effurywhere.  

Spooky spectres glided along the bunker corridors wailing chillingly, and animated weird-wolves popped up and howled when mew least expected it.  The smoke machine was on overdrive, and a white, filmy mist swirled around rather hypnotically just above floor level.  Shocking shrieks and muffled bumps sounded through the comms systems and to be honest, I nearly jumped out of my fur several times. 

The Control Room had been transformed into the Halloween Hub, and all the pawty games were in place as an eerie bell tolled and a gruff voice announced:

'Get the pawty started!'

Parsley aka The Saucerer was bobbing for nip-laced apples. Posie aka The Mummy was lurching around unable to see due to a severe bandage malfunction.  Humphrey was wearing his invisibility suit and kept creeping on effurypurrdy, whispering in their ear in some strange foreign accent, "I'm vatching mew... muwahahahahahahaaaaa!"

Smooch, Amber, Fudge, Pandora, Melvyn and I all had the same idea and were dressed as witches and wizards. Parsley also was wearing a wizard's hat, but he claimed that he was a sorcerer! 

This was the reaction when four of us met in the corridor outside the Control Room.

**note to self, I need a new costume for next year**

Anyhoo, there we all were having a wail of a time; screaming like gurls while a sinister soundtrack played in the background, plus we were enjoying some rather strange brew that Smooch had concocted in the laboratory. He'd even made it in a cauldron for added effect and to be honest, I could have sworn at one point I saw a tentacle rise up out of the bubbling neon-green liquid, then sink below the mist-swirling surface, but he said, and I quote;

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing, here drink this!" 

I did have several reservations hurtling through my mind, such as;

really?

mew sure about that? 

it looks a funny colour! 

and why is it smoking like that? 

did I just see a tentacle in my drink?

But I thought what the heck and aftur several shots I found it rather entertaining when an eyeball appeared in my glass and stared right at me; it was like a surprise bonus, and we all laughed and laughed and laughed.

As the night progressed things did start to get a little outlandish, Snowie aka The White Phantom got tangled up in the suspension wires she'd rigged to her costume and hung upside down like she was trapped in some giant spider web and we just laughed and laughed and laughed.

In the middle of all this outlandish mayhem and hysterical laughter, the lights suddenly went out, and we were plunged into darkness. The inky pitch-black of a total power failure.

"Don't wurry," I laughed. "The backup generator will kick-in in a couple of seconds!"

Time ticked by, and we were all still sitting in the dark.

"Basil?" Smooch said bumping into me, then forcing another drink into my paw. "Why's the genny not wurking?"

"Ssssssshhhhh," Parsley hissed as we all giggled, too much nip and who-knows-what will do that to mew. "Do mew hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Posie said as she tripped over her bandages and landed with an ungainly thwump on the floor.

Scratch... scratch... scratch...

We all paused, listened and then laughed and laughed and laughed.

Scritch... scritch... scritch... 

"It's getting closer," Parsley said, sounding much sober than he had five seconds ago.

Scratch... scratch... scratch... 

We all paused, listened again and then laughed and laughed and laughed.

"DUDES!" Parsley said tersely; obviously, he hadn't had as much cauldron nip cocktails as the rest of us. "Something is coming down the corridor!"

Scrape... scratch... scritch... scrape... scratch... scritch...

We all paused, listened again and then laughed and laughed and laughed.

I suddenly heard a sickeningly soft hiss, and it made my fur bristle in all kinds of disturbing ways, or maybe that was the cauldron nip, at this point I couldn't be sure for sure.

"Guys, was that one of mew?" I asked as my highly honed senses suddenly burst into life and began to eke out in the darkness. "Do mew smell that? It's rank, fetid and has a rather old dead odour..."

Amber took huge offence to this and said rather snappishly. "No, I haven't been eating eggs again!"

"No, not mew," I said.

Scrape... scratch... scritch... scrape... scratch... scritch...

"Basil," Humphrey whispered in my ear, his cold breath making my ear-fur tremble and I nearly screamed.  Only just managing to swallow down my shriek Humphrey continued. "I'll go check. I've got my night vision goggles on plus I'm invisible, stay here dude."

"Great idea," I said, pushing him towards to door.

I could feel my fur-sibs draw closer towards me, and Smooch whispered. "Do mew guys have any weapons?"

I heard the distinct clicks of several safety's being slid off in the dark, and heard the collective reply of. "Of course we've got weapons!"

There was a light tap on my shoulder, and Humphrey hissed. "Basil, dude... I don't know how to say this..."

"Say what?" I asked with much trepidation, feeling the sudden pump of adrenaline flood through my body like an icy-wave crashing on the beach.

"There's a zombie cat in the bunker, and it's lurching this way!" Humphrey gulped.  

The lights suddenly came on.

Amber screamed, and then we all screamed and screamed and screamed!

And then the lights went out again!

**And Cut**

Happy Meowoleen guys, enjoy the Trick or Treating if mew're able to participate this year and be safe out there.

We'll be back on Wednesday with our usual Midweek News, so we do hope to see mew then.   

In the meantime have an epically spooky Halloween.

Supurr spooky purrs

Wing Commander and The B Team 

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com
Zombie Cat paid licence www.Shutterstock.com Artist: Distopic

Bunker images paid licence www.Shutterstock.com - Robert Kneschke & i3d