Catnip Toys

Here is what I came up with for some catnip toys.  I'm using small bits of cotton fabric, different ribbons and batting.  I tried an oval shape first which worked fine but, I preferred working with rectangles so, I just cut some out that were about 3 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches.  I also played around with some about 1 inch smaller than that.  To help interest the cats, I tried brighter fabrics with lots of ribbons.  In the end, I thought they looked a little like a bug which I think a cat would like.

This summer I grew catnip in a container on the back porch.  It did great!  I would trim it every 2-3 weeks and dry the trimmings.  It would all grow right back and kept growing until it got cold this fall.  Once the catnip was dried, I gave it a medium grinding.  I have a coffee bean grinder that I use only for grinding up herbs.  I like it because it's small and can store easily.  If you don't have catnip on hand, I believe most of the pet stores carry it.

For the cat toy, I put catnip in the middle by sprinkling some out on cotton batting.  I then rolled up the batting and placed it in the toy.  I used regular stuffing to fill it up as needed.  Here are some pictures and the final toys.

Different sized rectangles, you need 2 for each toy

Cotton batting sprinkled with catnip

Catnip rolled up inside

Sewn right sides together catching the tip of the ribbon as I go (3 on each side)

The toy has been sewn, turned and stuffed and now I'm closing up the stuffing opening.  I put 2 ribbons in this area as I sew

Final toys, some have different fabrics on the top and bottom