Meet our kitty,
Oreo:
She mostly enjoys life with her human servants, despite the fact that we are
terribly cruel and
hardly ever give her more than a bite or two of our sushi and sometimes deign to
move when she is trying to sleep on us. But she especially likes the large green-velvet scratching-post in the living room. We like it, too--but we call it "the couch." Attempts to train her not to scratch it have worked about as well as training a cat not to do something has ever worked for anyone in the history of feline-human relations.
Before:
So when this challenge was announced, I decided to use the buttons both to cover up the scratches and to make the arm of the couch less "scratchable" in the future. I poured myself a glass of wine, put the figure skating championships on tv, and just started sewing the buttons directly onto the couch. (Hint for anyone else crazy enough to try this: a curved upholstery needle makes a huge difference. I got one after the first frustrating, finger-sticking day and it made things
so much easier.)
At first I just meant to cover the torn-up corner:
But then I started to get a bit carried away...
I soon used up most of my buttons. A friend was kind enough to donate a bagful from her stash, and I literally jumped for joy when, after a fruitless day scouring thrift stores, I found several packages of them in the aisle at the Dollar store. I filled in the gaps between the buttons with random loose beads and shells I had lying around. I also incorporated some jewelry that I liked but never really wore, like this large Star-of-David pendant I inherited from my grandmother.
And here's the entire couch from the front:
From the side, it looks a little like a frame without a picture. I thought about filling it in with something, but didn't have time before the challenge deadline. So for now it just frames poor dejected Oreo, who has lost her scratching post and must now contemplate the deep
ennui of life:
ETA: Thanks everyone for your concern about Oreo's wellbeing! Rest assured, she has a cardboard scratcher now that she likes a lot, though she sometimes stands on it and meows at me until I sprinkle on more catnip!
