The family that shares

I don't sew very often; my repertoire consists mainly of curtains and pillowcases. But this week I was forced, by necessity, to branch out a bit and make a new dog bed for Beckett.

Beckett has sort of a love/hate relationship with pillows, blankets, dog beds, etc. If it's soft, he loves to rip it to shreds. And then take a nap on it. This is what's slowly been happening, over the course of six months, with the dog bed. We bought it at the local pet store for $20. The first time he ripped a hole in it, Keith laboriously repaired it by hand with a new piece of fabric. Only a week old, the dog bed was already taking on a distressed, patchwork look.

We do try to not to let Beckett and the dog bed alone together, but sometimes he slips away. The next couple times a hole appeared, Keith used the much faster—and classier—solution of duct tape. But a week or so ago, the new hole was absolutely irreparable. And by "hole" I mean the bed was pretty much torn in two.

The funny thing was, both the dog and the cat LOVED the mangled bed. Usually we make Beckett stay on his bed until we're all settled, and then he's allowed up on the big bed. But once he'd ripped apart the dog bed to his satisfaction, it was hard to coax him out of his pile of stuffing and onto our bed.

Then, once Beckett's sleeping with us, Gomez starts creeping in. Not that she's particularly stealthy, with her purr louder than a truck rumbling by outside. She goes straight to the former dog bed and settles right into the stuffing, half-tucked into the bed itself.

So not to ruin their enjoyment, but because the stuffing was getting tracked all over the house, I made a new dog bed. I pulled out all the stuffing and left it on a table as I cut and sewed fabric. During the process, Gomez found the stuffing pile and happily settled in for a nap.

After how much they enjoyed the wreck of a dog bed, I was a little concerned that the pets would spurn my careful efforts. But I'm happy to report that both Beckett settled in on it, and then Gomez curled up there later in the night. Maybe this will give me the confidence I need to branch out to sewing dish towels or purses.