DIY Arts and Crafts - Cat Toys - Cat Beds- Drawing Cats - Cat Tents

Janet Wickell, Quilting Guide for About.com, has designed a glorious cat quilt based on her original pattern, Catching the View. It's a garden window pattern with three appliqued cats watching the flowers and butterflies outside.

Debbie Colgrove, About.com Guide to Sewing, loves her cat, Skittles, so much that she has created a comfy bed for her. The directions are clear and easy to follow, and if you enjoy sewing, I'd suggest you make one or more of these beautiful beds for your own cat.

Cats love to play hide-and-seek, investigate and snoop, or just lounge around in cat tents. Here's a fairly simple pattern (from Simplicity) to make a colorful tent for your own cats. Bet you can't stop with just one!

I was blown away when I saw this photo of Joey transformed into an exquisite drawing by Helen South, About Guide to Drawing and Sketching. If you have the desire to draw your own kitty, you can learn this technique with her great step-by-step tutorial.

About Guide to Drawing/Sketching, Helen South, will inspire you to whip out paper and pencil with these tips for capturing the action of a cat on paper.

Helen South, About Guide to Drawing and Sketching, gives a step-by-step tutorial for capturing the grace and beauty of cats with pen and ink.

Painting Guide Marion Boddy-Evans teaches how to create a "fur map" for future use in painting cats' fur.

Painting cats' whiskers can be a challenge, but Painting Guide Marion Boddy-Evans gives several useful tips that make it sound almost easy.

A cozy basket for kitty to relax in next to you while you knit, brought to you by About Guide to Knitting, Barbara Breiter.

Soft mice are favorite playthings of cats and kittens, and these knitted mice are especially nice. The instructions look easy as pie, but hide the catnip while you're making them. More knitted mice from our About Knitting Guide can be found here and here.

Barbara Breiter, the About Guide to Knitting, brings you many more knitting projects for cat toys. They would make a great project for donations to rescue groups and shelters.

This site has a number of darling samplers with photos of the finished products and clear instructions and grid in PDF files. I loved the Mine sampler, and the "No Book" Marker, but there are many more to choose from, all of them adorable.

A free pattern for a cute cat toy which can be placed on a rod for interactive play. Provided by Jay Buck for Crochet Partners.

Susie Wynne, an animal portraiture specialist, gives a brief tutorial in painting a tabby cat in water colors. She makes it look so easy, I might be tempted to give it a try.

Free crochet pattern from Bev's Country Cottage - wonderful to make for donations to shelters, or for your own kitties.

Like the "Snuggles" concept? Here are a couple dozen patterns for crochet, knitting, and quilted Snuggles that are easy and fun to make.