New Idea - Chipmunk In A Bag

Well FINALLY I come up with a new cat toy.  I've been using that thick plush gray fake fur ($29 a yard from Hancocks) as tails for flying squirrels. Well I also had picked up a quarter yard of reddish thick plush fake fur at the same time with the intent of making maybe chipmunks or something.  $7 for a quarter yard, that really bites but I wanted to have it just in case it would come in handy.  Now I know it will.

 

I was trolling through Google 'images' for cat toys to see if I could get any inspiration and ran across a blurry picture of some toy mice, rectangles and what looked like round balls in the center with fleece jutting out of them.  Basically the same idea as this--

 

Only without the feathers.  Substitute fleece tabs sticking out the top end. (It's just an idea picture, not what mine look like).

 

Well anyway, it wasn't much of a shift to imagine Chipmunk In A Bag.  I got myself a yard of medium blue polar fleece, cut it into 5 inch circles, and snipped carefully through the reddish plush fur to make strips 1" by 3 1/2" strips.  Tacked one end of the fur down about 1/2" from the edge of the circle, did a gather stitch around it (1/2" in), stuffed it with fiberfil and catnip, and pulled the gather stitch tight. It makes a ball with a tail sticking out of it, with enough edging sticking up to look like a gathered in paper bag - sort of.  They're actually pretty cute.