Condo Blues: LOLCat Drop Cloth Grill Cover

If it doesn’t move, grill it. That’s my summer cooking mantra. Vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish are all fair game when it comes to grilling.

Learn how I stenciled this grill cover with help from my friends at Plaid Crafts.

A few Christmases ago, we got a gas grill upgrade and a cover to protect it from Ohio winters.

Two years later the grill looks great.

The grill cover does not.

Mother Nature is the reason we do not have nice things.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a grill cover that was not made of vinyl. As a green gal I'm not thrilled with vinyl to put it nicely. And if I had to go with not environmentally friendly vinyl as a last resort I want one that is sturdy and last forever so I don't have to replace it because the remains of my ripped grill cover are going to last forever in the landfill. I could not find anything remotely sturdier (or nicer looking) than the grill cover Mother Nature trashed. I don’t want to send countless vinyl grill covers to the landfill every two years. Going without isn’t an option if I want my grill to survive winter. Part of our green practices is to take care of our stuff so we don't have to spend extra resources replacing it. That practice saves money too - a twofor!

You know what’s coming next.

I made a new grill cover from a sturdy canvas drop cloth. I used the box of Plaid Craft supplies that arrived at my door to decorate it.

If you follow Condo Blues on Twitter and Instagram @condoblues,

you might have already seen this

Plaid put a Walmart gift card in the box. They asked me to buy any extra supplies I may need for the project at Walmart because Plaid craft products are available in the Walmart craft department.

Hold up. Walmart has a craft department? When my store got rid of their fabric I thought they got rid of the craft stuff too.

Lookit! Walmart kept the craft department.

While I was there, I gave in to the temptation of the gift card and bought the Plaid Wood Burner & Craft Tool I’ve been eyeing. I’ll see you in a later project, my little friend.

I bought a canvas drop cloth too.

Come to Mama!

How to Make a Canvas Drop Cloth Gas Grill Cover

You will need:

Canvas drop cloth

Scissors

Old grill cover to use as a pattern

Ruler

Letter stencils

Painter’s Tape

Freezer paper

Printed cat clip art image

Craft knife

Iron

Apple Barrel acrylic paint – Black

Apple Barrel acrylic paint – Flamenco Red

Paint Daubers

Straight pins

Thread

Sewing machine

Outdoor Mod Podge

Paint Brush

Make it:

I took my design inspiration from one of my favorite I Can Haz Cheezeburger LOLs.

Photo courtesy of I Can Haz Cheeseburger

1. Use the scissors to cut the old grill cover apart at the seams. You will use this as your pattern to cut the new grill cover pieces from the drop cloth.

2. Fold the drop cloth in half. Lay the pattern pieces on the drop cloth.

3. Use the scissors to cut two grill shaped pieces for the front and back of the grill cover and one rectangle piece for the top and sides of the grill cover.

Cut two.

4. Use the ruler and pencil to draw straight lines to use as a guide for your stenciled letters.

5. Optional: I traced where I want the stenciled letters to appear on the grill cover because I am bad at eye balling stencil spacing and placement with paint.

6. Make the cat stencil by placing the cat artwork underneath the freezer paper, tracing around the design with a pencil. Use a craft knife to cut the stencil out.

Meow

7. Iron the freezer paper cat stencil shiny side down to the drop cloth with a warm iron.

My iron was too hot and wrinkled the freezer paper too much. Don’t be me.

8. Repeat Steps 4 – 7 for the other side of the grill cover.

9. Stencil time! Tape the cardboard letter stencils to the drop cloth with painters tape. Place the paint dauber caps on the paint bottles.

10. Stencil it! Lightly dab the stencils and canvas with paint. It is better to do several light passes of paint than one thick pass of paint or the paint may seep under the stencil (guess how I know?) Carefully remove the stencil from the letter while the paint is still wet. Tip: To keep the project moving. I painted every other letter in the words. When I finished with the sentence, the stenciled letters were dry enough to allow me to stencil the letter next to it without smudging the paint.

11. Use the same dabbing technique to paint the cat stencil.

Who's a pretty kitty?

12. Carefully peel the freezer paper stencil from the drop cloth while the paint is still wet. Optional: Stencil cheeseburger loving hearts around your kitty. I used a Plaid Martha Stewart Craft stencil I already had for the happy hearts.

Kitty cheeseburger love!

13. After the paint is thoroughly dry, use the straight pins to pin the center section to the front and back sections of the grill cover right sides together (the painted part) using your old grill cover as a guide.

14. Use the sewing machine and thread to sew the grill cover together removing the straight pins as you sew.

15. Turn the grill cover right side out and water proof the painted design with Outdoor Mod Podge. Allow the Mod Podge to dry.

16. Cover up that grill and dare Mother Nature to BRING IT ON!

I can haz sturdy and cool canvas drop cloth grill cover.

Cheezeburger anyone?

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