Trying to outsmart the cat
 

Do any of you know of ways to outsmart the cat when you are quilting? When I am sewing on a binding, the cat will grab the glass heads of the pins and pull them out. Also, I left the serger on the table and the cat had thread from the living room in one direction to the Lanai in the other. She loves to take her teeth a claws and run with the threads. Needless to say, it took a while to get it straighted out and rethreaded (manually). I decided to make a cover out of a prequilted fabric to fit the serger. So far she has left it alone, but my husband thinks that won't be long. While I am typing right now, she is getting into the desk drawer and throwing all the rubber bands on the floor. Anytime I am trying to cut fabric, she jumps on the table and sits down on the fabric. She absolutely loves fabric and quilts.

Sounds like she wants to be your helper! The only thing I can think of is keeping her in another room while you work on your quilting.

She sounds like a character good luck.

May be a bit mean, but what about dipping pins in hot sauce a time or two?

I am fortunate in that I have a dedicated room to sewing so I can keep them away. I love my kitties dearly and it does make me sad when I am behind the closed door and I hear one of my furry babies on the other side calling out or sliding a paw under the door but I would rather be safe than sorry. We have had numerous posts here of members who ended up with a very costly vet bill due to their cat ingesting thread or needles. I would be beside myself with grief and guilt if my cat got into my sewing and was injured or worse and I could have prevented it by simply keeping the cat away. I think the cover on your serger will work but you will have to be very diligent with your other sewing supplies and pins. I think you need to find some toys for your cat that she finds irresistable and leave your sewing alone. Mine love those crinkle balls made out of mylar, ping pong balls, the little furry mice, a balled up piece of tin foil, the ring of a gallon jug of milk that seals the top. Maybe she just needs some toys that interest her. Interactive toys are great too. Da Bird is a great one http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...LAID=525360278
or those wands with mylar tassles at the end.

No need for hot sauce. Cats do not like the smell of cirtrus. So why subject kitty to hot sauce which can hurt when citrus does a better trick and doesn't hurt! Rub the heads of the pins with lemon peel or lemon oil. Now if it was a dog, I would go with the hot sauce. :rolleyes:

Pull out the moist food....that keeps mine occupied for a while. Mine like to attack the fabric, I must buy dangerous fabric because they always try to attack it when I lay it out.

That sounds like my Lily - She's my avatar picture. I just keep picking her up and moving her and after 2 or 3 times, she figures out that she needs to find something else to do. I made her a basket of fabric scraps to lay on and she often will nap in it when I am sewing. Please be careful with your cats getting thread! They will try to swallow it and it can wreak havoc in their intestines and can be fatal. My Gertie got a hold of the thread in my Yo Yo basket that I keep by the couch. She had swallowed a large amount of it. I was able to pull it out without any difficulty.

I've NEVER outsmarted a cat!
Good luck.

Sounds like my Reeses (my avatar). Best thing would be to keep her out of the room while you're working on the binding. Reeses wanted to help me with my fabric the other day and I found an extra piece, put it on the sewing board and let her lay on it. No, she wanted what I was working on.

I had to put her out of the room and suffer the cries, foot under the door and scratching.

If you can't close the door, you might want to put her in a crate while you're working at dangerous stuff. Or maybe use clips instead of pins on the binding.

Good luck.

Hmmm.... maybe try what I did with my kids when they were small. I had a box of special toys that were only brought out when I needed to get something done. Do you think your kitty would be distracted by some catnip and one of those ping-pong-balls-in-a-tube toys? Or anything new that she doesn't already have.

Good luck, depends on how much you can stand when they cry. You can try to the locking in a room trick. Sometimes if I know mine is napping in another room I'll sneak up and shut the door quietly so he doesn't know. Then I can sew for awhile before he wakes up and realizes mom has shut the door and starts crying loudly.

When he started to reach into the sewing machine because the needle looked cool going up and down I did get serious about distracting with a spray bottle water. A big squirt of water in the face usually got him mad at me for awhile.

I created a " quilt" just for Zipster...... and told him he was NOT to get on that blanket... ( just like a kid.. does exactly what he is told NOT to do!) he is like a dog really... he wants his blanket. He wants me to carry it around for him...
As for thread and machines... I had a big issue with him here... he liked to floss his teeth with the moving thread... sigh... or bat at the movign needle ( YIKES!!)... I used a cotton makeup pad and spritzed it with citrus ... rubbed it along the back of my machine and then have a few scented ones laying about the areas he most getitng into trouble with.. works like a charm.... or a emtpy box and a piece of scotch tape keeps him out of trouble... sometimes.. LOL
Thinking I might look for citrus soy candles...
My son kept the neighborhood cats off his convertible car top with citrus....

What she is really saying is "Mommy! LOOK at me!!" She just wants your undivided attention.

good luck, my Zoey can be sleeping 2 rooms away, when i open the rotary cutter, b4 i know what happened she;s on top of the fab.

I think you might just have to go to another room with a door that closes.

One of my cats LOVED to get at the serger thread - I covered it - and those paws still managed to get hold of the threads.

My cat doesn't go in sewing room but I have had to be careful to keep paper towels and kleenex and toilet paper put away. She is mostly interested in the toilet paper. I have had to put it in a snap lid canester to keep her out of it. She never stops trying to get the lid off the canister tho. She can't reach the towels now but still have to remember to always pick up kleenex. She doesn't bother any other paper.

My cat and my dog are in cahoots with disturbing my sewing stuff. The cat will knock things off the table and then the dog chews it to death. I've lost so many spools of thread that way - once she's used them for a bone the thread is shot and the spool has so many sharp burrs on it that it's useless. My cat on it's own can be distracted by a plastic drinking straw for hours.

When ours won't behave I spray them with water. Works on dogs and cats alike. After a few spritzers, now I only need to pick up the spray bottle and they stop.

You cannot outsmart a cat. Not ever.

I had a foster kitty who loved to take the pins out of my pin cushion. She would find it no matter where I put it. She would sit and calmly remove and drop on the floor every single pin in there. I pushed them all flush with the cushion figuring that would work. Nope just took her a little longer.
Good luck

Mine decided she was afraid of the spray starch and one shake of the can would send her running. That only lasted for so long. :)

I have just about the same problem with my Shadow, a young male cat we got in November. He has decided the quilting room is his, especially my sewing chair. I finally took everything off the cabinets by the window and made his a really nice bed. But he likes my chair more than that bed. When I come in the room and want to sew, I have to love him for about 10 minutes and then take him to his bed. Some days he doesn't like it and will come over and bat at me over and over, wanting me to get out of his chair. I find that if I leave bobbins on the desk, he will knock them all over the room and the thread is quite a mess. I find the only thing I can do is actually lock him out of the room when I sew. And sometimes he throws a fit and hits the door over and over. Shadow likes to walk everywhere he wants to go, which is a problem, sometimes I worry about the hot iron. But I adore this silly cat.

I use the spray bottle, too. It works great!

I agree, she just wants your attention, my cat used to do that with my school books, sounds like a mischievous cat, she is just curious what you are doing. My cat just watches me sew, but she does sit on my fabric, but stays away from my pins and machine. Also how have you reacted when she plays with those things if you don't scold her, she thinks it okay, my cat knows what she can and can't get away with

My cat, Eddie, has me trained to work around him! He does like to "un-thread" my serger! He likes to take small items such as pencils/pens/earrings and put them behind the couch. At least I know where to look for them! I did convince him not to get so close to the iron!!! Yep, a few singed tail hairs! It took me 6 months to train him to lay down on command so I could see the computer monitor over him. They truly "dance to different music"!

Our Meez just draped herself around your neck. She is declawed in the front, but the hind claws are deadly. I have to cover the serger or she makes like a thread cutter and goes "chomp."

The Snowshoe has to jump up on the cutting table to see what you are doing, and the Fluffbutt hogs all the chairs and dispenses fluff.

My cat Roscoe wants attention from me all the time. Some days I am unable to sew, as he comes into my sewing room, and lays down on whatever I am cutting out, or in front of the sewing machine. I usually just unplug everything and leave the area. My fault, I've spoiled him and love him dearly. Cats love the energy from handcrafted items., and will claim any quilt I have finished. Laying down on them as if to say "It's MINE"...

I have several cats and at least one of them does the same things as yours. I also have a gd that pulls out the pins. My answer to that problem is "Wonder Clips" or hair clips. As for wanting to help you sew I use a fine mist spray bottle with water and it seems to discourage her and my dogs. The only other advice I can share is to teach her to sew. LOL

I did that with my cat too, only problem is once it's done he's not interested in it. he only wants to play with it when I laying out the blocks or sewing.

My cat would "get into stuff" her whole life when she was bored or wanted attention. She somehow knew when I was sewing a large piece or pulling things out of the closet - that was her clue to run to the back of the closet. I would close the door if you can and if not, just be dilligent with the mentioned dangers.

I also had a cat who loved the TV remote. If the remote was on the couch she would run over to it and BOUNCE HER BOTTOM ON THE REMOTE TO CHANGE THE CHANNELS. This was the only thing she would do that was fun. She loved to change the channels. When the remote finally gave out the new remote was not that touchy and she never did it again. It would have been easier to use her paw but not her. She is in kitty heaven now and every time I pick up a remote I would think of her.

remember thread is dangerous to animals. cats tongues are rough and the thread goes down their throats before you know it. it can cut their insides. while cute, it should be kept away from them. you may have to just put things away if you can't sew in a room with a door. good luck on that!!

This may be simple, but put the cat in another room and shut the door until you're finished.
Just a thought.
Claudia

My baby girl (avatar) likes to help me sew. First she inspects the machine to make sure Ihave the right foot on..checks the pins ( I take them away) then I put a bit of what ever I am working on on the bed and she will curl up on it and sleep. If I have some laid out on the bed, she goes over and picks up a few to check for accuracy. then back to sleep.

I think the sister of your rabble rouser lives with me and the only advice I have is DO NOT put that rowdy varmint in the bathroom --- I'm still finding scraps and hair ties 3 days later. and she figured out how to get under the quilted cover to surprise me.I must say she keeps me laughing so I named her -
' DITTER'

"When ours won't behave I spray them with water. Works on dogs and cats alike. After a few spritzers, now I only need to pick up the spray bottle and they stop."


This didn't work with my cat. He didn't like it at first,but after a few times getting sprayed he changed his mind. He would literally close his eyes and open his mouth!! He loved to be around when I was sewing. Too many things moving around to interest him.
I never found any way to keep him out short of shutting the door and listening to him cry.......

I to think it will be much better to keep your pets OUT if they will not stop playing with your Stuff.
and HI, to Your 'Lily' from My 'Lily' :)

I think 'Ditter' has a good idea! and if water won't work Add just a SMALL amount of white vinegar to the bottle! JUST enough vinegar to have a mild smell! I bet it will work wonders!