WMUTeach

I often just cover my work with an odd or old piece of fabric or towel. The thrill of hunt is hidden from the pussy cats and the fur is on something I am not using for quilting. I had forgotten how often I do this. I also do this with my dark clothes that are waiting to be pressed. They are car magnets but covering them with something them disapear and keeps the fur on the cat and not on my black or navy clothing.

IrishgalfromNJ

I have to cover my projects or put them in a storage box because my male cat, Merlin, likes to knock stuff off the table to get my attention. He can make a real mess so now I either cover what I'm working on with fabric or I store it in a plastic box. If I cover my stuff, he doesn't even know it's there, thank goodness he doesn't have x-ray vision. Both my cats love to play with pins. I've seen them take their two front paws and pull pins out of pin cushions when I made the mistake of leaving the pin cushions out. I'm thinking that pinning stuff to the ironing board probably wouldn't stop Merlin, it would just challenge him.

feline fanatic

My screen name makes it quite obvious how I feel about my cats (I have two massively huge dogs and love them equally!) I have read waaaaayyy too many horror stories of cats ingesting pins, needles, thread or knocking over hot irons so as much as I love my babies, the sewing room is "verboten" (as is my LA studio)! However, I do have hand sewing items and thankfully they leave those alone but love to sit on my lap under a quilt if I am hand quilting.

Here is a link for all those furbaby parents who think their beloved pets won't eat these things.

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.co...ntest-Winners/

ghostrider

I have two cats and a studio with no door, but the cats were taught from 'day one' that they are not allowed to be on elevated hard, flat surfaces like tables of any height, desks, dressers, counter tops, or ironing boards and they're fine with that. They've never touched anything on my work table and I'm confident they never will. They're really not all that much different than dogs with soft furniture and indoor toilet priveledges.

ETA: I don't use pin cushions, they look too much like cat toys and that would just be asking for trouble. I much prefer them loose in a small dish anyway.

Sewnoma

I keep all my fuzzy family members out of the sewing room now. I have a baby gate set up that technically at least the youngest cat could hop over, but he doesn't. (I think he's too dignified.) They cause chaos - batting bobbins off of tables and rolling them places I can't get to them, leaving fur everywhere, but that's not what made me finally booth them out. The younger cat developed the annoying habit of gnawing through the thread on my machine all the time and then one day about a year ago I walked in and found him chewing on my sewing machine NEEDLE! While it was still in the machine! He'd managed to poke himself in his cheeks and tongue several times (but naturally did not STOP) so there was all this bloody cat slobber on the machine and around his mouth. Scared the poop out of me and prompted an emergency vet visit! (He's fine, aside from being insane. The machine is fine too.)

I've also had to pull lengths of thread out of his throat and who knows how bad that is for him. He'll fish thread and paper out of the trash to chew on. He's like a rat or something.

So now he and his 'brother' are forbidden from the sewing room; partially for my sanity but mostly for their health.

I do miss his "help", though. He was great at messing up my work in the cutest way possible.

My helper and insane rat-cat, Zeb:
"Here, let me just put some fur on here for you, and re-arrange these stacks a little bit...and oh, have you noticed that nobody at all is petting me right now? You should probably do something about that."

MaggieLou

I have two partly feral cats that are semi-tame. I can't close my sewing room off so I keep everything covered with flannel backed plastic table cloths. So far it's working. I wish I could use a baby gate but they would just jump over it.

maryfrang

Yes, I have had two cats that will pull pins out of anything. Then you go looking for the pins and they are gone.

Raggiemom

Yes, my avatar is particularly fond of rearranging my layouts too!

mirish2

I was using my rotary cutter. I left it open on the cutting table. The new kitten, Parker, decided to play with it and cut his paw. There was blood on the fabric, cutting mat and the bed where he went to sit and lick his paw. It was just a small cut, but really bled. It didn't seem to bother him.

Weezy Rider

Open plan house - can't keep them out. They don't bother pins (I use flat dish) but I did catch the Siamese going chomp! on a cone of thread between the antenna and the thread guide. I cover machines now. She will also bat small pieces on the floor, and both she and the Snowshoe will sleep on any project. (They aren't allowed out, so they have run of house) The feral can't jump, but she finds imaginary stuff on the floor and I have to go find out what she is chasing.

I had one that used to sit or lay down behind sewing machine to look out window. I was always afraid I'd get her tail if I didn't move her.

The worst were the ferrets. They were caged, but if anything got close enough to the cage, they'd grab it. They'd pull as much in the cage as they could. They loved the empty spools. Freaked daughter out as she thought they had gotten a full spool of thread.