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My cats who help me quilt (and other pets)


Dragonflyquilts

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I love to hear stories (preferably funny) of peoples animals who like to help them quilt.

I have a kitten that I adopted a week ago. He loves my sewing room. Tons of stuff for him to get into.

In the center of my room is a celing fan and my Mille is underneath of it. The batting moves around from the breeze and the Kitten goes nuts. I left the room one day to refill my drink and came back up to find the kitten scaling my batting. I could hardly get him off I was laughing so hard. The deer in the headlight look in his face when I came in the room doubled me over and he could not get down because his claws were caught in the batting.

(BTW I dont leave my room open when I can hear what is going on, too much for them to get into)

Small Kittens are great, but I have several scratch marks in my feet from him attacking the batting. My adult cat also sits on the pato side and looks down at the kitten like ha-ha you cant get up here you anoying twerp.

The three of us stay well entertained in my sewing room, which I call my roost at times.

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I have three Golden Retrievers. My LA is down in the basement and only one is young enough to make it down to help me with that part of the project. Back in the 'nothing but practice' days, I made her a quilted piece out of a printed fabric. She loves to be the 'special' dog that gets to have me all to herself when I am quilting away.

The silliest of my dogs is a Rescue Golden. She is very old and doesn't do much more than sleep in the kitchen or sleep in the living room. You never know what kind of history Rescue dogs have so you learn little things quite by accident.

The first time I sat down at my sewing machine and hit the up/down button, she scrambled to get into the sewing room. She has to have her entire body under the cabinet with her head resting on the foot pedal. Her tail just thumps on the floor as she is so happy that we are sewing.

Other than treats, dinner and the leashes - the only thing that she reacts to with enthusiam is sewing.

Good thing she's got her priorities straight!

Lynn - Minnesota

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Guest Linda S

I have two kitties and have been a little worried about them being in the quilting room. I don't want to have cat hair on customer quilts when I start taking customers, and I certainly don't want the kitties getting into loose threads. (If you don't know about the horrors of cats swallowing thread, let me tell you right now it can kill them quickly -- get a swiffer and get those thread up or make sure you put each snipped thread in a little container!). My older cat is a little freaked out by the machine and doesn't like to venture into the quilt room. The younger one is, I think, concerned for my safety with that "big thing" in the room, so each night he escorts me up and sits patiently while I practice. When I am finished, he walks me back down the stairs. It is just too cute!

Linda :D

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Love the pet stories...so I hafta tell you of my own little darlin's. We have two dogs..a Boxer named Jake and a Yorkie named Rusty. Rusty is the boss and poor ol' Jake abides by his rules!

Jake is such a baby...he loves tight or enclosed spaces. He sleeps under a bench at the end of our bed. When I iron material(who irons anything else:D) he loves to get underneath all of that material. I am sure he will snuggle down under Jenny Matilda (my Mille, set for arrival in Sept.) and be as happy as can be. Rusty just loves to be held...haven't figured out where I will put him when I start long-arming...maybe need to buy one of those front loading papoose things that new mothers use for babies. He only weighs 7 or 8 pounds so that should fit him.:D:P

They are "my boys" and definitely a great part of our family! Glad to see that other people are as crazy about their pets as we are.

Phyllis

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I love pet stories too!

I have 2 cats and a dalmation who doesn't know he's a dog, he thinks he's a people too!

When my cats were kittens the each used to hang out while I sewed. One was always fighting me for who got to be by the needle and the other loved to warm herself up on top of my Bernina. Now one of the cats is 25 lbs, so you can imagine how that situation just doesn't work anymore! The older cat I've named Biddy because she is a quilt biddy just like me.

Both still have their tails, even tho they get too close to me when rotary cutting!

When I got Millie, I had to learn to keep the door shut when I left the room. Before that I would walk in and find my cats had found their own personal hammock! It wasn't pretty!

They also love to knead the batting if they can get their claws in it! I have my very own pokies of a different kind!

I wouldn't give any of them up for anything! Millie either!

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Our little "Katie" is a 3 year old brown toy poodle that likes to be wherever I am working. She has a bed in the sewing room but prefers to sit quietly in my lap while I sew.

She has another bed in the LA room but prefers a stack of batting scraps that I have in a small box.

She has a third bed in our bedroom but prefers our bed after we fall asleep.

And last but not least, she has a bed in the family room but prefers the lap of anyone in the room.

I figure if I ever run out of money for fabric I will just sell all her beds. She won't care. She loves me no matter what . . . aren't pets the best !

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Guest Linda S

Here are my two boys. I'll need to try and keep them out of the quilt studio, unless I make them their own quilted beds. There's nothing they love better than a nice snuggly blankie!

my%20kitties.jpg

Linda

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Since I moved all my quilting supplies and machines to my basement when I set up my Mille the cats and dog can no longer "help" me quilt unless I'm doing binding or other hand work on my own quilts. They are banned from the basement. I do have a tiny Quaker Parrot who is my quilting buddy. He has a second cage in my quilt room and spends much time on my shoulder while I'm working. I often ask him if he wants to quilt today and sometimes he answers with "Gabby quilt today".

When I was considering purchasing my machine a good friend recieved her quilt back from a quilter. It was covered in cat hair and reeked of cigarette smoke. She had to hang it outside for days and vacume it over and over before she could put the binding on. Her DH is very allergic to cats and neither can stand the odor of cigarettes. When she picked up her quilt she had noticed that the quilter allowed her cats to nap on customer quilts. No matter how good that quilter may have been my friend would never use her again.

jeri

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Guest Linda S

Jeri - that can be a big concern for sure. I actually am allergic to cats, but love them so much I have them anyway. My allergist is about ready to kill me, but I'm nearly at the top dose of my immunotherapy, so I'm getting along well. I would never let my cats get on a customer quilt. I realize that not only can cat hair transfer from my clothes, but cat dander is the big problem. My clients will need to know that I do have cats, but they are not allowed on customer quilts. Fortunately, the kitties are scared to death of the Liberty. I also dread receiving a quilt top from a smoker. I'm highly allergic to cigarette smoke. I've had suggestions of either enclosing it in a plastic box with a bar of soap or putting it out on the grass with a sheet under it (supposely the chlorophyl in the grass removes the odor). Don't know how it will go, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meanwhile, I have the dryer, lint rollers, and vacuum at the ready if I get stray cat hairs on a quilt! ;)

Linda

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That bird is cute, I have a quilting buddy who has a bird and she has him in the room with her when she is quilting to keep her company. I will have to tell her about your bird being excited to quilt with you on your shoulder.

It is funny you should mention the smoking and cats. I was visiting a new guild this week, primary reason was to solicit business for my longarm.

I smoke and while standing outside talking with some of my potentials they all looked at my funny. I told them that I don't smoke in my house, for a lot of reasons, two of the important ones is the damage it does to the house and the other is because it is not good for my quilting machinery and supplies. At that moment I was grateful I at least went outside because it could have cost me quite a bit of business. As far as my cats. They are allowed in the sewing room, but not near the customers quilts. And if if have to deliver them back I always double plastic bag them so I dont get smoke smell in them while in the car.

I have to agree with the lady who gave a customer's quilt back with cat hair and smoke, that would have been very rude and unprofessional. If it was mine, I would have been very upset and outspoken about it. And I will have to mention to my customers about my cats when I take in business more regularly.

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Guest Linda S

When you're typing along in your reply box, you'll see the little icons above it for bold, italic, underline, etc. Ther eis one that looks like a little picture postcard of a yellow sky with a little mountain and a stamp up in the corner. If you roll your mouse over it, it says "insert a picture." It needs to be a picture that has an http:// address, meaning that you have to have it on a web page somewhere. Just click on that icon and insert the web address and up it comes! Give it a whirl and let me know if you need more help.

Linda

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  • 2 years later...

Text

Hi all,

I thought I'd join in because I have the BEST pet! My husband and I have lots of pets, but the cats and our dog love him more. It's okay because I have the best pet.

My favorite pet is a house rabbit. She's absolutely adorable. She's house trained, doesn't make messes, no fur balls, no walking her outside in a blizzard, etc, etc.

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Her name is Trixie. I used to tell her when she was little -- as I would remove things she shouldn't chew on -- silly rabbit Trix are for kids. And since she was a she, I named her Trixie.

She 'lives' in my sewing studio, but she goes everywhere with me. I have a small litter box for her in all of my many rooms.

I think the best part is that when I get stressed out or frustrated, she always knows and that's when she comes to visit almost to say 'can I help, Mommy?'

Since I'm just learning to use my Ultimate I and frame, there's plenty of opportunity to come help mommy. LOL.

Just my $0.02

Marge

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Thanks, I think so! I never dreamed I'd feel like this about a pet. My children seemed to all move out at the same time, and it was lucky for me that Trixie is such an angel (minus time time she chewed the wire to my HV Designer SE).

It may sound mushy, but when I was sad, I would hold her and we fast became best buddies. She would sit on my chest and as I would cry she would lick my tears.

They say that people who have pets live longer and happier lives. I believe it. But with 2 cats, 1 rabbit, a dog and a guinea pig, I should live forever! LOL.:D:D

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Beautiful cats and love the tales about your dogs. I have a TerriPoo 14yrs old now, and a Chinese Crested Powderpuff. Both love to be wereever I am and any quilt within their reach must be for them, as they always try them out. Each has their own quilt, and I just love both of them to pieces.

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  • 3 weeks later...

"Brandy" crossed over the Rainbow Bridge about 11 years ago and it still kind of feels like yesterday. She was "in

charge" -- whether it be sitting on my sewing while I was trying to sew it; or showing her displeasure when I came home after dark--she did not like that! But probably the

absolute funniest thing she did -- was when I practiced playing the Baldwin Organ I own. I can play the same song

over & over. She didn't like that either. After about 30-40 minutes of the same song, she'd jump up on the bench next to me & meow -- when I ignored her she'd crawl under my arm, up on my lap & stand on the keys until I turned it off!

She was done listening! She died early -- much earlier than she should have as a consequence of a vet here in MD over

dosing her with Feline Leuk Innoc --causing her to develop Yellow Jaundice, have all of her teeth break off at the gum line, early Liver failure, and her weight drop down to 3.5 lbs

from 8 lbs. (my other cat died ), I brought Brandy all the way back to good health & full weight but I do believe that this 12 week nightmare literally took about 5 years off of her life.

I don't believe that any cat should be innoculated for Feline Leuk ----tested---absolutely. But not innoculated -- it does nasty things to their livers. Who's going to remember --if their cat gets sick --- 3 or 4 months after a vet visit that their cat got innoculations? Or make the connection between the two? How many of us have lost our beloved cats seemingly for no reason at all?

Apologize for the length here but I am so pro cats and this

Feline Innoculation is certainly a hot button for me.

Judie

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This is "Rudy Guillanni" named Guillanni originally but it turned into Rudy and he just turned 1 yr old this week, so this was about 6 months ago but he loves the LA, the minute he hears it he comes running.. I now have him trained to lay between the 2 front rollers just on the far left of the quilt while I'm running the machine, I'm sure we will have a close call on stitching the tail sooner or later..:o

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You know Caron, you have posted that cute picture of the cat on the that quilt before. Is that your quilt, or do you have an idea the pattern (I think it is New York or something) I have a pattern by Karen Stone that I think is something like your picture. Maybe I just like the fabrics that is on your quilt, never-the-less it is beautiful, almost as beautiful as the cat. And your black cat is just gorgeous.

We have 3 husky dogs that are almost never in the house but when they are let in they always have to come find their Mom! If I am working from the panto side of the machine then they will wiggle at the batting till it moves and they get under it and are all excited that they found me. Don't know why they don't just go around the machine! My aunt once said that she loved their dog "no matter what happens all day at the office you always know that when you get home there is someone excited to see you!" Animals are the best.

Marge: So, I want to know how to litter train a rabbit!

Cher

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I love the pictures on this post. I've never posted a picture before but wanted to share my favorite picture of my cat. Hope I can get it here.

Lucky was so into my sewing this day that I stopped quilting and started taking pictures. I don't know which of us enjoyed it more!

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