Cats and Cross Stitching

Anyone have the fun of dealing with the above two subjects?

I love cross stitching and been buying those little kits for a long
time. For my brother's wedding, i made a pattern of a Geisha girl by a
cherry tree, and one of a Samurai. My brother and sister in law loved
it so much that they said i had made a family heirloom

Well next month they are expecting their first baby. I'm sooooo
excited. I wont be around because they want to be alone, and i don't
want to stress them. But i'll be seeing them definitely this summer,
so i bought a pattern of a Baby Announcement

The tricky thing is, when i stitched those large complex patterns for
the wedding......I was not owned by any cats. I havent' had the time
to really stitch with school and work.

But now i'm unemployed and inspired to get this done.

Sooo yesterday when i got home i opend the kit and began to separate
the colored threads.

I lasted five minutes before i noticed three pairs of eyes watching me.
Then i was winding thread when suddenly there was a cat at the other
end.

"MISCHIEF, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I had to shoo her away twice before she
left me alone but kep a watchful eye on the STRINGY in my hands

Few more minutes i'm again winding thread and suddenly there's another
cat pouncing. "MAYHEM!! SCRAM!!!" She's been watching my every move
and i've had to bap her gently on the head.

argh.......

Somehow i FINALLY got the threads separated, and i've begun stitching,
The stitching isn't the hard part, it's the separating and handling the
thread is when i see eyes widen and butts begin to wiggle.

*sigh* Purrs that i can get this project done without too much hassle.


Anyone else cross stitch?

Kristi

In article .com,
Mischief wrote:

Anyone else cross stitch?

Kristi

No, but one of my mother's psychiatrist colleague commissioned a work
for the wall of his personal library at home. Over the years, it has
been a sometimes reassuring mantra: "The Paranoids are Out to Get Me".

Not that but I macramé yes a man does these things. I used to make 8 foot
high four side Christmas tree for friends and family and when I get a
chance it do small projects like this http://i3.tinypic.com/vseyw5.jpg


"Cheryl Perkins" wrote in message
...
Mischief wrote:

snip
Anyone else cross stitch?

I used to, but haven't had time in some years. Knitting and crocheting
are also fun to share with cats, and if you sew your own clothes, the
patterns crinkle in a most attractive manner requiring them to be held
down by an assortment of claws and solid furry bodies.

I think (well, aside from the cutting out pattern pieces) the most
annoying (but kind of clever, really) thing they did was when they figured
out how to get into my sewing box, and found the ideal lightweight cat
toys - skeins of pure wool tapestry yarn that I'd had to order in for a
special project at a ridiculous cost because it wasn't available locally.

I was not amused, but they had a lot of fun.

--
Cheryl

Mischief wrote:
Anyone have the fun of dealing with the above two subjects?

I love cross stitching and been buying those little kits for a long
time. For my brother's wedding, i made a pattern of a Geisha girl by
a cherry tree, and one of a Samurai. My brother and sister in law
loved it so much that they said i had made a family heirloom

Well next month they are expecting their first baby. I'm sooooo
excited. I wont be around because they want to be alone, and i don't
want to stress them. But I'll be seeing them definitely this summer,
so i bought a pattern of a Baby Announcement

The tricky thing is, when i stitched those large complex patterns for
the wedding......I was not owned by any cats. I haven't had the time
to really stitch with school and work.

But now I'm unemployed and inspired to get this done.

Sooo yesterday when i got home i opened the kit and began to separate
the colored threads.

I lasted five minutes before i noticed three pairs of eyes watching
me. Then i was winding thread when suddenly there was a cat at the
other end.

"MISCHIEF, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I had to shoo her away twice before
she left me alone but keep a watchful eye on the STRINGY in my hands

Few more minutes I'm again winding thread and suddenly there's another
cat pouncing. "MAYHEM!! SCRAM!!!" She's been watching my every move
and I've had to bap her gently on the head.

argh.......

Somehow i FINALLY got the threads separated, and I've begun stitching,
The stitching isn't the hard part, it's the separating and handling
the thread is when i see eyes widen and butts begin to wiggle.

*sigh* Purrs that i can get this project done without too much
hassle.


Anyone else cross stitch?

Kristi

I do cross stitch a *lot*, among other things. Some of my projects can be
seen here http://community.webshots.com/album/276748541NMAGzf. I simply try
to keep the floss from being dangly and attractive to the cats, so they're
not that interested in it. Most of my projects are kits, so the floss is
already cut, but I have a few that are charts where you get to choose the
fabric, and have to buy the little 'skeins' of floss, and I use a winder to
make the putting-them-on-the-bobbin go quicker (second one down on this page
http://www.dmc-usa.com/majic/pageSer...C_Bobbins.html),
as it's during this that I find several wiggly butts aimed in my direction.

My fear is the ends that I cut off - I cross stitch on the sofa, and keep an
old (but clean) ashtray on the arm of the sofa where I put the cut ends that
are too short to be useable. I empty it every couple of hours, but
sometimes I forget, and when I do, and I'm away from the area for something
else (potty-break, laundry, taking the dog out, whatever) I fear that one of
the cats will try to 'taste' them - not good for kitty digestive system!

My problem is all the cat-hair! I have to keep a lint roller (I found a
package of 8, four normal sized and four 'mini' sized - the mini ones are
great for this), nearby and go over the project several times a day.
Getting a black cat-hair caught up in a light colored area makes it darker,
and a white cat-hair in a dark area makes it lighter - plus, having a
'fuzzy' project when finished is not that attractive, especially when the
project is a gift for someone else! Maybe I should just save all the
cat-hair, and do a project made exclusively of it! Just can't give it to
any of my in-laws, as most of them are highly allergic to cats (which is
kinda good - they don't visit us hardly at all!!!!

On 18 Apr 2006 09:58:11 -0700, "Mischief"
yodeled:

Anyone have the fun of dealing with the above two subjects?

I love cross stitching and been buying those little kits for a long
time. For my brother's wedding, i made a pattern of a Geisha girl by a
cherry tree, and one of a Samurai. My brother and sister in law loved
it so much that they said i had made a family heirloom

Well next month they are expecting their first baby. I'm sooooo
excited. I wont be around because they want to be alone, and i don't
want to stress them. But i'll be seeing them definitely this summer,
so i bought a pattern of a Baby Announcement

The tricky thing is, when i stitched those large complex patterns for
the wedding......I was not owned by any cats. I havent' had the time
to really stitch with school and work.

But now i'm unemployed and inspired to get this done.

Sooo yesterday when i got home i opend the kit and began to separate
the colored threads.

I lasted five minutes before i noticed three pairs of eyes watching me.
Then i was winding thread when suddenly there was a cat at the other
end.

"MISCHIEF, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I had to shoo her away twice before she
left me alone but kep a watchful eye on the STRINGY in my hands

Few more minutes i'm again winding thread and suddenly there's another
cat pouncing. "MAYHEM!! SCRAM!!!" She's been watching my every move
and i've had to bap her gently on the head.

argh.......

Somehow i FINALLY got the threads separated, and i've begun stitching,
The stitching isn't the hard part, it's the separating and handling the
thread is when i see eyes widen and butts begin to wiggle.

*sigh* Purrs that i can get this project done without too much hassle.


Anyone else cross stitch?

Kristi


No, crocheting. Pretty similar deal-- when I crochet (same must go
for knitting) the yarn moves continuously up out of the ball or spool,
and this is absolutely mesmerizing to the kitties.

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Make Levees, Not War

On 18 Apr 2006 09:58:11 -0700, "Mischief"
wrote:

Anyone have the fun of dealing with the above two subjects?

(snip nosey kitty story)

Somehow i FINALLY got the threads separated, and i've begun stitching,
The stitching isn't the hard part, it's the separating and handling the
thread is when i see eyes widen and butts begin to wiggle.

*sigh* Purrs that i can get this project done without too much hassle.


Anyone else cross stitch?

Yep. I brought a BIG half-finished kit with me when I came to America,
and another kit waiting to be done... and I soon found out that
cross-stitching and kittens does NOT mix. It got better when they grew
up a bit and I did some at christmas time without disturbance, but the
big kit is still languishing because Tessie's an even bigger
noseyparker than Scouty and Silver were!

My best answer was to get small kits because the threads are shorter
and less tempting to them, and it's easier to pick it up and get it
out of reach. I store the whole kit in a ziplock bag and only take it
out to sew, one thread at a time. Also, when they distract me it's
easier to find my place again! (the other advantage is that the small
kits fit in my handbag and can be carried around with me to sew in
waiting rooms, the car etc. It's a bit hard to lug a whole lap frame!)

Matthew AKA NMR wrote:
Not that but I macramé yes a man does these things. I used to make
8 foot high four side Christmas tree for friends and family and when
I get a chance it do small projects like this
http://i3.tinypic.com/vseyw5.jpg

That's very cool! I always wanted to learn macrame so I could make plant
hangers but I never got around to it.

Wasn't it ex-football player Rosie O'Greer who said he enjoyed knitting or
crocheting or something like that?

Jill


"Cheryl Perkins" wrote in message
...
Mischief wrote:

snip
Anyone else cross stitch?

I used to, but haven't had time in some years. Knitting and
crocheting are also fun to share with cats, and if you sew your own
clothes, the patterns crinkle in a most attractive manner requiring
them to be held down by an assortment of claws and solid furry
bodies.

I think (well, aside from the cutting out pattern pieces) the most
annoying (but kind of clever, really) thing they did was when they
figured out how to get into my sewing box, and found the ideal
lightweight cat toys - skeins of pure wool tapestry yarn that I'd
had to order in for a special project at a ridiculous cost because
it wasn't available locally.

I was not amused, but they had a lot of fun.

--
Cheryl

"Mischief" wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyone have the fun of dealing with the above two subjects?

I love cross stitching and been buying those little kits for a long
time. For my brother's wedding, i made a pattern of a Geisha girl by a
cherry tree, and one of a Samurai. My brother and sister in law loved
it so much that they said i had made a family heirloom

Well next month they are expecting their first baby. I'm sooooo
excited. I wont be around because they want to be alone, and i don't
want to stress them. But i'll be seeing them definitely this summer,
so i bought a pattern of a Baby Announcement

The tricky thing is, when i stitched those large complex patterns for
the wedding......I was not owned by any cats. I havent' had the time
to really stitch with school and work.

But now i'm unemployed and inspired to get this done.

Sooo yesterday when i got home i opend the kit and began to separate
the colored threads.

I lasted five minutes before i noticed three pairs of eyes watching me.
Then i was winding thread when suddenly there was a cat at the other
end.

"MISCHIEF, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I had to shoo her away twice before she
left me alone but kep a watchful eye on the STRINGY in my hands

Few more minutes i'm again winding thread and suddenly there's another
cat pouncing. "MAYHEM!! SCRAM!!!" She's been watching my every move
and i've had to bap her gently on the head.

argh.......

Somehow i FINALLY got the threads separated, and i've begun stitching,
The stitching isn't the hard part, it's the separating and handling the
thread is when i see eyes widen and butts begin to wiggle.

*sigh* Purrs that i can get this project done without too much hassle.


Anyone else cross stitch?

Not me but I found a technique that _might_ work to get your cats to keep
their distance while you do your stitching. It works for me when one of my
cats tries to take some of my food while I'm eating so it could possibly
work for discouraging other cat behaviour.

All you need to do is hiss at them. That's right, hiss at them the way they
hiss at each other. I'm convinced that a hiss means "back off!". My cat
immediately retreats when I hiss at him.

I tried this on one of my mother's cats the other day and they suddenly got
more cautious about what he was doing but didn't back off entirely so it may
not work with your cats either.

--
Rhino

I cross-stitch all the time. Lily generally leaves the thread and pattern
alone. Maybe she just hasn't noticed?
Lily & her mama

--

Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time
"Mischief" wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyone have the fun of dealing with the above two subjects?

I love cross stitching and been buying those little kits for a long
time. For my brother's wedding, i made a pattern of a Geisha girl by a
cherry tree, and one of a Samurai. My brother and sister in law loved
it so much that they said i had made a family heirloom

Well next month they are expecting their first baby. I'm sooooo
excited. I wont be around because they want to be alone, and i don't
want to stress them. But i'll be seeing them definitely this summer,
so i bought a pattern of a Baby Announcement

The tricky thing is, when i stitched those large complex patterns for
the wedding......I was not owned by any cats. I havent' had the time
to really stitch with school and work.

But now i'm unemployed and inspired to get this done.

Sooo yesterday when i got home i opend the kit and began to separate
the colored threads.

I lasted five minutes before i noticed three pairs of eyes watching me.
Then i was winding thread when suddenly there was a cat at the other
end.

"MISCHIEF, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I had to shoo her away twice before she
left me alone but kep a watchful eye on the STRINGY in my hands

Few more minutes i'm again winding thread and suddenly there's another
cat pouncing. "MAYHEM!! SCRAM!!!" She's been watching my every move
and i've had to bap her gently on the head.

argh.......

Somehow i FINALLY got the threads separated, and i've begun stitching,
The stitching isn't the hard part, it's the separating and handling the
thread is when i see eyes widen and butts begin to wiggle.

*sigh* Purrs that i can get this project done without too much hassle.


Anyone else cross stitch?

Kristi

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Matthew AKA NMR wrote:
Not that but I macramé yes a man does these things. I used to make
8 foot high four side Christmas tree for friends and family and when
I get a chance it do small projects like this
http://i3.tinypic.com/vseyw5.jpg

That's very cool! I always wanted to learn macrame so I could make plant
hangers but I never got around to it.

Wasn't it ex-football player Rosie O'Greer who said he enjoyed knitting or
crocheting or something like that?

Yeappie right on the nose It is amazing what you can learn while sitting
on airplanes for hours upon a time