Quilting with cats

A few days ago I decided it was time to tidy up the part of my studio that is in the bedroom.  As a quilter I have learnt never to throw anything away but I am beginning to think that if I have had something for a number of years and not used it, it should be junked.  However, tidying up is easier said than done when you have two two year old Siamese cats.  (The older one isn't bothered - he's seen it all before.)  So this is what happened.

The stand of cane baskets contains various thick threads - just what we love.

Any fabric or UFO is fair game for a toy which will then be dragged around the house.  Pania is particularly fond of wadding, so much so that I have to keep most of it in the studio where she has no access to it or in a closed hat box on top of the wardrobe.  The problem really arises when I have a large quilt that is already assembled as I do at the moment.  I have put the whole thing in a plastic bag that held a duvet which had been to the cleaner.  I then put the bag on top of the wardrobe where it seems to be relatively safe - probably because it is too heavy for them to pick up.  Here is what happens with smaller pieces.

But the top of the wardrobe isn't an impregnable place as Hinemoa has worked out how to climb up the clothes if the door is left open, making her way onto the top shelf and then up onto the top.  From there she can walk across to the bookcase where I keep my stash and an assortment of jars of threads, embellishments etc. just like all quilters.  So when I had finished cleaning the shelves I went off to the shops without checking that I had shut the wardrobe doors.  This was the scene that greeted me on my return.

The things on the floor were in an open container on the top shelf.  She reaches over and hooks out things  (you can just see a piece of gold ribbon hanging down in the top left of the photo).  Once on the floor the two of them select a nice piece or two to serve as Toy of the Day and then proceed to drag it round the house.  I know I should abandon having open containers on the top shelf.  There is a second bookcase on the opposite wall.  As that one is next to my sewing table it is even easier to reach into it and there have been numerous occasions when they have helped themselves to plastic bags containing works in progress and then upended them on the floor during the night.  For the first year I made them sleep in the study but in the hot summer nights (yes, we did have summer once) they spent hours scratching at the door to be let out so I got no sleep. In the end it was easier to give in and let them loose.  Fortunately they did tire (a bit) of all this nocturnal activity especially once it got cold and the alternative was a bed.

And this is where they were when I got back the other day.  Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.