What's up with this rug?

I belong to a rug hooking guild.  Next year is it's 50th anniversary, and the club is doing a huge show at the art gallery.    There are going to be 2 rooms, one for the history of rug hooking in our area and the other to showcase members rugs.  We have some spectacularly talented rug hookers.   I'm a rank beginner in comparison.  However, most of my rugs are my own design.  There's one in particular I've been asked to finish up as it's a bit of a different design.   I drew my own pattern and dyed much of the wool used for it, so it unique in a number of ways.   

Phil sleeping on the rug while I made tea

The border is fairly simple, just flowers with the dark blue background.  I wanted to use Shisha mirrors as the centre of the flowers, but the only ones I could find were going to have to be ordered, with a stupid long delivery time.  Instead I substituted these huge sequins.  The sequins worked, although steaming will likely be an issue, that the real mirrors wouldn't have.   Sewing them down didn't quite work.  Although they were secure, having only a single sewing hole, they kept flipping up when I was hooking.   I added a glue stick, but it wasn't secure enough to hold it while I was working on it.  In the end I had to use E6000 glue and let it dry overnight before using it. The glue works incredibly well.  It holds the sequins securely while I handle the rug.  

Unfortunately, the drying time is an issue. One thing about this rug is that the cats have taken a liking to it.   With all the wool blankets I leave all over for them to sleep on, it's curious to me as to why they've taken a liking to this particular rug. All that needs to be finished is the border.   I started on it and set it down to go make tea and came back to find Phil had settled on it.   He was probably awake but refused to open his eyes and move.  He'd settled in quite nicely.

Because of the way I'm working this, I'm only gluing on the sequins onto the side that I'm hooking.   During the drying time, Kevin has decided that this rug was a good place to nap.    He would move if I chase him off, but he was sleeping  nicely and the rug needed to dry until the morning  anyway, so I left him to his dreams.

It was fine for a few days, and at least I didn't see any kitties sleeping on it.  I got some hooking done.   Some will have to be redone because those flowers have been a learning experience.   This morning though, I went to set the rug up on the hooking frame and what did I find again? Yep, Kevin has decided that this is his rug.  I thought it was safe as I'd had it in an out of the way spot.  I hadn't bothered to roll it up properly because I've been working on it most evenings. I can't leave it in the frame or hoop because it could stretch the backing and leave marks.   I have learned that if I don't want cats sleeping on it, then I need to put it away properly.  couple of days, but then it was obvious that Kevin really likes this rug.   It's now rolled up and inaccessible to kitty naps.