Thank you - it was such a blunder thought right before my trip I set out to make two last necklaces, designed one and started stringing but it was getting late so I left the tray with the unfinished necklace on the table. Next morning everything was on the floor in complete disarray and I could not pick up the pieces because I had to be packing.

So now I am short of gifts, and the morale of the story is... people who own cats should never leave loose beads on the dinner table.