Aw, rats! Time to catch up

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and there has been much happening around here. Thought it might be time to catch up. First up is how I did in the Patchwork Prism Quilt Along.

 I didn't win for my quilt, but I was selected as a winner in the random drawing part of the quilt along. My kids keep saying it's an honorable mention, which is funny...more like a random mention, but I'll take it any way I can get it. Here's Sweet Diesel's blog post revealing the winners.

As many of you know, my brick and mortar quilt shop closed at the end of last year. After getting everything moved out and packed up, I took a nice, long play break. Well, I decided it was about time to get back to work. Over the past few weeks, I have sorted, organized and posted most of the remaining inventory in my Etsy shop, Dragonfly Quilt Shop. There are fabric, books, patterns, and notions, all at ridiculously discounted prices. The remaining items that haven't been listed there are large or odd shaped things, or things that are really too inexpensive to bother listing in the Etsy shop. My quilt guild will enjoy some nice door prizes for the next few months as I move it all out of here.

There's been one more distraction that has kept me from sewing and that is the addition of some new pets to the household. We already have a dog (he belongs to my husband) and a cat (which belongs to my daughter). The three boys, especially the younger two, decided they needed a pet of their own. My oldest son has wanted a ferret for many years, but I never agreed to that one. I did not want anything that was going to require a lot of expense. So, they went to the pet store and found the least expensive pet there, a rat.

My first response was NO, NO, NO way was a rat going to live at my house. They did their research, rallied the troops, and worked on me until I changed my mind. So, the first weekend in July found me welcoming not one, not two, but three adorable rats to our home. Each son had to have his own of course. They are from Legends of Rock Rattery, which we learned is a much better way to purchase rats than the local pet store. They are named Juno, Hera, and Lady and I must say, I'm becoming rather attached to the cute little things. Here is Hera; she's a shoulder sitter. 

They are all girls, 'cuz we don't want any baby rats, that's for sure! This is Juno.

And this is Lady. She's older than the other two (five months) and full grown. The other girls are just six weeks old.

This is their cage and it might be decorated better than my bedroom.The dog hasn't decided if they are little dogs or he is a big rat!

I'm certainly ready to move back into play mode. There are a few quilting projects to be finished and I'm sort of shopping around for a new quilt along. It's been great to see my stash put to good use and quilt alongs are the perfect way for a busy working girl to use stash, try new things, and make new bloggy friends.