April 2022 Monthly Quilt Update

 

Our theme this year is just so fun.  If you didn't get a chance to check out the post explaining it all --- here is the LINK to the initial post and another April LINK  as well.  I'm super excited about where this will take me.  I know we all have colors that may not bring on the warm fuzzies, but this will be a chance to really challenge ourselves and we may find that our tastes can change.  

If you are new to the blog, you may be asking, "just what is a monthly update?"  I decided long ago that I just can't keep up with blogging daily.  I just can't.  Sooooo, what happens is I document a day in my life within one post and if something special happens, a separate post takes place.  See, you can stay caught up with a once a month check and then, if you're interested, see the other posts too.  It's a great system for me.

In years past, I have set goals for each month and I will continue to do that simply to keep myself on track.  UFO mode will continue around here with minimal purchases (hopefully), but also a few fun and new items will make an appearance now and then.  The "hopeful attempts" will change each month and will always show up at the bottom of the update if you read that far - and they are joined by links to the previous monthly updates for the year.

Now, grab a cuppa and sit back for a fun read and perhaps a new idea or two.   (P.S. I format on a computer, so if you are reading on a phone, well sometimes the pictures will be before or after the story.  It is what it is.

Let's go April --- shower us with some Lavender.

Please remember that any links in here will open in a separate window so that you can keep your place on this page at the same time and there are no ads or popups EVER.

1st - It's April Fool's Day!  Am I the fool?  I'm still in Montana don't know which way is up right now, along with having perhaps one of the worst days of my life.  I have ugly sobbed in public and that is never good.  At any rate, a beer and pretzel is dinner and tomorrow is a new day.

2nd -  Early this morning it started to snow.  Perhaps this is the cleansing that I need to face today with a great mindset.  I'm giving it my best shot --- that much I know.  A stop on the way gives me a chance for snowflakes in the hair.  It's been awhile for this type of joy.  

3rd - My task for the day is to bring Mom and Bailey together for a bit and ease both of their minds.  Task accomplished.

4th - My last full day in Montana and I make two trips to visit Mom just to spend as much time as possible.  I'll be back on the 17th and she will be working hard to get to the point where I can take her home on that day.

5th - It's another early airport run.  My flight leaves at 6 and it's not exactly nice out.  We have to de-ice before any attempt to take off can occur.

Just look at this --- above the clouds.  I get home around 12:30 and am so lucky to have great friends that go above and beyond.  Thank you, Stephannie, for doing just that.

6th - I have my one day at home and have repacked and am off to retreat to meet up with Gwen.  We both arrive around 1:30 and get to work preparing for the gang tomorrow.  Here is a LINK to our time AND the retreat.  Take a peek and share in our fun.

Before calling it a day, I manage to get all the April and May Secret Lives of Color blocks finished.  YES!  One step closer to being caught up.

7th - Retreat begins and there are a couple of outings today that just show how much time with friends is as important as sewing.

I DID do some sewing.  I worked on parts and pieces of the lavender table runner for April.  It will be sooooo nice to get current once again.

8th - Today's task is to make some real progress on the table runner.  I have all the blocks done by morning and am ready to set this sweetie and start quilting on it.

Game night happens and so much fun and laughter as well.

Summer Moon is laid out and ready to start sewing.  

The table runner is quilted and all that is left is to sew the binding down and bury threads.  Feeling a little more breathing room.

I made it to last ladies standing --- yay me.

9th - Loving retreat and the wonderful women I get to spend time with.

Ahhhhh -- last ladies, last night.

AND, I have Summer Moon ready to go for April - at last.

FRIEDA AND FAWN -- IF YOU ARE READING THIS MONTH, STOP NOW.

10th - All good things must come to an end and this has been a GREAT retreat.  So much thankfulness to these amazing women and all of their incredible help, along with friendship.  My heart is full.

As soon as I'm home, Mister and I are off to a birthday party for a friend.  It's a great event and oh so nice to reconnect with friends we haven't seen in awhile.

Happy Birthday Richard.

11th -  I am driven right now. Six days before I return to Montana and one heck of a lot to do.  First things first -- binding is on and threads are buried on the lavender table runner.  Post is up and I'm one more step closer to calm.

12th - Next step -- blocks for the Round Robin --- they are all together at last.  Whew.

Auditioning ideas for how to play this out.  I thought I had such a great plan, but I'm starting to second guess myself. The only real problem is that I've already cut all the fabric and pretty much need to go with the idea at this point.  ARGH.

I guess my mistake was the size of the blocks.  Or maybe I should have made more blocks.   At any rate, I'm going with it for now as I REALLY need to get this in the mail.  I'm sooo late as it is.

A Row by Row hanging on the back of my chair gets a seam sewn as leader/ender.

And the world sends something beautiful to end the day.

13th - I'm in top speed attempting to mark things off lists.  Puzzler blocks from first set are laid out.

new ones cut - blocks 4 and 5

Block 1 made

Blocks 4 made

Blocks 5 in progress - 

A minute to finish up the Round Robin and I truly don't like it.  I WISH I had more time to fix it.  Maybe Fawn will or Frieda will just rip it out and start over --- either way, I'm okay with it.

Puzzler blocks 5 are made

Puzzler block 2 put together

All throughout the day, I've been making minky pillow tops as leader/enders and have made good progress on them.

And with all of that in one day --- I'm thankful that gin and tonic season has begun.

14th -  All day today is spent getting the Summer Moon May blocks finished.  Woot woot.  Posts are up and scheduled.  One more thing off the list.

AND - layout for the May table runner has begun.  

15th - Parts for another Round Robin have arrived and I'm hoping this one makes me a bit happier.  I think I'm just in a creative mess right now.

Now --- let's get this table runner put together --- the trip is looming.

By the end of the day, I have it sewn, trimmed, sandwiched (not pictured), and packed to take to Montana.

16th - A crazy busy morning/afternoon happens as I try to get my act together and pack what I hope to finish while up north.  I have Fawn's Round Robin all packed and ready to go.

Now, because I haven't crammed enough into this day, I'm for for a gathering with the red and purple ladies.  Here is the Red Hat LINK if you wish to peek in on our lovely luncheon.

A quick trip home to pack a suitcase and I'm off to the airport with Mister.  We are heading back to Montana.

Getting closer, but it will be the wee hours of tomorrow morning when we arrive.

17th - Howdy Montana.  We arrived at 12:40 in the morning just as a snow storm was beginning.  Driving to the house was like an episode of Star Trek in warp speed.  Once there, we crashed for a few hours and woke to a winter wonderland and a visitor in the yard.

A trip back into Kalispell allowed us to bust Mom out of Brendan House and take her home.  Sis and Joe came down with Easter dinner all made and the evening was very nice.  Not sure what was wrong with me, but --- alas, no pictures.

18th - A busy day in Montana.  Mister ran errands all day to pick up some groceries and parts to repair a sink.  The RN stopped by for an initial visit and I cleaned out the freezer to get ready for Mister's purchases and then he went to work on Mom's sink.  Tired and ready for bed fairly early.

19th - Today was Occupational Therapy, laundry, developing pictures from Washington D.C. (yep, I'm THAT far behind), blog posts, and ordering items to help Mom - pillows, sheets, etc.  Mister found a few moments of sunshine to relax in.

20th - Off to a doctor's appointment and then some errands in Bigfork.  Came home to a call with Humana that lasted over an hour and truly tested my patience.  More work on pictures and blog posts.  My thread holder that I ordered before leaving Dallas arrived, broken.  Argh.

21st - Physical therapy and a the RN visited.  Mom's adjustable bed arrived - although the box is questionable (bed is fine).  Mister got the mattress opened so that it would "grow" the next day or so.  I FINALLY finished all my pictures and got a few more posts up.

22nd - It's Friday -- wow -- not sure where the week went, but we've been busy every single day.  Mom is doing well and I'm seeing improvement each day.  The big task for today is to go through all the stuff under the bathroom sinks and in the medicine closets.  Then just more blog work.  Mister caught me out back looking terrible, but trying to be patient with Mom's dog.  Is this a quilt blog?  It's dang questionable these days, but I promise - just keep reading.

23rd - My love finished fixing the bathroom sink and we are able to put the items we kept back away.  Woot, woot.  My brother-in-law and nephew came down to help get the bed all set up.  It turned into more work than we imagined and involved cutting the legs down.  They also hauled the old, green couch to the dump along with  all garbage we've created while cleaning.  I even managed to get the laundry done.  Each day is very full and I'm sleeping like a rock.

24th - Started cooking up chicken for Bailey so that Mom won't have to for at least a month.  Got it all cut and frozen for meals.  We switched out the mattresses as the new one just won't work for her.  Spent some timing cleaning out a couple of kitchen drawers and then Mister and I both cleaned out the entertainment center in the family room.  More items ready for removal.  I went to take Bailey out to potty and we had a visitor that really wasn't too afraid of us.

I spotted this today and thought it was so funny and so true.

Well, I have finally pulled out the yard and started working on a baby afghan.

Meanwhile, Mister is using table items to help with his own repair of the valance over the patio door.

I've set up a sewing station  so that I can get to my list of projects that came along.  (I actually bought this card table for my mother MANY years ago AND the peach colored quilt on the sofa behind was hand quilted by me AND the white throw was also made by me.  Wow.)  Let the sewing begin.

25th - I tackled the kitchen pantry today along with a couple of doctor appointments.  While at one office, I spotted this wall hanging in the examination room.

Started sewing  finally.  Trying to remember just what the plans were on Illusions and a Round Robin.  The border pieces are made as are the flying geese.  Lots and lots of little Illusions parts.

Another kitchen drawer cleaned out and more chicken prepared.  I'm getting there.  Our departure is approaching rapidly and I want to make sure several of the tasks are taken care of before that.

26th - More work on the blog, no appointments today so Mom and I tackled the recipe book/manual drawer.  Giggles and laughter ensued along with the discovery of my grandmother's handwritten recipes.  How cool is that?  Her new sheets arrived and are washed and on the bed.  So glad the bed situation is under control.   

Some sewing time happens and good progress is made on two months of Illusions BOM.  I have parts that need to be appliqued before complete assembly can happen and I don't have the right machine or multiple thread colors with me.  I'll get it done before retreat next month and be able to put this one behind me a bit.  Woot woot.

Two sets of borders are on the RR -

And then I run out of bobbin thread.  That's my signal to quit for the night.

27th - Visits from OT and the RN happen again today.  I make another errand run into Bigfork to do some returns for Amazon, a cable box that Mom is paying for in a room she isn't using, the PO, thrift store drop-offs, and groceries.  ALL of that in less than an hour including travel time.  I rock when I'm organized.  Too bad that doesn't happen more often.

Finding some time to sew --- the RR is ready to go to it's owner.  I like it, even if the geese didn't work out completely according to plan.

A quick peek out the back door has me surprised once again.  They are taking up residency.

My niece and nephew invited us out to sushi for dinner and OMG, so, so good.

It was fun to spend some time with them.  

Love you two ---- 

Jill and Brock --- thank you so much for the invite.  It was much needed.

28th - It's another drive to Kalispell day as Mom has an appointment.,  A stop at Costco and Mom walked around with us - such a big step.  Then back home and Mister made a HUGE garbage run to empty the garage of all that we had stacked up.  I finish up the SLC blocks for a future month (remember, I cut these while doing lavender month).    

It seems like a typical Debi move when something for August is finished, but the item I need in two days is not.  I'm quilting the table runner now.

Binding goes on and some hand-stitching while visiting with Mom makes this a TA-DONE.

29th - Physical Therapy today and I managed to remember to check in for a flight.  Packing and laundry happens along with Mister taking care of the yard.  Before packing up all of the sewing items, I put together the whole top for a new baby.  Whew, one more thing closer to being off my list.   

It's a tough evening as I have to say good-bye to Mom.  Now, would the airlines please put some reasonably priced flights back up?  I need to plan a return trip.  Love ya, Momma --- I'll do my best to get back quick.

30th -  Up in the wee hours (3:30 a.m.) to be at the airport by 4:30 for our fight home.

Ta-Ta Montana - 

A brief hello to SLC and then onto our second flight - 

We land in Dallas a little after 12:00 and start the process of baggage and car retrieval.  By the time we leave the airport, it's about 15 minutes until 1:00.  Goodness.  First things first, we need to eat so a stop at Intrinsic for some BBQ.  Yum.

Home to relax and just unwind for me.  I watched a movie and Mister mowed the yard.  He is WAY more ambitious than I.  A peek at my BINGO for the month --- could have done better, but I'm surprised I did as well as I did.  I'm VERY  ready for May.

Speaking of May ---- say hello to Turquoise.  It is the next color in our Color Your World theme.  The original post with all the information on this theme can be found HERE and the brand new stuff for this month has a post all of it's own as well.   Please click on this May LINK for the details.  That's where the BINGO card is as well.  

Thank you for reading this far.  If you made it here, kudos to you.  Hope you have a great month and find a way to bring joy into your life.  Stay creative Y'all.

UFO's to quilt:   

BOM #1 - quilt and bind - 
BOM #2 - quilt and bind - 
BOM #3 - quilt and bind - 
Winter Wonderland - quilt and bind -

Witch's Night Out - quilt and bind - 

Quarantine Challenge - quilt and bind - 

Dawn's Early Light - quilt and bind - 

Xing - quilt and bind - 

Straits of Mackinac - quilt and bind

Ruby Slippers (a.k.a Emerald City) - quilt and bind

Pfeffernusse - quilt and bind 

Current Projects:

Summer Moon Blocks - May done

Farm Girl - backing/binding made - 

Sandcastles - 

Turquoise Table Runner - done

Rhododendron Trail - 

Ophelia Quilt - 

Illusions BOM - worked on blocks

Ruby Jubilee --- 

Baby Quilt - top finished, ready to quilt

Secret Lives of Color - May ready to go

Round Robin - done and ready to give to owner

Puzzler Blocks - two sets done and mailed, two blocks made

UFO Items to work on:
 
Neutral strings - 
BAD blocks as leader/enders - 

Whims 2nd quilt - 

UFO Handwork Items:

Hand Quilting -- 

Stockings - 

Links to Previous 2022 Monthly Posts - 

January 2022

February 2022

March 2022