Chookshed Challenge End of Month Linky

Hello blogland!  I hope you have had a calm, pleasant, and productive April.  I did.

The Chookshed linky party for April is below.  Feel free to add a link and visit the others.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Pineapple quilt top is completed and off to the quilter tomorrow along with the mystery quilt I finished at the retreat last week.  Yay!  So far I have done well with my goals in this challenge.

How did you do?

This is the mystery quilt.  I was able to use up fabrics that didn't have a home or "quilt to live in" from my stash.  It will be a donation quilt.  I am considering foster care children who have to leave their homes.

For those who have kindly asked about my husband, he is doing much better as far as pain goes.  He still hurts all the time, but not nearly as much.  His finger is healing.  He did not have to have surgery to remove the end of his finger. It may grow back crudely, but it will be functional.  Thanks for your concerned comments and emails.  We have been managing the care of the horses as a team now as it is difficult for him to do it on his own one handed.

Links to participants: 

Al's Rural Shutterbug 

Annette NSW

Betty Rainbow Connection

Chooky

Chris - Quilting at the Farm 

Christine MacDonald's Patch 

Deana - You are here!

Denice's Day

Di - Quilting is Blissful

Ellen - So Sew Ellen

Grace City Mouse Quilter 

Hanne Quilt Corner

Jannimary 

Jeanette 3 Cats & a Quilter - 

Jenny - Bird on the Border 

Jenny - Romany Quilting

Jo 

Jocelyn Canadian Needle Nana

Joy - Days Filled with Joy 

Karen's Corner 

Katie - My Sandbox

Kim - Purring Cottage

Laura lcscottage  

Lianne Makes Stuff

Loulee Manxgirl Living and Crafting Down Under  

Lynda - Heavens to Betsy

Lyndsey - Sew Many Yarns

Maria Life on the Block  

Michell's Place

Narelle - Pins and Whiskers - in her left sidebar

Pam's Progress

Raewyn - Stitching Farm Girl

Rose Marie Applique' and Patches 

Sharm - Country Fragrance

Silvia- Flickenstitchler

Sue - Kiwi Kid 

Quilting Friends Retreat

I just returned from the Quilting Friends Retreat this week. I have honestly been sewing with most of these ladies for over 20 years. I have known them from work, quilt classes I have taught, guild, and Church. We are all so close, and love runs deep between us.  Many of them watched me grow up from a young mother to a soon-to-retire woman. Yes, I took days off work to attend. I don't miss this retreat EVER.

I made this Mystery Quilt entirely from my stash. 

Here are some others that were made from the same pattern.

Holly H.

Sherry J.

Linda C.

I also took a bag class and completed these two. I plan to gift them this Christmas. 

There were two wonderful Trunk Shows and a Show and Tell Night.

Shawnee Barnes work is amazing and so is she. Retired social worker and law enforcement as well as an author 

Here she is with two of her pieces.

Her book is coming out this fall and it is called, "Through the Keyhole".  It is a true story about a little girl who watched her mother's murder through the keyhole of a door.  Interestingly, the story took place over 50 years ago in the next county to where I live.  Most of the ladies at the retreat live in that county.  The murder was just recently solved and was shown on Netflix.  I am anxious for the book to come out.  Shawnee was asked to write it because she used to be a local, knows a few of the players, and has been in law enforcement.  I believe this is the book cover.

The other trunk show was done by a mother daughter duo. They specialize in scraps. The daughter entertained us with her songs about quilters. We laughed so hard. They are so cute! She sings to popular tunes of Johnny Cash and the theme song of Bonanza.

Kalynn introduced them. 

The food is always amazing and home cooked by the committee.  

They volunteer their time,  but were able to get a little sewing in a well.

MORE LATER...

Bad Saturday & 15 minutes

My husband pinched the tip of his finger off while helping a fellow motorcycle rider up a difficult spot.  He grabbed hold of the forks to pull, the driver turned his handle bars for balance, and my honey's finger was caught in an impossible spot.  His entire finger nail was ripped off along with all of the meat/flesh around the bone from the first knuckle to the tip.  The bone is also broken.  He got himself to the hospital after a difficult 1 hour motorcycle ride and 1 1/2 hour truck drive.  I met him at the emergency room finding him in a lot of pain.

I am now in charge of chores which means feeding/watering the horses.  Jasper is fun to see.

Look at the lovely sunset!  It was so red!

Look what I found!  Two sister momma cats huddled together with their new baby kittens in a tiny space.  I am pretty sure they are nursing each others babies.  There are 10 kittens.

I am also in charge of setting alarms and making sure my drug induced honey gets his meds every 3 hours to control the pain.  He sees an orthopedic surgeon this week to see what has to be done.  The emergency room doctor just barely stitched the flesh together enough for the surgeon to just rip it apart when he can see it.  Sucks to get hurt on a Saturday and have to wait until Monday to get the help you need.

15 Minutes Report

Pineapples. campers, April zoom and weekend crazies

 It was an eventful weekend in both good and bad ways.  Let's start with the good...

My husband was gone all weekend which meant uninterrupted sewing time.  My pineapple top (Chookshed Challenge for this month) is done.  Now to piece the back.

I made my Aussie Baradine row - well all but one more Moda Love block which is cut and ready to sew.  Two campers are done, well... were done.  I need to fix the tongue on the trailer because it looks like my tire is stuck in the mud or something.  All I need to do is lengthen the trailer hitch part into the dirt part.

Look how small Moda Love is... 8".

Look, I even made Moda Love out of Australian fabric!

I zoomed with the Chookshed Girls:

Lou popped in on her break.

Janice showed us the cute little smiley faces made by Brenda for Baradine.

Chooky had to buz Gail out of her yard and away from mowing to join us.

I stole this from Chooky's blog because I LOVED how many bags from 2023 retreat are completed!

I'll post the bad news tomorrow because this post is getting kind of long.

 

Weekend Family Camping & finished my bag!

Love the way my bag turned out!  There are four outside pockets including one on the front and back and sides.  

The Bay Mare in the photo is the one that lost her filly, still sad about that.

I tried to get Jasper, our baby, but Momma horses always try to block their little one out of view.  She is successful.

There are three inside pockets - one on each side with a vinyl one as well.

Two weekends ago our kids, their spouses, and our grands went camping.  Son and his wife were the only ones missing.  We were even joined by my brother's family and my husband's brother's family.

There was roping practice in the background.

There were motorcycle rides, camp fire talks, marshmallow roasting, playing in the dirt, hiking, visiting, doing puzzles, playing board games, and lots of eating.  We even watched church conference together either in our trailer or listened outside on large speakers.

This weekend we went to Moab and watched Enduro Motorcycle racing and also had dinner with our so and his wife.  It was a wonderful trip.  

Look at this truck we saw.  There are saddles on top.

Daughter sent me these photos of my grands feeding a calf.

Check out my other grands on youtube.  Their dad has a youtube channel building cars and such.  The videos are just a few seconds long.

ogMalfunctionJunction - taking lunch to Dad

ogMalfunctionJunction - kids growing up helping Dad

ogMalfunctionJunction - kids get their first motorcycle