April Showers

The winds blew through March and somehow, we are now in April!  And you know the saying... April showers bring May flowers.  I can only hope that we get some showers as the drought hovers in the severe/extreme levels.  The Ides of March marched right in and, whew... it was a very busy month as I had previewed a few weeks ago.

The blog hops and linky parties were great fun and offered many opportunities to have interaction with my readers.  Many thanks for all of the comments!  I love, love, love to hear from you. 

In February, at the onset of Lent, I decided to take on a meaningful project and started sewing pillowcase dresses.  I had two bolts of plaid fabric that I wanted to use... with the goal of completing 40 dresses (one for each day of the Lenten season) or until I ran out of the plaid fabric....

I worked on the "Little Dresses" all though Lent here and there and was able to successfully complete 41 dresses and empty one bolt of the plaid fabric.  These dresses will be included in our church's Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes when they get packed in November.  

I did pull some other fabrics into the mix so there was a little bit of variety...

I plan to continue with making dresses, but using "Lillian's pattern" for the dresses and send them to the organization in Michigan - Little Dresses for Africa.  My thought is that I have plenty of dresses for the shoe boxes, and since the majority of them are all the same and the shoe boxes end up going to the same locations (usually Mexico or The Philippines) , I would split up the plaid dresses and send some to a different continent.

Enough of March... what will April bring???

I will be a part of the April Sew Much Fun Blog Hop hosted by Jen Frost at Faith & Fabric.  Binding techniques will be the subject.  I will be sharing a few tips as well as my preferred method.










Other challenges and block of the month projects will include:








The 2018 color challenge - Orange is the color for April...  

Orange = Sunrises and Sunsets
Orange = Denver Broncos (or Chicago Bears)
Orange = fresh picked fruit from the trees in my Grandparent's back yard
Orange =  hives... from eating too many of the said oranges in my Grandparent's back yard 👀😜


It's a Wild Life - from Sew Incredibly Crazy  

Let's Go Camping  with Pat Sloan...  

Both the "It's A Wild Life" and "Let's Go Camping blocks will be combined to make a quilt that we will use in our camper.  We plan to set up the bed more as a regular bed with sheets and quilt rather than using sleeping bags.  Stay tuned!

The Quilters Through The Generations series will continue with two more stories.  I am currently recruiting more quilters who are willing to share their stories and the stories of quilters from generations before them.  Are YOU willing to share your story?  Let me know!  

Did you happen to catch the story of Ann Hicks?  She has a rich, rich history - it includes six generations - of quilting in her family and she graciously shared their stories with me recently.

As a little addendum, she shared some photos of her Grandfather's Market (Gus Perry)...  It looks well organized and well stocked!  Where do you suppose the fabric department is?

She also shared that her favorite quilt block is the Sun Bonnet Sue... 

This is one she made for her Grand-daughter, Catrina.

What are your plans for April?  

I'd love to hear from you... leave a comment below.

Did I mention that April is my birthday month?  To celebrate I will be having a give away... Details to be announced. You may want to follow me via e-mail (subscribe in the right margin), on bloglovin', facebook or instagram so that you don't miss the opportunity!

Spring on!

Melva

Linking up with:

One Month Goal at Elm Street Quilts
Movin' it Foward Monday at Em's Scrap Bag
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
UFO Busting at Tish's Adventures in Wonderland