April Gardner
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slignot.bsky.social
April Gardner
@slignot.bsky.social
350 followers 530 following 1.6K posts
Proudly intolerant of intolerance. Formless terror in service of the Old Ones here to doom mankind.

Queer ace she/her
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slignot.bsky.social
Finished up another embroidery project, so now I have to finish two more kits in the next little bit in time to give as gifts.

Excited to move on from the kitties to the neat ones on black fabric I picked for myself soon.
A finished embroidery project in a round hoop. It depicts a black void kitty sitting in a colorful orange pot full of flowers and mixed foliage. A new embroidery project in a round hoop. The printed pattern shows a sleeping kitty curled up on top of books next to a tall planter with the blade-like leaves of a snake plant.
December 12, 2025 at 4:34 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Me too! I got the others as a couple multi-project kits that were fairly similar, but the abstracted poppy cat was so lovely I had to get it too.

The ones I picked out for myself are all botanical and bug themed on black.
Two black fabric embroidery projects in round hoops. Both have botanical white line patterns, once featuring a large moth, the other with a bunch of mushrooms.
December 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Wrapped another kitty, so I've popped the next project in the embroidery hoop.

I still haven't decided which sets to give to spouse's parents and his brother/sister-in-law for Christmas. But I'll make sure to finish their projects before I start working on some for me.
Embroidery project in the round working frame. It shows a calico kitty curled up asleep among giant monstera leaves in varied green hues. Once the blue pattern is soaked out, I'll press and finish it in a more decorative hanging frame. A new mounted embroidery project with a blue lined kitty in a garden pot full of flowers and greenery.
December 5, 2025 at 9:08 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Finished the more abstract kitty this morning and put the next project in the hoop. Very pleased with how this one turned out.
A seated cat in 3/4 profile abstracted in shape from stems, leaves, and poppy flowers. An embroidery hoop with a blue pattern printed with a kitty laying down in the middle of large monstera leaves.
November 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Our new boy clearly wanted to see out the windows of the car, but has stubby little dachshund legs. So we got him a little booster basket, but it seemed like he didn't like it as much as we expected.

Turns out the problem was it was too deep and just not cozy enough. Added a bed & Tas loved it.
A small brown and white mixed breed dog laying in a backseat mounted rectangular basket. He has cute little folded brown ears, a mostly brown face with blond eyebrows and a white muzzle. His legs and much of his body are white with large brown spots on his back. A very chihuahua like white tail pokes up from a blue dog bed wedged into the basket.
November 24, 2025 at 5:12 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Finished up the hanging pot kitty today, and got the next project set up.
Embroidery project in a round hoop. A black cat lays over the top of a hanging basket with trailing plants. There are different green foliage in a leaf stitch with a handful of red flowers, as well as a tight cluster of blue green colonial knots. A new embroidery project in a round hoop. There is a blue lined pattern in the shape of a seated cat made of flowers and leaves.
November 21, 2025 at 9:55 PM
slignot.bsky.social
The next one I put in the hoop is a kitty in a hanging plant.
A printed blue lined embroidery pattern shows a cat laying across a hanging plant. There is a green thread with some initial stem stitching started.
November 16, 2025 at 12:14 AM
slignot.bsky.social
Finished last stitches on the first embroidery project. I still need to take it out of the hoop, soak out the blue printed pattern, and put it in a more decorative display hip. We picked up some light green fleecey cotton to back each of them once they're done too.
A completed embroidery kit on cream fabric. It has two kitties (a tuxedo and grey colored one) snuggled up side by side below a hanging basket with trailing multicolored leaves.
November 16, 2025 at 12:11 AM
slignot.bsky.social
My spouse surprised me this week with cute little Lego planters, which I assembled on my lunch break.

It helps cheer up a grey cubicle to have tiny friends nearby.
Two small Lego anthropomorphic smiling planters holding hands. The one on the left is blue, and sitting down with its legs out front, and has a round leaf plant. The right one is yellow, and stands upright. It has a spiky plant. A further back picture of the Lego planters next to a white board and pinned watercolor picture on the cubicle wall. The small whiteboard has a sketched dry erase drawing of Grosvenor Arch in southern Utah. The watercolor is an autumnal scene of a fountain at Salt Lake's City and County Building.
November 12, 2025 at 8:06 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Tas is unsure about how to play with Koro. She's big and can be kind of clumsy so he gets a little nervous when they're chasing and she's really excited.

Koro has tried instead to get him to play tug by offering her very favorite rope toys and he looks at her confused.
A picture of the tiny Tasslehoff on top of the back of the couch looking at Koro the brown and white pibble. She has turned her head away from the camera, having just dropped a very beloved rope you she had been offering to Tas.
October 19, 2025 at 3:20 AM
slignot.bsky.social
Been having a wonderful weekend getting to know our new rescue pup, Tasslehoff.

He's so tiny compared to our pibble Koro, and wonderfully cuddly. He's a real joy.
A very small mixed breed dog we've named Tasslehoff. (I think chihuahua and dachshund mix.) He looks up at the camera. He's wearing a jean jacket, and has brown and white fur. The small mixed breed dog described in the last image lays on a couch throw pillow has just stopped nibbling on a stuffed fox toy. His little folded over ears are held up curiously. The little brown and white dog in his jean jacket throws side eye from a perch on top of a quilted blanket on the top edge of the couch. The tiny dog's brown nose and snout peek out from beneath a fuzzy blanket as he was dozing on a bright and multicolored knitted dog bed.
October 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
slignot.bsky.social
This fellow passenger on my train has just made my day.
A very rotund fawn and white Chihuahua sitting in the bottom basket of a scooter in a light rail car.
September 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
slignot.bsky.social
My Beaky is middle aged for her species (nanday conure), deeply clownish, incredibly spoiled, and has been an incredible companion to me for almost two decades.
A medium sided parrot is sleeping perched in a man's shirt front. She is mostly green with a black topped head, which is turned backwards nestled into her shoulder. A bright green parrot with slightly darker green wing tops standing stretched out on a bathroom towel bar. Her head and curved beak are black, the tips of her flight feathers and tail are blue, and she has a cuff of orange feathers around her ankles. Bright green and black parrot holding food in her left foot. She's perched on a play gym covered in bright colored toys. A medium, green, blue, and black parrot perched on the top screen of a laptop, seen in profile. A man with long hair and glasses can be seen behind her in the background.
September 10, 2025 at 2:05 AM
slignot.bsky.social
Made a blackberry and peach frangipane galette last night with fresh berries and (preserved) peaches from my garden. I love being able to grow my own desserts.
A plate with a slice of a fruit and frangipane galette topped with whipped cream and a couple fresh blackberries. Tea in a blue and white patterned straight side cup sits behind the plate.
July 18, 2025 at 4:15 PM
slignot.bsky.social
I love that the chickens want to hang out near us whenever we're outside. They've opened their eyes here because I got near with the phone, but it was so cute that they settled down to nap along the patio fence next to me this morning.
Three chickens behind a short wire fence. Two of them have laid down and gotten sleepy, while the one on the right is still standing, looking down at her feet.
July 11, 2025 at 10:13 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Had a very frustrating stretch of hunting for leaks or broken connections in the drip zone that covers the hanging pots, finally resolving to buy split this circuit (which had previously worked fine), and THEN.

FOUND A LINK IN GARDEN HOSE I HAD WALKED PAST THREE TIMES.*sigh*
Hanging pot under a stained wooden pergola filled with a fuschia trailing petunias and lime green sweet potato vines. Hanging pot with two contrasting colors of trailing petunias, striped yellow and white, and purple with white centers. Hanging pot with bright almost salmon pink trailing petunias and purple sweet potato vines.
July 5, 2025 at 7:36 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Enjoying the break in high temps by relaxing in my backyard hammock as my girls scratch and chatter nearby (hoping for more treats).

It's always soothing to relax in the green. Also there are happy little finches darting between the birdbath and trees.
The girls. Three chickens standing in a patch of clover. The closest very round chicken is a light silvery grey, with the next chicken behind her a smoky dark grey. Those two hens have their heads down as they peck at the ground. At the far back, with her head at alert is a black and white smaller hen. She has very short wattles and a flat rose comb. The same three hens, but all upright looking at the camera.
July 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
slignot.bsky.social
I'm so glad he's still around. I knew he'd be an old man by now, and it makes me so happy you've had so much time with him.

It's been a while since we lost our old girl, and even longer since the fluffy boy's cancer. I still miss them both. (Luckily Koro is here to cuddle when I feel sad.)
Koro, a brown and white pibble laying in the grass with a dandelion flower on her head. She's wearing a green banana. Two dogs in the backseat of a car, with the fluffy Atrus sitting perpendicular and slightly on top of the (mostly) white dog, Midna. A rear view of two dogs in sweaters, laying on a bed side by side. The white dog on the left is a perky eared mix, with a larger brown and white pibble on the right. Atrus, a fluffy corgi mix breed dog smiles as he has his paw on a dragon stuffed toy.
June 30, 2025 at 9:29 PM
slignot.bsky.social
It's finally cooling off enough to enjoy a meal on the back patio. Made my first fresh peach pie of the year, and am relaxing with a shandy as my spouse finishes dinner. (He's cooking the first small harvest of new potatoes I grew too.)

For now I'll kick back in the hammock and enjoy the yard.
A peach pie with four vents and a sparkly crust of demerara sugar on top sits on a patio table with a stylized floral tablecloth pattern. Also on the table is a heavy glass with a deep blue rim holding a blackberry sour shandy, and a cluster of three small pots with parsley growing in them.
June 30, 2025 at 3:05 AM
slignot.bsky.social
Just back from my local city's (very 1st) Pride. (Usually everything is in Salt Lake)

It was lovely, with an incredible drag number by local drag king and amazing trans activist Notta Genda: Bob Ross painting on their belly!

Ran out of a few types of pins when giving pins and stickers away.
Big tote bag covered in rows of pride pins and with some stickers coming out of a pocket and tucked between pins. This side of the bag has rows completely out of rainbow and trans pins, but with vertical rows of round flag pins for: lesbian, bisexual, intersex, agender, asexual, and aromantic. The left pocket has a roll of worm stickers in pride stripes, and there is a hodgepodge of pride flag wielding kitty stickers tucked around. The other side of the bag with another collection of pins. Again, the rainbow flag pins went quickly, but there are round pins for: pansexual, demisexual, polysexual, omnisexual, polyamory, gay (MLM), genderfluid, bigender, genderqueer, demiboy, demigirl, and nonbinary. A folded rainbow parasol sticks out the top of the bag.
June 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
slignot.bsky.social
As a lifelong Utah resident, this is 100% accurate. It's a place of remarkable (and highly varied) wild beauty and moments of staggering cruelty.
A view through a yellow and red sandstone arch from the shade. The photo is taken among rounded rock formations in Devil's Garden in Utah's Grand Staircase. A long toed lizard suns itself on a large rock in a seasonal wash channel in Hovenweep National Monument in Utah. A fall landscape along the rocky shore trail of Currant Creek Reservoir in Utah. The aspens have gone golden between dark green firs and pines. A red layered sandstone cliff with sage brush and grasses in the foreground.
June 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
slignot.bsky.social
In the hopes that pictures of fuzzy creatures offer a good brain chemical hit in absence of being able to hug, have a collection of critters.
A brown and white pibble is getting her head petted as she smooshes her snoot so hard into a person's arm that her nose is wrinkled upwards. A very fluffy dog is laying on his side next to a white dog with a wild expression, showing a lot of the white of his eye. He has pointed foxy little ears and has the white, fawn, and black coloring of a corgi. Two dogs heads peek out as they are cuddling side by side in a fuzzy blanket. A pointy snouted yellow dog has only his face visible and his eyes are mostly closed. A brown and white pibble is laying on top of the blanket with her body alongside the other dog. She is looking side eyed at the camera. A mostly white dog with a blue merle face mask is approaching the camera through dappled shade next to intense purple irises. She has pointed ears, a black nose, and is wearing a red bandana.
June 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
slignot.bsky.social
Fascism is gaining momentum and destroying the lives of so many people (inside and out of the US). People are dying to civil murder, hate crimes, political assassination, & willful funding of genocide.

I'll be honest, although I know hope is a discipline, grief and impending horror lap at me daily.
Protest sign that borrows from Star Wars Andor. The rainbow letters read "WE HAVE FRIENDS EVERYWHERE" and there is an outline of the Rebel Alliance logo half in pastel pink and blue in the bottom left corner.
June 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
slignot.bsky.social
After I called Koro up for post-alarm snuggles she put her head on my belly. How am I supposed to get up and get ready for work with this canine paralysis?
A white and silver brown pibble head on a brown blanket, against a botanical patterned blanket over her body.
May 19, 2025 at 1:23 PM
slignot.bsky.social
I'm going to fucking lose it, what even is this? My plants (approaching a week overdue) are just bouncing around California mostly. I was hopeful when it updated saying Reno thinking it was finally heading toward Utah.

But APPARENTLY last night they're now in SACRAMENTO?! WHY?!
USPS shipping history starting on May 7th in San Jose, then San Francisco, then Reno, and finally last night Sacramento. For the record, this shipment was supposed to arrive in Salt Lake on Monday, May 5th.
May 10, 2025 at 1:41 PM