jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Anchor’s Aweigh Quilt

May 23, 2016 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

I saved it for a trip to the beach.

This quilt has been finished for months, but I could only photograph it in my favorite place.

For obvious reasons, I would think!

I love this quilt. I love all the quilts I make, and every time I finish one, I think I *might* love it best. But this one is special. All my life, trips to the beach have been precious to me. It’s a place where I feel more whole than I do anywhere else. As a missionary I fell in love with the Puget Sound, with water and bridges and ships at anchor in harbors. With all of the colors that come with life near water. All of it. And though I live at the foot of the dramatic Wasatch Mountains, I’m a “by the sea” girl with all my heart. And anchors? Well, the analogy of anchors has ever been dear to me, and I’ve been blessed with some pretty secure anchors in my life.

My friend Xenia quilted this for me, and I’m so happy with her work. As I requested, she quilted the rope winding around the anchor and alternating patterns in the colored stripes, much like the original Anchor’s Aweigh quilt by Tula Pink.

I love the way Xenia quilted alternating patterns into the alternating white and aqua stripes in the background. For the binding I used a navy rope print; it creates a subtle stripe look and continues the nautical feel of the quilt.

It’s a really big quilt and I hope it will be one that we enjoy for many, many years. The making of it was fun – my sister Kristen and I each made one at the same time. There were hundreds of two inch squares to piece, but it was completely worth it.

I’m thrilled with my anchor! Thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer

Lesson from my garden: it’s in there somewhere

May 16, 2016 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

Do you see it?

I didn’t, at first. It looked like an overgrown mess, one that had long since destroyed any beauty planted beneath it.

I love gardening. When I get started, I have a hard time stopping. I enjoy it. But I made the mistake of planning my flowerbeds for a stage in life that is very different from the one I’m living. Spring and Fall are spent driving and watching athletic events, not working in my yard. That, and it seems there are things I don’t understand about gardening that others do, and so I have some problems that don’t seem to happen in nearby yards.

But still, it’s mine, and when I planted it, it was full of things that I picked because they’re “me.” And I have a vision of what I hope it will become someday. It’s my own little experiment, and so I suppose it’s not shocking that I make mistakes and have a lot to fix and learn from.

These little grape hyacinth were like finding a jewel in the weeds. I would not have thought they’d made it, but there they were, pretty as ever, stems longer than normal so they could rise above my neglect.

I began weeding around them with more caution than I’d had a moment earlier.

People are like that, too. Things can get out of balance in our lives through neglect. We end up with weeds we should have rooted out before they became huge stumbling blocks. Right alongside them may be good things, things we love, qualities we worked for, that have been allowed to run a little wild, overtaking other things and setting our personalities or daily habits off-balance. Just like these dandelions and my overgrown honeysuckle.

It’s tempting to pass judgment on the whole thing. To want to aggressively rip everything out. To forget that beauty, potential, and even good roots are still hiding beneath the mess.

We just need eyes to see. Faith to believe. To believe both in the “project” and in the Master Gardener. At first the lesson was about someone else that I love. All of a sudden I was that little garden plot, grateful that my Savior sees those tiny purple flowers in me, even beneath all the baggage piled on top.

So tread softly. With people. With flowers. With yourself.

Something good, something worth saving is hiding down in there.

We must not give up.

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Scrappy Prosper Quilt

May 15, 2016 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

A little more than 18 months ago I met Cheryl. While I felt drawn to her when she first joined our Relief Society meeting, I had no idea how much her friendship would bless my life. Cheryl is one of those women who has more BIG problems to deal with than most of us do. And by big, I mean real, hard, obvious things, things that if she listed for you, would make you feel amazed that she hadn’t quit long before, and even more amazed that she wasn’t allowing every waking minute of her days to be defined by them. She has every reason to be a victim, to be cynical, negative, unhappy.

Except that she isn’t. She is amazing.

I learned so much from her during the months that she lived nearby. Being around her filled me with a desire to be better, to carry my own challenges more gracefully, to resist internalizing them so much, or letting them define me. I’m so, so glad that we met and became friends.

She moved away last summer, and so I made her a quilt. It’s a huge, scrappy version of my Wishing Well (or Prosper ) quilt block, much like my Scrappy Swoon from years ago. The purple and navy are colors that remind me of her, and the aqua I added because it’s me. I particularly love the scrappy low volume background. Lots of different fabrics in this quilt!

The quilt measures about 81″ square, and I quilted it on my domestic machine in a spiral. Not the easiest task, but it worked and I like the results. The binding is a soft white/aqua stripe that compliments the quilt nicely.

I’m grateful to have a few photos of this quilt. I know it’s being used and loved in its new home, and that makes me very happy.

Jennifer

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