jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Delighted

May 15, 2012 jennifer Gardening

A few weeks ago I was walking through an outdoor shopping mall with my husband when a dwarf lilac bush caught my eye. Covered in miniature purple blooms, I wondered if they also had that intoxicating scent of lilacs. Pausing to bend and sniff, I discovered that indeed, they smelled heavenly.

We walked on and I thought to myself, “Too bad my little lilac bush in the back yard has not a single bloom on it. What a disappointment that it has no flowers!”

You see, I planted a small lilac bush last spring. By the end of summer it looked like it wouldn’t make it through the winter and I mentally prepared to tear it out and try to find the receipt. To my surprise it came back this spring, looking incredibly healthy. I watched while my other lilac bush bloomed and produced beautiful flowers while this little bush did nothing but produce green leaves. I thought I had ended up with a non-flowering bush by mistake.

I was weeding the other day and to my complete surprise I looked at the bush and saw this:

It’s covered with miniature blooms! They came out of nowhere, weeks behind all the other lilacs in my area, but here they are. They smell heavenly and I stood there and had to resist shouting for joy (because we don’t need the neighbors to think I’m truly nuts).

I know in years to come I’ll get better at this gardening business, but I hope I never lose the delight of seeing a plant fulfill its potential. I hope it always makes me sort of giddy.

Another happy surprise is the return of my Ranunculus. They’re not supposed to make it through the winter here, but I left them in the ground because they’re far too small to dig up, and to my delight they’re back and beginning to bloom.

My columbines have also bloomed. They are a flower dear to my heart for many reasons.

The honeysuckle I planted last year is thriving and I had to get a larger trellis for it to climb. I also have honeysuckle in two other places which also need new supports and I’m on the lookout for them. We’re looking forward to their blooms.

What happy surprises have you found outdoors?

Jennifer

Fabric, Paper and Strings

May 14, 2012 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

I wasn’t supposed to buy any new fabric this year. Well, I did really well for a while and then I guess I quit doing really well because I just bought this pretty little stack of fabric. It’s called Vintage Summer by Little Yellow Bicycle for Blend Fabrics. It’s kind of my style and yet it’s not, but I like it. I’ve learned that I like a lot of large scale prints but then I struggle to cut into them and actually use them because I feel like I need to do the perfect thing with that large print. I don’t know if I’m just getting smarter or if more fabric designs are getting smaller, but I’m trying to avoid the larger prints (because I still have plenty of them) and watch for the smaller ones that look great when they’re cut into small pieces.

I also shouldn’t start another quilt top until I’ve dealt with all my projects that need finishing, but for some reason I started reading about string quilts the other day and I got the idea in my head that I NEED to try it. If I’m ever going to make that selvage quilt I’ve been saving strips for then I’ll have to learn paper piecing anyway. Then I poked around and found this one over at Film In the Fridge and I was sold. Just enough order in that quilt for me to jump in.

So in the only quiet 30 minutes of my Mother’s Day, I went to my sewing machine and made my first ever paper pieced string quilt block. My kids were shocked that I was sewing fabric to a piece of paper, but I was excited. Learning something new beats a nap any day!

So the Vintage Summer prints were immediately cut into (big deal for me!) instead of waiting around for the “perfect project” and here’s my first block:

The fabric is the perfect scale for a quilt like this and I’m happy with my decision. Paper piecing has always sounded tedious but I quite enjoyed this experiment. I love the white with the prints, and I’m following Ashley’s pdf chart for it.

I really love those little strips of white in there. They look so cool and they’re something I’ve always been intimidated by.

Honestly, I might not touch my sewing machine again until June, but it sure was fun to experiment for a little while!

Joy, week 19 — Mother’s Day Edition

May 13, 2012 jennifer JOY in 2012

Happy Mother’s Day!

I just finished reading a letter one of my daughters wrote me for Mother’s day, and I laughed so hard I had to wipe tears from my face as I finished. I laughed for joy because what she wrote was so sweet, and also because some of it was so funny. There’s nothing like reading a letter from one of your children that is unedited and which is just oozing with personality. It’s been a great day, full of all kinds of life. My youngest two were highly emotional today, the kids were nice as often as they argued with each other. My sweet husband worked hard all day to make things go smoothly. We ended up having guests for dinner tonight, and it was fun to watch my oldest daughter step up as Dad’s main assistant in the kitchen and help get all the food prepared. It was fun to have the LDS missionaries here to eat with us, fun to watch the children work together, fun to be a family.

I feel like I experienced much of the spectrum of motherhood this week. I made mistakes, raised my voice, felt discouraged and frustrated. I also laughed, praised and felt full of love. I forgot a couple of things, but I was there for my youngest boy’s Kindergarten program, there to see the smile on his face and to watch him perform. The week wasn’t pretty but it certainly worked out and I learned great things from it.

Yesterday we worked hard to clean the house and do more laundry. It feels good tonight to be going to bed in a house that looks more like the one I love. I haven’t had enough sleep and there is still much to do, but I feel more calm and happy today, more like I can handle what’s ahead. Now, I might not feel that way tomorrow, but for tonight I feel up to the task.

There are so many women I love and admire whose faces have been in my mind throughout the week, women who have blessed my life tremendously. I wish I’d been able to send them all a little token of my love. I wanted to, planned to, and then life happened. Early in the week I stood in line at a store, and the lady next to me in line picked up a nearby book full of gourmet homemade popsicle recipes. It looked cute and tasty so I asked her what she thought. She was honest, saying that it looked great, but wondered when she would ever find the time to actually make gourmet popsicles. I agreed, saying, “There’s so much life going on at my house that I probably wouldn’t get to it until there’s no one around to eat them.” We laughed and she said, “And isn’t that a wonderful thing, to have a home so full of life?” True, true.

So today I’m grateful that my life and home is so full of life that almost everything else seems neglected. I am so grateful to be a mother. I am so grateful for the example of my own mother who has always chosen to put people first. I am grateful for the life that is mine. It’s a wonderful one.

Have a great week!

Jennifer