Category: Quilting and Sewing

I took my daughter to college a couple of weeks ago.  She is our 5th of 8, and though you’d think it would get easier, I can officially say that it does not.  This drop-off was HARD for me.  I mean, I acted fine while we were moving her in, but inside I was anything but.  There were definitely silent tears on my drive home.  I have missed her presence terribly, but I know it’s the right next step in her life.  She did take a piece of home with her, though.  I finished Marian’s quilt.

Marian made the quilt blocks years ago.  She and her sister both wanted to sew, and I felt like Marian’s personality would do better with improv sewing than following a pattern.  She jumped in and had fun, sewing several blocks.

Blocks that sat.  For years.  Because she couldn’t decide what color she wanted for sashing.

Last Christmas I used all the colors she liked to finish the quilt top for her and she loved it.  I worked up the courage to put it on my longarm so I could send it with her to school.  And oh, how I’ll look back at this one to laugh!  I decided to go for it and try a custom border that I definitely don’t have the skill for.  Yet if I never try it, how will I get the skill?  I learned good lessons as I tried to create a feather design all the way around the blocks in the white border.  There are a few spots that look good up close, but it’s mostly a hot mess.

One of the best parts is the back.  A simple rainbow striped sheet.  It’s a sheet we used at the beach house, and I kept it to put on the back of her quilt.  I knew I could trust her with it, trust her to love it more for the memory.  A scrappy binding made of leftovers from past quilts finishes it off.  It’s a perfectly imperfect quilt.

She loves it though.  Which is kind of her.  That’s been one of her gifts to our family – loving us with all our flaws, not complaining about how lame we are or how we could improve.  She accepted this gift for what it was, flaws and all.  And I know she’ll treasure it.  The way she looked when I put it around her shoulders the first time, and how she kept it there, was enough for me.  Marian’s quilt might be full of flaws, but Marian is a treasure.

Smiles like that are the best part of quilting!  This might be the best collaboration I’ve ever participated in.  I hope she treasures it like I do.

If I had to choose just one quilt that captures my life’s work, my goals and hopes, it would probably be this quilt.  My Refuge quilt, made with my HOME quilt block , is a quilt about home and family .  And now it’s finished!

I used the largest Home block for this quilt, in a grid of 5×5 blocks, but within the blocks I made the houses themselves two different sizes.  These also alternate across the rows.  I chose bright colors and fabrics that read largely as solids to convey the many personalities, cultures, and stories of different families.

The background is a different story.  Life is hard.  The world we live in gets crazier all the time.  And people are facing storms.  Not just real storms, though there are plenty of those.  I was sewing about metaphorical storms, equally threatening and debilitating.  For these I chose more than a dozen different gray fabrics.  Blue-gray, green-gray, light gray, dark, and black.  I wanted to suggest storm clouds, wind, overcast skies, dark days.

Melissa quilted it for me, and I requested this pattern because the movement in it reminded me of strong winds.  And I named it my Refuge Quilt because I believe that families are the fundamental units, the basic building blocks of society.  It’s where we learn fundamental values about how to treat others.  And I believe that families are worth working hard for.  To preserve them, strengthen them, keep them together.  They are, or can and should be, the bright spot in the storm.  Home should be a refuge from the world.

We all know that the heart of every home and family should be love.  I used the traditional red as the center square for each house, as well as in the corners.  It represents love, tradition, and urgency.  Everything we can do to strengthen families and individuals matters.

This time of year is exciting, with a new school year signaling the start of a fresh chapter for many of us.  But it’s also a time of transition and stress, and can feel tumultuous or daunting.  I’ve had this quilt hanging to remind myself that we will get through all the changes, everyone will adjust.  And I can try to be the calm in the storm, working to make home a refuge for the people I love most.

God bless you in all your efforts to create a refuge, too.

Jennifer

I’ve said before that my Color Stack pattern is my favorite for quilts that are gifts (such as this one ), so I guess today I’m here with more proof.  It’s a quick project and has a great modern style for boys and girls both.  Plus, it’s just plain fun to make.  This sweet little quilt is a very special one.  It’s Harrison’s color stack quilt, made for a treasured baby boy.

Several years ago my daughter spent 18 months serving a full-time mission in Paraguay.  One of the (many) lasting blessings from that experience is her friendship with Abby.  They’ve been dear friends ever since, and Emmeline even introduced Abby to her future husband.  They were married in 2020, and just had a baby boy.  And the sweetest thing of all?  They named him Harrison, which is our last name.  To say that we’ve been ooh-ing and aah-ing over him, and pictures of him, since his birth, is an understatement.

I made Harrison’s color stack quilt before we left on vacation, knowing we would get to see his parents and meet him for the first time while there.  And Emmeline doesn’t know it, but I’m sneaking in a picture of her holding the quilt, because she is the reason we know this darling little family.  It amazes me, this joy of knowing good people.

Most of the fabrics in this quilt were designed by Carolyn Friedlander.  The backing, however, is a Conservatory crafts print, designed by Monkia Forsberg.  I love the vines and movement in it, as well as the animals.  But that vibrant blue sold me first.  It’s one of my favorite colors.  The finishing touch is a dark blue binding.

And a personal victory for me was finishing it in the car!  I get so carsick, but was able to stitch a little on our road trip.  Counting my blessings!