Author Archives: Jess

Hey everybody!!!

Wanna swap?

Ever since I got home from the workshop with Denyse Schmidt I’ve been stewing and brewing the idea for a quilt block swap. I’ve worked out logistics, made graphics, picked some fabric colors (which match my website beautifully) and now I’m ready to say, “Come and play!”

blockswap button

If you click on that button up there you’ll be taken to the not-a-secret-anymore page on this here site. All the details are there for how to have a really good time, do some service for the world, and make some collaborative “soft art” from crafty friends everywhere. There is so much talent, creativity, good taste, craftmanship, and camaraderie out there in the craft world that I want some tangible evidence. Tangible as in a nice snuggly colorful quilt to wrap up in. Anyone else?

Well, what are you waiting for? The sign-up window for Block Swap opens today and closes March 8th (or when I get 50 people, whichever is first).  And if it sounds like a fun idea to you, spread the word.  I have had a little help from Denyse (who’s been giving me feedback and sent an invitation to former workshoppers) and a few craft-blog friends, but the more the merrier!

a sneak peek

Here’s a project I’ve FINALLY finished. I’ll have to post more details about it later…

blanket closeup

I was hoping that I would be posting amazing photos of my bed adorned with a new Denyse Schmidt quilt beneath a wall of freshly framed Karl Blossfeldt photogravures, but alas… my quilt is backordered. Which is okay, but I wish they had told me that fact when I ordered it and not over a week later when I was expecting it to be here. What a let down!

and now the wait…

it’s about love

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Eight years ago today Barry took me up Logan Canyon to go cross country skiing. It was going to be an epic trip, from one canyon to another, through the pure white snow and blanketed forest, the two of us doing something we loved to do– together. It was REALLY snowing, my skis weren’t waxed quite right for the conditions, I was sliding backwards down small hills, I was tired, I was cold, I wanted to go home, we turned back… I foiled his plan, but he asked me to marry him anyway. I knew I loved him then. In fact, I knew I loved him the moment we met. We were soul mates before the world was.

But, I am so thankful love grows with time. We have three children. We’ve lived in three different states. A lot of the time we’ve only had each other. And we like it that way. He is a part of me. I’m a part of him.

This week will be a milestone in my life. As I sat and read and meditated while everyone else was at church on Sunday I realized that I have given birth– I had to endure the physical pain, I had to will myself to relax through contractions, I had to cry and bleed and suffer and endure. I went through the whole process, and though I did not come out of it with a baby, I did give birth to something.

I gave birth to a new beginning, a chance to start over…

I gave birth to a realization that God loves me with no strings attached–
and that a relationship with Him does not mean I will just have more things to do.

I think too much.

I need to let myself feel;

to feel my body, to feel my emotions, to delve into my heart and really experience what is there,
without the noise and crowding of quilt plans or book plans or blog entry plans or Relief Society lesson plans or conversation plans (I design, cut, sew, bind, view, display, discuss the same project from start to finish over and over in my mind. So much so, that most of them never get made, and I miss what is happening in the moment.).

But I think more than anything I gave birth to a realization of my absolute dependence on Barry– to a deeper love. I feel swallowed by it. We are so inseparably connected. I wish I could explain it or have the right words to say to him, but I just can’t.

Barry, I love you. I need you. I thank you.

Love, jess

remember this guy?

green-hexapus.jpg

I designed the pattern for a plush toy how-to book being published by Lark Books and in stores this spring/ summer. I got my check in the mail last week and this morning I clicked away at shopfosters.com (thanks for the heads up Dayna) and got this:

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I’m plugging away at my nesting and beautifying. My room is the 1st place I see when I wake up and the last place I see at night, so that’s my starting place. I’m filling it with things I love, that are beautiful, that mean something… so that I’ll have a refuge.

This is the week of recovery, and discovery :)