For most of her life, Jessie Homer French worked without much expectation or hope of attention or sales or critical acclaim. In a recent article, she said “I paint my life, my stuff. I really, really care about the painting turning out. I’m really upset when it doesn’t. But I don’t feel any need to communicate. I’m sorry. That’s not the point.”
What a refreshing change from the inundation of famous film stars and celebrities and all those fascinating things on social media, which — in the end — draw us away from our quieter lives, or as Homer French says, being “a regular ordinary painter who hangs out in her garage, and desperately tries to make something that she likes.”
While she made this “mapestry” with thread, cloth, and embroidery, her paintings are what she’s known for:
This scene is up in the mountains above Palm Desert, Southern California area. I don’t know why this bio on her drew me in so much. Maybe it was the barren landscapes that she paints, or her focus on her creating, whether in cloth or with paints. And maybe like the stack of paintings that piled up in her garage, sending her out to find a gallery that would sell her paintings, I feel we quilters often toil quietly, with our cloth and thread, imbuing what’s in our hands with our life, our stuff.
Here’s some of my recent work:
Bit by bit, Twilight Garden is taking shape. It’s going to be a hand-work project now.
On the first day of Spring it was warm enough to set out lunch on the patio. Our conversations seem to unfurl at a slower pace out there.
We had our wisteria trimmed; the squirrel’s perch is right outside my sewing room window.
I’ve been photographing my Mother’s few journals. She was too busy to write much, ever, so they are brief and don’t cover much time. But reading them is like having a good conversation with her.
I went on (another!) trip to Utah to see this tall granddaughter come home after an 18-month mission to Argentina.
And to have lunch with my father’s sisters.
My father gave me this book many years ago, and I pulled it out this week. I found little notes tucked in addressed to me, instructing me to place some newspaper clippings he’d sent, into the back of the book. It was poignant to see his handwriting again.
It’s a weighty book, one man’s year of mourning for his father. I’ll have to take it slow, but right at the beginning this caught my heart:
“And when grief is gone? Still one may not speak of one’s parents baldly. After the twelve months of mourning, the rabbis continue, one must accompany the mention of one’s dead father or one’s dead mother with the words, ‘May his memory be a blessing for life in the world to come.’ Modern Jews have abridged this locution of piety. They speak of their dead and say ‘May his memory be a blessing,’ and they mean a blessing here, upon us. But the rabbis meant a blessing there, upon him….I can believe that the memory of our dead is a blessing here, upon us. Can I believe that it is a blessing there, upon them?”
I can only hope so. Really, I want both. As I think about my mother and father, feeling grateful at this Eastertide for their influence in all ways, I hope their memory is a blessing for them, together. And with my needle and scissors in hand, their memories and these blessings help me pass some really long days.
Quilt your stuff, everyone. Quilt your life.
Happy Easter Week!
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
As always, your posts are always thoughtful and meaningful. Your hand applique is beautiful. I really like the piece you are working on. What a treasure to get to spend more time with your aunts.
Perfect Sunday morning read. Thank you Elizabeth.
This says it all.
Best wishes for Easter!
I love me some polka dots!!! And your aunts, they look amazing! You must be so proud of that grand girl!
I still mourn/celebrate my grandparents, my dad and my aunt and my grandmother left us when I was 23 – it’s important to me to keep their memory alive for Madeleine. X
Twilight Garden is wonderful! I love your fabric and thread work , I love your posts! You always make me think and have introduced me to many artists I never would have know about, thank you.
Blessings, your message brought sad and joyful tears of family passed on.
Thank you and may you have a warm and loving Easter. Blessings, Dawn
Twilight Garden is coming together beautifully and looks like a great hand work (and travel?) project. In many ways I suppose I think of my blog as my journal… but digital feels so much less permanent than a physically hand written journal.
Twilight Garden is “growing” beautifully. It won’t be long before it’s time to start the outdoor garden too. it was nice to have a few warm days, but this week is not as promising.
loved seeing your aunts with you. I think the “tall” granddaughter looks a lot like you.
Have a blessed Easter.
I echo the other commenters observations- your posts are always thoughtful. I love the polka dot flowers in your Twilight Garden quilt and its subdued palette, possibly a reflection of you in this time. Your granddaughters are lovely with your smile I think!
Your polka dot flowers are lovely. As are your granddaughters. I would so love to have something like your Mother’s journals from my Mom and Dad. Anything that chronicled their lives and thoughts. I am currently trying to write what I’m calling my Story. It’s a mix of facts and memories plus photos and memorabilia. Not quite a scrapbook. Not quite a journal. Certainly wish I had a better memory. Blessings be upon you and yours this Easter.
Your Twilight Garden quilt is really beautiful. I have never gotten the hang of applique so I really admire the beautiful job you do with it. How special to have your mother’s journal. My father wrote and published a history of our family and I appreciate it more as I get older.
Such a beautifully written and thoughtful post!! Thank you! If I’m trying to communicate anything with my work, it’s probably my love of beauty and craftsmanship. And I LOVE how Twilight Garden is developing – it’s gorgeous! Happy Easter 🙂.
You are a blessing in my life. Your beautiful quilts, the way you bare your soul to all of us, the uplifting words you so often offer – I appreciate you!
I love your Sunny Flowers quilt and your Twilight Garden is beautiful. I have really enjoyed reading your thoughtful post. You write with a wonderful generosity of spirit and I feel I’m appreciating my family as a blessing more so since I’ve been reading about yours. I hope you all had a lovely Easter 🙂