A Quilt for Jenna Read Online Free PDF Page B

“star” quilt. The design was beautiful but simple. First a starburst in the center, then eight branching pillars, surrounded by another circle. On the outside of the circle she drew more pillars that were set between the inner pillars with the outer circle separating them.
    â€œOn the tops of the pillars we will make flames of fire,” her grandmother said softly. “They will be just like the lampstand in der Heilige Platz , where God spoke to the high priest.”
    Once the design was created, Jerusha watched as her grandmother cut the chosen pieces of fabric into perfectly matching parts.
    â€œIf the quilt is going to be even and symmetrical, the pieces must be true,” she said.
    She let Jerusha try her hand, and even on her first try Jerusha cut the pieces straight and perfect.
    â€œJa, das is gut , ” Grandmother said. “You will be a fine quilt maker, my girl.”
    Once the pieces were cut correctly, Grandmother pieced them together with pinpoint accuracy.
    â€œIf the quilt is not aligned properly, even in just one small part, the whole thing will look off balance and might pucker,” she had said. “If the design is to be even and pleasing to the eye, each individual piece of fabric must be stitched together just right in order for it to fit together properly. You must trust your own eye and sewing skills for measurement and accuracy. It is a gift not every quilter has.”
    Over the following days as Grossmudder began to patiently open the quilting way to Jerusha, the girl felt something growing in her—the absolute certainty that God had given her an eye and a gift for this work. As her grandmother pieced together the layers of fabric, she allowed Jerusha to help her stitch them together. First, she placed the patterned top piece on a layer of batting, and then sewed the whole design to a black backing piece. Then, with the quilt stretched tightly on the quilting frame, Jerusha began to learn the even, beautiful stitch of the quilter.
    â€œDummel dich net , ” her grandmother would say. “Take your time, don’t hurry.”
    Once, when her mind wandered while she was stitching a piece, she made a mistake and went past the place where she should have stopped.
    â€œHalt ei, sell geht su weit!” her grandmother exclaimed. “You have gone too far. You must concentrate on what you are doing, my girl.”
    Jerusha had watched with downcast eyes and a flame burning in her cheeks as her grandmother carefully removed the errant stitches.
    â€œNever hurry, always pay attention, and do the work as unto the Lord,” she told Jerusha in her gentle voice. “You have been given a way to give back to the Lord, as He has given to you. This is a special gift not everyone is given. But to whom much is given, much is required. You must always give back to God from the gift He has given you. And there are dangers along the way. If you become a good quilter, it is quite possible for you to become prideful, thinking that somehow you are more special than others. That is why we put a small mistake in the quilt before we finish. This is so we do not make God angry with us for being too proud.”
    Jerusha did not understand until many years later why she felt the small twinge of fear, the first she had ever felt, when her grandmother spoke those words.

C HAPTER S EVEN
    Deep Roots

    T HE NEXT FEW YEARS flew by for Jerusha. She had found her calling as a quilter, and within a year she was sewing whole sections of her grandmother’s quilts on her own. Her stitch was fine, almost invisible, and while most quilters would put seventy thousand stitches in a quilt, Jerusha sewed more than ninety thousand stitches into her first complete quilt.
    â€œ Ja , your stitch is so small and even,” her grandmother said as she looked over Jerusha’s first quilt. “It is as though you’ve been quilting all your life.”
    Grandmother Hannah also