I just had a couple of lovely days with my friend Jacqui visiting, her and her husband were at our church in London before we moved to Berkhamsted. She is a teacher and so we planned that as soon as the summer break began she would come and stay over with me. We had a great time, driving in the country, eating ice creams and talking (LOTS). Our sons are also great friends and now that they are married so are their wives. The photo's below are taken at her son, Sean's wedding in July, my son Dominic (on the left) was best man. I love it when God puts people in out lives who are so special and even though we have only known each other about 4 years it feels like its been so much longer.

Toile De Jouy

Some years ago while we were living in Bournemouth, I used to visit Dorchester Market, this was a great place to find fabric. I bought lots and put it away until I needed it. I have used it to make lots of curtains since. I had a few pieces of Toule de Jouy fabrics of different colours and designs.'Toile de Jouy originated in France in the late 1700s. In the French language, the phrase literally means "cloth from Jouy en Joas", a town of north-central France. Although it has been continuously produced since then, it experienced a marked upsurge in popularity around the year 2000. Previously only a decorating design, designers have been recently experimenting with toile-patterned apparel as well, although toile-patterned shirts were widely worn in the 1970's'

Some of the paler colours I used to line curtains and this adds a nice touch when the lining is seen where they are hanging. The piece below was a small piece so I decided to make a quilt, lining it with fleece fabric (no wadding) and quilting through. I began this a couple of years ago and have just got it out again and finished it

Cushions

Some weeks ago I found this small piece of fleece fabric in a shop, the twins liked to carry it around and we had a couple of tug-of-wars with it so when I came across some small cushions in Ikea I decided to buy two to cover with the fabric. When I took them out of my suitcase on my recent visit Primrose looked at them and said "Wow!" They love to make beds with blankets and now they have a cushion each too.

Visit to Devon

I am down in Devon until tomorrow when I will get the train home, we have had lots of fun and are planning a trip to the beach when the girls wake from their nap. They are potty training at the moment, a pretty hectic job with twins! Maggie has it nailed, Primrose is one step behind, she finds it harder to sit still long enough to complete the task! I have picked up some great fabric from charity shops while down here, and helped my daughter finish her friends wedding quilt, I will post some photo's soon.

Quiet Again

Well my daughter, SIL and Grandson's have returned to South Africa and it's very quiet again. I certainly miss them but they are all so excited to be back 'home' which makes me feel better about them leaving. God is doing an amazing work with them in SA and to know that they are excited to be there is a real blessing however hard it is for us not to have them here. I have posted just a few photo's of their time here...could have posted lots more!

Legoland

Princess Diana Playground

Sunny Saturday

The weather here in the UK has been beautiful, yesterday I walked down to the market that runs along our high street on a Saturday morning, it is a great place to buy fruit and vegetables and as I needed ingredients to make Ratatouille Chutney I headed out early, walking down along the canal. There were plenty of people out and about. When I arrived home again my daughter and I made scones for the Ladies Pool Party that was being held in the afternoon at the home of one of our church ladies. After I had cut the lawns at the back and front of our house my daughter and I headed off to enjoy our afternoon. The boys stayed with Grandpa for the afternoon as their Daddy is away promoting the work of Project O. We had a great afternoon, lovely food and fellowship and a refreshing swim!

Today we took the boys to Ashridge Estate, a National Trust park nearby, we had a lovely walk and icecream, the boys picked up a few sticks, something they like to do when we are out walking...it's amazing how much fun can be had with sticks!

On Saturday we went to Hughendon Manor which is a beautiful National Trust property not far from where we live. This is where the Victorian Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli lived with his wife Mary Anne in 1848.

My husband and I were given tickets to Wimbledon and not just any old tickets but tickets for Centre Court and passes for the Members Enclosure. We had a great day, our seats were in the shade all day with a lovely breeze. We watched two ladies quarter finals with Dinara Safina beating Sabine Lisicki and Serena Williams beating Victoria Azarenka.We then watched a little of the men's doubles before travelling home.