The End is in Sight

Well I am cracking on with the wedding quilt, we will be seeing our son and daughter in law at the weekend as we are travelling down to Devon for a family wedding and I want to be able to give them their 'late' quilt then. However I have a really busy week and am away at the Hillsongs Colour Conference in London Thursday & Friday and so have to have this done by Wednesday night. I am on the final binding so hopefully I will get it done in time.

London

On Saturday my husband was at a conference in London so I went in on the train to meet up with our eldest son, Ben. He met me from the train and we went on a bit of a tour, starting in Marylebone Highstreet. Here there are lots of nice shops and cafes. We carried on walking until we came to Oxford Street and on route went into the Margaret Howell shop in Wigmore Street. We also went into Marimekko where we came across this family of Moomins. I took this photo for Primrose & Maggie who each have a Moomin in their cot.

The blossom was out in the parks and looked beautiful in the sunshine

We bought Krispy Kreme donuts and ate them outside The Wallace Collection Gallery before going in to admire the 'finest collection of art ever assembled by one family'.

We then went to meet my husband and went for supper at Cha Cha Moon off Canaby Street. After this we went to see Van Morrison performing Astral Weeks at the Royal Albert Hall. We had great seats and the performance was amazing. What a fantastic day!

New Shoes

I am busy working but just had to stop and add this photo of Primrose & Maggie in their new shoes from Green Shoes which is a hand made shoe company in Devon. I used to buy shoes for my children from Green Shoes. They draw around the foot and make them to size, the shoes can then be taken back later and stretched another half a size and so lasting longer. P & M are very pleased with their shoes and were ready for their fitting when they went to collect them yesterday..quickly sitting down and taking off their old shoes. They love to dress up.

Ercol

We have a liking for 50's and 60's furniture and over the years have collected pieces of Ercol, dining chairs, a rocker and armchair and a coffee table. We recently bought a sideboard. The most desired Ercol is that made in light elm and beech and what many people don't know is that the furniture made in dark varnished wood is just the same underneath and easily rubbed down.This side board was less than a quarter the cost of a light coloured one, and after my husband rubbed it down it is exactly the same.(I forgot to take a before photo) We have recently bought an Ercol Daybed, designed in the 50's by Lucian Ercolani which we are going to rub down, make new cushions for and put in our study to double up as a sofa and spare guest bed. I have added some photo's of some revamped Daybeds as well as the one we have bought. I will post 'after' photo's when it is finished.

Easter

Easter is my favourite holiday...not so commercialised and busy as Christmas and with the wonderful reminder of new life all around us. Yesterday, Good Friday, the local churches joined together for a service in the town centre. My husband was asked to preach the message. He spoke from John 19:30

'When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.' He told us how Jesus had lived a sinless life, how He set the captives free, healed the sick, raised the dead, preached the Good News of the Gospel to all who would listen. In all things He glorified His Father in Heaven. He had lived, prayed, breathed, walked etc as His Father has asked Him to. Jesus said that He had come to do the work of the Father who had sent Him. He defeated death for us through the giving up of His life, the emptying of Himself, the sacrifice, the shedding of His blood, this sets us free to live as God intends us to. Jesus had completed the task..."It is finished!" Job done!
I am so thankful to my Saviour, for giving up His life for me.

Tomorrow we have a Sunrise Service at Berkhamsted Castle near where we live followed by our family church service

I pray that you will all enjoy a blessed Easter Day

Preach Good News to the Poor

'The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim freedom to the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour

and the day of vengeance of our Lord,

to comfort those who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion-

to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness

instead of mourning

and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour'

Isaiah 61:1-3

The above verses of scripture were spoken over my eldest daughter a number of times before she went out on the mission field. When we were visiting them in 2007 we drove past a huge squatter camp in the outskirts of Durban, she pointed to it and said that is where I want to do Sunday School. They have their own ministry that supports children orphaned through HIV/Aids and also run Metro Durban which is a branch of Metro Ministries, based in New York. Above is a photo that she took today when they visited the squatter camp and did Sunday School.

Primrose & Maggie have a little round foam cushion each that they like to sit on, the covers aren't that nice so I have just made a little patchwork cover for each of them.

We have a few weddings coming up so my daughter asked me to make some little skirts for Primrose & Maggie. I made 2 in red gingham, 2 in blue gingham and had enough fabric to make matching pants, and 2 in Liberty fabric that I had in my stash.Tomorrow is the first wedding so I am looking forward to seeing which skirts they are wearing.