Happy Easter

Blessings for Easter as we remember our Lord's suffering and resurrection.

My Easter display
Hand knitted eggs, two hand knitted rabbits, one wearing a dress I made her
 and one dressed fabric rabbit.
Complete with three wind-up chickens!

A big thank you for all the lovely Easter cards and chocolates we have received.

Lazy day in the Happy Room

"Hope I'm not left like this, I cannot see a thing!"

 Miss Bunny, a free pattern available on the shabbyartboutique site, made on a sewing day at Bedford. Eight of us got together for a sewing day organised by Sue, some making fabric covered boxes and the rest doing our thing! Having made a lot of fabric covered boxes lately I decided to spend the day working on Miss Bunny. This is a project way out of my comfort zone, but I loved making her.

Back home in the Happy Room complete with a face and ribbon for her dress.
Maybe she is dreaming of a visit to Paris?

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St Leonard's Church Charlecote

Our visit to the National Trust property Charlecote Park ended with a visit to St Leonard's Church.
The church was planned and wholly paid for in the early 19c by  Mrs Elizabeth Lucy of Charlecote Park. The church was dedicated to St Leonard the Patron Saint of Prisoners.

On entering the church the  stained glass windows are an amazing sight. Every window is adorned with stained glass including a fine circular window over the entrance.  The wooden pews and candle stick holders are the same as when it was built.

The addition of a vault added to the side of the church contains the remains and 17c tombs of three successive Sir Thomas Lucys.

St Leonard's church

On the right, Sir Thomas Lucy [d 1600] and his wife Joyce [d 1595]
Kneeling figures of their two children occupy the front panel.
The black and white Carrara marble tomb is of Sir Thomas the Third who died in 1640
and his wife Alice

The workmanship on these tombs is extremely fine.

Sir Thomas Lucy the Second died 1605 and is seen
with his second wife Constance kneeling in mourning attire.
Six sons and eight daughters are seen in Tudor dress on the front of the tomb.

Hard to photograph this wall mounted script of  an interesting version of the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not covet they neighbours horse.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his servant or maid, nor his ox , nor his ass.
Interesting the horse comes before the wife !!!

A fine church well worth a visit.

Charlecote Park

The first full day of Spring and the sun is shining, so we set off for the National Trust Property in Warwickshire, Charlecote Park.  Having not ventured here before we took a very scenic drive past an interesting windmill and thatched cottages in small narrow winding villages.

We decided not to visit the house but wander around the gardens enjoying the weather.

The Fallow deer were within a few yards of the path, ignoring all the cameras pointing at them!

The clash of horns could be heard from far off.

The gate house entrance to the main house

A very impressive building owned by the Lucy family for over 800 years
and still occupied by them in one wing of the house

Chris standing outside the most charming thatched play house,
all the windows were stained glass and a small fireplace was inside.

Wandering around the grounds.

We also visited St Leonard's Church Charlecote, but that will have to wait for another blog post.

46 years

We met on holiday in Jersey, August 1971.
Started dating January 1972
Engaged February 1972
Married March 1972

Now 46 years later we are still together and enjoying our retirements.
I could not wish for a better husband, we have seen each other through thick and thin, ups and downs.

Stan & Mary Simons [my parents], US, Nell & Jack Glasspool [Chris's parents]
Married at Swanspool, Wellingborough.

Mrs Bunny's new dress

While in Spain early this year I had a knitting craze and knitted a couple of rabbits. I felt one of them needed a dress, so fiddling with small pieces of fabric I made her a dress and added poppers to close the back above and below her tail!

Look what I have made, I'm ready for Easter.

This sewing is exhausting!

Wood work in the garden

Chris has been really busy coating the new wood with a preservative and building an Arbour in the garden. Cannot wait for some nice weather to sit and watch my fish, frogs, toads and newts.

He has also build a raised bed, which looked like a coffin for a while before the top soil was added.
I now need to decide what I am going to grow in it. It is in quite a shady spot which I thing may limit my choice of veg or plants.

Roll on some nice warm weather so I can start to enjoy all his hard work.

Heavy sleepers and a ton of top soil delivered to the front drive.

Preserving the wood before building the Arbour

Roll on warm weather I want to sit here with an ice cream!

The "coffin" raised bed ready for planting.

The Garden Makeover

The garden is getting a makeover.
 It is not exactly the best time to be doing this as it is SO cold but hey ho!
I needed cheering up after my dentist visit, so a morning trip to Hassett's Timber Merchant to order wood and topsoil. They said they would deliver it tomorrow, so back home to start clearing the area, all hands on deck.

Clearing an area for the new structure

This was followed in the afternoon to a couple of garden centres checking out Arbours.
I knew just what I wanted and we eventually found the perfect arbour at Billing, and the sales lady was certain it would fit in my VW Golf!! The passenger seat was moved within an inch of the dashboard and the back seats folded down, Chris crunched himself into the seat somehow and I drove carefully home.

The new Arbour ready for assembly

The Dentist

I lost part of a tooth over the weekend and had an emergency appointment with the dentist yesterday, who said I need a crown [ and I don't think he meant on my head!]
I knew this was likely to happen as I had  had a lot of trouble with this tooth. I was in such a state I asked if he could do it straight away, he said if I waited about half an hour while he saw his next patient he would do it in his lunch break... Two hours later I left the clinic!  I am such a wimp when it comes to dentists, and the over £500 cost did not help!  I go back in two weeks for the actual replacement tooth, Easter means there is a delay... just my luck.
There are no photos on this blog entry as I am sure no one wants to see inside my mouth...

March IAM meeting

The March IAM meeting was different, firstly because we had to change the date due to the snow and secondly as we had a full house of nine. Although Ann was away on holiday Pauline and Olivia joined us.  There was lots of show and tell and it was a very happy chatty day.

Pity I did not get the whole of Clare's wonderful ME quilt.
It was simply wonderful.

Shirley had completed another crochet blanket

Penny had used oddments of wool to knit this pretty cushion.

Pauline showed us Mr Fox cushion

Another show-n-tell from Pauline

Dorn had bought these Delica bead items while on her cruise.

Dorn had also completed a cushion with Colonial knots and beads.

Round Robin

The Round Robin I joined a few weeks ago with Cotton Robin has just shown pictures of the 19 quilt blocks submitted for the exchange. I am now keenly waiting for one to arrive that I will add the next border to. It will then be posted to the next person for the second border to be added.
Can you guess which is mine?