Thursday, December 20, 2012

Three little words

The moment I saw them on the supermarket shelf I knew I had to have them to decorate the lunch table at our final St Mark’s Quilters (Darling Point, Sydney) Saturday workshop for the year.4-St Mark's Quilters Nov 20123

If ever there were three words that sum up the message of Christmas, here they are.

While we enjoyed an al fresco lunch together I took the opportunity to share how, for me, believing that the baby born in a shed to a poor Jewish couple more than 2000 years ago was indeed God “with skin on” gives me hope for the future, and peace here and now.

SMQ 023

Nobody manages to sail through an entire year without some challenges, but this year has thrown up some biggies for a few of us. I think a good measure of hope and peace was on all our Christmas wish lists, so you can imagine we were all a tad emotional by the time I’d said my short piece (or rather, read it from my DiPad ‘cos I’m not too clever at speaking and I  was afraid I’d forget what I wanted to say!).

Copy of SMQ 027

But just when I thought I could sit down Di B thrust a bundle of Kaffe fabric, in the shape of a book, into my hands, and as I lapsed, mouth gaping, into a half-decent impression of a stunned mullet she explained what it was all about.

Over the previous 2 months she had mobilised these amazing women to make pages for a fabric book of messages to me. She had done it entirely without my knowledge, and everyone had managed to keep the project a complete secret from me. My ears weren’t even burning!

IMG_0425

Such a unique and special gift deserves its own blog post (soon) where I’ll show you the beautiful pages in detail. This is one incredible gift!

SMQ 033

But it must be said these friends of mine are quite remarkable women.

IMG_0271

As usual we weren’t short of delicious sweet treats to keep up our energy levels!

IMG_0258

IMG_0227

IMG_0250

There was even some creative activity going on. Ruth, who came all the way from her new home in Canberra just for the day, attached the binding to a kindy quilt.

IMG_0222

Kirstin, who is knitting a baby quilt in the finest, softest cotton yarn, settled on a layout, and I helped her to package up her knitted squares in labelled rows for storage, to make the stitching together easier.

IMG_0226

IMG_0253Helen, meanwhile, was making great progress with her pretty and fresh hand-pieced hexagon baby quilt.

IMG_0248

“Santa Di” made an appearance too, with our Christmas gifts of pincushions – even for the naughty ones!

IMG_0267

IMG_0425-001

SMQ 040

SMQ 038

Wherever in the world you are reading my blog right now, the St Mark’s Quilters, along with Di B and myself, want to wish you a Christmas full of hope, peace, and the unshakeable belief that the God who made the universe cares deeply for you.

IMG_0264

Yes, you!

Red rose Di

6 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you too, Di. Have a wonderful and blessed time. And thank you for the reminder. Sometimes things just seem so hard around Christmas time, and I need to remember that God is caring deeply (and probably doesn't care if I make another Christmas cake).

    Michelle xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely day.....best wishes, Di, for a peaceful and hopeful Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Enjoyed another lovely Blog message. Wishing you & your family a lovely Christmas, it will be hard, but remember past happy Christmas's, your beloved will be with you! Take care..Annette

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wishing you a merry Christmas, full of wonderful memories of your loved DH and making new ones. May 2014 bring you good health and the start of a new and bright future in this journey that is life.
    PS have you seen the NZ video on youtube The Christmas story as told by the kids with delightful Kiwi accents.

    ReplyDelete
  5. God bless you all and keep you all safe and well over Christmas and throughout the coming year!

    Thank you, ladies, for blessing our wonderful Di.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aww. Really? You made me cry. I miss you so much! And all those lovely quilters. You have some remarkably special friends. I am looking forward to seeing the book they made for you. Have a blessed Christmas. Peace, and much love.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment.