How sweet home can be!

It was a shocking fire in the Perth hills last weekend that saw 72 houses destroyed and approximately another 30 severely damaged. Amazingly there were no lives lost. On top of the floods and the cyclones in the east of Australia, it has been a very sobering start to the 2011 year.

My devotional wall in the loungeroom reflects the sadness of this time-instead of the icons and other symbols I had there at Christmas time, we have hung a collection of crosses from around the world.

On happier thoughts: I am just so thankful for my own home, which I love and which I see as my responsibility to enjoy and care for, as so many of our own people have lost theirs.

I went op-shopping yesterday and had some interesting 'finds'. I found a brand new tea towel from Chester, where my mum spent her war years in the ATS. I just loved the name of the house in the picure" God's Providence House". I am thinking of this as the central image in a black and white quilt. I found a vintage table cloth in very good condition, just right to be made into another craft project. And I picked up two necklaces. One had seven red beads on a ribbon thread, and the other some interesting black and grey beads on a velvet thread. Neither very exciting on their own, but I had an inspiration that I could put them together and this is the result. I think that this will just set off a couple of outfits I have. I have no real experience in jewellery making, but I have had a go, and it hasn't fallen off yet!
I hope that there will be better times ahead for us all in the rest of 2011!