Alpha to Omega - the story told in a Karoo church

Hiya

The Karoo region where my Dad lives in South Africa is a vast space with dramatic hills, huge plains & arid towns. My five times great grandfather was born close by in 1810 - we have come full circle.


The Karoo town of Aberdeen has an iconic church in the centre of it - the tall steeple can be seen for miles around. The NG Kerk - Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk / NG Church. It has the tallest clock tower in South Africa at 60 m tall. The church was completed in 1907 in the Cape Gothic style. The stunning white washed church is a local landmark. This is a side view with the oldest part in the centre.

On previous visits to the town, I read about the church panels but it was only a chance meeting with a church member Eward while out walking, that we got a tour of the church hall / kerksaal with the panels.

The panels are described as such:

• Enjoy the twenty biblical scenes in the Dutch Reformed Church hall of Aberdeen which was created by 6 locals of the town. The beautiful panels were created by combining textiles, lambs wool and home-made glue and pasted onto a background of hessian and hung against the walls to improve the poor acoustics.

Eward was absolutely brilliant at explaining the processes & allowed us to take our time to appreciate it all.

The church wanted to mark the Millennium with something special so the whole congregation decided on sewn panels that tell the story of the Bible from Alpha to Omega. It was a huge effort with everyone called on to donate fabric, leather, jewellery, painting skills, sheep skins etc to be used in the panels.

These are the images I took of the panels & it is appropriate to share them at Easter. They were all hand sewn & unveiled on the last night of 1999 when all the town gathered together to see in 2000

Alpha to Omega - the beginning to the end ...

The Karoo is known for their sheep & a local farmer donated this wool ...

A nod to the Karoo - guinea fowl of iconic but did you notice the little mistake? Perhaps they stood in the queue for the ark for a long time ... tell me if you notice the fault!

Fabrics were donated - often from people's own clothes when the call went out for striped, shiny, gold, silver fabrics etc

The 10 commandments - apparently the names of the sewers are in code in the tablets ...

The details are really stunning up close - each ear of corn hand crafted & hand sewn ...

The details are so beautiful - the purples donated from a coat, the trim from homewares ...

The ring & jewellery donated by parishioners ..

Difficult to photograph above the doors - a large panel with stunning details again

So well done - really talented local ladies ...

How lovely is this familiar story panel?

More details from gifted items which add the right details to the panels

A gifted brooch & necklace complete this panel ...

A difficult panel to photograph above a door with light streaming through ...

Beautiful work with clear fabrics hand coloured & sewn over for the dramatic lighting ...

The attention to detail makes the panels so eye catching ...

Vader - Father ...

The second coming depicted - the cars in the showroom made from x-rays over images, cloth for the clothes donated by people in the town.

The hall to show the panels which cover all the walls - huge panels, sewn with love from fabrics donated by everyone in the town.

I hope you have enjoyed this visit to some original panels with me as we celebrate Easter.
Dee ~💕~

Time to repot the peace lillies

Hi everyone

Having been away in Africa for almost a month was lovely but it does mean that there are lots of things that need doing at home with Spring upon us.

I use few chemicals at home but am mindful that our homes are not aired over winter, so it is very important to think of air quality.

We have had 4 pots of peace lillies in the inglenook fireplace - 2 came back from the youngest university house & they have happily grown alongside ours.

However, the pots were now too small so it was time to repot.

I thought it best to buy 2 larger pots which will give them space to grow in to & which will make a lush display & clean the air too.

This blog post looked at beneficial house plants that clean the air so pop over & get some inspiration.

I decided to add some coir linings in the pots to keep the soil compact in the pots - the 4 smaller pots of plants were split up & planted in new potting soil.

The plants were split up & repotted  in the two large pots. The plants have thrived in the inglenook fireplace, out of direct sunlight so their leaves are a lush colour.

I like the thought of the lovely plants keeping the air clean where we are in the living room. It is important to create healthy home environments with some plants.

I look forward to them flowering again soon because their elegant white flowers are always so lovely.

I hope this has inspired you to think of your environment - green is good!

Thank you for stopping by & taking the time to visit.
Dee ~💕~

Getting ready for Easter

Hi there

Having been away in Africa for nearly a month, has meant that we are playing catch up. This year year, Easter is very early & I needed to get the house ready to celebrate it.

The sideboard had not been changed in a bit so time to clear the conservatory sideboard & make a start.

This is what previous Easters looked like at home

Easter 2012 at home

Easter wishes in 2013 

Happy Easter 2014

Happy Easter 2015

Getting ready for Easter 2016 

This is what our Easter looked like in 2017 ....

The starting point this year was this gorgeous hand made bowl from a favourite glass maker in the Karoo, South Africa. I have visited her studio several times where she has her own equipment & everything is handpaited & handmade, this piece would be fired twice at least.

The daughters brought it back on their visit to their grandfather just before Christmas ...

You will be familiar with these of mine - the bowl was a gift some years back, the just was gifted last year. They are so special - a reminder of our very missed bunnies.

The blue tones were the starting point for the sideboard / dresser

I bought these two original art works on a trip to Riga in Latvia - they are just so lovely.

These clear blue glass IKEA plates are useful with our blue & white china. I bought the little china egg decorations on a trip up north to Whitehaven - they are handmade in Sweden

A favourite local shop, Number 45 had these decorations in her window when I passed by & I just knew they would go so well with my blue & white things. The delft like designs are so lovely

These little hand made chicks were also bought up north - they are so tiny & so sweet ...

 How could you not love this little bunny?

This little bunny teapot was bought years ago & it is so sweet, always adding a smile to the scene.

Fortunately I have these blue forks too - they will be needed for our Easter cake ....

 The little battery lights were up at Christmas & they have just stayed up - I like their little glow.

This is what it looks like - things that I enjoy looking at & they will be used as we entertain in the conservatory so it is good to have them close by

This tea towel reminds me of how much I enjoy my blue & white china - it is being used as an overlay over the plain white tablecloth ...

 A vase of simple white scented flowers is just right.

I hope that as Lent comes to an end, that you are ready to embrace the spiritual aspect of Easter & to enjoy having family & friends around your table & in your home.

Be blessed, thank you for stopping by,
Dee ~💕~