'The Story of Tinka/Martines Squares' - Ta - Dah! Introducing SIBOL 68!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have all had a nice weekend and indeed Bank Holiday for those in the UK!. What a wet one!

I'm very happy to be telling you the 'Story of Tinka/Martines  (ATheeC Flickr) Squares' today.

On January 17th of this year I had an email from Tinka over in Belgium.  She was telling me that for the first time ever she ordered some yarn on the internet with a company in The Netherlands http://www.remyhandwerken.nl/

Tinka  gave links to Flickr and also SIBOL, and she very kindly told Gemma  at the yarn company about our project for the Elderly. Tinka enquired whether they  had any left over yarn that they would like to donate to our project. In return Tinka promised Gemma that we would put some links up on the SIBOL Blog. Well Gemma mailed Tinka to say that she was going to put some extra yarn in with her order.

On January 17th Tinka's order arrived and Gemma  very kindly  put all this beautiful yarn in with the order. How nice of her! 400 gr extra yarn for SIBOL, 16 skeins of 25 gram! Look at this great donation in lovely colors:

What beautiful yarn! Tinka has been working very hard making her Squares for SIBOL, and here are her finished Squares. 

These Squares arrived on April 26th.

Tinka also sent me an email asking me whether I could put the Pink and Blue Squares in a particular order for her in one of the Sunshine Blankets.

 So......this is what I have come up with. I do hope you like the finished Blanket Tinka and Gemma.

Can you spot the Pink and Blue Squares made with the donated yarn?

 I have of course used other Squares which have been patiently waiting to be used from other Ladies.  Thank you to the other Ladies who have very kindly contributed the Squares to SIBOL also.

When the Squares arrive I colour-group them, so Tinkas' Squares matched the other Squares beautifully, and they matched hers!

I know there are other Squares from Tinka  on their way to me and a few are in my Square stash ready for when I can use them.

I am so pleased that the yarn company in the Netherlands thought our SIBOL project worthwhile, and wasn't that nice of them to donate some yarn to Tinka  Thank you so much and please pop over to their web site! and look at their beautiful yarn!

I absolutely loved working with these Squares. I do think the Pink, Blue and Deep Pink is a wonderful colour combination. Of course having the correct coloured yarn to do the borders makes such a lot of difference too!

Gemma, Tinka and all the other Ladies now it's time to spot your Squares! Tinka would you like to name the Blanket or shall we ask Gemma?

I have made you all a Slide Show!

I am so grateful to everyone! This is a really pretty 'Sunshine Blanket' and I am sure it send lots of love and warmth to an Elderly person. The Blanket has been named 'Bubblegum' by ATheeC and Annelinde. Thank you!

x Sue x

Squares from the UK and The Netherlands. 'Make me a Flag Olympic Challenge!'.

Hi Everyone!

Boy, am I pleased Blogger is back. Let's hope it stays 'back' now! I do hate it when I can't get round my favorite blogs.....

I hope you are okay, thanks for visiting SIBOL today.

I would like to show you some Squares that have come in from Jean Nock. Jean your Squares are once again beautiful. There are two Knitted Squares amongst the ones which she sent and they are just lovely. I think the one will be perfect for 'Grow me a Garden' Challenge.



Such a fantastic variety of Squares, and beautiful colours, thank you so much. I love them all.  I've made you a Slide Show I hope you enjoy looking at your Squares.







Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

I am at present working on a Blue and pink Blanket and then I am going to start the Spring or Farmyard Challenge blankets. I can't wait.

Can I remind you if you are visiting from another Country apart from the UK. We are going to make a special 'Olympic Blanket for 2012' and I am starting to collect Squares for this particular Challenge, although it is a long way off.  I would like to get as many different Flags in the Blanket  as I can. So if you have Friends on blogs, or you would like to make one yourself I would be delighted to receive them Knitted or Crocheted.  6" Squares (15cms x 15cms).  Of course their own Country has to be taking part in the Games.

Sue - sueatpigsty@talktalk.net for my address.

Please spread the word around about my special Challenge, ' the more the merrier!  Why not write a post on your blog! Our special Challenge is on our SIBOL CHALLENGE web site.

I'm pleased our SIBOL Swap is now under way, and I hope the Ladies have some fun this month, swapping their Squares and small Gifts.  Why not put your name down for next month?  Over on Ravelry.

I think that's all for now Ladies, thanks so much for visiting me today!
Have a good weekend, it's Bank Holiday here 'again'. So a nice long weekend!

x Sue x


SATURDAY UP-DATE.

I'm popping in to show you some gorgeous Squares that have arrived from the Netherlands. Thank you so much Hieke!  It's really lovely of you to send so many Squares for SIBOL.

Hieke has been very busy with our SIBOL Challenges!  First I would like to show you some Squares that she sent for our 'Cupcake Challenge.'  If you are new to SIBOL, our Challenges are over on a seperate blog. 'SIBOL CHALLENGES'.



Aren't they just lovely? Pretty colours too. Hieke also made Squares for 'Winter Wonderland', 'Textured', 'Two of a Kind',  and 'Grow me a Garden'.  I have put together a Slide Show for you Hieke, sit back and enjoy and thank you so much! I love all of your Squares!



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Welll I'm off now, I want to try and get the border finished on a Pink and Blue Blanket I'm doing.

Bye for now

x Sue x

Squares from the Netherlands.

Good evening Everyone!

I have been trying to leave Louise a comment on her visit to the show, but I'm still unable. Thanks so much Louise for the great post, I am so glad you enjoyed yourself at the Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft in Liverpool.

Is anyone else having problems with Blogger? I'm having trouble signing in on other Blogs as well as leaving a comment on here. (For Louise).

I had an email today from 'Knit Today' and I'm very pleased to be telling you that they are going to write an article in their Charity column  about our Royal Wedding Blanket, so I'm very pleased. It will be in the July issue and I'll let you know when it's in.

Today I had some gorgeous Squares arrive from the Netherlands.  Diemie has very kindly sent her first SIBOL Squares! Welcome to our group Diemie.  You are now one of our 'SIBOLETTES!'.

Such pretty Squares, beautiful colour combinations, I just love them and I am very grateful to you.



I've made you a Slide Show Diemie, sit back and enjoy!



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Thank you for sending them to SIBOL Diemie!

x Sue x

Creative stitches

A little while ago Mrs T offered free tickets for the creative stitches and hobby crafts show over at Aintree race course. I had thought about going anyway. Well I was lucky enough to win them and went on Saturday. Of course as soon as I got there my camera battery went dead and I had limited charge on my phone. (I have no idea how to get pictures off the phone and onto the computer any way.) I did get a few pictures of the RNLI installation. Its all knitted, down to the last pebble. Fun don’t you think?

 

I had a great, if tiring day and was parted with some cash for these lovely beauties.

Thank you Sue.

Louise

Our Prize for SIBOL! 'Yummy Yarn!

Hello Everyone!
I do hope you had a nice weekend! A very breezy day here in the UK today......

Now a few months ago I noticed an article in the 'Let's Knit' March issue No 40 called 'Wedding Bells'. Sharon Spencer of Great British Yarns was running a special competition to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Participants were asked to Knit or Crochet something to mark the occasion.

As a Group which specialises in making 'Sunshine Blankets' for the Elderly I thought instantly what a wonderful project this would be for our Group! Why not make a special Blanket to celebrate the Wedding and send it along to Sharon. So I put the idea out on to our SIBOL Web site. I was amazed because you all thought what a wonderful idea this was and soon after the Squares started coming in.

Set 1
Set 2

Such beautiful Squares, wonderfully Knitted and Crocheted. I gave you a deadline and soon after I started making the Royal Wedding Blanket. After lots of sorting out and planning the Blanket I started Crocheting them together. At last it was finished!

So I sent it off to Great British Yarns. On April 29th I had an email from Sharon to say that we had won First Prize in her Wedding Bells competition. I was over the moon for us all, and when I told you, you were excited too!  It was fantastic to know that we had done well with the competition.

We had such an exciting run up to the Wedding I was approached by Yahoo UK Media Relations asking whether I'd  allow our Royal Wedding Blanket to be used as the Header photo  on their new Flickr Group 'The People's Royal Wedding Album' because they loved it so much. I was also approached by CNN ireport to send our Blanket up to them. Crochet Today over in the States mailed me to say our Blanket was going on their web site and Yahoo/ Flickr Storify put our Blanket on their site too! We had such an exciting time running up to the Royal Wedding Day. It's all thanks to you!

To top it all the Blanket and other items sent to Sharon were put on EBAY. While watching the Wedding I was keeping my eye on the bidding, and particularly at the end when our Blanket raised £112.00! The other items did very well too and if you'd like to see them please follow the link to Sharon's blog. All proceeds were sent to the Prince William and Kate Middletons Charity Gift Fund and I would like to thank you very much for sending in the beautiful Squares without you I couldn't have made the Blanket. I'm so pleased the Blanket and other items raised so much!

Now our prize SIBOLETTES! Our yummy yarn! The prize was £50.00 of on-line vouchers with Great British Yarns.

I ordered some King Cole Big Value Double Knitting Yarn in various colours.

Pink, Lawn Green, Lipstick, Spring Green, Natural, Claret and Violet.

6 Packs for SIBOL as our Prize and I ordered one Pack for my own use which I paid for.
So here are the photos you've been waiting for!

Thank you so much Sharon of Great British Yarns and thank you to all the Ladies who took part in the Challenge. This yarn will be so useful to SIBOL. We have now made 67 'Sunshine Blankets' for Nursing Homes and as you can imagine I do get through a fair bit.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sues_favourite_things/sets/72157623895296510/

Making the Royal Wedding Blanket gave us so much fun as a Group but also me personally and it has inspired me to make another 'special' Blanket to celebrate the Olympics London 2012. As you can read in the previous post or in fact on our  SIBOL Challenge web site I am proposing to make a Blanket to celebrate the occasion and I am inviting Ladies from where-ever you live in the World to send me a Square with the Olympics in mind or indeed a Flag of your own Country so I can auction  the Blanket on EBAY with my Brothers' help and raise money for a Charity in the UK. I haven't decided which one yet, but all proceeds will go towards helping others. Ideas are welcome if you'd like to put them over on Ravelry Olympics London 2012 discussion thread.

So there we are, that's all my news for today. No Squares in the post today, but I hope you have enjoyed reading about our 'yummy yarn' and our latest Challenge!

Bye for now!
x Sue x

'Olympics London 2012' Challenge is announced! Saturday Squares from Australia!

Hello Everyone!

I would like to officially announce a new Challenge here on SIBOL.

We had such a fantastic time sending in Squares and making the Royal Wedding Blanket, and subsequently raising £112.00 for Prince William and Kate Middleton's Charity Gift Fund Charity that I thought it would be nice to take on another similar project.

Would you like to help me make a Blanket to celebrate the occasion of the Olympic Games London 2012 27th July - August 12th?

When the Blanket is finished, it will be auctioned on EBAY around the time of the Olympic Games.
All proceeds will be given to a UK Charity.
Ideas of Charities would be welcome on Ravelry

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

I am inviting you to send me Crocheted or Knitted Squares.
6" x 6" (15cms x 15cms)
MUST BE ACRYLIC YARN.

Your Square must have the Olympic Games in mind.
Pictures Crocheted or Knitted on the Square for example

                                                                     OLYMPIC TORCH

                                                                                                                             

OLYMPIC RINGS

represent the Five continents

                                                      THE FLAG OF YOUR COUNTRY

I would be thrilled to receive as many Flags as I can to put in to this Blanket. So where-ever you are in the World why not Crochet or Knit a Flag and send it to me?

216 Countries are taking part in the Olympics.

OLYMPIC MEDALS



A picture Square with a Sport.

A List of Sports played at the Olympics 

                                                       

                                                           FIREWORKS OF COURSE!

                                                   

No limit on the amount of Squares, make as many as you like.          

There is no deadline as yet.

SQUARES MUST BE ACRYLIC.

You must enclose

Your  Email Address

Your Name and Address   

Your Internet User Name

Your Rav/Flickr Name    

Your Blog Address   

You must  attach a tag to your Square

with Your Name and Country.                          

Thank You!               

ALL DETAILS ARE ON SIBOL CHALLENGES.

SATURDAY'S SQUARES 21/05/2011         

I am very pleased to be showing you some Squares that have arrived this morning all the way from Australia. 

Maree has very kindly sent me her Jan Eaton Square which is No. 72 'Ribbed Square'. This has been made in a beautiful shade of Red. It's come out really lovely, I can't believe we are now doing our 3rd Jan Eaton Blanket. 

 I think it was Karin who suggested doing a 'Winter Wonderland' Challenge, with Squares all being in White. I wondered at the time about doing an 'all white' Blanket, you know wondering what it would be like. But with all the gorgeous 'White' Squares arriving, I think that this particularly Challenge will work out just fine!  Maree has sent two Squares for this Challenge and the pattern is from 'Jean Leinhauser Book of 101 Squares'.  I must  get it sometime, because these Squares are gorgeous!  I really love the pattern she's used.

Finally two beautiful Flower Squares, all in my favourite colours. I said to Maree in my email to her that I thought a Blanket made in the pattern she has used would be stunning!  Would you like to try doing this yourself? The pattern once again is from the Jean Leinhauser Book of 101 Squares'.      

I have made a Slide Show for you Maree, thank you so much for the gorgeous Squares, I love them!

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Thanks for visiting SIBOL today!

Friday's Squares from the UK!

Hi Everyone!

First of all thanks to everyone for commenting on the Olympic question! I'm pleased you think it's a good idea and the Challenge will be announced very soon!  So get your thinking caps on....

I am very pleased to be showing you now some Squares which have come in for our Challenges.
bonsall (UK) has been so....busy making Squares for SIBOL.  If you would like to see our Challenges
please visit the link.

bonsall has made Squares for  the Spring Challenge, Cupcake, Two of a Kind, Mens and has even sent in a Square for my Flower stash.  They are all so beautiful and I love each and everyone of them. Thanks so much bonsall.

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

 

Thank you so much for visiting SIBOL today, I do hope you will have a good weekend!

x Sue x

'Olympics' London 2012. A question for you! Squares from Spain.

Hi Everyone!

I had so much fun making the Royal Wedding Blanket and then helping raise money for Prince William and Kate Middletons Charity Gift Fund. I was wondering if we could take on another big project.

Racking my brains for a few weeks now. Then this morning while watching the BBC News when they were talking about the Olympic torch being carried throughout the UK. I thought wouldn’t it be nice to make a large Blanket once again, collecting Squares from all over the World to celebrate the ‘Olympics’ in London 2012. Then auctioning it next year on EBAY and proceeds going to a Charity.

Now I’m putting this idea out to you  in Blogland to see what you think.
I have a few Charities in mind, but of course I am open to your ideas. I would prefer UK Charities.

The main thing at the moment I am asking is…..
Do you think an ‘Olympics London 2012’ Blanket is a good idea?

I would welcome your thoughts.
It isn’t until next year, but I thought we could start collecting Squares.

Ideas for Squares would be for instance…..
Flags of Different countries. (Then perhaps I can use manda's challenges 'Union Jacks!' :)
Squares depicting different sports.
Olympic Torches, Olympic Symbol as shown.
Faces, Nationalities.
People.
etc.,

You would have to use your imagination again, but for us SIBOLETTES, that’s not hard is it?

Would you like to post a comment? Thank you.


I have had some Squares come in this morning from Sonieta in Spain.  Sonieta has sent two gorgeous Squares which are the 'Circle of Friends' pattern. I love the colours on both of them, I think my favourite is the pink and green one. I think these two colours go really well together!  Thanks so much for sending the Squares Sonieta! They are very much appreciated!

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Bye for now
x Sue x

Colourful Squares from the Netherlands!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Thank you so much for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

I'm very happy to be showing you two Squares which have arrived today from Gerda in the Netherlands.
The Squares are fantastic, I'm sure you will agree. 

I absolutely love the colour choices used in the Squares and I love the pattern too! Thank you so much Gerda.  I do hope you will pop over to Gerda's blog and say hello!

To say thank you Gerda, I have made you a short Slide Show. Have a good day everyone!"



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

x Sue x

A Jan Eaton Square flys in from the States!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I'm very pleased to be showing you a Square which has flown in from the USA! The Square is from itty bitty0063.  This Square is beautifully made and if you want to have a go yourself, it is Number 67 in the Jan Eaton 200 Crochet Blocks, for Blankets, Throws and Afghans.  It's called 'American Beauty'.  It's absolutely gorgeous. You know Flower Squares are my absolute favourite and this one is lovely because it's in Red, White and Blue!

Thank you all very much for the comments on the Squares recently received and indeed the Two Tone Green Blankets.  Corien (Netherlands) would like us to do another Two Tone Blanket sometime. Corien which colour would you be thinking of? Would you let me know please?

OOh....it's so nice I'm back blogging. I do hate it when I have trouble with the internet and computer! All is well. Thanks Karin for doing my test post! When Karin managed to post I thought to myself it must be my computer, which is was!

Anyway, I had better keep Mr. Twins happy with a cup of tea, he's busy outside doing a little painting!

Until next time, thanks for visiting me here at SIBOL!

x Sue x

Squares from the UK and Sweden!

Hello Everyone!

I do hope you will go back to the previous post. I have been experiencing problems on here, but I'm pleased to say I am 'fully restored!'.  I'm trying to catch up with myself this evening, I have lots of Squares to show you and two new SIBOLS! You will see them if you go back a post, thank you!

Today I had an early post around 8.00am.  I received beautiful Grannies from Linda and her Mum (Sweden/UK).  The Grannies were gorgeous, colours Navy and Blue.  Grannies are so useful to me, yes of course I can use them as 'fillers' but they also make beautiful Blankets on their own. I'm always so happy to receive them. Linda was very kind she enclosed some ribbon which she had spare and a delightful tiny cupcake she had made. These Squares would be ideal for a Man, don't you think? 

Thank you Linda and her Mum! I've made you a Slide Show! Enjoy!

Then a second post came around 1.00pm.  It was from Pippa (UK) this time.  She had sent two Squares
for the 'Winter Wonderland' Challenge and some Grannies too! It must be Grannies Day! I thought of putting these Squares with Linda's, I'm sure they will make a lovely Blanket together!  Lovely Squares thank you very much Pippa!

Thanks to Linda, Her Mum and Pippa for fantastic Squares today! Thank you for visiting SIBOL!

x Sue x

A Double Ta - Dah! 'Two Tone Greens'.

Hello Everyone!

Well I'm going in the order I should have posted. I've been out of action but 'I'm Back!' Thanks to dear Mr. Twins who has 'cleared my history' and instead of the horrible jargon I had in my box at the top of the screen and the awlful 303 /414 error. I am now fully restored! Bless him! What would we do without these men?

I thought it was most strange how Sonieta and Karin had managed to post on SIBOL, but I couldn't! It must be the lap top I told myself. Mr. Twins did a little magic on it, and hey presto everything is just fine!

So here we go......

I am very pleased to be showing you two SIBOL Blankets which were in our 'Two Tone Green' Challenge. SIBOLS 66 & 67.

I waited until I had finished them both  to show you. Also the other reason I am a little late is because we have been busy at home with Builders and Roofers!

Here first of all is SIBOL 66



We have some great patterned Two Tone Squares in this one. 

Then we have SIBOL 67.



I loved all the Squares in this one too!  Unfortunately hieke (Netherlands) sent Two 'Two Tone Squares' with her Royal Wedding Square, and unfortunately I wasn't able to fit them into this Challenge. They were the last two Squares to arrive and of course I had 52 Squares, not enough to make a 3rd Blanket.  I will use your Squares hieke and thank you for sending them to me.

Well I'm going to put the two SIBOLS into their own Slide Show now, sit back and enjoy!

I hope you like the Blankets, and thank you very much for the Squares!

TEST POST

Sue is experiencing problems with Blogger.

She asked me to login and write this test post.

So, here it is. I can login, no problem. 

I hope your Blogger will work soon Sue!

♥

Karin

two squares from Spain

I crocheted this two squares in January, but I can't send it to UK just on last Friday.

I hope they help to finish another beautiful blanket.

Thank you Sue to your lovely task. It makes people better.

Please, tell me something to say they have arrived.

Lots of sunny kisses