Our past Challenges.

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Well it's the last day of June today. It's the final day for our Jan Eaton Challenge.  There are half a dozen Squares which haven't arrived yet, may I please have them in now? Then I can assemble the third Jan Eaton Blanket. Thank you.

I've been looking back on some of our Challenges. You know we have had a fabulous time making the Squares for various themes. I thought it would be nice to take a look back at some of them.  So really this is going to be a post with quite a few photos and not so many words today.

                              'Sun theme.                                   .

                                                 

              'Flowers'                   

                                 

'Fireworks/November 5th'.

                  

'Christmas'.

                                            

                      

                                   'Strawberry and Cream'.                         

                                                 

'Black and White'

                                                                    

 

                      'Two Tone Green'                   

       

          

'Blue and White'.

Such wonderful Squares from all around the World.

Thank you so much for sending them to me.

Between us we are 'Sending a ray of Sunshine into the lives of the Elderly'

in Nursing Homes in the UK.

Picture Square Blankets

Good Evening everyone!

Thank you for popping over to SIBOL this evening. I'm just re-capping tonight on our Picture Square Blankets. I have posted some photos of the ones we have made in our SIBOL Challenges.  I had an enquiry the other day. A Lady was asking me 'Is there a book? How can I learn how to make a Picture Square?'
I basically told her a Picture Square can have a very basic background, maybe a Granny Square or even just a Square in Double Crochet, or Trebles. You then Crochet 'shapes' and perhaps sew them on or of course you can Crochet them in to make your Picture.

The Ladies who send in Squares to SIBOL, are using their imagination and making the Picture Squares up as they go. I sometimes go on to Google to get ideas. For instance, when we had the Sun theme. I found a picture on Google which I then tried to copy. 'Little Miss Sunshine'.  'Fun In the Sun'.

Our 'Spring Blanket'

                           
                                                                Our 'Farmyard Blanket'.

                                                                  Our 'Royal Wedding' Blanket.

                                                          Our 'Young At Heart' Blanket.

                                                                 Our 'Beach Picnic' Blanket.

The Elderly Residents really love looking at the Picture Square Blankets. When I took the 'Sunshine Blankets' in to the Home a few weeks ago, Alice particularly liked the 'Young At Heart' Blanket. It
brought back so many memories to her of her Childhood. I think that was really nice, it gave her such a
lot of pleasure.  These 'Picture Square' Blankets are a real talking point in the homes.  I really enjoy
putting them together after you have sent me the Squares, thank you so much.

Why not join us? We are collecting Squares for a special Olympic Blanket which we are making  next year. The details are over on SIBOL CHALLENGES. When the Blanket is completed we are going to auction on EBAY and all proceeds are going to be given to the Alzheimers Society here in the UK.

This is a special Blanket and I need your help, why not join us? 

Thank you all for your support.

x Sue x

Ta - Dah! Introducing SIBOL 71!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I'm very pleased to be telling you that the first Spring Blanket is finished. I stayed up really late last night to finish it off.

I really love the Squares that you sent in for this Challenge, they are gorgeous. Thank you all so much.

I have to thank Kay too for mailing me last night.  She was giving me some really good information. You might want to check it out for yourself. Jacqui  (Bunny Mummy) is telling us how to make the Border on Blankets lie 'flat' on her blog.  Of course when I went back to my Spring Blanket I got rather paranoid because it's not exactly lying flat.  The reason I think was because I did the first row of trebles in doubled up yarn and really I think this through the rest out and caused it too 'frill'.  Well I decided to leave it 'frilly', there was no way I was going to unpick it.

I just loved the Squares you sent thank you all so much. The Border I used Cream, Green, Two Shades of Blue and a touch of Yellow. For the grass, sky and sun! Thank you Glynis for the Butterflies and one of the Flowers, Beverley too for her Flower. Puppet Lady once again for this gorgeous Braid which I love!


Well here it is.........

I've made you a Flickr Slide Show, my usual Slide.com Slide shows are still....having problems. So oh dear, my little Butterflies aren't fluttering, and I am sad today! My friend Adam over in the States is working on it for me, bless him. He suggested I tried Google Chrome and Firefox, but Mr. Twins has tried and it's still......not working......

Please Adam help me, our SIBOL Butterflies need to flutter!




Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Have a good day everyone and thanks for visiting SIBOL.

A Thank you from St. Bernards Residential Care home.

Good Morning Everyone!

If you remember a few weeks ago I hand-delivered some of our 'Sunshine Blankets' to St. Bernards Residential Care Home.

Well in the post yesterday I received a beautiful Thank You card from the Staff and Residents.

I wanted to share it with you.



Inside there was also a sheet of paper and the Residents who had received our 'Sunshine Blankets' had signed their names thanking us.  I thought this was so nice of them. I'm not going to post it on here, because of protecting their privacy but I just wanted you to know that our 'Sunshine Blankets' were received with many thanks and they were really appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who continues to help me with my project and thank you 'St. Bernards' this Thank You card was very much appreciated.

Have a good weekend everyone!

x Sue x

Just want you to know...........

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I have had a quiet day today for a change on the postal front. 'Nothing today' our Lunchtime Postie has just said. So I thought this will give me a good opportunity to tell you some wonderful news.

It is always so nice to receive positive feedback from our visitors, and in February of this year a comment was left on our SIBOL web site.  Teresa of DiddleDaddleDesigns (Tennessee US)  very kindly left a comment saying how much she loved our Blankets which she had seen over on Flickr. She told me how she was interested in starting a group in her local Church working like we do for their  local Nursing Homes.

Teresa asked me for information about how I started the project, and also she wanted to know the size of the finished Blankets.  So I mailed her back. We instantly struck up a lovely friendship and I gave her as much information as I could about 'SIBOL'. I was only too happy too. Teresa was so....interested in our project and for me it was great to share with someone that wanted to do the same.

I was completely honest with Teresa, telling her that when you start a project such as 'SIBOL' from the very start you have to be 100% committed.  It's no good starting something you may loose interest in shortly after. I have always felt an obligation to the Ladies that send  me Squares to show them as much as I can every step of the way.  That's why it is terribly important to me that once our 'Sunshine Blankets' are finished I ask the Nursing Homes a very important question.  'May I take some photographs please?'  I feel it is my duty to my Ladies, my SIBOLETTES to show them  'where the Squares have ended up!'. So I wanted her to know how much work was needed and how dedicated she must be! Teresa took everything on board and........

After several emails of lengthy chat, I was very pleased when Teresa said okay I am ready to ask the Ladies at my Church. Her idea went down very well indeed, and it wasn't long before Ladies started making Squares for their very own project 'Hands of Kindness'.  This at the moment is really something they are doing as a small Church group, the Squares are mainly coming from within.

The Ladies are enjoying making the Squares, assembling the Blankets and the most important thing too, is that they are 'learning' new methods.Their Blankets are stunning!

I am absolutely over the moon  that Teresa has been inspired from our 'SIBOL' project. 

Congratulations to you Teresa and please tell the Ladies in your Church Group how terribly happy I am for you. I will continue to follow the progress of  your project and I just can't wait for the next Blankets to be shown.
                                                 
                                                            -------------------------------

I am crocheting one of the 'Spring Blankets' at the moment, I hope it won't be too long before I can show you.

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

Olympic and Textured Squares from the UK!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' today.

I'm very happy to be showing you some Squares that have just this minute arrived.


Linda from here in the UK has very kindly sent me two Squares for our Challenges.

The first one is the 'Swedish Flag' for our Olympic Blanket. How cool is that! I am so pleased Flags
are starting to arrive now.  If I could just say, you can Crochet any Flag for any Country if you want to, it doesn't have to be yours!

I know joyce28 is really enjoying Knitting different ones and 'I need more'.  We are trying to get this Blanket as interesting as we can.  Also if there is anything else you would like to Knit or Crochet on a Square for the Olympics please do.

For example bonsall has made Squares with Runners on...... I will give you the Flickr link where I am keeping all the Olympic Squares in one place so it's easy to see where we are. Please pop over and get some inspiration!

I love your Swedish Flag Linda thank you so much.



It's also lovely to see another Textured Square arrive this morning. Linda has made a fantastic one. If you look closely at Linda's Square. She has made a Square with the bobble pattern and then on the top of the Square we have a really lovely 'touchy feely' part. It's so woolly, warm to the touch.



I'm over the moon with both Squares Linda, thank you so....much.




Please don't forget the other Challenges too!

That's all for now,

x Sue x

Squares from Germany and the UK for the Olympics!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to 'SIBOL' today! 

Before I start my post, is anyone else having trouble with 'signing in and commenting' these last few days? Some blogs you can leave a comment, some you can't. I can't even leave a comment on my own blog. It is so annoying, and not at all reliable these days. So.....frustrating!

Today 'Germany' seems to be popular on SIBOL. I have had some Squares arrive from Crissi who lives in Germany. I am very pleased to be showing you her Squares today.  Crissi has made such a lot of beautiful Squares for SIBOL and I would like to share them with you.

Crissi has been working very hard for our 'Olympic Blanket' and she has made some lovely Squares in the colours of the German Flag. Now take a look at these beauties!





Perfect Squares Crissi! I think they will look great in our Olympics Blanket. Crissi has also made some more Squares for our 'Sunshine Blankets' and if you would like to have a look at them they are in Crissi's Slide Show coming up.



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

I love your Squares Crissi, thank you for sending them to me here in the UK and also thank you for everything else that was inside your box. Very much appreciated, thank you!

I am also very pleased to be telling you that Laura here in the UK sent some Squares to me this morning. One Square for our new Challenge 'Two Tone Blue' and also two Squares for our 'Olympic Blanket'.  One is a brilliant Olympic Torch and the other is the Flag of Germany so Crissi may be interested in looking at this one too!

I think they are fantastic too Laura, I'm so pleased you are enjoying our Challenges.  Laura in fact suggested doing a Two Tone Blue Blanket. She also has lots of other ideas for our Challenges but I think now we will have to get down the ones that we have running at the moment. But I will definitely keep them in mind.

Here are Laura's Olympic Squares and Two Tone Blue Square. Thank you so much for sending them in to me Laura, very much appreciated.





Your Slide Show Laura!



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Thank you for visiting SIBOL today, I hope you enjoyed looking at the Squares.

Squares from the USA!

Good Morning Everyone!

I'm very pleased to be telling you that Lunas' Squares have arrived this morning from the USA! I am always relieved when Squares arrive, although  I've had literally hundreds of deliveries and fortunately none have got lost yet! So I have been greeting Lunas' Squares with a bit of early morning photography amongst our English Geraniums!





Thank you so much Luna for the beautiful Squares. Lots of different coloured yarn,  pastel colours, variegated yarn, make up beautiful Squares. Some are Grannies, some have other patterns you will see yourselves!

I am also very happy indeed because Luna has taken part in our Olympics Blanket Challenge. I am so pleased to see some Squares coming in for this Challenge. Luna has made a Square with the Olympic Circles in mind and it's fabulous!



I'm delighted Luna you have taken part in our Olympics Challenge. If you have friends in other Countries please do tell them that we need Flags from all over the World for this special Blanket. Thank you.

I have made you a special Slide Show Luna, sit back and enjoy your beautiful Squares!
Thanks so much!



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

I may be back later if any more Squares arrive. Don't forget to go back posts and see what's new!

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' on this Sunny morning.

x Sue x

Luna Granny - Puerto Rico Granny Flag for the Olympics Blanket.

My Square with my Flag is ready....I'm so happy with the result.Thanks everyone and have a wonderful week.

The Big '70!'

Good Evening Everyone!

Well today I can say that we have now made 70 'Sunshine Blankets!'.  Absolutely amazing!  Thank you to everyone that has contributed Squares over the months. 

So....I have my 70th Ta - Dah! for you.  I am very happy to present the 'Farm Yard Blanket'. SIBOL No.70!

This Blanket has such a variety of Squares from Farmyard animals to the Colours of the Field.  We even have Tractors!  It's absolutely fascinating to see what you Ladies come up with when I invite you to join my Challenges!  I hope you enjoyed taking part in this one.  I certainly enjoyed putting it together.

I'm going  to start the Spring Blankets now.  There will be two of them, so I hope it won't be long before I can Ta - Dah those for you too! 

So now let's see those beautiful Squares of yours!  Any names for this Blanket? I am open to suggestions.





Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Thanks once again to everyone that has sent me Squares for this Challenge, they are absolutely superb, I love them, thank you!

x Sue x

Friday's Squares from the UK!

Good Evening Everyone!

I'm very happy to be showing you two lots of wonderful Squares that have come in today from joyce28 and bonsall both here in the UK. Thank you to both of you!

bonsall has sent in some Squares which are just so...pretty!  Pretty pastel coloured Granny Squares, Pastel Flower Squares, Mens Squares, Two of a Kind Square, and .....'Olympic Squares!'.   Just take a look at these!

Lovely ideas bonsall for our Olympic Blanket.  If you would like to help us make an Olympic Blanket for next years' games please pop over to our SIBOL CHALLENGE web site. We are making a Blanket which will be sold on Ebay to raise money for a UK Charity.  I am nearly there deciding which one!  I'll let you have a look at bonsalls' Olympic Squares which are briliant and please have a look at her Slide Show too! Thank you bonsall, I appreciate your Squares very much!

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Great weren't they?  It doesn't stop there.  joyce28 has been having a great time making Knitted Flags for our Olympic Blanket.  These Flags are absolutely superb!

Countries featured on the Flags are Ukraine, Bahamas, Jamaica, Greece, Bangladsh.  She's even labelled each one so I know what they are! How good is that! I think my favourite is the Bahamas. I  just love the colours in this one.

I will show you the Flags now thank you so much joyce28, I love them and I am sure they will look wonderful in our Blanket.

Let's see some more now in your Slide Show! 



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for the comments on SIBOL 69!


x Sue x

A Thank you to you all! A Ta - Dah! and......some Squares from the USA and UK! Busy day!

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for visiting 'SIBOL' today, lovely to have you on board!

First of all may I tell you about a card I received in the post today.  It really has made my day and I'm sure it will make yours too.

When I visited St. Bernards on Monday I met 'Alice' one of the Residents.  Gwen offered her one of our 'Sunshine Blankets' which was actually called 'Young At Heart'. Do you remember this one, with the cute skipping rope, clothes, dress, football posts and even a little bicycle?  Gwen told me that Alice loved Children and she thought the Blanket would be nice for her. We showed her the different Squares and Alice
and everyone else thought the Blanket was lovely.

Well in the post this morning I have received a beautiful Thank you card, it was from Margaret. Alice is Margaret's aunt. In the card she tells me how much she loves the Blanket and what a wonderful gift it was to her Aunt from myself and SIBOL.

Margaret tells me that she sat with Alice and looked at all of the pictures 'that had so lovingly been made for her blanket and it brought back so many happy memories to Alice of her childhood. I thought that was just so lovely and I thought it would be nice to tell you all.  Afterwards they both walked back to Alice's room and they put it on her bed. The pretty pink Butterflies were hung on the wardrobe doors.

I'm sure Margaret won't mind me taking snippets from her card, I so much wanted you to read them as you have all helped me.

'It is heart warming to know that you and your many friends across the world give such happiness to the Elderly, as so many of them have given love and happiness to others during thier lifetime.

I thank you and your colleagues for the wonderful gift'.

My very best wishes to you all. 

Margaret Compton.

As I say I'm sure Margaret won't mind me putting this so you can read it. It is important to me that I share this with you.

I am delighted that Alice loved her Blanket, and I will be writing to Margaret myself shortly. So that really made my day.

Thank you Margaret.

                                                   --------------------------------------


Well I've had a busy day today. I've had Squares from Terry (Abbiezbabie) (USA) and also Louise in the UK.

First of all I would like you to see Terry's Squares.  She has sent two beautiful White Granny Squares for our 'Winter Wonderland' Challenge.  I can't believe we will be having a pure white Blanket! Should be great fun!

Here's your Slide Show Terry! Thank you so much for your gorgeous 'Winter Wonderland' Squares! I love them.

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Louise in the UK sent me some great Squares for our Challenges today!

We have a great one for our 'Winter Wonderland' Challenge, thank you Louise. This is a great pattern and it looks so pretty in White!

Then we have a Square for our yummy 'Cupcake' Challenge.

The third one is for our 3rd Jan Eaton Blanket. This is No. 70 and it's called 'Zig Zag' which actually is a really unusual pattern. Why not have a go?

I've made you a short Slide Show Louise thank you so much I love all the Squares!

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Louise has also been working very hard assembling one of our Blankets for me. It has come out beautifully with colours mainly of Purple and Green. I have made two Butterflies to put with the Blanket this afternoon and I have been outside 'between showers' taking some photos. So I hope they have come out well.

Louise, thank you! This is our 69th Ta - Dah!  Amazing! We still have lots of work to do as well. The colours remind Louise of Wimbledon, so perhaps she would like to name the Blanket appropriately!

It's a gorgeous Blanket Louise and I love how you have attached the Squares together! I'm very happy to be showing you the Slide Show I have made.

So a lot to tell you today! It's always so nice to get positive feedback on our 'Sunshine Blankets' and I do hope Alice and Ladies and Gents like her will get a lot of enjoyment, Love and Warmth from them.

Thank you so much for your continued support and thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' today.

x Sue x

SIBOL Butterflies are flying in with pretty Squares too! From the UK.

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Thanks so much for taking the time to pop into SIBOL today! I have some more pretty Squares for you to see and Butterflies too!

Anakat (UK) has very kindly sent me some beautiful Squares all in gorgeous pastel colours and........she's been busy too making SIBOL Butterflies. These Butterflies have been our 'SIBOL trademark' if you like since 'Butterfly' our Number 8 Blanket.

I shall put the link up again, because these Butterflies are just so...easy to make and you can do lots of things with them. I put sticky tabs on the back and stick them anywhere in the house. Or you could put them hanging on a crocheted chain. I have some Gold and White ones hanging in my Lounge on a white branch tree and you know I've also used them on my Christmas Tree made with sparkly thread! I even stick them onto Christmas and Birthday gifts in matching colours to the gift paper. Ideas are endless.

I have been told that Ladies in the homes, hang them from their Zimmer frames too! There is a wonderful video tutorial from Nettie in Australia on You Tube and this is how I learnt to make mine. Why not have a go?
Thank you dear Nettie if you are visiting!





I've hopefully made you a Slide Show Anakat, my computer has been playing up. Fingers crossed! I particularly like the Flower Squares and I think they look so nice amongst the Flowers.



Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Thank you so much for your Squares, I am pleased you are enjoying SIBOL!
Thanks to everyone for popping in today!

x Sue x

Pretty Squares from the USA!

Hello Everyone!

I am so behind today with my blogging and I apologise. My Husband decided to put Internet Explorer 9 on, and for some reason or another it didn't like Flickr and it certainly didn't like Blogland. For hours we have been trying to sort it out this end. Then I am rubbish at passwords. How many times do you say to yourself ooh I must write them down. But do I?  Well I have learnt my lesson and now I have them down. So I've got Yahoo sorted and I've now got Google sorted. Why so many? 

Anyway without further ado. Today I received pretty Squares all the way from GA (USA). I presume that is Georgia? From Kay. 

I did try to take photos outside around Lunchtime when I came back from the hairdressers but it was so hot outside and it was so.....bright I had to leave it until tea time. I kept getting lots of shadow and this certainly wouldn't have done the photos any good.

Kay has been working very hard for our Challenges and she has sent in such lovely Squares. When you have a look at these Squares you will see they are Grannies but with a difference.  They are all in such wonderful colour combinations.  My Mom would just love this Purple and Green Square.  These two colour combinations are my Mom's favourite colours. 

The Square has a pretty Flower in the centre, for our Flower collection and the other one has a cute Butterfly for 'Grow me a Garden' Challenge. What  fantastic ideas! I love them. The Tropical  Square is gorgeous too, ideal colours.

 I'm sure you love these Squares as much as I do. I am so grateful to you Kay.  I have just tried to make a Slide Show for you, but no it doesn't want to work.  My Husband will have to have another go tomorrow.

I apologise.

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments yesterday on my visit to St. Bernards. I am so pleased you popped over to have a look at the photographs. The first thing I ask when I visit a Home is 'May I take some photographs please? I feel an obligation to you all, to show you where the Sunshine Blankets  have found their new home.

Thanks once again Kay, I love your Squares and thank you so much for visiting SIBOL today!

My visit to a Care Home today!

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by 'SIBOL' today.

Over the past few weeks I have been getting the Blankets ready to deliver to St. Bernards Residential Care Home near to where I live.  I have to thank you for the most beautiful Squares I have received over the months which have enabled me to make really pretty Blankets.

When our 'Sunshine Blankets' were first thought of way back in January 2010 I never thought then that I would be making so many. My first target was 6, We have now made 68.

So over the last few weeks I have been getting the Blankets ready, piling them up, putting their ribbons on and  making the Gift Cards.

Today was the day to deliver our 'Sunshine Blankets'.

 To  St. Bernards Residential Care Home in Solihull

Where I met Gwen and one of the other assistants . My husband is off work this week and so I asked him to come along. We met Staff and some of the lovely Residents.  I must tell you how everyone loved our Blankets. They thought all the Blankets were so beautifully made. They loved the Squares and I showed them in particular the themed Blankets.

 The Ladies took such an interest in the Blankets especially the 'Young At Heart' Blanket, with beautiful Squares depicting things from our childhood, they also loved the Flower Blankets too.

Of course I asked if we could take a few photographs! My Husband was Photographer for the afternoon! Gwen was only too happy to oblige.

I would like to thank Gwen and her Staff for hospitality shown to myself and Colin. We were offered tea and biscuits and it was lovely to have a chat with the Residents.  It's so nice to know that our 'Sunshine Blankets' have gone to a home where they will be appreciated and the Residents will enjoy having them beside them.

I also told Gwen and her Residents that I have made these Blankets in Memory of my own Grandmother who lived to the age of 103.

Thank you so much 'SIBOLETTES' and thank you also to St. Bernards Residential Care Home.

Thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' today!