Our SIBOL TOTAL IS 1376! Thank You!

Slideshow of Sunshine Blankets (Click on Left/Right Arrows).

Challenge Blankets
I'm Sue and can be contacted on
sueatpigsty@virginmedia.com

It is so important that email addresses and names are enclosed with your donations of Sunshine Blankets, Shawls and Butterflies please. Thank you!

Butterflies LINK


'Crochet keeps our hands busy so our minds can rest. It is a gift to help quiet the world around us, if even for a moment. To create -- and think of those we create for --is a quiet prayer of hope, love and dreams all wrapped up in a hook, a book and a ball of yarn. Author Anonymous. Thanks Cynthia.
SIBOL Blog
I NO LONGER ACCEPT KNITTED OR CROCHETED SQUARES. I DO HOWEVER ACCEPT MADE UP BLANKETS FOR THE ELDERLY IN CARE HOMES. I'D BE VERY HAPPY TO RECEIVE YOURS! THANK YOU! 'SIBOL' is a charitable outlet for your Crocheting and Knitting Skills why not join us? Together we are 'Sending a ray of Sunshine into the Lives of the Elderly.' All enquiries please contact Sue on sueatpigsty@virginmedia.com Thank you!
Please Note

Please may I remind you to enclose your email address with parcels delivered to my home. If I don't acknowledge receipt it's because I can't find your address. Thank you.


Total 1384 Thank you!




Monday 31 December 2012

Happy New Year to everyone!

Good afternoon,

Just popping in to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Our 'SIBOL CHALLENGES' will go live at mid-night and I hope you will pop over and have a read. Let's hope you are feeling 'creative' because there is plenty to make you want to pick up those hooks and needles!

Let's hope we have another successful year working for the Elderly here in the UK.

Thank you so much for supporting 'SIBOL' during 2012.

Your friendship is very special thank you!

Lots of love and best wishes

Sue x 

Butterfly Glitter Graphic for Hi5 twitter & Facebook
Butterfly,  Glitter | Forward this Picture





Saturday 29 December 2012

'Joyful SIBOL 333!'

ViewLogo


Good Morning!

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas!

On Christmas Eve I had a beautiful Blanket arrive from Bettina in Switzerland. I'm sorry I didn't have time to 
write a post over the Christmas period and take photos as I had family here. 

I have called this Blanket 'Joyful'. 

The Blanket is made with beautiful Crocheted Squares and the simplicity of these two colours work so well together. 

I have added some cream ribbon and some 'SIBOL' Butterflies and I hope you will agree it's another stunning Blanket for our Elderly.

I really appreciate the time you have spent on this Blanket Bettina. I can tell you enjoy your Crocheting  and it is so kind of you to donate this beautiful work of art to our 'SIBOL' Group.

Let's take a look now at 'Joyful'.

Bettina (Switzerland). Made and donated this blanket. Thank you!



037




A gorgeous blanket arrived on Christmas Eve. I'm naming it 'Joyful'.



039


This will probably be our last Blanket of 2012, thank you!

ViewLogo


x Sue x

Friday 21 December 2012

Happy Christmas to you all!

Good evening to you all!

May I take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy Christmas. I do hope everyone enjoys themselves.
I look forward to our New Challenges in 2013 and I hope we can have lots more fun.

Ta - Dah! Introducing SIBOL No. 36 '900 Squares I'm counting for the big one!'  'Christmas Blooms' - named by LT81 Thank you!


x Sue x

Thursday 20 December 2012

Surprise Squares arrive today!


Good Morning everyone!

Thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' today.

I would like to thank 'Chalky' - Linda today for sending me some Squares on behalf of her Daughter in Law Charlotte. They really are lovely and I shall put them in our SIBOL Stash box ready for next year. Pretty Heart Gifts also arrived from Linda, how kind thank you.

There are some more Squares in the pink package but I can't show you until January or else it will spoil the surprise! I'm very grateful to you both thank you so much. Gorgeous Squares Charlotte.


Linda (UK) Sent me this today. I can't show you what's in the pink parcel until January 2013


Linda's Daughter in Law 'Charlotte' sent these Squares for our Stash. Thank you!


I'll be back before Christmas to wish you a happy time!

ViewLogo



x Sue x



Wednesday 12 December 2012

Lots of colour in a new SIBOL Blanket.



Hello and thanks for visiting 'SIBOL',

Yesterday my computer was playing up and  I didn't have chance to post this beautiful Blanket. It surely is so pretty. I love the centres in these Squares and I love all the colours, everything works so well on this Blanket. Daphne also sent me some Butterflies for our Stash. I am very grateful thank you so much.  It has a very nice border too which finishes it off beautifully. What a treat for an Elderly Lady!

Let's take a look now.

Simply gorgeous, thank you!


OOh it's gorgeous!


Created with flickr slideshow.


Did you spot the Butterflies for our Blankets? Thank you Daphne, this is so terribly kind of you !

Please contact me Daphne, thank you!

3.30 Wednesday afternoon.

I have to tell you. I have just had a phone call from Mrs Russell  (92) at Selly Wood House. On our last Blanket Deliveries she received 'Pink Gingham' made and donated by Glenda.  Mrs. Russell rang to say thank you for the beautiful Blanket she has received. 

I had a lovely chat with her and I told her all about the Ladies in my Group and all the wonderful work we do. She had never heard about us before. I told her all about my Grandmother and why I started this project and she said it is so nice to know that there are so many kind people in the World. 

This phone call has really made me quite emotional, how nice of this Lady to telephone me. Mrs Russell tells me she plays the Keyboard and sadly she can't get about as she did but she enjoys Music Sheets and Books which the local library send to her. 

So thank you very much Glenda for making this wonderful Blanket. Mrs. Russell said she loved  the Blanket it was perfect in every way, so pretty and neat. She was absolutely over the moon on receiving it.


Selly Wood House Nursing Home, Birmingham

Delivering the Blankets to Selly Wood House Nursing Home.

P.S.There is a nasty virus going around on the Net. I have heard from my Husband's company. 
Do NOT OPEN EMAILS FROM  'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK'.

ViewLogo

x Sue x 

 
NOTE:- 
 
On Friday I sent off 4 Blankets to Selly Wood House Nursing Home. These were the ones that came in from Soneita and her Mother in Spain and the one from Daphne here in the UK. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take them in myself as things are rather busy round here so I put them in the post to them.
 
Thank you all very much!
 
332. Daphne Thank you very much for this beautiful donated Blanket.
Three Blankets arrive from Sonieta & Mummy in Spain. Thank you!
 
 

Monday 10 December 2012

SIBOL Butterflies!

Hi everyone!

'Could Daphne contact me please Sue on sueatpigsty@talktalk.net' Thank you!

Thanks to Angie for her email about our SIBOL Butterflies. Another Lady who is getting well and truly hooked on making them.

I have to thank dear Nettie in Australia  for first of all putting up the video tutorial on her blog.  I often refer Ladies over to her. Once you have made the first Butterfly along come many others. Of course I am very grateful for any Butterflies you can send my way as my Butterfly Stash does need topping up, but there are other things you can do with them too apart from our Blankets.

I decorated my Conservatory and Bird Cage.


'Crocheted Butterflies, Crocheted Flowers, Crocheted Birdies!'.


Then some White and Gold ones for my Twigs...........

'Crocheted Snow Butterflies in my Twig Display'.


'Snow Butterflies' named by Elizabeth Cat.


'Golden Tuesday!' Fun Day! (Lights not good today!).


Then it was the Christmas tree.........

'Golden Butterfly'.


My Angels.



Then it was my Tree Skirt........

Christmas Ripple Tree Skirt and Crocheted Butterflies.


I made some for Mother's tree a few years back......... She loves purple and green!


PLEASE VISIT. www.suesfavouritethings.blogspot.com  - Mom's Christmas Tree with my Crocheted Purple and Green Butterflies.




Pretty Butterfly.


Butterflies on the Calicarpa Bush in the Garden.


Why not decorate your Christmas Gifts. Oh look at that snow! Brr........

A present for my Mom - sshh! Don't tell her. She loves Ameythst stone! Of course what colour is it? Purple.



Why not join our Butterfly Club over on RAVERLY?

Have fun making them. Thanks Nettie we have so much fun with them!

Today I had a visit from Pippa and her Husband, it was so nice to see them again. Pippa has been making Butterflies for our Stash. Let's have a look at them now.

pippas45 thanks also for the Butterflies.


She also made some Flowers, aren't they lovely?

pippas45 Thank you for the Flowers for our Blankets.


Always welcome for our Blankets. Thank you pippa!

Where can you use your Butterflies?

Thanks for stopping by...

ViewLogo

x  Sue  x

Sunday 9 December 2012

SIBOL FREEFORM

Hi everyone!

A good opportunity while things are quiet to show you this beautiful SIBOL Freeform Wall Hanging. This special Freeform Challenge was suggested by 'creativegranny' over on RAVERLY. She invited Ladies to send her roughly a 6" Freeform Square and although this was a hard Challenge for some of us, it turned out so well! The Ladies in our SIBOL RAVELRY Group definitely took the Challenge on board and enjoyed the process.

We will be having another Freeform Challenge next year, so if you are interested please keep following our SIBOL Blog. Perhaps you have never done anything like this before, maybe it will be a good time to try.

I am doing a talk next March at a local Craft Group, but afterwards this beautiful Wall Hanging will be raffled amongst the Ladies who took part.

Thanks for popping in to SIBOL today.

x Sue x

Friday 7 December 2012

Blankets arrive from Spain!

Good Afternoon!

First of all thank you all very much for the emails and kind comments on our 'SIBOL' deliveries. I am so pleased that you managed to read about my visits to the homes.

It's pretty quiet here at SIBOL HQ, I've just had my lap top back and boy did I miss it! I was allowed on my Husbands' computer but it's not the same. It came back just in time for me to show you three Blankets which have arrived from Sonieta and her Mummy in Spain. They are both in love with Grannies at the moment and have made so many Squares that they have assembled them in to Blankets for our Elderly here in the UK. What kind Ladies! Thank you both so much. The Blankets are made in such wonderful colours and it is an absolute pleasure to receive them.

They have sent me 5 Blankets in total now and 3 have just been delivered to Cotteridge House in Birmingham. Thank you both.

Let's take a look at the Blankets now.



Created with flickr slideshow.
 
Absolutely stunning thank you both so...much!
 
 
On Wednesday I had a visit from Ann and her Daughter. She very kindly bought me some Knitting from Vera the 86 yr old Lady from 'Grey Cables Home'.  It's nice that Vera has a purpose now.


001

 
Ann and her Daugher wanted to have a look at our Challenge Blankets especially the Liquorice Allsorts Blanket. They thought they were all amazing!
 
Thank you for bringing Vera's work Ann it was lovely to meet you both.
 
Unfortunately, I am unable to load the photo up. I will try tomorrow, sorry!
 
Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today!
 
 
x Sue x
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 28 November 2012

A very busy Blanket Delivery Day!

Good evening everyone and welcome to 'SIBOL',

I have had a very busy day today delivering our 'Sunshine Blankets' to local Homes in my area of Birmingham and I am very pleased to tell you that I have now finished for this year.

The Blankets have all been accepted so well and the Staff and the Residents absolutely loved them. I would like to thank everyone who has supported 'SIBOL' this year for your kindness.

Some weeks ago I started getting the Blankets ready for the Homes, adding the Butterflies, Ribbons  and Gift Cards which I think really finishes them off. I always like delivering the Blankets because it's the final part of the story if you like. Hundreds of Squares have come in to my Home once again this year and indeed Blankets that you have made at Home and sent in to me. I am terribly grateful to everyone.

I would never have thought back in January 2010 when I first announced this project in Memory of my Grandmother that we would have made so many 'Sunshine Blankets'. My idea at first was to make 6 we have now made 328!

001


002


003


004


006


They do look lovely all ready for the off. 

I am very grateful to Anne for coming with me today, we certainly had a busy time.  I arrived at Anne's around 9.30 am and after a quick hello to her dear Hubby we set off.

Blanket delivery today to 'Rosefields' - Sheltered Accommodation Birmingham.


Our first visit was to 'Rosefields' in Birmingham. 'Rosefields' is sheltered accomodation and there we met the Lady who runs the accommodation 'Jacque'. We were offered cups of tea and Anne and myself set the Blankets out on the table. What a great selection of Blankets! They looked so lovely all tied up with ribbons.

Here I am with our gorgeous 'Sunshine Blankets'.


Here I am!

Jackie - The Manager and Pippa.

Jacque and Anne

I introduced Anne and myself  to the Residents and then I told them about our 'SIBOL' Group. I explained to them that  'SIBOL' was not an ordinary  Knitting Group  which met  in a Church Hall where you sat around drinking cups of tea and chatting. I explained to them that our Group was 'internet-based' and that I had members all around the World. Also that we shared the love of Knitting and Crocheting and  that throughout the year we worked hard making 'Sunshine Blankets' for the Elderly.  I also told them about our Charity Blankets. They were very interested in our Group and afterwards Anne and myself gave the Blankets out.

I was allowed some great photos and I am sure you would all like to see them. Everyone wanted us to thank you for the beautiful Blankets, they really could not get over how kind you all were. They couldn't believe that the Squares and indeed Blankets travelled hundreds of miles to get to them. Also that in this day and age there were so many kind people around!

Meeting some of the Residents.



011



012


This Gentleman absolutely loved his Blanket, particularly because it had Flowers on! He kept plants on his window sill.


013


014



015


016


I told this Lady that her Blanket was given to Tinka in Belgium from her friend  Vera and that she wanted to donate it to our project.  She absolutely loved the Blanket.

017

It was also very nice to know that the Gentleman in the Lounge appreciated 'his' Blanket so much too!

After spending quite a bit of time with the Staff and Residents and thanking them  we moved on to 'Selly Wood House Nursing  Home'.  These Homes are all set on the Cadbury Estate in Bournville, Birmingham and are all very near to each other. Of course very near to where the Chocolate is made.

Selly Wood House Nursing Home, Birmingham


Here we met the Activities Co-Ordinator 'Eve'. Eve was very happy indeed to accept our beautiful Blankets. She loved them and said that she would be keeping these Blankets and giving them out on Christmas Day. Some of the Residents do not have any visitors and she thought it would be a lovely thing to do for them.

Delivering the Blankets to Selly Wood House Nursing Home.


Some Residents in Homes particularly feel the cold due to medication they are on and I am sure these Blankets will give a great deal of comfort to them.

We thanked Eve for accepting our Blankets and I went back to Anne's where we had a cup of tea. Shortly after I headed back home and rang up Cotteridge House in Kings Norton. Cotteridge House has 11 Residents.

Sunshine Blankets ready for Cotteridge House, Birmingham


020


021


022


Once again the Blankets look really pretty all ready for the off.

Cotteridge House for the Elderly, Birmingham.


I arrived at Cotteridge House where I met the Manager 'Mrs. Walker'.  Once again she loved our Blankets so much and said that she would be keeping them for Christmas Day. Quite a few people in her Home do not have visitors and on Christmas Day they give presents out to the Residents in the morning and at lunchtime and our Blankets will be given to them. How lovely! It's so nice to know that someone has been thinking of them maybe living thousands of miles away. I explained there were Blankets from Belgium, Spain and some of the Blankets had Squares from other places around the World. The Staff wanted me to thank everyone for these wonderful Blankets and just wanted you to know that they were appreciated. They have 11 Residents and a Blanket for each of them!

The Manager accepting our Sunshine Blankets.


Afterwards I popped back to St. Michaels in Olton as they needed another of our Blankets. I took them 'Flower Burst' made by Tinka.

284 'Flower Burst' made and donated by ATheeC! Thank you!


So I've had a very pleasant day with Anne meeting the Residents and Staff who care for them.

So on Christmas morning when you are all sitting with your family opening presents, spare a thought for
these Residents. Can you imagine what they are all going to talk about? Can you imagine their faces when they open up their Gifts. I have been told on numerous occasions how our Blankets are talking points and it is you I have to thank. So a Big Thank you from me and everyone I met today. I really enjoyed going to the Homes with Anne. Thank you Anne for coming with me.

I do want to continue making our 'Sunshine Blankets' in the New Year that's if everyone is happy to do so.
I look forward to 'meeting and greeting' your Squares and Blankets and hopefully we can have another successful year!

May I remind you that we still have our 'Think Pink' (3) for Sale. I am accepting offers over £100.00. The person who bids the highest will receive this wonderful Blanket. It is raising money for Breast Cancer Care here in the UK. The closing date is 30th November at mid-night, so please email me Sue on sueatpigsty@talktalk.net

'Think Pink' (3) Thanks to everyone who contributed towards this Blanket.


Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

ViewLogo


x Sue x