Squares on a Saturday!

Good Morning everyone!

I am very pleased to be showing you some Squares which have arrived from Sistersestina (RAV) (UK). A variety of patterns have been used in these Squares and they are all so interesting. I'm sure you would like to see them.

Lovely aren't they? Thank you so much for sending them to me Sistersestina! I am very grateful to you.

I would also like to thank jenn1feranne for taking over the responsibility of Birthday announcements over on RAVELRY as from today 21st April. As you know arien 156 is our SWAP Administrator, Lotti02 our EBAY Administrator and I am always very grateful to 'jean nock' who helps me make the Blankets up. I would also like to thank the Ladies over on RAVELRY who on occasions help me with organising the Charity Blankets.

I am very grateful to everyone that also sends me Squares and donated Blankets. Thank you so much! As soon as my Olympic work is completed I shall be out and about to Nursing Homes delivering our Blankets.

x Sue x

Friday Squares!

Good Morning everyone!

Welcome to SIBOL!

Before I begin today's post, the Blanket at the top in the header picture is 'Barley Sugar' and this was made by Fiona in the Netherlands and donated to 'SIBOL'.  Isn't it lovely?

Secondly, SIBOL has a new button. If you look underneath each post you will see a button which you can click on to get a 'printable version'. This is also on SIBOL CHALLENGES.
I have some pretty Squares once again for you to look at. They have come in from Kianie, Pamela and Anne all in the UK. Thank you all so much!

First of all we have Kianie's 'Emmerdale' Square. Look at how she has incorporated these tiny gold beads in to the centre of the Flowers. So lovely. The Flowers look so fresh made in the white and yellow. This one is going to look lovely in our special Blanket for Emmerdale Kianie!

Next we have a Square made for our 'Owl' Challenge. The Square has been made by Pamela and I just love this interesting Owl. He has a really nice face don't you think? Great bulging eyes and a yellow beak set
on a blue Knitted background. Simply adorable. Thank you Pamela. I still need Squares for our 'Owl' Challenge so please pop over to our Challenge Blog if you want to join in.

Anne has very kindly sent in some Squares for our SIBOL Stash. A pretty Flower Square amongst the three she sent in. They are all made in great colours and are wonderful patterns.

I am very grateful to you for sending the Squares in to me thank you so much.

I think that's all for now thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

x Sue x

Challenge Squares arrive!

Header photo. 'Queensday' made by Fiona in the Netherlands.



Hello welcome to 'SIBOL!'

I am very pleased to be showing you two gorgeous Squares which have arrived today from Joanna here in the UK. Joanna has very kindly made two Challenge Squares. One for our 'One Heart From Around The World' Challenge and the other for our 'Emmerdale' Blanket.

Flower Square for 'Emmerdale'.

Square for 'One Heart Around The World'.

If you'd like to take a look at our Challenges please visit 'SIBOL CHALLENGES!'.
We do still have lots of Challenges available.  There might be something there which interests you.

Thank you Joanna for sending me these Squares I'm very grateful to you!

Thanks for visiting today!

x Sue x

Beautiful Squares for you to see!

Good evening everyone!

Welcome to SIBOL!

I am very happy to be showing your another Crocheted Flower Square. This one is for our 'Emmerdale' Blanket and it has been made by pippas45 (RAV) (UK).  Such a pretty Square once again made in gorgeous colours. Our 'Emmerdale' Blanket is going to look lovely with all these donated Flower Squares!

I think these two colours work really well together, thank you pippas45 for sending it to me. You have made it beautifully. I love it.

I am also very happy to be welcoming trudygr to our 'SIBOL' RAV group. It is always so nice to have new Ladies join us. trudygr has sent me some really lovely Crocheted Squares, some for our Stash and some for Challenges. We have had a lovely 'Emmerdale' Flower Square too from trudygr.  I'm going to put the rest of the Squares in to a Slide Show that I have made for her.

As I said our 'Emmerdale' Blanket is going to be really nice, I'll keep my fingers crossed like the rest of our 'SIBOLETTES' that one night we will see it on their sofa!

trudygr has Crocheted some gorgeous Squares, beautiful colours and really nice patterns. I love the variegated yarn that has been used in these Squares. Thank you so much for sending these Squares to 'SIBOL'.



Created with flickr slideshow.

Thanks to both of you for gorgeous Squares, I am very grateful to you!

I am getting along fine with the Olympic Squares but I shall be taking a little break very soon to make the 'Emmerdale' Blanket. I can't wait to make it we've had some wonderful Squares for this 'in between' Challenge.

Our usual Challenges are over on SIBOL CHALLENGES.

If you'd like to take a closer look at all the Blankets and Squares we have received into SIBOL HQ, please visit my Flickr photostream.  This is my visual record of all Squares and Blankets that are made.

I do hope you have a nice evening. It's dark outside now 7.45pm and it's wet and miserable not to mention the cold!

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' this evening and thanks Ladies again for the Squares!

x Sue x

Emmerdale beauties!

Good Morning!

I am very pleased to be showing you two lovely Flower squares which have just this minute arrived from my 'very best friend' Brenda. Two gorgeous squares made in Red, White and Blue for our special 'Emmerdale' Blanket. 

I would like to thank everyone also for sending their squares in to me for this special challenge. It's a one-off 'fun blanket' I suppose you could call it.

Let's take a look now at Brendas' squares! They are so pretty!

Thank you Brenda for sending the squares to me, I really appreciate them!

Thanks for stopping by.....

x Sue x

What are we good at?

Good Evening everyone!

As everyone knows we work very hard all year long making 'Sunshine Blankets' for the Elderly in Nursing Homes. But every now and then we have 'special Charity Challenges' where we try to raise money for various good causes.

If you remember April of last year we made the special 'Royal Wedding Blanket'. This was a beautiful Blanket to make. It totalled 56 Squares all with the Royal Wedding in mind. Squares came in from all over the World and we won first prize in a competition organised by Great British Yarns. The Blanket was auctioned on EBAY and it raised £112.00 for Prince William and Kate Middleton's Charity Gift Fund.

The Squares were all gorgeous!

Then we made and auctioned our first 'Think Pink' Blanket. Squares once again came in from all over. Of course the Squares were made in shades of Pink and it was put together by Lotti on RAVELRY.  It raised £102.00 on EBAY and all proceeds were sent off to Breast Cancer Care.

Our third Blanket was made for the Jersey Textile Showcase. This is an event held every year in Jersey and I decided to ask our 'SIBOLETTES' if they wanted to help me make a Blanket to raise money for Mencap. The theme was 'Your Local Landscape' and I asked my 'SIBOLETTES' to design and make a Square Knitted or Crocheted showing a 'view from their window'.  So we had everything from gardens and countryside to Blackpool Tower and the Forth Bridge in Scotland. This was a really exciting Blanket to make and I was so happy to find out from Pat Robson the Organiser that our Blanket raised £95.00! What an achievement!

I would like to show you an extract from the email I received from Pat Robson.

Pat said,

"All together we raised £500 for Mencap of which £95 was from your blanket. We were inundated with scarves etc most of which we sold but did get left with some , lovely ones, which will be used to sell at their shop.



The blanket was greatly admired and having the information to go with it made it really interesting.


Best Wishes, Pat Robson "



So in total we have raised as a Group £309.00 for various Charities. Our work for the Elderly in Nursing Homes is extremely important to me but so are these special Blankets. It gives our Group new Challenges, something different to work for and of course it benefits those in need.

You all know that I am working now on our Olympic project. With over 300 Squares arrive I have a massive job now putting them together. I do hope once again we can raise a substantial amount of money. This time hopefully raising money for the Alzheimers Society in the UK.

The photo at the top of the web site is our Blanket on show at the exhibition in Jersey. I am very grateful to Pat for allowing us to exhibit our Blanket and for sending the photos back to me. It's very important for me to show you where our Blankets have gone to. Thank you also Pat for telling us how much our Blanket raised. I am most grateful to you. I do hope we can get involved next year too!

I would like to thank everyone for supporting my project, but especially with these Charity Blankets.

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' and have a good weekend!

x Sue x

A surprise box from the Netherlands!

Hello everyone!

I really would love everyone to go back a post and have a look at this wonderful blanket made by 'creativegranny' (RAV). It has been made in Granny squares and I think it is just so pretty! This blanket arrived on Friday 13th!

It was sitting in my porch when I arrived back from Tesco. I was loaded up with that dreadful 'weekly shopping!'. I just couldn't wait to put my shopping away to see what was inside. On opening I found such a gorgeous blanket. Thank you once again 'creativegranny'. The blanket is stunning and it was so nice to chat to you on email!

But.......the excitement didn't stop there because around 3.00pm a courier pulled up just as my Daughter was leaving. I had been helping her wash her car and after giving her a little treat of a few grocery items to take back with her to her flat I was in desperate need of a cup of tea, but no......I had to see what was inside the box the Courier had delivered! It had travelled all the way from the Netherlands one of our 'SIBOLETTES' dear 'Wilfi' over on RAV. Fiona had very kindly sent me squares for our Challenges and also 'three' donated blankets for SIBOL! Yes 3!  Wow!

Fiona has made squares for our Nursery Rhyme Challenge, Owl Challenge and Emmerdale 'special' blanket, also enclosing two Butterflies for the Emmerdale blanket. A 'soap gift' was also enclosed in the colours of blue and white. The smell of the soap is just lovely! Very kind of you Fiona thank you.

This blanket is called  'Isabelle's Rainbow' named after Fiona's Daughter 'Isabelle'. It did start it's life as a baby blanket for her Daughter who is now 11 years of age but Fiona has decided that after a long time of squares sitting around in a bag she would make a blanket for 'SIBOL'. I am so pleased you have done Fiona, the blanket is gorgeous. What beautiful colours! Your work is lovely.

The blanket is made out of stash yarn. A simple Granny blanket but how beautiful. This one is called 'Barley Sugar'. It reminds Fiona of when she was younger, she visited the  Kermesse (Festival) with her Grandparents. She always buys Candy Barley with the sweet colours of pink, white and yellow! I love to read what inspires Ladies to crochet! This is once again a gorgeous blanket Fiona, thank you!

This is the third and final blanket that Fiona has sent me today. This one is called 'Queensday'. The blanket has been made in the colours of her country. In Holland they have 30th April  as 'Queensday' when everyone is full of fun and happiness!

What a beautiful blanket Fiona!

I am very grateful to you Fiona too for making such wonderful blankets. How very kind of you! Once again our UK Nursing Homes are going to love  these blankets for their Residents. I know  Nursing Homes do have good heating to keep their Residents warm but it's always so nice to have a blanket draped on the back of a chair in case someone gets a little chilly. Elderly people do feel  the cold at times. Some of the Residents in the Homes I have visited like to put them on their beds to decorate their private rooms, or maybe if they are sitting outside it's nice to use a warm blanket over their knees, thank you very much!

 I would now like you to have a  look at Fiona's work in a Slide show!




Created with flickr slideshow.

I think that's about all for today!
Bye for now!

x Sue x

Flower Power!

Hi everyone!

It's Friday already I can't believe how quickly another week has flown by!  I am just popping in to show you a beautiful Flower blanket which has arrived from 'creativegranny' over on RAVELRY.  I only added 'creativegrany' as a friend a very short time ago and this morning I have received a beautiful Granny square blanket from her. This blanket is another 'stunner' and each square has been made in such interesting colours. Have a look at the centres in the squares on the close up photos I'm going to show you. 'creativegranny' also very kindly sent me some Flower squares which are the prettiest things too. If you look at the squares you will see a basket of Flowers this one is just so different.

I am extremely grateful to you 'creativegranny' and I know that your blanket will be very well received by our Nursing homes. I have taken some photos and put them into a Slide show for you so make yourself a cup of tea and have a look now at your beautiful blanket. As soon as my Olympic work is finished I shall be delivering our blankets to the Nursing Homes. 'creativegranny' you are now in our SIBOL 'Hall of Fame'. This is just a thread on RAVELRY, thanking you for your blanket. I do hope 'creativegranny' has inspired you to make a blanket for 'SIBOL'. 



Created with flickr slideshow.

Did you enjoy the Slide show?  I hope so.

Thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' and enjoy the weekend.

x Sue x

New Squares and news!

Good evening everyone!

Thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' this evening.

I am very pleased to be showing you some crocheted and knitted squares that have been sent in by Sally here in the UK. The squares have been made in beautiful shades of blue and they really are lovely. I think most appropriate for a man's blanket Sally! A great variety of patterns has also been used and they really are very interesting. Sally was telling me that she spends a lot of time on the train and often gets out her knitting needles and crocheting hooks! Why not put the time to good use!

Let's take a look at these gorgeous squares now.

Created with flickr slideshow.

I am very grateful to you Sally. Thank you too for the donations of ribbon they will be very useful.

I would also like to show you the latest 'Emmerdale' square to arrive.  This has been made by Beverley here in the UK. I am collecting flower squares so that I can make a blanket which will be sent off to the 'Emmerdale' studios. Have you noticed  that they always have such lovely Granny square blankets on the backs of the chairs in the Dingle Household? Well I thought it was about time they had one of our 'SIBOL' blankets. I am proposing to send one to Jane Cox who plays 'Lisa Dingle'.  I don't know for definite that they will use it, but it's worth a shot.

If you are interested in making a flower square. It has to be a big flower and the brighter the better!
Follow the link and put your name down please.

Let's take a look at Bev's square.

You will also be very pleased to know that we have had a brilliant response for our Olympic Challenge and our final total for squares is 302! Wow! Amazing.  I am now in the process of plannng the blanket and assembling it. As we have had so ....many squares beyond my expectations I think I will be making more than one blanket. I was up until the early hours of this morning planning out my next move and it was quite daunting I have to say! I think things are under control now and this evening I plan to get to bed rather earlier than 3.30am! 

Thanks to everyone that has contributed squares for this challenge. We really are hoping to raise as much money as we can for the Alzheimers Society here in the UK during the summer months on EBAY
auctioning our Olympic Blanket(s)! There is a lot of work ahead of me and I hope it won't be too long before I can show you what we have achieved!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sues_favourite_things/sets/72157629373393488/

Amazing work from everyone! Thank you!


I have some good news too. I am very happy to be telling you that I have been approached by the Solihull Craft Group and they are asking me if I would like to go and give a talk about our Group. Julia, the Demonstration Secretary first heard about our work when her Mother received one of our Sunshine blankets at the home where her Mother resides. Of course.......I will be terribly nervous I have never done anything like this before but I am looking forward to it. I shall be taking some of our squares along to show the Ladies in the Group and also our beautiful blankets!  So Julia thank you very much for inviting me and I look forward to seeing you 'next year' Monday 11th March 2013. It seems a long time to wait but they have to book the talks up well in advance.

I think that's about all for now. I'm off to do the tea and get an early night.

Bye for now....

x Sue x

More Squares for Emmerdale.

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

I am very pleased to be showing you two gorgeous Flower Squares which have arrived in today's post. They have been made by jenniferanne (RAV). These Squares are for our Emmerdale Blanket. If you are interested please follow the link to RAVELRY and put your name down! Both of these Squares have been made in really pretty colours. 'Large Blossom' and 'Fall Flower' have been designed by Melanie Stiles. They truly are little beauties and will look super in our Emmerdale Blanket.

Thank you so much for taking part jenniferanne!

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

x Sue x

Emmerdale Square.

Hi Everyone!

Back to normal today after the Bank Holiday. We've had hail would you believe! Now the sun is shining.....funny weather doesn't know what it's doing.

I am very happy to be showing you a Square that has come in today from big blue (RAV) (UK). big blue is taking part in our Emmerdale Blanket Challenge. Emmerdale is a TV 'soap opera' and they have lots of Granny Blankets draped over their chairs in the 'Dingle Household'. I thought it was about time they had one of our Blanekts! Let's see if they show it!

Follow the link and put your name down to join in the fun.

Here's the pretty Flower Square from big blue! Thank you very much I love it. It's made in gorgeous colours!

One Square arrived today! Thank you for popping in to SIBOL!

x Sue x

Why not pop in and have a look at our work!

Happy Easter to you all!

If you have time to spare over the  Easter break why not pull up a chair, make yourself a cuppa and have a look at the wonderful work done by our 'SIBOLETTES!'. Our Group started in January 2010 and  between us all we have made some wonderful Squares which in turn have been made into 'unique Blankets!'.  I say 'unique' because  no two Blankets are the same!

All of our Blankets except around 20 have been delivered to Nursing Homes locally to me and as far as Dorset and Cheshire. I know for a fact that our Blankets have been so well received by the Staff of the homes and also their Elderly residents.  I shall be making a delivery very soon with the ones we have made recently. We of course have made Charity Blankets raising money for Breast Cancer Care, Mencap and Prince William and Kate Middletons Charity Gift Fund when they got married. We also have a 'massive' Blanket in the pipeline hopefully raising money for the Alzheimers Society here in the UK our special 'Olympic Blanket'.

As we have a little time over Easter, why not enjoy looking at our Blankets. If there is anything you wish to know about them please contact me Sue on sueatpigsty@talktalk.net

Thanks for popping in!

x Sue x


Created with flickr slideshow.

Flower Squares for Emmerdale.

Hi Everyone!

I would like to thank Dansnanna (UK) for the four beautiful Flower Squares that have come in today. These Flower Squares will be put into our 'Emmerdale' Blanket.  'Emmerdale' is a TV drama which is shown a few times a week  here in the UK and you have probably noticed that they always have Crocheted Granny Blankets on the backs of the chairs in the 'Dingle Household'. Well as a fun thing to do we are going to make a 'Flower Blanket' and send it up, 'hoping' that one of our Blankets will become part of the props. Whether it will or not I don't know, but we thought we'd have a go on behalf of 'SIBOL'.

So if you want to take part please follow the link and put your name down.

Dansnanna has sent in these beauties for our Blanket.

Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you Dansnanna!

Happy Easter to everyone!

x Sue x

Lots of new Blankets and Squares to show you!

Good Morning Everyone!

I am very pleased to be showing you two new Squares which have arrived yesterday. I had trouble with Flickr last night  again so I couldn't finish off my loading of photos.
joyce28 (UK) has very kindly sent in this gorgeous Knitted Square for our 'Emmerdale' Blanket. Now if you watch 'Emmerdale' on ITV you will always see lots of Granny Blankets on the backs of the chairs  in the 'Dingle Household'. I thought it was about time they received one of our 'SIBOL' Blankets. I am proposing to make a Blanket made out of Flower Squares. Now if you would like to take part you must put your name down on our 'Emmerdale' thread over on RAVELRY.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will show it! But I thought it might be fun making one and sending it off. We do make Blankets for the Elderly but of course we make Charity Blankets and 'fun' ones too! So why not join us, make a Knitted Flower Square 6" or a Crocheted Flower Square in bright colours please. Let's be noticed! Thank you!

Great Square Joyce thank you!

The next Square has come in today from 'Kelley' in the States. Kelley has made an 'Irish Rose' Square. Don't you think this is a pretty Square? I think it has come out beautifully, I love it and I am most grateful to you thank you so much!

I have Blankets to show you now, and I am just about getting myself up to date after our time decorating the house. I'm sure you will agree these are stunning Blankets. These Ladies have taken part in 'Make your own SIBOL!'. Would you like to make your own Blanket for the Elderly? Please follow the link for details.

It is always so kind of Ladies to make their own Blanket, I know you are all very busy. I have received these over the past few weeks. Let's take a look at them now!

The first one was actually made by 'jean nock' for me. I regularly send Squares to 'jean nock' and she very kindly assembles a Blanket up for me.  I warn you it's 'bright!'. You will need to wear your sun glasses for this one!

Thanks to everyone that sent in Squares for this Blanket. It's different but very nice.

Now to the donated Blankets. The first one was made and donated by ATheeC (Belgium). This Blanket is named 'Galah'. ATheeC has made this Blanket in such wonderful colour colour combinations and I'm sure you will agree they all work well together!  I am extremely grateful for the Blanket and I can tell you it is so warm! The Squares are just so pretty!

Not only did ATheeC send one Blanket, she sent two! I know that was amazing! She has been working so hard for 'SIBOL'. She really enjoys our group and regularly sends Squares for our Blankets. Once again you are very kind ATheeC and I will be passing your Blankets on to the homes in a few months time. This one is called 'Forget-me-Not!'. I will never forget you ATheeC! :) I am so pleased you are enjoying Crocheting for 'SIBOL'.

Jennifer who lives in Scotland although she is Welsh, has very kindly made a SIBOL Challenge Blanket in white and shades of purple to represent Buddleias her favourite Garden Shrub/tree.  She went to her local yarn shop to buy all the yarn she needed and I think she has done a splendid job in putting these colours together. Take a close look at the Squares with the leaves on. If you look closely I have taken photos of the 'wrong side' of the Blanket and also the 'right side'. You wouldn't know which was which! Both sides are so perfect! The Blanket is just so lovely. I am also very grateful to you Jennifer! Thank you! The Blanket is called 'Butterfly Bush'. As she said in her mail, it's also a good one for SIBOL having the Butterfly connection. As 'Butterflies' are our 'trademark' if you like!.

Of course we had the beautiful Blanket made by Sheila who is 88 in August. If you go back previous posts you will read all about the Blanket that she very kindly made for 'SIBOL' to raise money for Alzheimers. This cause is very dear to her heart and I am most grateful to her.

A great achievement Sheila thank you!

Then we have dear Katia from France. She has also donated  a Blanket which she has made and she has called it 'Layette Blanket'. This Blanket is made in very pretty variegated yarn and I just love it! It is so...warm and will be great for our Elderly folk.  Thank you Katia. I love to see your Crocheting! I am most grateful to you too!

As I have had quite a few Blankets to show you, on this occasion I am going to combine them all together in 'one' Slide Show. I hope you don't mind. I just want you to know that it is a pleasure to receive these gorgeous Blankets. They are all so very different and each one has been lovingly made for our Elderly folk here in the UK. In a few months time I shall be delivering our Blankets to Nursing Homes local to me.

It is always lovely to receive Squares but as I am doing the 'massive Olympic Blanket' which is taking up a lot of my time as you can imagine, 'making your own SIBOL' is really helping me to keep my Blanket numbers up. On the last count we have now made 142 SIBOL Blankets since January 2010, this is such an achievement and I think I have about 20 ready to be delivered again to the homes.

Your kindness in helping me with my project is very much appreciated  and I just want you to know that each Square and each Blanket is very much appreciated by myself and the Elderly, 'not to mention our other SIBOLETTES!'.

I'll leave you now with our new Blankets and thanks so much for visiting my web site today!



Created with flickr slideshow.


Have a good Easter everyone!

x Sue x

What's new on a wet Wednesday?

Good Morning Everyone!

A pretty miserable day here in the UK. We've had rain, wind and snow this morning would you believe! It's pretty cold out there too. Good job my 'SIBOL' work brings a smile to my face!

I finally got back into Flickr last night after some hours of not being able to sign on.  What a relief to know that I can load my photos back on. Flickr is my visual record of all Squares coming in and without this I would be lost.

I am in the process of catching up with myself after things going on at home and I still have blankets to show you too, so please bear with me I will be loading them on as soon as I can.

First of all, I promised you a close up of the Olympic Flag Squares which  'akarapacha' very kindly crocheted for our Olympic  Challenge Blanket. 'akarapacha' had such a lot of patience in making these Squares and I must say she has done a splendid job. I have made a Slide Show for you all to see. There are 100 Flag Squares plus others so I think you had better pull up a chair and have a cup of tea.  I did show you them all scattered on my patio a few weeks ago.





Created with flickr slideshow.
Yes they are good, and yes they are neat! This Lady has talent! Each one is just so perfect and I am sure you will enjoy looking at them.

These Squares were sent to me from Fort Myers in the States all beautifully labelled and bagged up. I am now in the process of edging each one with crochet so I can assemble them in to our Olympic Blanket.

I can not thank everyone enough for the Olympic Squares which have flown in from all over the World. I know you have certainly enjoyed this Challenge, I can tell from the beautiful Knitted and Crocheted Squares that I have received from you all.

This morning I received a parcel from Katia in France. Katia has made Squares for 'SIBOL' before and I know for a fact that she thoroughly enjoys crocheting for us.

The 'Wiggles' Square has become a firm favourite with many of our Ladies and I'm really pleased that Debi allowed us to put the Challenge up. Katia has made the Wiggles Square so well. I was telling her on email that her Wiggles' Squares have been made in my Late Grandmothers' favourite football teams colours! 'Aston Villa' here in Birmingham.

Katia has made two Squares for this Challenge and here they are........ Details for this Square are on the SIBOL Challenges.

The 'Irish Rose' Challenge was put up by jenniferanne over on RAVELRY. Some Ladies like this Square and have found it quite easy, but I have to say some have found it hard. Katia had a little trouble with it herself but look she has mastered it! I am so proud of her and it has come out beautifully! If you want to have a go at this square please mail me Sue on sueatpigsty@talktalk.net and I will forward the pattern to you.

I was really surprised this morning because inside the parcel with her Squares was a beautiful Crocheted Blanket. If you pop over to our Challenge Blog you will see that making 'Your Own SIBOL Blanket' is one of our 'optional Challenges'. Katia has made a beautiful one and has even decorated it with 'SIBOL' Butterflies and a gorgeous light blue spotted ribbon.  Now the only trouble is....the weather. It is so dark here today as I said earlier it's really miserable so I am going to let you have a sneaky peep and then I will take some better photos as soon as I can for you.

Katia your Squares and Blanket are gorgeous thank you so much. I am really pleased that you are enjoying supporting 'SIBOL'.  I am very grateful to you and I know for a fact that your gorgeous Blanket will be very much appreciated by our Elderly folk. The Blanket is called 'Layette Blanket'. Superb, thank you!

I will be back with more photos for you Katia as soon as I can!

Here's a photo of my garden, what a horrible day!

I hope you have enjoyed looking at our work, thank you for visiting 'SIBOL' today!

x Sue x

Monday's news.

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Thanks for visiting 'SIBOL' today. 

A short while ago 'SIBOL' was featured in 'Craftseller' and a Lady by the name of Maralyn contacted me by email to say that her Mother would be knitting some Squares for our Alzheimers fund raising. Well today in the post I received a beautiful Red, Blue and White blanket made by Sheila who will be 88 years of age this August.

I'm sure Maralyn won't mind me showing you part of her email.

"My mother would be  knitting these, she will be 88 this August and loves knitting, but
doesn't need any more jumpers or cardigans but would like to keep knitting and as her mother (my grandmother) had Alzheimers when she died my mum would like to help a little and give a little comfort to  someone."

Maralyn was also very kind to send a photo of her Mother with the blanket. I thought that was a lovely thing to do. It's always lovely to see who made a blanket.

The blanket is made with Red, Blue and White Squares and I have added some of our usual 'SIBOL Butterflies and Ribbon' as we always do even when blankets are donated.  The blanket has been made beautifully and I know a lot of love has also gone into this blanket and I'm very grateful to you Sheila, thank you! I  know this cause is very dear to your heart.

This blanket will be auctioned too as well as our Olympic Blanket and the proceeds will be sent on to the Alzheimers Society here in the UK.

Making Squares is a lovely thing to do. It occupys us while watching TV and they are quite easy to carry about too! I always have a batch in my car, I have to wait on occasions for my Daughters and my Mother and if I could drive and hook I would!  :)  To make Squares and then make them into a blanket is just so kind. I will let you know how much your blanket raises Sheila.

I also had a Square arrive from Lynn in  Canada this morning. Lynn took part in our 'One Heart From Around The World' Challenge.  We made the first Heart blanket a few weeks ago and I am collecting Squares for the second one now. If you would like to take part please follow the link.

This Square has been made in great colours and beautifully too, thank you very much Lynn.

I have to say now that I have quite a few blankets to show you which have been made by Ladies in our 'SIBOL' group. I have been experiencing 'sign-in' problems with Flickr and I am locked out for 24 hours which doesn't please me but as soon as I can load my photos up I will.

Thanks to everyone that has sent me Squares for our Olympic Blanket, the Challenge has now ended and it's my turn now to get busy with your Squares!  I will do a final count as soon  as I can and let you know how many we managed to get in.

Thank you Maralyn, Sheila and Lynn for contributing to 'SIBOL'.

Bye for now

x Sue x