UK PARCEL CHARGES HAVE CHANGED TODAY!

I'm very pleased to be telling you that from today the Postage Charges have changed.. Now you get more for your money.

Pop over to ROYALMAIL.COM  for information.

I have just posted some Squares to 'SIBOLETTE's' and the Post Man has told me. So I'm really pleased for you all.

Thanks Sue x

Delivery Day on Friday!

Good morning and Welcome!

I am very grateful to Tinaspice for assembling 3 Sunshine Blankets for me. To save her spending valuable money on Postage I suggested she delivered them to her Mothers Home which is The Hawthorns in Southampton. Tinaspice  made a great job of assembling them and finished them off beautifully with our SIBOL Butterflies and Ribbon. I sent everything over to her and it sounds as though she had fun putting it all together. They arrived just in time on Friday so that she could parcel everything up and take them to the home that day. Tinaspice decided to stitch the Butterflies in place this time which was lovely and they looked very effective and gave a lovely finishing touch.

Normally Tinaspice visits her Mother at the weekend and doesn't really see many of the management team but as she was on holiday so she was able to go in on a weekday. She met Beverley the Manager and told her quickly about the work our Group does for the Elderly. She was very pleased indeed to receive our Blankets and said she would pass them on to three Residents. 

Angela another member of the team agreed to have her photo taken  for us so that you could see the Home receiving the Blankets  which was lovely. I do love photos as you know.

Thank you very much Tina for taking them in.

 I am so pleased you have enjoyed the 'SIBOL' experience.

You have assembled the Blankets beautifully and even delivered them and I have to say

you are the very first 'SIBOLETTE' to do this so you know first hand what's it's like

to reach the end of the road if you like.

Thank you Angela and Beverly too.

Thanks for visiting today!

x Sue x 

Bright Colours!

Good Morning to you!

Yet another Blanket has arrived at SIBOL HQ this morning and this time it has been sent from Annaha over on RAVELRY. Annaha has very kindly offered to make Squares up for me and I'm sure you will agree it's turned out beautifully. The yellow joining really makes the Squares stand out and I absolutely love the pretty border.

The Butterflies were sent by Annaha and I have used them for decoration which are perfect and I managed to find a length of Ribbon to tie the Blanket up. Another beautiful gift for an Elderly person.

I'm so pleased how this Blanket  and I'm very grateful to you Annhha. Thanks for sending it back to me.

Here it is.

Thanks to everyone that sent in the Squares for this beautiful Blanket and thanks also to Annaha for assembling.

Thanks for visiting today!

x Sue x 

'Derbyshire Dallying.

Good Evening,

I am a little late blogging today because I have felt wishy washy all day with a headache and I haven't been able to come on line too much. It's starting to pass over  now so I thought I would take some photos quickly of Liztelf's Blanket before it gets dark.  Yes a beautiful Blanket arrived at lunchtime and I'm very happy to be receiving it.  Liztelf has recently learnt how to do flat braiding and she has put this new skill to test.

 That's the nice thing about 'SIBOL', it's a place where we can show our 'creative skills'.  The Blanket is called ' 'Derbyshire Dallying' and it's a superb Blanket made in very rich colours.
Let's take a look at it now.

I love the Granny Squares they measure 6" and the border is roughly 2". With the flat braiding the Blanket is approximately 38". I am often asked what size Blanket should you  make and this Blanket is a  perfect size. Anything under 36" is really a little too small.  Of course if you want to make your own Blanket of any design you like please feel free to make the Blanket even larger. You can also join the Squares how-ever you like please don't think that you have to 'flat braid' them. Whatever suits you is absolutely fine. Thank you. Please see SIBOL CHALLENGES here's the link.

There is never any pressure to do anything with 'SIBOL' please feel free to do whatever you want. If you want to make Squares only then please make sure they are 6". We do prefer Crocheted ones, but we will accept Knitted ones if this is a problem. I have to put a deadline on these too now. The latest I can accept Squares is 30th November due to Christmas. I wont have much time to be taking photos etc leading up to Christmas as I shall be getting ready for Christmas I hope this is okay, thank you.

I am aiming now to deliver our last set of Blankets to a local Home first week of December. So if possible may I have donated Blankets in by 30th November. If  you are making a large amount of Squares would you be able to assemble them yourself and send the finished Blanket to me. As Christmas is approaching we are all going to be pushed for time and I so want to clear the decks so to speak before we end the year. We have all been working so hard for the Elderly all year and I am very grateful to everyone.

This really is lovely. I found some Cream Butterflies to decorate the Blanket and also some wired Ribbon. I had just about enough to tie the Blanket up. We also attach cards to our Blankets when we deliver them to the Homes. They always look lovely.

I would like to thank Sally and the Ladies on RAVELRY for helping me assemble the Knitted Squares I have recently had in from Irene and Pat. This really is going to help me because I have a Home in mind and they have 24 Residents. It would be perfect if we could get them each a Blanket before Christmas.
I love visiting the Homes and you can read about some of my visits down the right hand scroll bar and also on previous posts. It means a lot to be able to have some photos of the Residents receiving their Blankets they really do love them.  With the weather changing too I know they will be useful. Not that the Homes are cold mind you far from it, but who doesn't like to snuggle under a Blanket or throw one over their legs. Often the Elderly are on medication which makes them cold and having a nice Blanket to give them comfort really helps them.

If you would like to have a go at the Butterflies they are really easy to make. Here's the Link to Netties Blog in Australia. A very easy video tutorial for you to try.  It's nice to keep our stocks up so please feel free to have a go. We also need Ribbons too, so if over Christmas you have any on Gifts that you receive please think of SIBOL. The Elderly really love a Blanket that is decorated  with Ribbon.

I think that's about all. Oh just to tell you that we have a Group over on RAVERLY and if you would like to pop over and read the threads please feel free to do so. Why not join us? We'd love to have you as a Member. Here's the Link.

Our new Challenges will be announced in the New Year and these will be different from the usual ones. We will be making Blankets using certain Squares. So for instance we might decide on a Square from the Jan Eaton Book and everyone will make the same one. We've had fun already doing the Willow Square for instance. So I hope you will stay tuned.

If there is anything you would like to ask me about Squares or Blankets please feel free to contact me. We have had a few new Ladies mail me over the last few days and it's always nice to answer any questions you have.

I'm off to do tea now, many thanks Liz. I love your beautiful Blanket. Thanks to everyone for visiting 'SIBOL' this evening.

x Sue x

Are you making a Blanket for SIBOL?

Good Afternoon,

I just thought I would write a short post to tell you that the latest I can receive Sunshine Blankets for the Elderly for this year is the 30th November. This will give me chance to get the Blankets delivered first week of December.  I know everyone will be busy making their Gifts for family and friends  as well and we will be starting to wind down with 'SIBOL'.  Of course everything starts again in the New Year where we will be doing something different 'Challenge wise'. Not concentrating so much on the picture square Blankets but doing Challenges using particular Squares for example something out of the Jan Eaton Book like we have recently done with the beautiful Willlow Square. I realise not everyone likes doing Picture Squares for Blankets although the Elderly love them.

We have been very successful once again this year making Blankets for Marie Curie and of course our usual Sunshine Blankets for the Elderly and I would like to thank everyone that has supported the project.

The Blankets are always so well received and I know they are certainly talking points in the Homes.
If anyone has anything you like to ask me about our Blankets please do not hesitate to mail me.
I'm Sue on sueatpigsty@talktalk.net

Thanks once again!

x Sue x

Delivery Day and Sunshine from Spain!

Good afternoon,

Welcome to the 'SIBOL' Blog.

Well here in the UK it is very wet and windy but that hasn't stopped me from getting the Blankets ready for my Delivery today!  I am actually very pleased because Sonieta and her Mummy who live in Spain sent me four Sunshine Blankets this morning and I rushed around this morning attaching the Butterflies, finding the Ribbon  and writing the cards because I desperately wanted these to go out in my Delivery today!

In total I have 28 'Sunshine Blankets' ready for the off  and I'll tell you about the Delivery once I have shown you the Blankets from Spain.  These gorgeous Granny Square Blankets have been made once again in a variety of colours and they really have been made so well. Sonieta tells me that her Mummy is always busy Crocheting  Squares for 'SIBOL' and I know Sonieta does her fair share too. Sonieta's Mummy makes the Squares and also crochets them together!  It's always really nice to accept your Blankets, I know how much you enjoy supporting our project and I am very grateful to you both so please tell your Mummy and give her a Big Thank you.

Let's take a look at the Blankets now.

Aren't these Blankets colourful?

The Elderly love bright colours and making a Granny Square is a good way

of using your odd bits of yarn up.

I have made a Slide Show for you Sonieta and Mummy thank you very much!

Created with flickr slideshow.

Well I have 28 'Sunshine Blankets' ready to go to Homes and over the past few days I have been getting them ready.

Today I am visiting 'Stennards Leisure Home', Frankley Beeches, Birmingham which is the Northfield area. Here's a link.  and I am delivering  18 Blankets.

As soon as I walked in I could tell it was a really friendly and welcoming Home. The Staff immediately said how gorgeous our Blankets were and it was lovely to be able to tell the Staff about you all. Of course I told Angela and the Staff why I started the project in Memory of my Grandmother and how successful we have been and where I deliver the Blankets to.

I asked for a couple of photos and this was no problem at all. The Staff invited me in to the Lounge where the Residents were sitting. Straight away the Staff started giving our Blankets out and the Residents absolutely loved them. We read the names out to them of the Blankets and I also told them about Grace and Irene who Knit and Crochet for us.  The Residents loved having their photos taken and everyone was laughing and saying how lovely the Blankets were. I even had Ladies clapping to say thank you. They were all saying how kind you all were to make such lovely Blankets and I told them how the Squares and Blankets come from the UK and Europe and also told them how the four Blankets came in from Spain this morning.

They loved the Butterflies too but most importantly they wanted me to thank you all.
I have some lovely photos to show you now.

Such lovely Staff, so friendly and loved our Blankets as you can see. Everyone wanted me to thank you all. I loved talking to the Residents and I even spoke to one Lady who at one time did a little Knitting herself.

So thank you very much 'Stennards' for receiving our Blankets today, it was lovely to meet you all.

I love our Delivery Days. It's nice for you to be able to see where your work goes to. The end of the road if you like. So it's really important to me that I manage to get a few photos for you. I realised on the way home that I hadn't asked the Staff to take one of me there's always next time.

So okay it's a miserable day here in the UK today, but there is one little part of Birmingham that has received lots of Sunshine! 'Stennards' Leisure Home.

Bye for now and thanks to everyone!

x Sue x

Another Beauty to see!

Good Evening,

I am very happy to be showing you a new 'Sunshine Blanket'. This one has been assembled for me by Tinaspice. I am very grateful to Tinaspice because over the last couple of months she has been assembling Squares for me and this really helps me get the Blankets to the Homes quicker.  She has in fact now assembled 3 Blankets for me and they are all superb.

She has just finished this one and I'm sure you will agree it's another beauty.

She was really impressed with the Squares that were given to her and she sends her compliments to everyone that took part. We even had our 80 year old Grace make Squares in the next two Blankets coming up. We have named the first one 'Blueberry Pie' and the second one 'Citrus Crush'.

Blueberry Pie

Citrus Crush

I have suggested that she donates these Blankets to the Homes where her Mother lives and I shall be sending some matching Butterflies, Ribbon and of course our cards to decorate the Blankets up.

Perhaps you could send me some photos Tinaspice of the Blankets

decorated ready to go!

I am very grateful to you thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed the 'SIBOL' experience!

I have had a few new Ladies contact me about our 'SIBOL' project over the last few days and I would like to take this opportunity of welcoming you.

If anyone else wants to help please contact me on

Sue on sueatpigsty@talktalk.net

Or why not pop over to our RAVELRY SIBOL GROUP?

Here's the Link.

Have a good evening and thank you very much Tinaspice.

x Sue x