Business and pleasure...

First the business....A quick heads up that my online yarn shop is selling Stylecraft Special DK in a flash sale at almost 50% off...just £1.20 per ball... whilst stocks last.  

Pop over to www.stocktoncrafts.co.uk to grab a bargain.

Now the pleasure.... A couple of days ago I received this lovely 

email from Janice who won the BBB2013.  

It is to everyone who contributed to the blanket as well as me...

Helloo

I got the blanket today and my soul its beautiful.I just love love it!! I Tried to put a thank you comment on your blog a few times but it never seems to work.. Soo I want to say thank you to you Jill for the chance I had to winning this stunning blanket.  also can you thank all the ladies as well..I love every block and that. i have a special touch in my home from from all over the world.  I will be taking it to my knitting /crochet group i go to , to show it off. At home I will be on the back of my chair so I can proudly display it.  I am going to send you some pics to see what you can use on the blog. 

Thanks once again Jill 

Janice 

Janice also attached these photos:

Thanks so much for sending the photos Janice... 

It is great to see where the blanket lives now.

Jill x

Not 2 more contributors...THREE!

I can count - really! I just miscounted the contributors squares which I have still to post... I did the same thing last year as far as I remember! 

In this post are squares that will take your breath away... from Faith, Paula Castro and Elisabeth Andree.

First up - Faith of Faith.  Having just moved house and taking part in a sock knitting KAL, I thought Faith wouldn't have time to join us this year... but never under-estimate someone with a name like Faith! Here are her amazing squares: 

I love the name of this square - it is called, 'On the Huh' and is by Jacqui Goulbourn on Ravelry HERE

I spend a lot of my time in Suffolk and one expression that always makes me smile, and the title of a book on Suffolk sayings by Charlie Haylock ...is, "Sloightly On The Huh"...which means, 'slightly crooked'! I haven't spelt sloightly wrong....it is written as it is said in Suffolk! 

 Faith's second amazing square is The Impossible Hexagon by Stramenda and can be found on Ravelry HERE.  

All of Faith's squares are made using Wendy Supreme Cotton.

The third of Faith's squares is also by Jacqui Goulbourn.  It is called  Alter-Ego and is on Ravelry HERE

The fourth square was made using Katia Samba yarn in a pattern that Faith made up as she went along! 

Finally Faith send an extra square in case it was needed...one of the lovely Sunny Spread squares by Ellen Gormley on Ravelry HERE

GOOD LUCK with the draw for the whole Beautiful Blogger Blanket  tomorrow Faith! 

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Our second contributor for this post is Paula Castro of 

Paula Castro Crafts.  Paula is a fantastic crocheter who I initially found out about through a crochet design competition on About Crochet with Elisabeth Andree.  Paula is Portugese so these are our first squares from Portugal... Thank you Paula!

(At the time of posting I have no details of the patterns / yarns used for Paula's squares - when I get them I will update the post)

GOOD LUCK with the draw tomorrow Paula! 

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I just mentioned our final contributor when I was talking about Paula.

  

Elisabeth Andree (Andree) of About Crochet has sent us some gorgeous squares from The Hague in The Netherlands.  Andree's blog is one of my absolute favourites...you can rely on Andree to be innovative, creative... and she likes the same colours as I do! Take these lovely squares which she has sent us, they are unusual patterns from unusual sources.. beautiful!  

Andree's first square is called the 'amikomo3-23,  Luncheon Mat', by Pierrot.  (www.http://www.gosyo.co.jp)

Here are the Page link and pattern link.  

As usual with Japanese patterns there is no written pattern, 

but there are good diagramatic patterns.

The second square is again from Gosyo.co.jp and is the Acrobat Square.  

The page link is HERE, and the pattern link HERE.

The page for the last square from Andree is HERE

and the pattern link is HERE

If you haven't tried following a diagram before, give it a go... a whole new world of Japanese patterns and books and even designing will open up to you! 

Thanks so much Andree - for joining in, and for your encouragement!

GOOD LUCK with the draw for the whole Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2013! 

Now there is one day left to go until the draw for the Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2013.  Tomorrow I will post details of all the contributors, the countries from which they have come, my own squares... and finally...

The DRAW! 

Hugs, Jill x

PHEW... new job, a weekend away and the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013!

PHEW!  Sorry for my absence... it has been all go here for the last 10 days or so.  I have a new job as a Teaching Assistant in a local school - in fact in the school where I was a pupil from the age of 5 until 11 - so when I walked in for a look round I hadn't been there for over 40 years! Much is the same, some huge differences... none of my little friends are there :( 

Also my hubby treated me to a long weekend in Seville for a Valentine's treat... what a beautiful place... I'll post some pics soon.  If you follow me on Instagram you will already have seen a couple.  The weather was like a good spring day in the UK.. what a treat to feel the warmth of the sun on my face.

To make up for my absence I am going to post details of quite a few squares today.... First Janice's squares: 

Janice sent us these four gorgeous crochet squares for our Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013 when there was ice and snow at her home - I hope it is a little warmer now Janice! 

I don't think Janice has a blog, I can't find details of one... let me know if I am wrong Janice.  Here are Janice's squares:  

A lovely granny square in a multi-blue yarn.

 Janice designed this flower square pattern herself! 

Janice wasn't able to find the designer for this lovely pinwheel square - 

if any one knows maybe you could send us a link please? 

Finally, Janice's personal favourite (and mine).. an owl square from Sarah's lovely blog - Repeat Crafter Me, which is called the Owl Granny Square and can be found HERE .  This square is really popular at the moment - we have had 2 sent in for the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013 :)

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Do you know Shelley from All4meggymoo?  Shelley recently organised a lovely 'I Love Hearts' swap for Valentines which was great - I blogged about it here.

Shelley has been kind enough to send us 3 squares for the BBB 2013:

 These squares are beautifully made.  All 3 patterns come from a book which I hadn't heard of called, 'Crochet Blocks in a Box', by Luisa Roberts. You can see more about the book here on Amazon UK

This is my favourite!

Can you see the filet heart within this one? 

Thanks so much for joining in with the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013 Shelley! 

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The lovely Wink of A Creative Being  has sent us 4 squares for the BBB 2013.  

If you follow Wink on her blog or on Instagram or Facebook you will know that she has been organising a 'Weekly Mandala' CAL for the last 17 weeks! Somehow Wink found time to make us these lovely granny squares too: 

Four beautiful little granny squares in lovely spring colours on a white background. 

Thank you so much Wink, Shelley and Janice! These are all beautiful squares for our blanket.  

GOOD LUCK !

The draw for the winner will be tomorrow - 

1st March 2013! 

I have more squares to post - I will do another post this evening, one tomorrow morning, and then the draw winner will be posted in the evening! 

Hugs,  Jill x

Happy Valentine's Day... and squares from Spain!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Thank goodness I joined in with the 

Love Hearts Swap over at Shelley's blog - All4meggymoo!

Valentine's day never gets an awful lot of attention in our house, but this year the flu bug has struck and hubby is not going anywhere to get anything romantic! So when my parcel from Lizzy of Handmade Homemade Lizzy arrived on Monday, I kept it safe until today.  

The idea of the swap was that we were paired up with a swap partner, and exchanged 5 gifts with them on the theme 'hearts'...at least one of them to be handmade by ourselves.  Well look what Lizzy sent me! 

3 heart filled tea-lights 

THE most beautiful Washi Tape that I have ever seen! 

A packet of Emma Bridgewater Tissues

A sweet Lilac heart on a stick

A gingerbread heart biscuit

5 'LOVE' tea-bags from PUKKA - to "warm my heart" 

and finally....

A gorgeous heart strung with peanuts, finished off with a bow!  

Thanks so much Lizzy.. you made my day :)

Another Lizzy, this time Elisabeth, of Elizy Art is originally from central England, but now she lives in central Spain... which means she is probably a lot warmer than I am today and I am thinking of going to join her!  

Elisabeth is taking part in  the Stashbuster Challenge with Linda of Linda's Crafty Corner. When she saw the Beautiful Blogger Blanket she decided to use up a little of her stash to send us a square... thanks Elisabeth! 

 You can read how Elisabeth blogged about it here

Elisabeth used Rowan Hand knit 100% cotton for the yellow centre and Sirdar Soft 100% Cotton for the deep pink outer rounds.  The pattern is the Gerber Daisy Square by Robyn Chachula from the book, ' Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia.  The final square measures 15cm x 15cm

Thanks so much for joining in Elisabeth! 

GOOD LUCK 

with the draw to win the whole 

Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2013! 

Owls and flowers from Windsor for the BBB2013

Julia writes her blog Foam of Days from Windsor in the UK where she sews, knits and has recently re-found crochet, but her squares for the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013 make me think that she is quite skilled really!  

Look at this little chap! A sweet little owl on a crochet granny base! 

Julia used Textere's own Pure Soft Cotton DK yarn as she details here.  It is a soft fluffy cotton with very good colours.  Julia has given you the links to Textere too on her blog.

This pattern is called the Owl Granny Square Crochet pattern and comes from a great blog called, 'Repeat Crafter Me' .

Julia's second squares was made by watching a Youtube Russian video which is here, called 'Crochet Square with Flower'. Interesting! I had never thought of looking for patterns on YouTube.. I've looked at lots of 'how-tos' on there.. but now I have some more searching to do! 

This is a lovely square... Julia made a few alterations, but it is basically the same square. 

Thanks so much for joining in Julia... and 

GOOD LUCK 

with the draw to win The Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2013.

Squares from the winner of The Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2012!

Last year lucky Barbina of Little Things Made With Love in Germany was the winner of the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2012... This year Barbina has sent us five amazing squares for the BBB2013.. and she doesn't want her name entered in the draw......how lovely of her! Thank you so much Barbina.

Barbina's squares are beautifully made, all in Rico Essentials Cotton DK

Look at this lovely heart detail...

This lovely flower centred one is gorgeous...

I love this little square within a square..

This is my favourite one though... beautiful colours and made so neatly.

Barbina hasn't sent details of the patterns she used... maybe she is going to blog about them once she sees this post.

Barbina I can't say GOOD LUCK with the draw as I normally do at this stage.. I can only say a big THANK YOU for joining in with the Beautiful Blogger Blanket 2013 even though you don't want to be entered into the draw.

I hope the BBB2012 is still well and looking gorgeous! 

Hugs x