The Versatile Blogger Award, a link you won't want to miss and Anna of Esme Rudy comes up trumps!

First of all this week I need to say, 'THANK YOU' 
to two lovely ladies who have both given me this 

award in the last couple of days! 

Kashi of Kashi's Corner and Karisma of Karisma's Krafts

have both passed the award on to me and 14 others each! 

I am really happy to know that such lovely people

 visit my blog regularly.... 

The world is such a tiny place in bloggy-land! 

The rules of the award are: 

1. Add the award to your blog.... Ta-dah! 

Isn't it pretty?  My favourite colour too!

2. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you.

THANK YOU SO MUCH KASHI AND KARISMA!

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself

.... oh my goodness...

• I have 3 children (1 girl and 2 boys), and 2 step-daughters... all of whom I love VERY much!
• My husband works away from home and I MISS HIM! 
• I have a dog called Fred who is my constant companion...THANKS FRED!
• I run a little online yarn shop from my home which I LOVE - My Grandmother and my Mum both owned and ran shops... My Grandmother ran a general grocers, my Mum ran a sweet shop and cream tea restaurant.  We have photos of them both by their shops doors... and a picture of me with my laptop !
• I used to be a children's (Paediatric) Physiotherapist...and miss the work (and the children) very much.
• I have been crocheting since I was about 7, and am still addicted - I hope I never have to stop... I shall decorate heaven with crochet if I get there.
• I love travelling but hate leaving home :)

4. List the rules....DONE :)

5. Pass the award on to 15 30 bloggers 

The only way to do this is by choosing

 the blogs I go to most.. the ones whose 
posts pop up in my reader and make my 
eyes light up because they feel like 
friends.. 


Ladies I admire your work 
enormously!  If you are on this list
 your blog is very special to me:


In no particular order....

Lynda of Hookin' With Laa Laa

Fee of Chipper Nelly 
Jojo of Cupcake Jojo

Faith of Faith    

Sarah of Annaboo's House

Deb of A world of Imagination 

Annie of Knitsofacto

Cuckoo of Tales From Cuckoo Land

Lindsay of A Wooden Nest

Hilly of Hilly Town Blue

Victoria of Yarn Round Hook

Angie of Le monde de Sucrette

Casey of Plus 3 Crochet

Wink of A Creative Being

Penny of Planet Penny

Barbina of Little Things Made With Love

Anna of Esme Rudy

 Beberouge of Beberouge

Debbie of Serendipity Patch

Niamh of The Craft Giraffe

Shelley of All4MeggyMoo
Elisabeth of About Crochet
Jules of Little Woolie
Laura of My House in Africa
Sarah of Crafts From The Cwtch
Carole of Gingerbread Girl
Julie of Rose & Dahlia
Janette of The Green Dragonfly
Lucy of Attic24
Heather of Little Tin Bird
Alice of Crochet With Raymond


Kashi & Karisma - you too would have been 
on my list if I wasn't on yours!

6. Inform each of those 15 30 by leaving a 
comment on their blog... I'll do that now :)

Well I can't believe that there can be anyone

 left in bloggyland who needs any further 

inspiration to get a wriggle on and make a

 square for the Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012...

But just in case... treat yourself to  a few minutes

 gazing in awe at Debbie's amazing 

Spring Flower Blanket Ta dah! 

over at Serendipity patch.

Then pop back here and see what Anna

 from Esme Rudy sent us for the BBB 2012...

Six beautifully crocheted squares!  

The pattern Anna used was Square number 55, 

'Centred Square' from the book '200 Crochet Blocks' 

by Jan Eaton.

Each square measures  14cm x 14cm

Anna has used Panda Cotton 8 ply yarn for all 

6 squares.

The base of all the squares is deep ecru colour...

With combinations of pale pink, mint green 

and lemon yellow...

Some close ups.... 

Thanks so much for joining in with The 

Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012 Anna...

You have 6 chances to win the whole blanket.. 

GOOD LUCK! 

Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012 – WISH LIST

It occurred to me that there are some bloggers / crocheters 

whose squares I would LOVE to see in the 

Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012

They are the crochet blog 'Queens and Kings', 

Those whose writing we love, 

Whose crochet is inspiration and delightful, 

Whose blogs we visit in our droves...  

I propose that we compile a WISH LIST 

 of all those lovely people between us...

If you suggest someone, I will contact them

 and tell them that they are on our wish list... 

You never know... they might join us with a square...

What do you think? 

Suggest away....

One-a-day Tuesday Tallies and The beautiful Blogger Blanket gets squares from South Africa!

It is Tuesday...TUESDAY and I am doing my Tuesday Tallies!  

This has often been done in a late rush on a Wednesday 

so you can imagine my delight at being on time this week.. 

Here are the FOUR squares I made this week.. 

hence falling even more behind, when I have 

promised all and sundry that I will catch up 

by 31st January... 

Still 4 is better than none.. 

Pop over to Carole's blog Gingerbread Girl, 

to see how everyone else is getting on with 

their Tuesday Tallies...  

You can also check them all out at the Ravelry 

One-a-Day group page...

On Saturday morning the postman caused quite a stir 

when he brought me this.....

An envelope all the way from South Africa! 

Laura from My House in Africa had sent her 

squares for the Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012.. 

and look... 9 of them!  How generous! 

 It didn't matter how much I tried, I couldn't 

get the camera to pick up what a lovely colour 

these squares are..

                                                       

                                                Sorry Laura! 

A small plain dark Teal-green square measuring 10cm x 10cm

 This one is the same size, the same colour, 

but has a beautiful pale teal flower with 

a blue centre ...WOW!

 A larger (15cm x 15cm) granny squared circle

 in the same 3 colours...

Another smaller square - this time with the base 

ground in the paler teal green with a darker 

flower centre.. WOW again!

 Another smaller square (10cm x 10cm) 

in the paler teal-green....

One gorgeous larger lacy square (16cm x 16cm),

which has a star motif in the centre, 

surrounded by bands of trebles (UK term) 

and single crochet (UK term)...

This one is bigger again (22cm x 22cm) and 

is 3 bands of the previously used colours in 

single crochet.  

There is a pretty little centre too....

 The same size (22cm x 22cm), same colours, 

a centre that reminds me of the sun, with 

groups of trebles in bands and then a 

band of single crochet... lovely! 

 Finally, a 20cm x 20cm square in the same 

3 colours, rows of trebles and single 

crochet (UK terms)...

Some close ups...

 Well done Laura... I can't believe you sent 9 squares... 

thank you very much! You now have 9 entries 

to win the...Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012... 

Good luck! 

As well as all this, Laura sent  me a gift 

all the way from South Africa.. a beautiful 

traditional African beaded bowl or jug cover.. 

I put it over a wine glass to 

show you all the lovely beading dangling down.. 

 Thank you so much Laura! 

Crochet Competition Entry at the last minute!

Two months ago Elisabeth Andree of About Crochet set a challenge for 20 crocheters to create an item (scarf, shawl, fingerless gloves, mittens, or cushion cover) using 3 stitch patterns or a combination of the 3.  

I blogged about my first attempt here.  This is a close up:

The pattern is called 'Chain Single-Crochet', the details are here.

When I was trying patterns and yarns out I drove myself mad with different colour combinations, and threw far too many in!  The pattern created by the stitch pattern I used was fascinating, and I'm sure could be used to create some brilliant colour effect.

I decided to make something that I could use... and in the end 

the design for a cushion cover emerged.. plain, simple, 

a little feminine maybe... 

Two colours - Grey and flecked cream.

My cushion cover measures 40 x 40cm and has a concealed 

slit opening a the back, fastened by crocheted bows....

The yarn I used for the body of the cushion is a wool, 

acrylic and fine alpaca mix. The cream for the embellishments

 is an oddment from my stash, probably an alpaca/silk mix.  

Both are aran weight. 

I used a size 6 (UK) crochet hook .  The yarn suggested 

size 5 - 5.5 (UK)  but I wanted a softer, looser fabric.

The body of the cushion cover and all the embellishments 

are made entirely using Chain Single Crochet (ch.sc), and is 

'variation 1' of the 3 that Elisabeth gave us.  

Method: 

• I cast on 57 base chain and just continued until the main piece measured 40cm.  
• I then began 2 pieces for the back in the same way, continuing one until it measured 34cm and the other for 12cm.  This allowed for a 2cm overlap when the 2 pieces were sewn together. 
• Before assembling the cover, I crocheted 1 row of ch. sc all around the edges of the 3 pieces.  This gave me a more uniform edge to sew.
• Sliding the 2 back pieces over each other - the largest over the smallest, I pinned them when they measured 40cm.  With wrong sides together I used over-sewing to sew the 2 sides together.

• To form the 3 bows - 2 small for the back, and 1 larger to embellish the front, I cast on base rows of 50 x 2, (100 for the larger) chain and crochet 1 row of ch.sc.

• The 'ribbon' for the front edge of the cushion was made in the same way but I cast on 250 base chain.

• To fasten the back of the cover, there was no need to create button holes as the woven effect of the main stitch forms many holes.  I selected an appropriate position for the bows and threaded them through.

• Finally I threaded the longest 'ribbon' in and out around the front edge of the cover and stitched it in place. 
• I formed a bow with the last 'ribbon' and attached it to the top right corner with a few stitches.

Ta-dah!  

We can talk back and more squares for the BBB 2012

Have you seen?  Am I the last to know (I usually am)! 

We now have 2 little buttons below each comment that we receive... 

one is DELETE and the best one...so precious... is REPLY!  

A great big Blogspot Ta-Dah....Well done Blogspot !

Yesterday my postman brought me this...

An envelope all the way from New South Wales, Australia!

Lovely Karisma from Karisma's Kraft sent me 4 squares for the 

Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012! 

Here they are:

Aren't they beautiful? They are crocheted in a lovely dark purple cotton.  

Karisma has sent 4 squares all the same which is lovely.  

Here are some close-ups..

Karisma also sent a card...

" Outback Sunset" 

Thanks so much Karisma... 

it is so lovely to know that you took the trouble and time to 

make them so beautifully and send them half way round the world!

I had another lovely surprise yesterday when Laura from 

My House in Africa  sent me this: 

My fourth Liebster Blog Award! This is what Laura wrote:

 "http://www.stocki.blogspot.com/ - here you'll find Jill from the UK 

who is funny, generous to a fault and very creative. She has some great pattern links on her site and, of course, you'll meet the delightful Fred......"

Thanks Laura! It means so much to be given these awards by such lovely people.  


Now before I pop off to take my Mum shopping I must confess to joining in yet another challenge for 2012... this time I really couldn't resist the gauntlet laid down by Barbara over at Made in K-Town 

Barbara set herself a personal 2012 Crochet Challenge which is 
to make at least 100 motifs from Edie Eckman's book, 
"Beyond the Square - Crochet Motifs" 


....and then Barbara invited her blog readers to join in... maybe you would like to join us? If so pop over and tell Barbara


I was looking for inspiration when we went into 2012 and now I have masses of it.... 


So far I am:

1.  Organising the Beautiful Blogger Blanket of 2012 

2.  Taking part in Gingerbread Girl's One-A-Day project.

3.  Taking part in Lynda's Blanket Squares Swap 2012 at HookinwithLaalaa

4.  Taking part in Barbara's 100 Motifs in 2012 project.

5.  Taking part in Lynda's Travelling Craft box at HookinwithLaalaa



PHEW! Wish me luck.....