Something other than cards today.

Happy Saturday friends,

Yes today not blogging any  papercraft, but rather some yarny projects.

Over the past 2 years or so I have crocheted about 12 blankets of various sizes for the girls in my family. My 4 granddaughters each got one and then decided the 4 DIL's needed to get as well, then my only SIL also received one at the end of last year. I have also done 3 smaller lap throws and these have gone to a charity that I have made  a lot of granny squares for. I have really enjoyed doing all this and have had a number of ladies in our retirement village showing an interest in doing something ...either knitting or crochet.




About 6 months ago I gave it a try and we started a small group meeting twice a month and making squares for blankets for charity. Just before Christmas I was given 6 completed blankets and some squares. These all went to the local group called Maak 'n Verskil ( Make a difference) who donate blankets, beanies, scarves anything to keep people warm in the cold winter.  This week I will be handing in another batch of about 200 squares, 3 blankets, beanies, scarves, bed socks and a few other items. I am so proud of the ladies who are doing such a great job.


I have also decided  to make some more blankets or throws as there are so many lovely patterns out there and I can always gift them to someone.
So at the monent I have 2 main projects going.





The one is A square a week challenge"" on Facebook. We are now on week 6. I have completed the first 4 and am busy on #5, so will catch up before long.

I have quite a bit of Scheepjes Colour Soft left over from one of the granddaughter's blankets so am using this yarn for that project.




I am having a great time with my crochet and in the next posting I will show 2 more projects, 1 completed and another a work in progress.

Have a wonderful weekend and will see you soon.

Love Ursula

                                                                                                                                                                          

Nothing to do with paper or cards

Good morning friends,
I hope you are enjoying a relaxing weekend, with good weather.

Today's post ...as the title says has nothing to do with cards, paper, stamping embossing or any of those things that I normally would be writing about.   I hope I don't bore you with this post, but feel free to leave... I just want to talk about some of the things occupying some of my time at present.

As a young child I had a love for fabrics,wool, embroidery cotton and those kind of things. I am sure it was what rubbed off from my Mom and my Ouma. My Mom taught me all I knew about sewing and embroidery and my Ouma..using needles and yarn.

Eventually having own family of 4 boys to keep in clothes,  I did lots of sewing and knitting, Crocheting and embroidery were my special hobbies, even though not always enough time for them.  As my family grew older, sewing for them became less, but knitting still stayed, even though eventually with a knitting machine which allowed some time for other hobbies...stained glass work, pewter, and a few others.

After a time I started my own little craft business, Firstly with fabrics,... covering boxes, both wooden and heavy duty cardboard. and items for home decor all using fabrics.  Then it all grew and branched out and other elements were added, and slowly  paper came into the picture,  decoupage becoming so popular., and my hubby retired from the business he was in and worked with me in  producing ceramics and other items for my various crafts.

Paper crafts were a large part of my business and finally being encouraged by other crafters to start my blog in 2008.  I was also invited onto a few Design teams then and was able to share my love for this new medium. Classes became very popular and in demand.

After 18 years  my craft business had become a full time occupation for both of us and finally 3 years ago we decided to retire. Sold up,  moved, to a retirement village and are now enjoying a relaxed lifestyle.  OK you might now be saying ...so what...



I have now the time to take up my hobbies again. I saw a project ...The Joseph Jersey project, They were knitting jerseys for children in orphanages and needed kintters, so  I started knitting for them. Great fun as they had to have lots of colour. What a pleasure to see the joy on the childrens faces when they received these lovely colourful garments.   beanies and scarves were added to the list.

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I then decided to hunt for my crochet hooks as well and have had so much fun finding new designs and ideas on the various sites.
 I discovered lovely granny squares, CALs and many other projects. I joined my first ever CAL, Saw a lovely pattern for Winks mandalas blanket which I had to try.   So my first finished project.



Busy on my next project which is another blanket Wade's blanket CAL

I have a few others lined up, so I will have more to post at a later stage.

I think I might even take out some of my unfinished embroidery projects soon.


I will be posting some of these items from time to time, so it won't just be cards from now on. I will understand if you aren't interested in all of this, but thanks for letting me write about what I am doing other than making cards.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, take care and see you soon with a card this time.

Love Ursula