A Little Update For You

Hi sweet peeps and hope you are all OK today and that you had a fab weekend:)

This is just a quick update on the little fish and chips jumpers.

To date, we have collected 581 jumpers and 576 beanies and I am totally and utterly gobsmacked by how many kind folk there are out there. And this isn't counting a box of over 400 and another box that has a fair old few in – they haven’t yet been counted.

When I put the call out, I have to say that I sort of expected a couple of dozen but never in my wildest dreams did I think that we would end up with so many and once again, the biggest most mahoosive thank you to every single person that has contributed here, either by knitting, or spreading the word.

The shipment is going out to Africa in September so these all have to be sent to where they are going first (Preston I THINK?) and then they will weave their way across the sea to the little mites who need them.

So my contact has put a deadline which some of you know about  via emails etc of mid August for us to send them the last lot so if anybody has any lying about that you want to post to me, it’s probably best to do it now rather than wait. I would die if any tuned up after the cut off point as I just would not know what to do with them :(

The downside of all of this wonderful generosity is that I intended when I started to photograph every single one that arrived at chez Piggy,  but it soon became clear that this wasn’t going to be viable – I would still be there now with me camera!!!!  It also means that I haven't yet gotten around to saying thank you personally to everyone because I have been so busy getting them in and packed and over to my contact. But once the last lot have left here, I will sit down and say thank you to everybody properly so please bear with me peeps.

Finally just before I go, just a quickie to tell you about the most FABULOUS giveaway from our Mary & Andrea over at The Ribbon Girl. You can see it here so don’t miss out but here’s something to whet your whistle in the meantime ……

… is that beautimous or what!!!

Nip and have a mooch if you get a sec peeps and I’ll see you back here tomoz for a bit of Papertake-ee type fun!!

Have a fab day and huggiest of hugs to all xxx

Ohhh It’s All Going On - Including A Jumper Update:)

Morning lovely peeps and I hope that you are all OK today :)

So there’s a few things going on here today - my card, a BFTP, a birdie pic  and also a jumper update.

So I’ll start with the card first :)

Over at the Lili’s Little Fairies Challenge this week our theme is

Anything But A Square

so time to dig out the shaped cards or maybe make one of your own.

The prize for one lucky winner this week is 2 stamps of your choice from the Lili Of The Valley website.

So this is what I did and I made the base card by putting the edge of the round nestie over the fold of the card to make the hinge, running it through the Grand Calibur then chopping some of the bottom off!!

I quite like how it came out :)

The image is Close Your Eyes and I coloured it with these Copics -

Skin – E000, E00, E11, E21, R00, R20

Hair – E25, E29, E33, E43, E50, E81

The rest – C00, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C7, G99, R02, R05, R17, R27, R59, YG0000, YG01, YG03

I also added some pencilling detail with polychromos pencils. Sorry but I have no clue where the paper is from peeps – it was in my bits and bobs box but it’s just plain old black and white gingham.

Nowt plain about this die though …..

It’s a Memory Box Cherish Border die from Simon Says Stamp and I just added a bit of good old Pritt Stick to the back of it and stuck it straight down onto the card base. The sentiment is from the LOTV  Set 24 tags and the little hearts were the bits that were left from the border die.

It seemed a shame to chuck them out!!!

The bow is made from some red 25mm Red No 15 Large Spot satin ribbon from The Ribbon Girl and the pins were from my stash.

   

So that’s the card done.

And now for a jumper update.

When I first did the appeal, I knew that you would help, cos I know that you are such lovely peeps but I wasn't expecting how this would catch on and the response has been totally amazing. I am just about to take my third lot to the lady  who is collecting them :) I did start off taking a pic of every single one that I received but there have been so many coming in that it would simply take too long so please forgive me re this.  But I am going to put a running total in the sidebar and I’ll update this so that you know how we’ve all done.  Hope this is OK and once again hugest of thanks to every single person who has either knitted or spread the word.

So are you ready for the latest up date peeps? Drum roll please …….

The grand total so far is ………

225

Can you believe that!!!

It’s awesome and I get a tear in my eye every time I think about this. There is a lot wrong in this world that we live in but things like this restore your faith in human nature and it serves to remind me that the majority of people are good and oh so kind. Major pats on the back to you all xxxx

Ok before we get to this weeks BFTP, I just wanted to share this pic of our latest hatching, awww. This is our first year with these little birds and the chicks are so tiny – about 4cm long and nearly half of that is it’s head.  It’s an American Kestrel which is smaller than the UK variety that we see hovering in our skies.

I have to say as well that Rich has quite small hands so you don’t really get the full impact in this pic of how tiny they really are. Nor are his hands sweaty as  they look here – unless he thinks I am off shopping with the credit card of course!!  He had in fact just washed them before he handled the chick – I had to say that cos I would hate you to think he was a minger lol!!!

I know only it’s Mother could love it right now but ….

.. this is what it will look like when it grows up. A stunning little birdie I think.

OK nearly there peeps (thank God I hear you say!!)  and thanks for staying with me today in this loooooooooong post.

Time for another trip down memory lane and this week we really are going back in time  - this was first released in 1970 and jeez doesn’t that make you feel old!!!

I saw The Kinks a few years back in a small venue near here and I have to say that they were amazing. Of course when they started to sing this, the whole place errupted and everyone was singing and dancing. Fabulous!!!

So I’ll leave you with  Lola  (L O L A Lola)  and  and have a good day.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxx

The Wanderer Returns & Soooo Much To Tell :)

    

Hi there lovliest of peeps and I hope that you are all OK.

It feels like it’s been ages since I last posted so I’ll get the card bit out of the way and then we can have a good old gossip!!! But firstly, thank you for all your lovely e-mails wondering where I got to and checking that I was okay – how sweet and kind you are, bless ya little cotton socks, mmmwaaahhhh xxx

It’s a wet and windy Tuesday here today (nothing to do with me!!) but nothing like it was yesterday when we had a hailstorm with mahoosive hail stones, lightening and the loudest thunder I think I’ve ever heard.  Our house literally shook and so did I!!!  But wet and windy aside, it’s time to nip over and check out what’s been happening over at Papertake Weekly and this week we are

In The Garden

Well not literally of course – it is far too wet and windy of course :(  - but we want to see anything floral or to do with the garden included in your work.

We are sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps and there is a fab prize up for grabs so if you get a sec, nip and check it all out peeps.

So this is me card and I’ll run through all the stuff I used really quickly so I can get to the goss :)

The image I used is of course from  Lili Of The Valley and she is Milly Me & My Dog, I coloured her with the following Copics -

Skin -  E000, E00, E11, E21, R00, R20

Hair – E43, E50, E81

The rest – E43, E50, E81, R85, RV0000, RV000, RV00, YG0000, YG00, YG03

and all the papers are from Nitwits -  FQB Butterfly Kisses and FQB Confection collections.

 

Ohh I am LOVING these new LOTV sentiments – they are from Set 24.

You can use them to make up your own sentiments and there are 36 different ones in the set which makes them pretty darn good value in my book.

The bow was made using some gorgeous 15mm Shocking Pink No 72 Microdot Ribbon  which is of course from my fave Geordie girlies at  The Ribbon Girl (fab to chat today Mary xxx).

I topped it with a sweetheart blossom from Wild Orchid Crafts ……..

… and this little arrangement was made using various bloomage which was also from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Delish :)

So that's the old card done.

It's been a mad  couple of weeks putting it mildly. Basically I had a few problems with my router and therefore had trouble connecting to the Internet, but eventually it got sorted.

Then there was a real crisis here.

You may or may not know but we breed birds of prey here and this time of  year is our busiest as we have eggs and chicks coming out of our ears - not literally of course!!!   But there are eggs hatching all the time and chicks that need feeding. Then there’s  equipment that needs sterilising, food that needs preparing etc etc and on it goes.   Amongst all this last week,  we had two very poorly chicks and to be honest, we really thought they were going to die. We were up for two nights solid with them and of course we were both pretty knackered by the end of it.  I really didn't have any energy left to craft to be fair.

But the good news is that they survived. How they pulled through I honestly do not know, but they did and they are both healthy and strong, so a happy ending there – phew!!!!.  But as we have new chicks being hatched all the time, it gets a bit like Groundhog Day!!

So with all this going on, I didn't get chance to post anything on here really last week.  But of course the weekend before, we had the open weekend at Lili of the Valley and what a fabulous two days it was. I got to meet lots of lovely crafters, including some of my lovely blog buddies and I hope they will forgive me for not mentioning each of them by name, but they know who they are and it was fabulous to meet up with them all.

But the was one special crafter who I just have to mention because he just about stole my heart!!!

And here he is ……

… meet my little friend Bobby.

He is the son of the sweetness that is Tracy over at the Country Mouse blog and Tracy, I hope you don't mind me nicking this pic of him chick xxx   This kid is amazing, he really is. We chatted for ages about crafting and how he loves his Pro Markers (I think they are Mum’s really lol !!) and by the end of it I just wanted to take him home. I mean, how could you resist that little face!!! He is going to be a real charmer when he grows up for sure, and hugs to him from Aunty Piggy xxx.

And then last weekend we had  the craft fair at Port Sunlight.  As always, the show was really busy and again it was wonderful to see all the lovely crafters, even if we didn't really get chance to have a proper chat as we were sooo busy. I have to say that this is one of my favourite craft fairs,  and it has a special atmosphere all of  it’s own :)  It’s nice to see familiar faces there and of course, working with Richard from LOTV (Laila’s brother)  is guaranteed to be a good laugh cos he is soooo funny. And he is Liverpool supporter as well, yayyyy :)

In between the open weekend and Port Sunlight,  I  met up with  Rosemary Merry. You’ll know Rosemary  from Create & Craft and she has a gorgeous craft shop ( Crab Apple Crafts) in Frodsham which isn’t too far from here.

Well I have some FAB news to share cos I'm going to be doing classes at the shop, starting in July and I am soo excited. I’ll let you know more details soon as soon :)

Right well I think I’ve probably waffled enough but before I go, I have to say the biggest

THANK YOU

to everyone who has sent me jumpers for the babies.

I cannot tell you how thrilled I have been with the response. I expected a few but I think we are over 100 now. I will get around to sending out thank you emails but as per the above, the last few weeks have been crazy. I have lots of pics of them and I’m working out where to put them on here because I want to share them all. I didn't dream that so many of you would send them to me so I am a bit behind with me emails etc. But I will sort it and get them on here. Maybe I could put them in the sidebar (she says as a light has just come on in the pea brain – it is a shame sometimes!!!).

I’ll be back tomoz and thanks for bearing with me through this looooooooon post peeps. I’ll get off now and  leave you with a sneakie peekie   …….

… and all will be revealed in the morrow.

Huggiest of hugs to all and it is so nice to be back xxxxx

Look At These Little Sweeties - I’m Sooooo Proud Of Ya xxxx

Hi there peeps and hope you are all okay today.

This is just to give you a quick update on the jumpers that you wonderful, lovely people have been knitting for the African babies.

I'm going to take this batch of jumpers to the lady in the village tomorrow who is collecting them,  but I couldn't let them go without taking some piccies to share :)  It's wonderful to to know that every single one of these will make a difference to those poor little mites,  and I think each and every one of them is  fabulous.

I also checked out about whether we should keep on knitting and she told me yes yes yes please. She said that a bulk consignment of them will be leaving the UK in September and will take them to where they are needed.  So if anybody wants to keep knitting, please feel free cos there’s plenty of time yet.

So sweet peeps, feast your eyes on these little beauties …….

 

 

….  and every single one of them made with love :) x

Hugest of thanks to you for doing this and I’ll take a pic of every single one that I get and put it on here before I take them to June.

Before I go, just to remind you that I’m doing my draw tomorrow for my ribbon  giveaway ….

… so if you haven't yet had a go and fancy a bash, there’s still time if you nip over now  - you can read all about it here. It is a yummy prize for sure.

Right, I’m off to put the finishing touches to my card for tomoz so I’ll see you then and thank you once again.

Huggiest of hugs to all xxxx

OML – You Are The BEST :)

 

Hi there peeps.

Oh what a lovely bunch of peeps you are. I did know that anyway of course because crafters are FAB,  but the response to my call out for knitters has been amazing – you can see it here. Even the non knitters amongst us have been kindly putting something on their blogs to let others know.

I am so touched by your kindness, I really am. Bless your hearts and hugest of  thanks to every single one of you who has helped here xxxx

I managed to get mine done and here it is …..

… I’m not much of a knitter but it is an easy peasy pattern.

You can see why I asked my card club lady about it because they don’t look like conventional baby jumpers do they.  I wondered as I was knitting mine about the little mite who would end up wearing it – I will never know of course,  but I do know that every single one will be appreciated for sure and I will take some pics once they start arriving and put them on here.

Our egg hunt went well and the rain held off so that the dinks could go about their hunting in the dry!!! It was a bit of a free for all after and we realised that maybe we had gone a bit mad with the choccies!!! I left them to it and made bacon butties and hot cross buns for the larger kids amongst us lol!!!!. Some of us had delicate heads following the party on Saturday but the brekkies soon sorted that one out!!!

Going back to the jumpers, I watched the kids yesterday – each and every one of them are lucky and have so much. Of course I am grateful and thankful for that but it was pretty humbling watching them and thinking about the crap start in life that others have.

I also have a card to share and  …..

… here it is.

I popped it on the LOTV Ideas To Inspire blog yesterday but didn’t manage to put it on here as I was busy with the kids first thing then we went out to Emma’s partners folks' for lunch (and VERY nice it was too and no cooking for me!!).

I’ve used the fabulous  Land Ahoy image and popped it into it’s own porthole and this image is perfect for all those little sea dogs out there, bless their little hearties lol!!!

The image was coloured in Copics and these are the colours I used -

Skin -  E000, E00, E11, E21

Hair - E25

The rest – B0000, B02, B93, B95, B97, E43, E50, E81, R05, R17, R27, R59,

The papers are all by Nitwits

I bevelled the sentiment – just to do something a bit different really!!

 

That’s me done for today and hugest of thanks to all once again xxx

I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your Easter and thank you for stopping by today.

Huggiest of hugs

Dawny xxx

Please Can You Help Sweet Peeps?

Hi peeps and hope you are all having a good start to the Easter break :)

Whilst at our card club last week,  one of the ladies there showed me a little jumper and beanie hat she had knitted. It didn't look like a babies jumper / hat that I had ever seen and she told me that it was for the fish and chips babies in Africa. I had never even heard of this before so she told me that these are the really poor babies,  many of whom are born with Aids and that is about all these little souls come into this world with. They are so poor that they are sent home wrapped in newspaper which is why they are called fish and chip babies.

Well those of you who know me will know how I feel about kids, and this just about broke my heart. I am always grateful for where I was born and I know that had I have been born in a different place, then my life would probably have been very different. I said that I would knit some of them for her even though I haven’t knitted for years and years.  And so I wondered if any of you nice peeps out there could spare a couple of hours and a bit of wool to perhaps make one as well.

The jumpers themselves are very easy to knit and they are knitted in one complete piece. For most knitters they take an afternoon or an evening to complete. They are very important because in Africa, the nights are cold and these babies have no clothes.

The only real stipulation is that they are knitted in bright dark colours rather than the pastel shades we may use here (bright stripes look good and use up only small bits of wool)  and this is because these little garments may never be washed. How different our lives are and it is just so sad. I look at my Kyla and everything she has and it makes me feel a little bit ashamed that we have so much and they have nowt.

So if anybody out there can help here, it would be fabulous. If you can help, you can send them to me – email me and I’ll send you my addy – and I’ll get them sent off to the right place. 

Here’s the pattern for the jumper – once I’ve finished mine I’ll put a pic on here (I am the slowest knitter in the world!!)

Baby jumper knitting pattern (Knitted all in one)

Use double knitting wool and 4mm needles

Cast on 44 stitches

Work 18 Rows in K2, P2 rib

Work 30 Rows stocking stitch (1 row plain, 1 row purl)

Cast on 12 stitches at beginning of next 2 rows and at the same time change to K2,P2 (for sleeve)

Rib 22 more rows.

Next row: Rib 21, cast off 26 stitches, rib 21

Next row: Rib 21, cast on 26 stitches, rib 21

Work 22 rows in K2, P2 rib

Cast off 12 stitches at beginning of next 2 rows

Work 30 rows stocking stitch

Work 18 rows, K2, P2 rib

Cast off

 

Baby Beanie Hat Pattern

Use double knitting wool and 4mm needles

Cast on 64 stitches and work 14 rows in (K1 P1) rib

Work 24 rows in stocking stitch or until work measures 11cm from cast on edge

Shape crown as follows –

Row 1: *k6, k2tog. Repeat from * to end of row (56 stitches)

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: *k5, k2tog. Repeat from * to end of row (48 stitches)

Row 4: Knit

Row 5: *k4, k2tog. Repeat from * to end of row (40 stitches)

Row 6: Knit

Continue decreasing in this manner until (k1 k2tog) has been completed and 16 stitches remain.

Knit 1 row.

Break yarn and thread through remaining 16 stitches.

 

Thanks heaps for stopping by  to read this and if you could spread the word and perhaps pop something on your blogs / tell your friends etc   that would be wonderful.

Have a great weekend and see you soon as soon and huggiest of Easter hugs to all xxx

ETA

I managed to get my jumper finished peeps so if it helps, here’s what they look like when they’re done – the beanie is on it’s way!!

PS

OMLife what a wonderful bunch you all are. Even those who cannot knit are helping by putting up links. I cannot say how touched I’ve been. I expected one or two but the response has been amazing.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much xxxxx