Hi folks this is just a quick up date to whats been happening at present this is really exciting for me as ive just recived my first ever lap top he he he

right news   my knee is now mended and in 95% WORKING order .... all themes will colse at the end of the year but there are still themes that need more squares please contact me if you need updating to what we still need as squares are now starting to come in most days ...if all else fails  we really do still need  party monsters and fairies   its not a case of sign ups its now just a case of send and we will use  thank you hugs jane and the gang xxxxx

SFPSFC GROUP  fundraiser 2009

1st prize winners  mr & mrs I willey

2nd prize winner mr p jackson

3rd prize winner ( shy lady)   

all other winners have now been notified

hi folks this up date comes with news of our fund raiser ...Im really pleased to say that this went very well but could have been better attended...we have raised the fantastic sum of £369 GBP  but still have lots of fabrics and cards left to sell ...the above people won first prizes on our raffle   thank you to lucie for donating the afghan and jackie for running the raffle on the day whilst i did a quilting display

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED

and all who donated  

and to

DAWN,NINA,CHRIS,ANNE,KEN,JACKIE,BECKY,DENISE, EDITH,WENDY,CHRISTOPHER,GEMMA,EILEAN AND SUSAN  FOR THEIR SUPERB HELP..i couldnt have done this without them...........

hi folks this is just a quick update for september ...to let you know that i have posted several photo albums around the net with your wonderfull knitting and stitching on them.. hopfully you should see your own work  with  bravnet,facebook,webshots and photobucket theres also a couple of  albums from  hotmail too ... we go under aunty jane,stitch4charity and stitchforcharity  please if you get time have a play and see what you come up with huggies aunty jane xxxx                    

boo .. hi friends im pleased to say that im now home from a short stay in hospital after a second total  knee replacment ....this went well but.im still brused and battered and the new knee isnt responding to requests yet... but im pleased to say apart from that im ready to roll which is good because im not yet able to use my leg properly .... silly thing wont do a straight leg lift .....which is needed to get in and out of the bath or bed ..just imagain ken having to bend down and physicaly lift my leg in to bed....its ok you can laugh but that still wont make the silly thing work.......good job we already have a chair lift for the bath  but it doent help at 2am and again at 6am ....must drink less water with the gin......

GROUP NEWS

 because ive not been around much im still catching up on group news ...dawn is going to norway for her hols ...sue w and chris have come on line to say hello after a time away... barrie is still continue to recover from his stroke and sammie is desperate to get back sewing again after a  hand mishap.... diane were all thinking of you tomorrow.. everyone else thank you for carrying on regardless....  

deliveries

weve recived a few small packets whilst ive been away ..thank you and i managed to finish a couple of blankets before i went too ..... ive also managed to knit an amazing 12 teddies in 3 days not bad even for me ....i just love knitting teddies ...

REQUESTS
our  requests for september  are the same as last months requests  please as we are still very very short of any angel wear ....i know that this is often difficult for people to knit  but my friends it is still needed very much ...

thank you to every one for your much needed support it is still needed very much  please come and say hello huggies aunty jane xxx

by Hamidah Gul

If you are bored and feel that life is passing you by without you doing anything meaningful, it’s time to pick up a needle. Don’t worry it’s got nothing to do with acupuncture or scary injections. More or less, it’s a hobby with a wonderful list of therapeutic values.

Here are my top ten reasons why you should start cross stitching today!

1. It’s a great way to focus.

Have you ever seen a cross stitch fabric? Those squares are so small that if you don’t watch what you’re doing, your fingers are going to have some pretty neat holes in them. I’ve been doing cross stitching for years now and I still occasionally suffer from a stab but I do get better as time went by. You learn to know where your finger is at all times. And that my friends, lead to an increased level of focus.

2. It teaches you the art of patience.

Have you sewed a great many stitches on your Aida and after hours of it all, you realize something is off? Somehow this corner is supposed to be ten squares for this corner and strangely there’s only one square. Guess what? You’ve miscounted the squares! Then the process of undoing the crosses begins. I’ve undone so many stitches that sometimes I am tempted to bite those threads off but I breathe in breathe out and repeat the cross stitch mantra of “What can be stitched can be unstitched”. It takes a lot of strength and patience to undo a whole lot of mess and do them all over again.

3. You learn to cover up a mess.

Remember how your mother will scream at you to sweep the floor or clean up your room, and what you did instead was sweep the dust under the rug or cramp all your toys in your closet? Cross stitch is something like that. You see, you show your final piece to people and they go ooh aah what a beautiful design! But what you don’t show is the back side of your design. All that ugly knots and strands that are cut too short or long. Well, what people don’t know won’t hurt them right?

4. It teaches you the danger of misplacing sharp objects.

This is what happens to cross stitchers who cannot keep their needles at one place. This is also the reason why needles are sold six in a pack instead of one. The manufacturers know that within one cross stitch project you are most likely to forget where you stick that darn needle. Just try to remember not to stick it on the sofa that you sit on.

5. It teaches you Math.

How many strands are needed to do a cross stitch? Six or two? Yep, you have to count and you have to remember what is left. This is why we go to school. Math is all around us. If you want your kids to learn Math, tell them to cross stitch. Plus you have to count squares! Now that’s really hard Math.

6. It teaches you to be resourceful.

When the end is near, and you find that you are missing just one color thread to finish the job, what can you do? You only need so little. Forget about buying another skein. All you need to do is to take a look at all the threads you have collected from past projects and find the closest color to the missing thread. I’ve done this plenty of times and no one had been the wiser. This also involves having a good eye as you must be able to find the closest match. This does not work if you think pink is the new green.

7. It enhances your memory retention.

When you cross stitch, you have to look at the chart, remember how many squares and where to put them. This is called Memory Retention. If you don’t have this, you’ll be referring to the chart every 5 seconds and getting a neck cramp in the process. When I first started cross stitching, I had to highlight every few squares that I’ve done. Now I still do that but only after I’ve stitched a huge section. Your memory just keeps getting better and it’s amazing! Soon, all you see around you are squares. Sorry, got a little Matrix there.

8. It is something to look forward to.

When I’m in the middle of a project, I will do it whenever I have free time. I remember bringing it to work with me or doing it in the train. I even did it at the hospital once while waiting for a sick friend. It’s just an amazing hobby to fill the time. If I’m on the way home, just thinking of doing my stitching in front of the television is a cozy thought. It’s definitely something I always look forward to.

9. You save money on gifts.

Soon the number of completed cross stitches start piling up. What will you do with them? You can read my other article “Your Cross Stitch is done, Now What?” to get some ideas. You have pretty much made all your Christmas gifts! And it’s all super personal and sweet. Isn’t this better than getting a store bought card?

10. Overwhelming sense of achievement

This is how I feel every time I finished a cross stitch design. It doesn’t matter if it’s my first, second or twentieth cross stitch. Once I’ve knotted my last stitch, I take a deep breath, look at it and say Wow. It may not be the most perfect work, but it’s my work and that’s all that matters.

HI FOLKS,

ive up dated this blog just to ask if you would please give us some feed back on our site and blogs in genaral...theres not much point  on updating new pix and information if this isnt needed thank you hugs auntyjane and the gang xxxxx

HOT OFF THE PRESS  gift for fund raiser 

Hi  folks ive just recived this signed afghan from lucie heaton as a gift for our fund raiser so ive decided that to be fair its going as the main prize on the tombola/raffle.. anyone buying tickets for the tombola/raffle will then get a ticket with their name and address on put in to a draw which will then be drawn at random...at 5pm on the day  (26th september 2009) 

tickets  for this tombola/ raffle can be bought using stamps as payment .....after 1st september 2009

.tickets £1.00  for 5 or 30p each .....i will blog the winner as soon as i get home from the event ...all stamps will be used for posting off our boxes of love ....

please  send me your name , address and a  sae with  stamps to the value of your purchase ..... theres no cheating and a recipt will be sent with your tickets ..if requested    

thank you hugs jane and the gang xx

hi gang ,

i've have just recived a fantastic heart felt thank you letter from Val and the baby  project in south africa... its quite long and made me cry though i can do that any time when i think of the number of babies still needing our help....extract here but if you would like a full copy of the letter please email me ... 

hi aunty jane

Thank you so very much for the donations that you have sent to the baby pack project ...we have given out a lot of clothes since we came back from our trip to northen ireland to pick up more for our project here in Lesothro

we took warm clothes to camp that we help ...they had nothing since a fire distroyed all ...i tried to get photos for you but as the people got the clothing they moved on (with a smile) the blankets and larger jumpers were a blessing as people think its warm here but it can get very cold.

we also give a lot of the small hats,cardigans and jumpers to another appeal as it was warm clothing they needed most ...

we gave the little teddies to the kiddies just to put a smile on their faces

thank you all formaking this possible,if it wasnt for people like yourselves we couldnt do the work here ..thank you all for being part of the team here ..

some times people think that one wee pack isnt doing a lot but i can tell you all it really does change peoples lives 

god bless you all

love from val  (baby pack project)

my message to you all is   THANK YOU hugs jane xxxx

  hi gang ,

I thought that you might like to see some of the little teddies im busy knitting ..i know that i should be working on our  blankets of love but we urgently need more 4ply teddies and first sized (16inch)cardigans if you'r in a knitting mood and would like a pattern please shout hugs aunty jane xxxx  

..        ive  managed to work out how to get in to our site blog .... ive still got to workout how to add shellies fantastic blog to the site  so for the time being we have 2 site blogs.......THANK YOU LIZA FOR YOUR MUCH NEEDED HELP

 im using this blog mainly to let people know whats still most needed this month ..... its not a plee for you to stop chatting its more a case of letting you know where we are at ..........

                                                   JULY 2009 

First of all id like to send our group love to poppie and to barrie who this week had a stroke......im pleased to say barrie is slowly on the mend ...

GET WELL SOON BARRIE hugs from the whole gang xxxx 

STITCHING NEWS

ALL PRESENT THEMES WILL CLOSE ON 31.12.09

we will re-open on 1.1.10 with at least 20 new stitching projects.... please help us to complete all of our outstanding themes.....   

This month we are presently working on completing our alphabet  squares... these will be used on our classroom blankets....each square  measures 6x6 inches... nice and small  as we need 30 to complete each blanket.. EEK

Our themed blankets squares are coming in quicker than aunty jane can quilt them up so please be patient ... they will be used  ....Thank you for your support it is greatly appreciated ....  jane is presently  the only one making up the blankets and quilting them ....at present shes working on  lucie heatons special  transport alphabet blanket, a baby blanket  and an all our yesterdays blanket for the frimhurst project ... alls going well if a bit on the slow side .

 round robins and stitch-a-longs 

 these are in progress  but if you fancy joining in please ask and if theres a free place your more than welcome to join us ....the rule here is at least one square needs to be donated to the group for our blankets

KNITTING and CROCHET  news

Thank you to every one knitting and crocheting .especially squares .....jaymbee is working full out making up our squares .thank you janet ........ our little boxes of love are slowly growing ....we now have a supply of nappies, sleep suits and vests.. our dedicated knitters are presently working on knitted and crochet baby blankets..tee shirts .. angel gowns and pockets ... if you fancy helping then please do let us know ... we have tiny patterns available  

CARD MAKING

 due to lack of interest our card making challenge has now closed we will however except your donated cards as we plan a card stall at out coming fundraiser in september ....PLEASE COME ....

MOST NEEDED THIS MONTH ...

this month we would greatly appreciate your help in completing our alphabet and blanket squares in progress... as explained we are closing our present themes to make way for new themes ....

our knitting section would really  love some more small baby blankets ,angel gowns ,prem hats and pockets also tiny 4ply teddies..... thank you folks for taking the time to read this  blog hugs jane and the gang xxx