Hi Valerie.

Happy Birthday....I hope you have a great day.  :o)

It has been hot and dry here in Texas (90 F), so I would love to give you some of our hot weather, and I'd like some of your rainy weather.  Austin is a high tech community, so there are more engineering and computer jobs available here, especially for graduates from the University of Texas at Austin.  I uploaded a photo of the Faith, Hope, and Love squares I crocheted.  Now I'm working on some chain stitch squares that combine all three colors (white, pink, and blue) to compliment the white cross puff squares, the blue anchor puff squares, and the pink heart puff squares.

My family still calls me Victoria, but all my friends call me Vickie.  I have a son who is 23 and is a software engineer for a company here in Austin.  I'm excited about working on squares for a "Faith, Hope, and Love" 3 x 5 blanket.  I will be going by our Michael's craft store today to get more yarn for it.  How's the weather in the UK?  It's a beautiful day in Austin with temperatures to be in the 80s (F).

I started the anchor square last night.  For the first attempt, it's turning out pretty well.  I might tweak it a little bit.  I crocheted it in pastel blue.  Even though the cross, anchor and heart can be done in any colors, I'm thinking of using blue for the anchor square, red for the heart square and white for the cross square.  If it looks good, I might crochet enough squares that it could make a blanket (I might intersperse them for plain sc squares).  For the variegated squares, I used Red Heart Soft yarn.  It does have a nice sheen to it.  By the way, I have a sister named Valerie and a sister named Vera.  My brothers' name are Victor and Vincent.  My parents' names are Victor and Vera, so we all got a name starting with 'V'.

Thank you, Valerie, for your kind comments.  I think it's wonderful that we can express our faith through our handiwork.  I hope to come up with an anchor puff square to symbolize hope.  The cross puff square symbolizes faith, and the heart puff square symbolizes love.  If I get around to making a square with an anchor, I'll post it.  By the way, all your squares are very colorful and creative and look like they take a lot of work!

Thanks very much, Valerie, for your lovely comments about my vests and hats. Just wish I had a quarter of your creativity. I really love your crocheted squares. Unfortunately I rely on the colour of the yarn to create something different with my knitting.x

Wow Valerie - your work is so sculptural. I can see how your mind leaps from an idea into a whole new department of development of style. Giraffe and wool boy had to stay behind - wool boy to star in the news books and giraffe had to protect the forest. I am watching your slide show as I type and it is so entertaining. Ciao Maudie

Hi Valerie! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my squares. You are very talented as well! I've tried the double-ended hook and tunisian crochet and didn't have the patience for it. You've made such wonderful squares!

Andrea :o)

Hi Valerie,

I see we share the same birth day......Sending birthday wishes from one birthday girl to another :-)

Linda x