This week's smiles...week 428

 Here we are at yet another round up of my week's smiles.  You may have seen that little Theo fell awkwardly at Preschool last Friday and broke the two bones in his lower left arm.  [The photos are pretty graphic so don't scroll back to see if you're squeamish]  It was a traumatic weekend for all while he went to surgery on the Saturday to have it manipulated back into place but thankfully he's been a very brave little man through it all and, apart from the frustrations of not being able to use it and having to rest and not run around this week, he's doing very well thankfully.

He came to us for a few hours on Tuesday so his mummy could catch up on her jobs and some very well earned sleep.  We found lots of sitting down activities to do together and he was spoilt by being able to eat his dinner on the settee instead of up at the table like we normally do.  He's such an independent little man who likes to do everything himself so having to have a little help with the tasks that need two hands is the hardest part.

The garden is filled with so much colour this week that I've filled 2 collages to share with you....doesn't all that colour lift your spirit?

This photo really made me chuckle.  Amy's two dogs had been for their walk and had got wet so on return Amy had thrown towels over them both...of course they sat here waiting to have their photo taken before being dried....they are such gorgeous dogs.

That's my smiles for this week.  I hope you've all had a great week and will share your smiles with us by linking them up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Hello all.  It's been an eventful week here...and not one I would want to repeat any time soon.  I know your here to see my desk but first I'm going to share a quick collage of our events of the weekend....Please don't click on them and enlarge them if your squeamish....

Our little Theo fell awkwardly on his left arm on Friday whilst at Preschool and broke both the ulna and radius in his left arm [hence the shape of his arm].  He had to have a temporary plaster put on in Shrewsbury A and E [ to realign it sufficiently to stop the bones trapping the nerves] and was then admitted to Telford Children's ward for surgery on Saturday morning.  Thankfully the Dr was able to manipulate his arm and realign the bones without using pins or plates.

He was such a brave little boy but we have now got a week of rest and limited movement [have you ever tried to get a 4 year old to sit still for a week?] and then it will be reassessed with x-rays and decisions made as to what happens next.  

Moving on to what's on my desk this week.  It's been years since I made some of my tiny felt bears but I had a request for some good luck bears and my stocks were getting low.

I had forgotten just how tiny they were to get under the sewing machine [a bit like brain surgery] and how really satisfying they are to make.

I just have to stitch their eyes and noses now and to give them each a tiny bow.  :-)

I have had, what I guess will be, the last of my ATCs for the swap.  It's from Felicia and I love it....thanks so much Felicia.

And finally for those that haven't seen her on my Sewing by Annie Facebook page here's my latest little Memory bear made in memory of a much loved Grandma from her favourite cardigan.  I used the crocheted trim off the front of the cardigan to decorate the front of the bear and am rather pleased with the results [so was my customer :-) ].

That's all from me for this week.  I hope you didn't mind me sharing the trauma of my week but know lots of you will be wanting to send love, hugs and healing vibes Theo's way.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 427

It's been another fun filled week here at Sewing by Annie's.  We had a wonderful long weekend away at Coniston Water up in the Lake District,,,

Here's just a few of the photos we took.  It's such a beautiful area of the country and, as you can see, Milly really enjoyed it too.

We enjoyed our Tuesday Fun day with Theo.  We played Dominoes but he's so good at that we challenged him with a game of Triominoes....a quick lesson on how to play it and he reassured me I didn't need to help him any more...and he was right :-)

We built Triomino rally [bottom left pic] and yes they all fell over :-)

We came home to yet more gorgeous flowers blooming in our garden, the resident bees have doubled in size now and are all enjoying every corner of our garden.

Our little raised vegetable garden is producing lots of wonderful fresh vegetables....we've eaten all the salad leaves and radishes and are now eating the peas, potatoes and chard....yummy.

My last photo for this week it this one of Phoebe who had just finished the money raising Colour Run at her school....as you can see she had a wonderful time :-)  Well done Phoebe.

That's all from me for this week.  I'm up to me ears with sewing and loving every minute.  Hope you are enjoying life too.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Hello all.  What a week I've had since I posted for last Wednesday.  I had no work on Monday or Tuesday, as you know, but on Wednesday I had a bridesmaid's dress to do major alterations on plus 2 dresses, a dressing gown and a pair of cropped trousers that needed shortening.  On top of all that I also had 3 Memory bears and a Memory cushion cover to make....and these all needed finishing by Thursday as we were setting off on another adventure in our motor home on Friday morning. On Thursday I also had a pair of shorts also needing repairing and a prom dress to shorten so it was a very busy couple of days for me.....I hope you will all understand why I didn't manage to get around you all to leave comments last week.  I promise I will try harder this week but I already have .....

....these two posh frocks hanging on my rail and lots more promised to arrive this week too.  It's certainly an all or nothing life I lead here at Sewing by Annie....and I love it :-)

We both enjoyed our long weekend up near Coniston Water up in the Lake District....it was certainly a break well earned :-) I may have a few pics to share with you on Friday.

Since we got back from our few days away I have had delivery of new threads....I know just how excited some of you get when you have new pens and that's just as excited as me with my new threads even though they are just to restock my thread drawers.

I've also had this ATC and card through the post from Catriona....I know she was beginning to think it was never going to arrive but it had been damaged in the post and resealed in a poly bag by the post office.  Thankfully the contents weren't damaged so thank you Catriona very much.

That's all from me for today.  Thank you so much for the love and understanding in my comments last week....it really hadn't been the best of weeks for me so your thoughtfulness really helped.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 426

 It's been a rollercoaster sort of week for me. It's certainly been one filled with smiles but workwise it's been an all or nothing sort of week.....nothing Monday or Tuesday and on Wednesday I had a Bridesmaid's dress needing lots of work to make it fit, 2 dresses needing shortening, a dressing gown needing shortening, a pair of cropped trousers needing shortening and on top of all that I had 3 memory bears and a memory cushion cover that had to be made by the end of Thursday!!.....And, you know me, it's all been done now apart from finishing off the bridesmaids dress :-)

My smiles this week are....

On Saturday I went with my hubby, one of my best friends, her son, our son Mark and his wife to Edgbaston to watch the cricket.  We all had to have negative Covid tests to go and it was amazing to be out in the fresh air enjoying a wonderful day with family and best friends....it was just a shame England didn't win the cricket.

We went by train to the cricket and as you can see I sat by my best buddy...I call her my little sis and love her to bits.

I love this photo. :-)

As the Euros football is being played at the moment my darling hubby had to get his England shirt on when they were playing [the grandchildren like to see him wearing it :-) ].

Little Theo was excited to be wearing his England kit too...as I'm sure you can tell :-)

This photo really made me smile this week.  Lexi sent it to me with the message 'Nan would be pleased'.

Nan was my mum and she used to really enjoy grapefruit for her breakfast [something that makes my teeth go on edge...I really don't like them].  Happy memories eh?

Lastly but by no means least....Lulu's school have been writing letters to local businesses asking for donations of plants and seeds for the garden at their school and Lulu and her friend had written to Tesco.  Tesco had replied asking if they could take photos of the girls with their lovely letter and the plants they donated to the school and here's the result....well done girls.

That's all from me for today...I may be a little late in visiting this week as we are off on our adventures today in the motor home....Lake District here we come :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our blogging friends all around the world.  

I altered a gorgeous wedding dress at the end of last week....it was a really tricky one to do, needing 4 hems shortening and one of those was lace trimmed so the lace needed to be removed before shortening and then had to be sewn back on after.  I also had to make the bodice fit because it really didn't fit well or look as it should [and was really tricky to pin where it needed taking in]....the four seams that I had to take in were all beautifully bound so this had to be removed to take the seams in and then I had to rebind them after.  I must say it caused a rather sleepless night on Sunday as she was coming back for another fitting first thing on Monday morning and there was no way of telling exactly how it would look until she had the dress on.....I'm pleased to report it fitted to perfection [and I'm not sure who was nearer to tears...the bride or me!]  I do love it when a plan works out well.

From then onwards my week hasn't gone exactly to plan....the bridesmaid that was coming for a fitting on Monday contacted me to say she couldn't come until Thursday and the customer who was coming to have 3 memory bears on Monday didn't turn up and didn't even reply to my messages!!  I consider it very bad mannered but it seems to be the norm these days.  I then had a customer message me at 23.35 on Monday night [no, I luckily didn't hear it and didn't see her message until Tuesday morning!] asking me if I could make her 3 memory bears and a memory cushion and have them ready for Friday!!  Me, being me, and although I don't normally work on a Tuesday, as Theo is on holiday this week, I messaged her first thing Tuesday morning saying that if she could get the items of clothing to me straight away I would work my day off and get them made for her.......She didn't reply to me until lunchtime and said she would get the items to me today [Wednesday morning!!].  I explained that I have other customers booked in for today and Thursday.....I think some of them think I am sat here waiting for just them!! As they say watch this space!!

So, on my desk today is...

....one of my tops.  When you've lost 2 1/2 stone a few of my tops are needing adjustment so I never waste my time whilst waiting for my customers to turn up!!  :-)

That's all from me for today.  I have a bridesmaid and a couple of prom dresses plus a memory bear or 6 to do if they ever turn up this week....it's all a bit wait and see this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles .....week 425

 What a wonderfully sunny week it's been and it's been filled with smiles for us.  We went on the first adventure in our new motor home since we bought it before Christmas.  We had a long weekend on a campsite near Chippenham and while we were down there we arranged to meet up with Julia [she of WOYWW fame] and her lovely hubby at the Rowdy cow ice cream and farm shop.  What a wonderful day we had too....lots of chatting, putting the world to rights and of course ice cream was eaten too [but of course I only had a little as I'm not going to spoil my progress with my diabetes and weight loss].

If you'd like the check out my WOYWW post for this week you will see a photo of us all...just what life should be filled with eh?

We 'babysat' for Amy this week....seems a funny thing to call it now as the children are 12, 11 and 9 and the girls insisted on cooking us tea.....and very yummy it was too.

They are all growing up far too quickly and are such lovely young folk to spend time with.

We had a lovely day with Theo on Tuesday....it was a gloriously sunny day and much fun was had playing outside  with the sand and water.  

We have many bird feeders around our garden and this one is right outside our front window.  It was so lovely to watch this little goldfinch feeding this week....he was there for absolutely ages and even seemed to be posing for me to take his photo....they are such pretty little birds aren't they?

Finally I thought I'd share the latest collage of our garden flowers....we seem to have gone from a red/pink phase to a predominantly blue phase now and all our garden is being enjoyed by our resident bees.

I hope you have enjoyed my post today and will leave me a little message before linking up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Hello all.  It's been a very special week for me but the only thing on my desk today is the latest selection of painting I've been doing.

I'm finding it very relaxing and am really enjoying experimenting.....and I've no sewing to share with you.

Why? I hear you ask :-)

We went on our first adventure in our motor home that we bought before Christmas.  We had a long weekend down in Chippenham and look who we bumped into at the Rowdey Cow Ice Cream farm shop. We had a really lovely day together.....Ice cream was eaten too :-)

The other thing I have to share with you is my latest collage of my ATCs.  I love each and every one.  Thanks so much. 

Hugs,

Annie x