WOYWW update....Mojo found :-)

Wahoo! wahoo! I've found my mojo. But with the inspiration I had in front of me who wouldn't ? This was the inspiration pack [taken from the photo I blogged earlier] Twiglet gave me as part of my Christmas present . It was really fab and full of all my fav colours. It included one of the little books she had used to make hers with.

Just a couple of hours later I have managed to make this little book cover. I'm really thrilled with the result too and was determined to share it. Hope you're as impressed as I am.

WOYWW...well, I think it's Wednesday.

It's been a week of Saturdays but as far as I am aware it is Wednesday today. Technically I am open for business today and tomorrow but as you can see from the photo we had snow last night and although, as you can see in the photo, our 3 little dogs love it I have a feeling I won't get many needing sewing doing. That means I am here in my sewing room and just might be forced to 'play'. Hmmm yes I know, it isn't Monday but if I don't have work to do then..... you get the picture.




I have nothing on my work desk as yet but I might get out my embellishing. I have lots of beautiful new threads and wool rovings to play with that Santa brought me [with the help of my wonderful family] so I have no excuse.
The first thing I have to do is search for something I have lost....my mojo. If I find it I just might make some progress. If not then I might just sit and look at my new materials :-)

Update....
I've just got out lots of my crafting pressies and thought I'd share them with you. Back left are two frames to put embellished piccies in with a space behind the glass so the details don't get squashed [from Tesco's]. Middle back is a gorgeous collection of mixed threads mostly yellow/peach but also some greens [from RKM wools]. Far right is a ring bound book with plain pages that I intend using as a journal of my crafting next year [yes, it's a sort of New Year's resolution so we will see how it goes]. Left of that book is my beautifully embellished book Twiglet gave me and in front of that is a pack of inspiration also from her to make my own little book. In the 2 bags in the front are wool rovings my youngest daughter bought me. She searched the web for these and bought them from Sara's ebay shop [even though she was unaware that Sara is a fellow blogger. :-) small world eh?
I have a family that know me well and know what a thrill I will get out of using all my lovely gifts. It's all very inspiring but as yet not found the mojo :-)

I feel like an emerging butterfly....

I'm only just catching up with blogland having been suffering with a stinker of a cold since last Tuesday....yes, that's pretty much all of my Christmas break. I'm just glad I didn't have to sew but it would have been nice to have really enjoyed some of my break. Oh well, I hear you saying "get over it girl" so I will. It's just left me with catarrh and an annoying cough so I shall be buying shares in Tena lady next week :-)
We did manage a really fab Christmas dinner at our eldest daughter's home....cooked mostly by her partner. She is one really lucky girl....he's a gem. The rest of the week has been spent chilling out and getting lots of R & R whilst enjoying my Christmas gifts. I was truly spoiled and I can honestly say I love everything I was given.....from books and games to wool rovings and gorgeous mixed thread packs. I just need my crafting mojo to return now so I can put a lot of it to good use.
Well, I'm off now to feed my neighbour's cats and pop to the post box. The fresh air will do me good I'm sure :-)

Topsy and Tim...

As promised here are the two little characters. We dropped them off with our daughter today and she really loves them so job done well :-) If you know of Topsy and Tim I think you would recognise them so I'm pleased with the result of my two days labour of love.
Having shut up shop at 5pm yesterday I'm a little annoyed to say I am now full up with a head cold. Typical eh? A few days rest and I don't feel much like enjoying it. Let's hope it goes soon. At least I'm being spoiled this year and, for the first time in 28 years I am having Christmas dinner cooked for me. Our eldest daughter and her partner have invited us round to their home for the day. I'm really looking forward to it.
Oh well I'm off now for some honey and lemon and some well earned R & R.

Wahoo I'm all finished...

I have just finished Topsy and Tim and will show and tell as soon as they have been seen by my daughter. She sneaks on to read my blog from time to time so you will have to wait for now...but I will say I'm really thrilled with the finished result so watch this space :-)
I've had a really special day with a steady flow of friends and customers all day and have even been bought a box of chocs by one of my male customers :-) What a lovely job I have.
I've just hoovered through my work room and done all my books up to date so as soon as 5 o'clock comes I can now shut up shop for Christmas....wahoooooo I can't wait.

Busy busy busy....and then Topsy and Tim!

Well, some of you might be wondering where I've been since Wednesday. The end of last week was a busy one with sewing and getting everything ready for the busy weekend ahead.

Friday night was the battle of the supermarket.....are we gonna be snowed in for a month and no one thought to let me know? Or maybe they have brought Christmas Day forward? The aisles were heaving with everyone pushing and shoving. Madness!

Saturday night was hubby's firms Christmas party. It was held at the new Shrewsbury town Prostar Stadium. The food was wonderful, the drink was flowing and the entertainment was a Robbie Williams tribute. He was good but only sang for 50 minutes and earned more than I could earn in a week! Think I should retrain?

Sunday was a very special day. Our youngest daughter goes to Scotland every year with her hubby's family so we have a family party every year before they go and this year it was Sunday. I spent the morning cooking and preparing and all our family arrived around 3pm. 91/2 of us this year :-) [baby bump is developing well as little Sadie is growing fast]. We had a really special few hours together. I am such a proud Mum and Nanny. Our house was filled with just the most wonderful young people and 3 of them were the results of years of love and hard work on our behalf. Plus all 3 have chosen carefully and are making their lives together with really special partners too so we are thrilled for them all. Presents were exchanged and new toys played with. Little Granddaughter P loved the wooden dolly's bed we gave her and spent her time taking all the covers off and climbing in it :-) Dolls may have to fight to get time to sleep :-)

Amongst all the above our eldest daughter rang to say "you know how you like making things for me to use in school Mum"! Next term she is using her Topsy and Tim books to cover topics like 'going to the dentist', 'going to the Dr's etc etc so of course to illustrate it properly she would really like her own Topsy and Tim. For those of you who don't know them they are twins, Tim being a boy and Topsy being a girl and Jean Adamson and Gareth Adamson write books of their adventures. So.......yes you've guessed it..... I'm now making a pair of rag dolls....




Think we've lost our heads!










Well, I've found mine. Just yours to look for now!











Ah, here it is but now I've lost you! Its just not easy when you have no eyes :-)








Found you...and it looks like we have been shopping for clothes. These are some really nice popper fastened shirts....and matching too :-)





Just one more day to go as I shut up shop today til after Christmas so hopefully they will find some facial features and hair, a skirt for Topsy, trousers for Tim and some shoes. Think yours truly has another busy day ahead!

WOYWW.....

Where did that week go? As you can see from my work desk I cleared it at the end of yesterday and there is no sewing on it. Since clearing it though I have had a couple of jobs in so please don't imagine I will be putting my feet up today :-)
You can see my new set of drawers below my work desk. These are now full of my threads of every colour. My old set of drawers were far too small and used to get stuck when the cotton reels got trapped at the back so the new ones save me a lot of time and temper :-)
On the top at the left of my machine you can see my customer cards in the two index boxes. All 901 of them :-)
At least 2/3 of them have become regulars and the rest are mostly Wedding dress customers although many of these have also come back for other sewing jobs.

In the front of the one index box are my Christmas vouchers. I decided when I first set up my business that giving out £1 vouchers to be used in January would encourage folk to come, maybe, at a time when I would be a little less busy and to wish my customers a Happy Christmas. They are received gratefully and although I give out very many only a handful are normally used so they work very much as a good will gift but cost me little.

I now have to tackle taking in the bodice of this little party frock. Its boned so I will have to unpick it all to take out the boning before taking it in and then replace it after so it's rather a tricky job and will take me a while to do. Just another challenge for me to fill my day :-)

This is one of the several stockings I have been asked to make this year. Just thought I would share it with you and brighten up my blog. I'm not sure I will get round to blogging my WOYWW next week cos I am on holidays so here's wishing all my WOYWW buddies a very Happy Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Love to all, A x

Large letter post!!...

I'm here for a moan today. I have always loved making my Christmas cards and sending them to special family and friends but this year I was annoyed when several of them had to go large letter post. I always try hard to keep embellishments to a minimum size but it's almost as if the post office's size slot has shrunk. I do think it's ridiculous that a card of normal proportions has to go as large letter post just because the felt is slightly thicker on one than another or one bead is fractionally larger than another.....and I'm not talking bulging envelopes here.

Am I the only one who has this problem?

Celebrations to end my week...

I have just done my books up for the end of yet another really busy week and I have hit another milestone.......900 customers :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) and, yes, I am grinning from ear to ear.
From what started very cautiously as sewing for just a few customers I am very proud to say I'm now buzzing with a very successful little business. I get usually 2-3 new customers every week and often even more and never have to advertise now as they all come through word of mouth. It's often hard work and very challenging but it's brilliant.

On top of that this week I have managed to fill a box full of goodies for a new friend to take to a local craft fair. She found my blog from a link on another blog and realised she walks past my gate often but wouldn't have recognised me if she met me in the street. I invited her to call in to say "Hi" and from that chance meeting she offered to include some of my crafts on her table at a local craft fair. What a small world it is :-)
It was a bit of a challenge for me cos I didn't know about it til this Wednesday but I managed to fill my box with :-
7 Machine Embroidered Flower pictures
24 little Christmas teddies
17 Christmas mice
12 Felted bears
and 1 Felted Fairy bear ........and a partridge in a pear tree :-)
Needless to say some of which I had in stock but it's certainly been a few late nights for me this week trying to get it all together and priced up ready.

As I say in my flier ....I love a challenge :-)

Ok Ok it's Wednesday again so here's my WOYWW

The sewing machine is steaming/smoking today. I've been shortening a lined Burberrys coat plus it's detachable lining. What a job! It was all top stitched and made in panels that all had to be unpicked to shorten it by the 13" requested and then, like a jigsaw, put back together. A very tricky job but I have to say I am rather pleased with the result. Now I have to put a new lining in a gents jacket, alter the shoulders on a dress and shorten 2 pair of trousers. It's all in a day's work for me. :-)
I am thrilled to see Julia has got her machine out this week :-) Ooer and hers is a Singer. Mine has hummed a bit today but it rarely sings :-)....and my motto is "I can do" Julia so I aim to be able to do most jobs even if a little daunted at some. My Grandmother was a dressmaker and I'm sure she sends me some divine intervention at times :-)



I can then, and only then, think about my next challenge. I was emailed yesterday to see if I would like to put some goodies on a school Christmas craft table. The only slight hitch is the sale is this FRIDAY!! So...... its Christmas teddies, Felted friends, and Christmas Mousie making for me and anything else I can find time to make......Bang goes the 1/2 hr nap time around midnight eh?

Christmas mousie...

As you may have seen big sister Twiglet has been mouse making and you can find hers here. Over the years she has made 100s of them. Whilst teaching she used to give them to the children in her class as Christmas gifts and often sat at the end of her busy school day making them. As you can see from her blog she has just made her daughter 3 beautiful colour co-ordinated pink mice. I left her a comment because unknown to her my tree has never had one of her little mice on it and it felt sad....I left her sad faces on her blog and on several text messages knowing full well when she arrived for our Fun Day Monday she would have made me one and of course she didn't let me down [she never does!!! :-)].






I am now the proud owner of my own little Christmas mousie and just have to show and tell. Isn't she just beautiful?







Of course it doesn't end there..... I asked for instruction to make some of my own and I made that my task for our fun day. I had to have a busy morning clearing the sewing I had on my rail and she did, what she says she likes doing........ all my ironing!! I will be forever in her debt.
Once the urgent work was cleared we pulled our craft table out and put it ready for our afternoon. Out came threads, wools, felts, fabrics, beads.......what fun eh?
Twiglet came with her Christmas mousie box full of mouse bits, some ready cut, some to cut and all in beautiful Christmas colours. Following her instruction I put together all the bits I wanted to use to make my own little mousie. We stitched and stuffed, chatted and laughed, oh and yes we drank coffee and tea and ate really yummy little filo pastry fancies.



This is my result. One beautiful little Christmas mousie. I was so proud of my afternoon's efforts and immediately planned what I would do with her....

.....put her on a garland maybe? But of course she would be lonely and would need some friends....








........So while sitting watching telly in the evening I made 5 more!! No stopping me once I get started :-)


Only problem is I now have to shorten trousers, shorten a lined coat, shorten a skirt, reline a gents jacket......the list goes on and on and on and on......and no fun time for me today it seems. Watch this space :-)

Time for Christmas cards.....

You will have noticed I had a huge workload for yesterday so I ploughed through my sewing and cleared the rail so that this morning I've had time to do some finishing touches to some Christmas cards. Thought I'd show and tell but the photos aren't brilliant.I'm feeling better now I've got at least some completed :-)




These are Christmas trees printed onto fabric using transfer paper then embellished and machine embroidered.










These are felted poinsettias using my embellisher and a little dylon glitter paint in the centres.













These are Christmas trees made on my embellisher using diagonal threads on a long piece of dark green felt and then cut into triangles and machine stitched and embellished.










These little felt Christmas trees have been embroidered using my sewing machine.












These were made from embellishing ribbons, fabrics and threads onto felt and then machine embroidering them onto gold card before mounting on cards.

Oh how quick the weeks are going!.....

Yes it's THAT day again. WOYWW. My week has been a really varied one. Everything from crafting, embellishing, knitting to of course sewing sewing and yet more sewing.


Monday was Fun Day but Tuesday evening was also a fun time for crafting too. My table has been full of wools, threads and fabrics and .......






I have even found time for cutting out a top for myself.








Yesterday brought yet more new customers to my door and a steady flow of regulars too so my rail is now full.....





3 skirts to take in and shorten
2 pair trousers to take in
3 pair trousers to shorten
pair trousers to patch and darn damage done my a moth
and even a shower curtain to shorten













I thought you might also like to see how far my embellished picture has gone. It will be an ongoing project and I plan to put poppies on it as they are one of my favourite flowers. So far I have embellished the background with wool rovings and used textured threads for stems in the foreground. Lots to do yet of course but I am really loving 'painting' with materials.


Hope you all have a fab, fun day and enjoy your blog hopping Wednesday. A x

Another successful Fun Day Monday....

Yesterday Twiglet and I had another of our Fun Day Mondays and this time we shared it with another good friend. She was needing picking up from a difficult summer having lost her father after several months of ill health so what better way than to craft, chat and giggle over a cuppa? We had an afternoon tutorial using the embellisher and I think I can safely say she is totally hooked and may have now added one to her Christmas list for Santa. We laughed, we shared, we chatted, we ate chocolate and we drank coffee and tea. I'm certain we all benefited from a real quality afternoon and hopefully it will all happen again next Monday and the one after that and ..........who knows? who cares? no one can take away the day we have already had :-)

Oh and I've made a good start with my embellished picture I'm hoping to use my new frame for :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)