From such small uninspiring beginnings...

Ann commented on my last blog about them being such "small uninspiring beginnings" so I thought I would show you how things developed :-) Thanks to the suggestion by Felted House I have just completed my first embellished picture using an artist's canvas to mount my work on and I'm really thrilled with the result.
What do you think? I will be uploading it on the shelf in the blog shop soon. If you've not been over there yet please click on the link on the right and pop over to Sisters Crafty Creations. You can join in the Gift Draw then. Good luck.

20 Minuter update...

It seems I don't have a lot to show for my 20 Minuters this week but if you read previous blogs you may understand why :-)

I have been dyeing. When I'm dumfing [embellishing] pictures I prefer to use pale pastel shaded fabric to work on and buying very pale felts has proved difficult locally so I have attempted to do my own. I have used a brush full of Dylon fabric paint in water and gently squeezed out my felt and linen fabric in it.






The results are just perfect, if but a little too subtle to really capture on a photo. I have done some pale blues, pinks and greens so I can choose a colour depending on what design I'm going to dumf on it.






This is the starting point of my next dumfed picture. I have dumfed wool rovings into a linen background and will then work on top with threads, fibres and fabrics. I am experimenting with an idea given to me by Felted House and intend mounting this on an artists canvas. I will post updates as I go along so watch this space.





It doesn't look a lot, I know, but I am still managing my 20 Minuter every day and loving it. Look forward to catching up with all the fellow 20 Minuters and seeing how they are doing.

WOYWW update :-)

I know there will be one or two wondering how much got done off my rail so here goes....
Lined patio door curtains...shortened
Jeans...new zip
Coat...stretchy cuffing on sleeves renewed
Trousers...new elastic in bottoms
Coat sleeves...shortened
Jacket sleeves...shortened
2 Shirts...shortened
2 pair Jeans...shortened
Trousers...new zip
Jog bottoms...shortened
Dress...Taken up on shoulders
2 pair suit trousers...shortened

Oh and did I mention being disturbed by 3 customers with yet more sewing jobs and another 3 to collect finished jobs? Oh yes and had my neighbour call with her little girl to show me her new hair cut. Its all in a days work for Sewing by Annie :-)

Its a quick WOYWW today.

It's just a very quick blog today so you can all have a nosey round my busy world. Please pop over to Julia's and join in the show and tell fun.

I have had 8 jackets and 12 shoulder protectors from Shrewsbury School this week. I have had to stitch all the badges, stripes and buttons on their Cadets uniforms. I have this job to do a couple of times a year and it had to be this week when I am up to my ears with everything else :-) It's not a job I have enjoyed doing because I broke 5 needles whilst doing it!








This is my to do rail and as you can see it is full to overflowing but as well as all this I have also had to shorten 3 pair of curtains.










This is the last of the curtains on my table needing doing [photo taken first thing and I have already done them now.]







I have been searching for threads in my drawers and thought you might like a peep. My motto is "If I don't have the thread colour they probably don't make one " :-)




On top of all this we have already had a really exciting week having made the first sales from our blog shop. There is a Gift Draw in the shop to say Thank You to all who are supporting our new venture so please click on the link on the right and pop over there to join in. Good Luck.

My weekend's 20 Minuters [and more!]

Just a quick blog to show you what I've been up to over the weekend and introduce you to 3 new little characters that will be appearing in the shop soon.





Dylan Dragon






Humphrey Hippo






Lulu Elephant









I will probably give them a little bit of tweaking in day light later to perfect their finish but I'm rather fond of all three. They all have really cute characters and parting with them may not be easy.

Shop Gift Draw

We have had a busy week making stock to fill the shelves to our shop as you can see here. We have now filled the picture, gift and card shelves. We have been thrilled with the encouragement and wonderful support you have all given us so far and would like to thank you by doing a Gift draw.

If you would like to put a link to our shop in your side bar and become a follower of our shop we will put your name into a draw for the selection of goodies you can see below.

Just leave us a comment in the shop to say that's what you have done and you will be in with a chance to win. We will be making the draw on Monday 22nd Feb. We will add a little extra to the gift for every 20 names in the draw so pass the word around. Many thanks and good luck.

Its my show and tell Friday...

As promised I am still managing my 20 minuters every day. It's been a little more difficult this week because I have had lot of customers and sewn most of every day and have even worked 2 evenings doing fittings [one was a wedding dress fitting :-) ] .
I have dumfed all week to stock the shelves of our new blog shop and am really loving the results. They will be hopefully be put in the shop today so watch this space :-)





This is a blue themed picture in a light wood frame.













This is one for the poppy lovers amongst you. The black frame really sets them off well.










I then moved on to card making and these are my latest batches of cards. Thought you might like to see them before they are packed up ready for the shop.







This was a set I made using orange/peach colours. They look much better in real life. The light here is really dull this morning so they have not snapped well.





This is a more abstract purple set. We intend setting up a small photo studio later with better lighting so hopefully these will look better once in the shop. The colours are really warm and rich and the effect is really lovely.



I would really like to thank MarmaladeRose for the encouragement to keep up with the 20 Minuters because it really has kept my creativity flowing.

This week has passed so quickly. WOYWW

As a lot of you will know Twiglet and I launched our shop this week so our Fun Day Monday was spent dusting the shelves then filling them with goodies. If you've not found us yet then please click on the link on the right and go and have a rummage. We would really appreciate your feedback/comments. Thanks.

Joining in the WOYWW for this week I have snapped and uploaded my photos but as you can see my work spaces are full of clutter today. I have shown them just as they are so you know I am not always tidy and organised :-) Please feel free to pop over to Julia's and join in the fun.

We still have a lot of goodies to snap yet to fill the shelves of the shop so I have piles of cards and pictures in various stages of completion on my table.





I have also been really busy with customers for sewing this week. The snow had been keeping them away and now it has gone [it's actually snowing again now!!] they have been flooding to my door. I have already shortened huge lined curtains [with Twiglet's help to do the cutting] , put a new zip in a sheepskin coat and altered 2 posh frocks. My next job is to tackle lengthening the sleeves on a jacket that looks like a leopard. Hmmm it's very strokeable. :-) I get all sorts of challenges here.
Well my friends, I must get moving. Lots to do and shelves to fill too :-)

Do keep an eye out on the shop because as soon as we get all the shelves filled we are putting together a parcel of goodies for someone to win to say Thank you to those who have encouraged and supported us in our new venture.

Exciting Developments....

Our Fun Day Monday has been used wisely today. Our shop is slowly taking shape and the shelves are filling up nicely. Mrs Overall has dusted down the shelves and much giggling and squealing ensued as the little pocket bears and felties were popped on a shelf next to each other. Following a squabble amongst the puppets, the giggle of Iggies convinced me to use their photo for the link to their shelf in the shop.
In the next day or so we hope to fill the gift, card and the picture shelves. We would love you to pop over to have a look so please use the link to Sisters Crafty Creations on the right of this blog. Please let us know what you think by leaving us a comment in the feedback blog at the top of the shop.
Thank you.

Shop opening soon...

Twiglet and I are opening a blog shop so please look out for future developments here. Lots of people have shown real interest in our crafts and many have asked if we are selling them. As we have decided to work together on this, our new blog site will showcase gifts and cards made by each of us. Our shop will take a little while to get up and running so please watch this space.

Happy Friday and my 20 Minuters...

Happy Friday to one and all. The snow here is slowly going. There is water dripping everywhere you look so I guess it will be floods next in the weather warnings. I have been good this week and have done my 20 minutes of crafting every day so thought I would share the results with you. I am aiming to show and tell my 20 Minuters every Friday because I am guessing once the snow goes I will be busy with customers and blogging every day wont be possible for me.

I started off with a strip of white felt and dumfed wool rovings and threads across it's full width then cut each one into 4 and embellished each one differently...I aim never to make 2 cards exactly the same.
Each card was finished off with hand embroidery, beads or buttons. I'm really pleased with the results. 20 minutes every day [and more] has been very productive this week. Do leave me a comments to tell me what you think.



For anyone who's interested I give lots of my cards as gifts but also sell some to my customers who call in for other sewing jobs. If anyone is wanting to buy some I am more than happy to sell via my blog too and have a paypal account I use to make purchases easy. Just let me know if you're insterested.

20 Minuters

I have joined a group called 20 Minuters thanks to a New Years Resolution started by MarmaladeRose. The idea is that every day, for the next year, we have to promise to do 20 minutes [at least] of a creative craft. It can be sewing, knitting, crocheting, card making or anything else that takes your fancy. The idea is that, even if you have a day when you aren't feeling very inspired, you spend 20 minutes doing something even if it's something as simple as stitching just straight lines on fabric. The plan is to make crafting a daily habit and hopefully out of that comes more inspiration. I know we all have days when the mojo goes walk about so I'm definitely up for the challenge.
I started yesterday, on a day when I desperately needed inspiration. I spent a couple of hours dumfing on just strips of white felt. I made 3 strips of felt like this with the idea that on a more inspired day I can embellish these with buttons/beads/threads and cut them up to make card toppers. It was a really good exercise and I will blog the results soon. Thanks lots MarmaladeRose for giving me the incentive to have a go.

One of the ladies in the group has a really super give-away at the mo so pop over to here to take a look.

WOYWW and beyond...

Hello again. Yes, it's come round to another Wednesday when a lot of friends get together on Julia's blog to show and tell their workdesks. Please feel free to pop along there and join in the fun.
There is still an awful lot of the white stuff going on outside here so I have had very few customers braving the weather and that allows me time for fun.

As you can see my crafting table is opened out to it's full size to spread out my inspirational materials.....









........ and under the table sits this box full of yet more materials. I'm happy just to sit and sort through the lovely threads, beads and fabrics. How can you not be inspired to put them together to produce something special?

Yesterday I sat dumfing [see previous blog for explanation if needed :-)] and this is my latest creation. In the middle of my table you can see a stacking pot of beads. This is one of my latest purchases and the reason it was needed was a few years back I very foolishly tipped most of my seeded beads together into one section in my bead box. This makes it really difficult when you are looking for something particular so I am now sorting these beads into my new pots....Yes, I'm very patient and some would say rather mad to even consider doing this but it is making using them an awful lot easier. If you look back at my table you will notice a white triangular paper construction at the front. This is my home made bead sorter. I have used something similar when sorting tablets while nursing and just folded this one together out of a piece of A4 paper. Being white this makes the bead colours show up and it is really helping my labour of love of sorting out my seeding beads.

Beyond my crafting room is a cold and very unwelcoming world outside but even this is coming with really special moments for me. [My cup is always half full :-)] I take great pleasure watching my birds and this really cold weather has brought many different birds to my bird tables to feed. I have feeding stations just a couple of feet from my sewing room window at the front of the house and my kitchen window at the back of the house so where ever I am in the house I am able to watch my feathered visitors. I have been taking note of what birds have been feeding and at the moment my count is up to 17 different ones....Black cap, Redwing, Bull finch, Nuthatch, Robins [I've seen 5 so far!] Mistle Thrush, Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blue tit, Coal tit, Great tit, Collared dove, Pigeons, Dunnock, Jackdaws and Sparrows. How about you? Do you have any really unusual birds visiting you with all this snow around?

This is my Mistle Thrush...he is huge and really aggressive and chases all the black birds away but he is so entertaining.


This little bird feeding under the feeding tray is a little Blackcap...he's learned it's somewhere the Mistle Thrush can't reach him :-)




I hope you are all able to find something positive to come from the cold weather and are able to stay safe and warm. Thanks for dropping in.

Embellished Poppies ...

I started making a large embellished picture here way back at the beginning of December and as you can imagine with Christmas and the New Year in the middle it had to be put to one side to finish at a later date. With all this wonderful snow around this week, although I have had quite a lot of sewing from my customers, I have also been able to fit in some dumfing. I'm completely hooked ...I love the ease that threads and fabrics bond together and love the way the applied colours 'paint' a picture. The 3D effect of the flowers has to be seen in real life to be truly appreciated but I thought I would share a few pictures of the process.

This is a copy of the first stage photo. At this stage I had embellished the background with wool rovings and used textured threads for stems in the foreground.

Here you can see I have added more threads and fabric strips to the stalks and stems in the foreground to build up textures and added various red fabrics for the poppies.

I have now added the beads and final details to the poppies and really love the 3D effect of the flowers. It's all ready for framing now.

I have now fixed the picture in it's mount and thought I'd snap it before I put it behind the glass because I know photos will be difficult then.

Ta da! all finished and ready for hanging up now. It's finished measurement is 52cm so it looks pretty impressive in it's Ikea frame. I'm thrilled with the result and hope you like it too.

If anyone is interested I would be more than happy to do commissioned pictures using this method. Just let me know what you'd like. [Prices would obviously depend on the work/materials required.]

Blog candy at Normajean's...

This is a photo of the blog candy up for grabs from one of the super blogs that I follow. Pop over here to have a chance of winning. Good luck.

Dumfing ? ......

Yes, dumfing. This is what Twiglet and I call our embellishing :-) The machine dumfs the fabrics together. It sort of goes dumf dumf dumf when the needles push the fabrics together. So we have invented a new word for it :-) verb....to dumf.

Well, now you know that, I can tell you I was dumfing most of yesterday. I 'painted' with threads and fabrics and then added beads to design a few new cards and thought I would share them with you.
I would have blogged them yesterday but the one had to be given to it's new owner before I put them on here. [I gave her the yellow one and she really loved it :-) ]. The lighting was really poor and I'm sorry to say it's not a brilliant photo but I think you can get the idea.

Twiglet also spent her day dumfing, alas not with me because the snow is making travelling difficult, and if you would like to see what she has been busy with then pop over here. I'm really impressed with what she's made and I'm sure you will be too.

For those wanting to know what my embellisher looks like there is a photo of it here.

Introducing little Sadie...

I thought you might all like to share in the excitement. This is a 3D scan of our little Granddaughter Sadie at about 26weeks. We have many pictures of her and also have a 10 minute DVD of her. We can see her sucking her thumb, opening and closing her mouth and she is generally a very active little girl. Isn't modern technology just amazing :-)

Brrrrrr it's a WOYWW...

Ooer we had a lots of snow in the night and this morning this is the view that greeted me. This is looking out through my sewing room window and that is the path my customers have to take to get to me so I doubt I will get many visitors today. It's not a bad thing because I already have sewing jobs to do and should be able to get these out of the way while I'm not being disturbed by customers.





I have a brown waxed coat to shorten and a new zip to put in the blue jacket.




The working trousers that are sitting here on my table are needing new zips and repairs to ripped seams. You can also see the now finished and framed flower picture I have used for my header. I'm rather pleased with it. :-)








This is the view from the back of our house and as you can see from the little footprints it's where our dogs run and play. It's a north facing garden and has been frosted, hard and crisp for what seems like weeks now.
The result of the hard ground is this. Skye is our old lady and she has sore feet from walking on the ice. [She went from having one blue foot to two red feet :-) ] She has needed several visits to the vets to have her feet dressed, injections and antibiotics so no doubt we will need a second mortgage to settle the bill when her treatment is complete :-( I think she rather likes her new socks.

Now pop over to Julia's blog and join in the fun by showing us what you have on your workdesk today.

My Header pic...

For those of you who couldn't see it yesterday and can't see it today even though I have attempted to fix the problem I thought I would put a little copy of it here. If the big header one is still not visible today I will have to call in my computer expert [son].
If it is fixed it is because I have reverted my widget templates to default...what ever that means :-)