Happy Monday to you all...

I am starting my week off with another Funday Monday.  It really does start the week off well and I think it should be made compulsory for all  :-)  Twiglet will be down this morning and our friend  T will be joining us for the afternoon of fun and laughter.  This morning Twiglet and I intend revamping our blog shop so do keep a look out for some changes in there.

 

I've spent my weekend finishing putting together my Pay if Forward gifts and they are all lined up and ready to take to the post office this morning....so keep a look out for those postmen girls  :-)

If you haven't joined in the 'spreading of love' activity yet and would like to join in then please pop over to Delena's blog because she is still looking for kind bloggers to leave her comments.

The other thing I want to show you this morning is my new little friend....

This is Sid the Punk Rocking frog with attitude.  My daughter M made him for me on Friday and he will surely feature on my blog from time to time because he seems to have decided he is here to stay and has already pulled himself up a deck chair on the back of my sewing machine table so he can keep an eye on me while I'm working....in fact I have a feeling he is working for my other half as a spy to make sure I don't slack  :-)  Watch this space as they say.

A little bird by M!

Hello this is M, A's daughter!

Mum has asked me to add a picture of my sock bird for you all to see. 

She has now found me some green socks and wants me to attempt a frog.......watch this space!

I am having another day at mum's...........she'll be sick of the sight of me before I go back to school (teacher not pupil) and there will be no socks left in the house!

M x

The Love blog award.....

The lovely Cardarian from

Cardarian´s happy place

has given me an award.

Thank you so much.  I feel very special.

There are a couple of conditions for the award

You have been TAGGED and want to participate?

Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image.

You should also blog the persons link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award.

You can then choose 3 - 5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.

Dear bloggers:
The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers.As always, the hardest part is to pick who to pass this on to, there are so many bloggers I could give it to but I pick these...

• As it is a Love blog of course the top of my list has to be my [much older] sister Twiglet .  There is no doubt that she spreads love everwhere she goes.

The others are just a few of the very many I could choose and they are in no particular order...there really is so much love out there amongst all the wonderful blogs I read regularly.

• My next is Keryn over on Poppy Dog...she would love to have 5 bloggers to do a 'pass it forward' to as her way of spreading a little love on to others [please pop over there if you haven't already joined in the fun].

• My next is Gez over at Gezzyb's Jots....she has followed my blog for ages now and is always one of the first to support and offer help when asked for.

• My next is Karen over at Karen's Carry Ons .....there are very few of my posts that she fails to leave me really lovely kind comments and she certainly knows what spreading a little love is all about.

• My last is Di over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop ....she is fairly new to blogging but when I asked for bloggers to join in the pass it forward fun she jumped at the chance and living half way round the world it means the love has the chance to spread rather further  :-) Thank you Di

Consider yourself tagged girls.....now go and spread some love and tag a few more.
Of course there are many many others but I am sure the love will spread like roots of a tree and they will very soon be tagged by others.

WOYWW......

Funday Monday was just that........fun fun fun........not the depressing day promised in the news!....I have blogged it in the last post if you'd like to see what we got up to.  I'm sure when they say these things in the news if affects how people think so it would be really lovely if just once they said ....."and today it known the be the happiest day in the year when everyone smiles and does good for the people they meet".  :-)

My Pass it forward gifts are in the making and of course I won't be able to share these with you until they have had them....I notice Keryn over on Poppy Dog is looking for folk to pass hers on to so if there are still some kind generous people who would like to join in spreading a little happiness around the world then please pop over to her blog and join in the fun.  I know for sure that every time I give something away I get it back ten fold in one way or other so please sign up to share some love.

On my desk [ and floor] today is.......  

A whole lot of wools, beads, yarns, fabrics and a whole lot of scrummy things I can't show you [they are under the fabric at the back of the table]......oh what a tease I am.  

I will take pictures of all the hidden things and will share them when I can but for now you will have to just snoop through the materials I play with  :-)

For those of you wondering what my daughter M has been up to since she left here with her pile of sock on Monday.  Here is the gorgeous Penguin and Cat she has made yesterday....she really does take a new learnt skill and fly with it  :-)  In fact she was sat teaching my son's girlfriend how to make them last night  :-) Aren't they gorgeous?



Now girls please pop over to our host blog....Julia the Queen of snoop....and join in the fun of sharing your creative space with others.

If you haven't already checked out the sale bargains in our blog shop then it's worth popping over to check them out.  This is the last week of the sale so don't forget to grab a bargain or two    :-)

 

This week's Day of fun...

Yesterday's Funday Monday ranks up there with the best.  Twiglet and I were joined by our friend T and my eldest daughter M and my little sewing room sang with creativity and fun. 

 

It's what Mondays are made for.  I've heard it said that it was one of the most depressing days of the year but certainly not here at sewing by Annie's.

We extended my table and filled it with socks, beads, buttons, wools, fabrics and much much more.....and the floor held  even more  :-)

Not sure what Twiglet had in mind here but I have to say what these went towards making is really special.....I'm sure she will appear on her blog soon  :-)     [I'm not giving away her secrets]

T made a start at making her Pepsy Pig .....and finished her off beautifully at home later  :-)

Meet Maisie Rabbit....this was the gorgeous little rabbit M made during her afternoon of fun.  We called in at our local supermarket when we took her home later and picked up more socks....she is hooked with the sock dolly making now and being her usual artistic self I'm sure she will be creating all sorts of wonderful critters now  :-)

These are the socks we picked up for her so watch this space....she text me later that evening with a photo of a nearly finished little penguin  :-)

We always did a lot of crafting while my family were growing up and I really love the way she has used what she has been taught but now flies with her ability and goes well beyond anything I ever taught her.  She is really creative and has a more artistic eye than me so I love to watch her create.

Thank you girls for joining me and for all the fun and laughter we had.  It's what days are made of.  Here's to many more.

What a special day...

This has just become a very special day for me and I wanted to share it with you all.......

..........And it's all down to Jen from http://jennyflowerblue.blogspot.com/.  A little while ago she had a gift draw for her 300th post and I was the lucky winner.  I had to say in my comment that if I was a biscuit what biscuit I would be.  I struggled a bit to think what biscuit I would be so asked my darling hubby....He said that I would be a hobnob cos I was good for dunking!.....please don't ask what he meant but I didn't realise being a hobnob would bring me so much good luck [and he can dunk me any day  :-)  ].

Well, this morning my postman brought a huge box to my door. 

This is it girls.  It was addressed to little old me and it felt like Christmas.

Out of the box came a large parcel and a beautifully made card.

She had sent me the most gorgeous biscuit barrel and even that was filled with yet more little parcels.

Here are all the wonderful things she has sent me...A beautiful book, a bag of sequins, a bar of chocolate, some really gorgeous wool [I may have to stroke this for a while before using it], a little packet of tissues [already opened cos I am an emotional old thing] and the rest are really special things she has made for me...see below

This heart is stunning.  What a talented lady she is.

A beautiful knitted brooch in my fav colours. [how did you know Jen?]

And two more tiny treasures.  I love them all.

My parcel is full of love and she has really made me feel very special today.  Thank you Jen so much for starting my Saturday off so well.

Help! I am in need of some butterflies....

I am wanting some butterflies for my daughter's wedding stationery.  Does anyone of you talented bloggers know of the best punch to cut out butterflies of about 3 cm x 4 cm or do any of you know of the best place I could buy some ready made ones from?

Latest Update......She has now changed her mind!!!!!  Butterflies was a definate for all of 30 minutes  :-)
Think we are going for hearts now....Sorry to be a pest and thanks girls for all your help.


Kids!!!!!....wouldn't be without her really  :-)

Pay it forward and spread a little happiness...

I saw this on Jen's blog and thought I would join....I'm always up for spreading a little happiness around

Its a brilliant way of making the world  a better place without expectation of anything in return...just giving for the sake of giving, to make the planet a bit more cheerier.  Always remember if you smile at someone you get one back.

If you would like to take part, then you need to be one of the first three people to leave me a comment on this post. I will get in touch to ask you to send me your address, and in due course I will post a little something out to you!

The first three people then in turn, will send out a little goodness to three others and so the love and the happiness continues to spread around our little globe!

So - how about it ? Who wants to receive a little something from Me? 

Don't forget you will be promising to send something you have made to 3 more lovely folk from our blogging community!

Go on - you know you want to!!!

And just so you know.....I've now cleared all the sewing you saw on my 'to do' rail....plus a lot more  :-)  It's been a great day 

Update

I am still hoping one other kind sharing blogger will join in the 'spreading a little happiness'.  Three of my lovely bloggers that have left me comments are already taking part so, please, leave your name and join in the fun. 

WOYWW...

Well my blogging friends another week has passed and Wednesday has come around again.  It's been one of my normally busy weeks with my sewing business [ I now have 1050 customers!] but if you check out the previous post you will see I have also managed to find time to dumf my new poppy picture.  Neither Twiglet or I have felt very creative over the last couple of months but I feel we have how rekindled our love for our embellishing machines having sat one each side the table playing on our machines for our Funday Monday this week.

Of course a day of creative fun on Monday means I have to have a catch up Tuesday and of course while I am trying to clear my 'to do' rail the work keeps flooding in.  This is what my rail looks like this morning so it looks like I have more catching up to do today too.  The puffer jacket is loosing it's feathers having been used as a sharpening tool for a cat's claws!  I have to do my best to sew up the offending holes to reclaim the  jacket [over £100 worth and new so I think the cat should be made to pay  :-)  ]. I have another of these puffer jackets coming in later today too and that one needs a new zip so I'm  imaging yet more flying feathers!

I have nothing really exciting and creative to show you today but having now recaught the dumfing bug again there will be more to show you soon.  Thank you for dropping in to see me and leaving such lovely comments.

If you haven't already checked out the sale bargains in our blog shop then it's worth popping over to check them out.  The sale will only be running until the end of the month so don't forget to grab a bargain or two  while the sale is on  :-)

Now folks it's time to check out the rest of the wonderful crafting spaces that you will find linked together over at our wonderful leader, Julia's blog.  I look forward to checking out as many as time allows to see what you have all been up to this week.

A good Dumfing Funday Monday...

I have spent my free hours this week dumfing my latest Poppy picture and yesterday being Funday Monday, when Twiglet joins me for creative fun and laughter, I dumfed and beaded and have now mounted it.  Having sold my biggest [and favourite] one that I have used for the header picture in the blog shop I felt the need to replace it with something similar.  This one is mounted in a black frame and of course has now become my new favourite and rekindled my love for dumfing [please check out the link on the right if you are one of the few who still don't know what we call dumfing].

As you can see here Twiglet and I sit facing each other with our dumfing machines and creativity flows between us [as well as several cups of coffee :-)  ].

I start by painting the background with fabric dyes [it's nicer to work on a slightly coloured background]  then I 'paint' the background with wool rovings.  The wool rovings are pulled out finely and dumfed into the fabric.

Next I work with threads and fabrics for the foliage.  Each strand of wool or fabric is dumfed into place.  I love how each stage develops.

Here I have dumfed in the gorgeous red fabrics for the poppies.  I always layer up the different fabrics and use different colours and textures....after all no two flowers in nature are identical and it really brings them to life.

I have finished off the flowers here with beads [not sure you can see them cos the lighting is poor sorry].  All it needs now is a tidy up and to remove all the loose threads and then I frame it.

Ta da.  Sorry about the flash on the glass but thought you would want to see the finished picture in it's new black frame.  This has to be my new favourite picture.  I love it in the black frame....what do you think?  It's all ready for sale now but as it has glass I tend to see these ones to folk who can collect instead of posting for obvious reasons.

Look what the postman brought me today...

I entered in a gift draw that Michelle Palmer was having and today the postman brought me this truly amazing coaster.  Thank you so much Michelle.  I love it and will really treasure it.

Michelle describes herself like this...Blessed to be an American~ Wife, mom, watercolor artist, garden artist & collector of most things unique and old. Surrounded by wonderful people who share my journey & I thank God for them each day.

She really is a very talented artist who creates really unique items.  I have followed her blog for a while now and it never fails to amaze me what fabulous items she creates.  Her work really is inspirational.  If you want really special gifts you really should look her up in her Etsy shop.

Thank you again Michelle.

Stylish? Me?......

Bernie from One of a Kind has passed this fab blog award on to me.  Not sure there is anything about me that could be called stylish but thank you Bernie.  What I now have to do is to think of 8 things about me that you don't know already [hard one this] and to pass it on to 4 other blogger[even harder cos there are so many] so I will do my best...

1. I have a small scar on my right cheek where I fell on a hook as a toddler...the hook was one a safety gate fitted on to keep me out of the kitchen [no health and safety around then obviously  :-) ]
2. I have been a bridesmaid 3 times [for my brother, my sister and my cousin ] and still managed to be a bride. [3 times a bridesmaid never a bride!! ....another rule I've broken  :-)  ]
3. When I got married I kept the same initials...different surname but same initial .....I was told "change of name and not of letter is a change for the worse and not for the better"!  [guess that's another saying I have broken cos my OH is the best thing that has ever happened to me]
4. I am not superstitious....I walk under ladders ....maybe you can see why from above
5. I went to a grammar school and have nine O levels and one A level....educated idiot me  :-)
6. I met my OH on a blind date on Sunday 2 August 1981.  By 4th August we had decided to get married, we got engaged after 8 weeks and married after 8 1/2 months [and not a maternity dress in sight!] and here we are nearly 29 years later still happily married and as they say the rest is history.
7. I was only 4 foot 4" when I started secondary school and was the smallest pupil in the school at the time....only ever reached the giddy height of 5 foot and am on the downhill road now  :-) ...they say 'small things come in little parcels' but so does poison....I will let you decide which I am.
8. My Grandmother was 47 when she had my Dad and yet she lived to see him celebrate the birth of his first Grandson.  She was nearly 101 when she died and a day doesn't pass without us sharing her wealth of knowledge with others.  She was an amazing woman.

Now I have to pass this on to 4 others...I have looked through all the very many blogs I follow and I am really finding it impossible to choose so am going to have to pass on this one.  Please, if I follow your blog it is because you are stylish [yes, Twiglet that means you....can't get much more stylish than you!] so please pick up this award and let me know when you have written the 8 things I don't know about you [I have a feeling you might find it hard to write 8 things I don't know about you though Twiglet! ]  :-)

WOYWW.....

Happy WOYWW everyone....yes it is a much happier one here today than it has been lately.  My cold/flu bugs seem to have gone and thankfully my sciatica has gone too so I am feeling rather more like 'me'.

I have had my usually busy week this week with trousers, jackets, tops  etc  to alter and of course I have managed to finish a new little friend [see previous post].  

 

Today I am working on 4 huge cushion seat pads for a boat.....yes never a dull minute here is there?  

 

I have to make new fitted and zipped cushion covers for them so am glad I still have a little helper to hold one end of the material  :-) [he was finished yesterday and features in the previous post]. 

I always welcome a bit of help  :-)

"Gosh Annie, does it really take all this zipping for those cushion covers?"

I'm afraid it does Mr Tumble but don't worry I do cut it into lengths and sew it in first so you don't have to stay tied up for long  :-)

Enough of my madness for today.  As you can imagine the cushion covers take a while to make and my 'to do' rail is filling up behind me as I do them so I need to get moving.   :-)

Before I go I just want to share my 'promise of spring' photo I took yesterday  :-) These are the first daffodil bulbs just peeping up through the soil.

Please pop over to Julia's blog and join in the WOYWW fun and I hope to catch up with rather more of you this week.  Thanks to you all for being so thoughtful and caring while I have been poorly.  The get well soon wishes really helped my recovery.

Mr Tumble...

As you will know I have been asked to make another Mr Tumble style doll.  This is the third I've made now and each one has his own special character.  I have just finished the latest one so thought I'd introduce him to you [and to update his new owner on his progress].

His trousers have to be yellow with blue stripes and, as ever, I don't have any fine striped yellow material so I stripe my own  :-)....he's got to be right hasn't he?

I make his hair using long blond fur fabric and, as you can see here, he has had a trim  :-)

Ta da....Mr Tumble is now complete.  I am now going to let his new owner know now and he will be soon winging his way off to his new home....I will be sad to see him go 'cos he is quite a character. 

I do hope they love him as much as I do and he is happy in his new home.

Wendy requires emergency surgery....

I had an important phone call late this morning....Wendy needed major emergency surgery and fast.

She was rushed to me by lunchtime with her little friend. 

This is her little friend who stands in when Wendy takes a bath or has much needed minor surgery but today things had got serious.

Wendy had taken a turn for the worse.  She was feeling deflated and very unwell indeed.

When we turned her over we could see several minor surgery scars and she had been so well loved her insides were escaping through further wounds.  She was originally cream like her little friend so was also feeling very off colour from all the baths she had had over the years.  Of course her little owner would need Wendy for bedtime tonight so rapid major emergency surgery was needed.

She was given a general anaesthetic and had her wounds repaired [and a little new stuffing] then using the lovely material that was brought with her she was made a lovely new coat.  Her surgery well well and after she was awake she was then able to sit alone and enjoyed a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Yes, without a doubt, I am a little mad but to work here it really helps.  I feel very honoured to be trusted with such priceless friends and always do my best to keep the character of the original when working on such treasures.  Wendy is really thrilled with her face lift.....now all I hope is that her little owner feels the same  :-)

It's a good news, bad news day...

Good news......I'm feeling much better.  :-) :-) I only cough now on very rare occasions and although I'm still taking Nurofen my sciatica [if that was what it was] has now reduced to just a dull ache in my hip so proper living is now possible...I'm sure it was all your wonderful positive vibes and very kind wishes.  Many thanks for all your lovely comments.  They have really made me feel very loved.

Bad news... the snow has returned big time so my little play mates can't get to me for their morning play and their Mummy and Daddy have to still move houses [that is if they can get the van up the narrow road and up the steep bank to their old house in 4" of snow].  Not the sort of weather anyone really wants when moving houses is it?  I'm keeping everything crossed for them and am sat here feeling really helpless.

The view from my window this morning.  It all looks very pretty but does get in the way of house moving plans.

I'm sure Twiglet jinxed us by changing her header picture yesterday.   :-)

Where do I start?....

Thankfully I have woke up this morning and my sciatica does seem a bit better [I'm still taking the tablets as they say].  It allowed me to sleep [I guess the pain tabs helped] so I'm here to tackle the day's work.  I had several customers yesterday and my 'to do' rail is now full of sewing jobs...

....no two days are the same here.  There are trousers to shorten, a jacket to shorten the sleeves on and two very heavy caftans to alter.  It never fails to amaze me what comes through my door.

I've started cutting out Mr Tumble and plan to make a start on making him after I've cleared the rail [ yes, as always, I have said some will be ready to pick up tomorrow....I was ever hopeful the sciatica would allow me to sew  :-) ].

As well as all that I would really love to spend my day dumfing [for those that don't know what it is you can check out link on the right ].   Of course.  I have a beautiful new poppy picture to plan and make.

Wahooooo does that sound like I feel a bit brighter today?  Let's be hopeful.

Oh and I've just had a thought....tomorrow morning I am having two little playmates for the morning while their mummy and daddy move houses.  Now of course that means I won't be able to sew tomorrow morning...oh dear do you think that means I will just have to play with them?  :-)

Decisions decisions....where do I start then?

Now, while you're pondering that one why don't you make yourself a cuppa and pop over to our blog shop and join us in celebrating our 1st Birthday.  There are some seriously good bargains for a while......don't miss out....and I will just get on with all that sewing  :-)

WOYWW....

Firstly I want to say a huge 'sorry' to all my fellow WOYWWers for not managing to visit any one of you last week.  I felt so poorly and miserable and my head just wouldn't allow the time on the computer.

This week?.....cough is certainly improving but this week it's sciatica for me so sitting here at the computer is rather painful to say the least.  I do promise to do my best to get round a few blogs but please forgive me if I fail hopelessly again......I am trying honest.

I started back to work yesterday but thankfully I wasn't overloaded with sewing to do....... or just maybe it took me so long to get to the door they gave up waiting  :-)

What's on my work desk today?.....

I'm planning a new poppy picture because my biggest [and my favourite one] has sold........wahooooooo   I had taken it to the Montgomery craft fair before Christmas and it was greatly admired and had a phone call just before Christmas to check I still had it for sale.  The man asked me to mark it up as sold and he intends to pop over soon to collect it.  :-)  

I've bought a new frame [this time black instead of white] and am just sorting out wools, fabrics and materials to make  my new poppy picture with.  I'm having to work in limited sessions because my sciatica is making sitting and movement difficult but it is giving me something to occupy my thoughts.

Thank you for dropping by and leaving such lovely comments.  I hope you will all pop over to Julia's blog and join in the WOYWW fun.

Now, my blogging friends, we would love you to join in our fun.  Please pop over to our blog shop and join us in celebrating our 1st Birthday.  There are some seriously good bargains for a while......don't miss out.

I have a quick update for you....

I have just had my first customer of the New Year needing 2 pair of trousers shortening so I need to get moving with that and I have also had an order for a special something via an email and have Carmen to thank for that.  I have sorted out fabrics ready.

....can you tell what it is yet?  Here is a link to help remind you :-)   I made one for Carmen's daughter Ruby and made another for my eldest granddaughter last November.  Exciting times eh?  I just need to be pain free to get moving on it all.

Back to work...

I've not worked for the last 3 weeks.  It was supposed to be a well earned holiday and a time of creative crafting and fun........so much for making plans eh?

I started off with a typical head cold with streaming eyes and nose and high temps for 48 hours.  Since then I've had a giddy head for a day or more when the bug planted itself in my ears, it landed on my chest and I've coughed til my head has ached, I've had no energy and have slept off and on day and night [in between coughing sessions!] and it landed on my vocal chords giving me a croaky hoarse voice.  What fun eh?

Today is my 1st day back to work.  My cough is considerably better but now I seem to have sciatica!  I'm dosed up with Nurofen to ease the pain and hopefully it will go as quickly as it has come.....did someone say Happy New Year?....I'm ever hopeful  :-)

I really do hope you've all had a better start to your New Year and it only gets better from here  :-)  I'm sure we all have hopes and plans for the year ahead..... mine?

• Get well.....top priority
• Make someone smile every day....I never fail
• Craft for at least 20 minutes every day......need someone to return my mojo first
• Enjoy my special family times and hopefully welcome new family members
• Plan a wedding with my eldest daughter....such an exciting time
• Lose weight and try to get a bit fitter .....not an easy one with arthritis

My aims are fairly simple and I tend to live for today and make today count before I plan for tomorrow cos none of us know whats around the next corner do we?  Just be happy and make others around you happy too.

Now, my blogging friends, we would love you to join in our fun.  Please pop over to our blog shop and join us in celebrating our 1st Birthday.  There are some seriously good bargains for a while......don't miss out.

Crafty Creations 1st Birthday celebrations....

This is just a quick post to share some excitement with all my blogging friends.  It has been a year since we were encouraged to open up our blog shop and we are having a celebration sale that we would like you all to benefit from.  Please pop over to the shop to check out the bargains.  There is a special sale shelf with greatly reduced items, the rubber stamps are 'buy two packs and choose a third free' and all the remaining items in the shop are being sold at 10% off.  Postage still has to be paid on all purchases but I'm sure you will agree that there are real bargains to be had.