Go to ebay NOW!! Pick up a real bargain....

I've decided to put some of my rubber stamps on ebay....really just to get rid of some stash that I never use and at the mo they are going for really silly prices so if you are interested then here are the links.....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300558902399&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300558902556&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300561047945&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300561048047&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300561048128&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300561048258&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300561048341&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300561048395&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Good luck and happy bidding.  :-) 

ps If you would like to buy any of the others still in the blog shop please make me an offer.

WOYWW.....103

Happy Wednesday to all who pass by here.

Yet again it's been a manic week here at Sewing by Annie's. The weekend was a really successful one with the wonderful Church Gardening Club Sale on our front garden on Saturday.  Sunday came with even more success....Twiglet grabbed us a real bargain from Churchstoke Sunday market....I have been searching for a clean, light weight, second hand, double buggy to keep here for when I look after the twins.  She text me to say there were two up there this week....one at £30 and the other at £80 and the cheaper of the two was immaculate and just what I had been looking for [but up til now had only found ones on ebay for over £50 plus postage!].  I told her to use her judgement and to try to knock her down on the price a bit [well you have to don't you?]......AND she got it for £20 and that includes waterproof covers!!!!!  It's spotless and we really can't believe our luck....thank you so much Jo [especially cos she then pushed it all the way up her bank to get home].

This was our Funday Monday table full of goodies.  Twiglet and our friend T were planning making fabric hearts so all the yummy fabrics and lace trims filled the table.  At the front you can see one of my WIPs...another crocheted baby shawl for yet another pregnant friend's daughter.

Hmmmm I see we haven't hidden the Monday treats very well today so I guess I'd best say help yourself girls....yes we really didn't eat them all  :-)

This is my 'to do' rail today so you can see I wont be sat idle today.  I have 3 posh dresses and a jacket on there as well as many other jobs plus on my long dress hanging rail.......

.....I still have a really gorgeous Wedding dress under wraps that needs a lot of work doing cos I have to shorten the very many layers it has......quite a challenge!

Here is another of my WIPs.....as we have two little boys expected I have been asked to make a patchwork blanket for one of them and these are the colours we have chosen......I rarely have only one project on the go and tend to swap between them when my arthritis plays me up.

 Finally for all you garden lovers [you might want to click to enlarge this one].....I am stood literally just the other side of the window from this cheeky little devil!  He just sat there watching me while I snapped away with my camera! I love to feed the birds but really squirrels are just rats with furry tails even if they do have such cheeky little faces!

Now girls please pop over to Julia's to join in the WOYWW fun.....and don't forget next week is our second year celebrations so make sure your PIF gifts are all ready to post.....mine is  :-)

An update and a little extra hoody....

I just thought I would let you all know that Saturday morning events went off very well.  We set up the front garden with the tables and chairs nice and early, as always, and the plants and produce started to arrive by 9.30.  The 5 huge outdoor tables filled to overflowing with tomato, bean, courgette, cucumber and other fruit / veg plants and also every flower / shrub plant you can imagine.  The table in the front of the garage filled with cakes and jars of home made produce.  It all looked splendid.

The sale started at 10 and, very quickly, the front garden filled with folk buying, chatting and drinking coffee.  The weather stayed dry and the sun even honoured us with a few sunny spells throughout the morning.  It was a really special time and I had no doubt Dad was looking down on us with pride.  

For those that didn't grab their buns early I have to say sorry but there are none left......I will add that I have a feeling my darling hubby bought and ate several of them!

The other thing I thought I would show you today is the latest hoody that I finished last night.

I have knitted this one for one of my customers.  She said she has no one to do knitting for her and she is expecting a baby a few weeks before all our are expected.  All babies should have a few hand knitted items so I thought I would make her one.  She asked for one in white cos she doesn't know what she is having.

And all before breakfast...

Don't they look lovely?....of course I still have to decorate them all....all 4 doz and just in case you count them....actually only 47 as I didn't quite have enough mixture [and no I haven't eaten one honest!].  There are 24 plain buns and 23 chocolate ones.  I always have to get them baked early in case I get customers [wouldn't want them to burn would I?...I've just noticed the evidence cos it says 8.42 on the clock  :-)

Twice a year we open up our front garden to be used by the Church Gardening Club in memory of our very special Dad who was one of their founder members.  We will have tables filled with plants, produce and cakes and a wonderful gathering of special people here from about 10 til 12 tomorrow morning.  If any of you live close enough to call by we would be thrilled to see you.

Update

Is that better?  Anyone for a bun?  Take your pick....but don't forget to put your 15p in the honesty box  :-)

....and I see it's still only 9.35  :-)

Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone will you......

My 'to do' rail is empty and all my Wedding , bridesmaid and prom dresses are now finished.  If you don't tell anyone I might manage a day doing something for me.

So, girls, what do I do?

Do I find my bikini and do a bit of sunbathing for the day?

Who are you kidding?  You haven't had a bikini for years and if you decided to strip off you would scare away all your customers .  :-)





Do I get paints or multi media messy play out?

Don't be silly.  If you get a customer then you would get paint / glue on their clothes.

Do I open a bottle of wine?

No sorry, it's too early in the day and you might need to pin a dress hem up straight. [and you know what you were like after one glass of wine on Sat night!]

So ? do I get my knitting out?

That's not a bad idea.  You do have rather a lot of little ones to knit for and you can easily put it down if you get a customer.

Twiglet said she might pop down this morning for coffee so I might have company.

That will do you good.  A giggle always makes you feel better and who better to have a giggle with than your best friend.

WOYWW.....

Good morning my wonderful blogging friends.

Firstly I want to make a special offer to all my WOYWW friends.  I am reducing my rubber stamps for one week only by 20% [postage still to be paid in full].  To qualify you have to be a WOYWW and as the stamps I am selling are already less than half the price I bought them for this is a real bargain.  So folks if you are one for a bargain then please pop over to the shop and grab yourself a couple of sets.

I have to say I am still on cloud nine from all the exciting news on Saturday. [please scroll down if you want to see why  :-) ].  What has really spooked me out is I have now predicted all my 5 grandchildren successfully [even down to the exact weights of the two we already have!!].  I am aware I have a 50 50 chance of being right but 5 out of 5 is pretty spooky......and I really had no doubt as to what they were  :-)

I am going to show you what our friend T made on our fun day Monday this week.  T is pretty new to sewing and she came armed with material and a seat pad from her newly painted garden garden shed that she is converting to a summer house.  Twiglet and I helped and guided her into making her new seat pad cover including putting her first zip in and by the end of the afternoon she very proudly went home carrying her finished project.  Isn't it pretty material and didn't she do a wonderful job girls?

This is what is on my work desk today.  It's gone Wedding crazy here over the last couple of weeks.  I have shortened 4 bridesmaid dresses [3 hems each!] and still have another to do and isn't this Wedding dress just gorgeous?  It's a sort of oyster colour and has lots of beaded detail.  I have to shorten the front by about 1 1/2" and thankfully the netting and under skirts are short enough to not need altering cos there are loads of them.

On top of the wedding items I have also had prom dresses, evening dresses and several customers arrived with bags full of other items needing altering.  It was certainly one of my busiest weeks and of course it all had to be done in just 3 days cos I'd taken Monday as a catch up / crafting fun day and Tuesday was a 'have fun being a Nanny day'.  

I wouldn't change my life for the world.....I have more than enough wonderful things going on that the frustrating, not so wonderful bits fade into the far distance.

Now girls it wouldn't be me if I didn't share a few garden bits with you....

Skye said she would pose for you so you can see how my Triffid is growing.  Still no flower and it seems to grow literally inches daily!

And to leave you on a high with a smile on your face I have snapped this treasure for you.  This is a poppy plant blooming for it's first year.  It has just 2 blooms on it and this one, believe it or not, is 8" across!

It's just gorgeous.

Right friends, thank you so much for dropping in and sharing my world.  Pop over to Julia's blog and join in the WOYWW fun and then go and have a wonderfully creative week.

Exciting news to share.Meet the family.....

As most of you will know yesterday our two daughters had their gender scans and I now have the exciting news to share.....

Our youngest daughter who has two gorgeous little girls is having.........

A little boy......Wahoooooooooo

This is a 2D scan and I'm sure you will all be able to make out his head and little face on the left of the picture.

Our eldest daughter who is expecting twins is having.......

[These are pictures take from 4D images so are more like photos. ]

Twin one who should end up being born first and tends to be pretty laid back is.....

A little girl.   Wahooooooooo

And.......

Twin two who is the most active of the two is.....

A little boy.   Wahoooooooo

As you can imagine I feel like all my prayers have been answered and all their dreams have come true and we all have so much to be thankful for.

Twiglet, I and our other halves have been down to Torquay for the weekend so the men could watch Shrewsbury town lose [again!] in their first play off league match so while the men were at the football us girls did a bit of celebrating all the good news.

Cheers girls  :-)

My little bit of heaven, some treasures and a mystery...

I make no excuses for this post being picture heavy because I wanted to record just how lovely our garden is at the mo.  I consider it our little bit of heaven because, even though we live in the middle of a village, when out the back of the house you don't hear the noise from traffic and the bird song is amazing.

So I'm going to take you for a little walk with my camera....

 I have taken the first picture from the patio door in the kitchen....this is the view I see every day  :-)

 I walk as far as the greenhouse and swing to the left and this is what I look at....notice the new fence is progressing well.

 A little further and you can now see the willow tree on the left [the new cut out door way is round the back of it].  In the middle of the picture you can see the wooden arch with the wisteria on.

 This is the lower part of the garden with the veg patch at the bottom [this is where Twiglet spends many a happy hour planting the veg].

 Beyond the veg patch is our 'back to nature' part of the garden with a path leading to the bird hide and log pile for all the little creatures to live.  I love the peace of just sitting down here watching the birds.....we have put up feeders and bird houses amongst the trees and it's definitely become a little bit of heaven down there.  The wild flowers can possibly be seen if you click to enlarge the picture.

 Here you can see the stars of the show.  They must be 3 of the luckiest little dogs out to have all this wonderful space to run freely in.

 I have now turned round to head back to the house and the view from the bottom is just as gorgeous  :-)

 We have a little gravel path  through the middle of the gardens and if you zoom in you will see Wispa playing peep through the archway  :-)

Nearly home now  :-)  Rocky, Wispa and Skye are ahead of me waiting for their breakfast.

I have snapped a few of the treasure I found on my way round.....

I love the variegated leaf and the pretty apple blossom coloured flowers on this Weigela.

 This clematis has thankfully survived the winter and now coming into bloom....It's called Josephine  :-)

 The Peony in now at it's best but the wind and rain very quickly knock off the blossoms because they are so heavy.

The Wisteria is just gorgeous.










And finally I have a question for all the gardening experts out there.....

What is this?

It is growing in front of our greenhouse, has huge slightly furry leaves and is now nearly 3 foot tall! with no sign of a flower as yet.

We have no idea what it is so have left it to grow to see what it develops into  :-)

I'm sorry to say the comments I had have now been deleted and along with that were the suggestions of what my mystery plant might be.  :-(  Looks like it will be a wait and see what grows  :-) 

WOYWW....

Happy Wednesday to all who pass by here.  Another week has passed and there have been more fun times to share.

Sunday was spent dodging showers and our gorgeous little boy [now  of course 23 and quite a hunky young man!] came to help his Dad dig fence post holes ready to put up a new fence in the back garden......sorry girls he refused to take his top off for you  ;-)

 ....and as you can see they managed to get most of it done....think I must have taken the pic at an angle cos that last post looks wonky and I can assure you they were all very carefully put upright my the two fencing experts :-)

Twiglet and our friend T joined me for our Funday Monday.  This was the first time we had all had a Funday Monday since the beginning of April so, as you can all imagine, there was a lot of catching up to do.  I'm afraid to say that I have no crafting to share with you....cos none was done!  I sat knitting and the other two sat browsing magazines while we talked, giggled and caught up with all the good news, sad news, frustrating news and of course exciting news [that's my fav kind].

Thankfully I had only a few customers on Monday so that Tuesday came with very little catching up of the sewing jobs because it was another FUN day for us  :-) .....yes folks a girl can never have too many fun days.  Twiglet came down to join me [again!] and we had two little visitors for the day.

Little P enjoyed a special time with her Great Auntie Jo and I know the feeling was mutual.  :-)

Little L is so nearly walking but is still very happy crawling from one lot of mischief to the next  :-)  Just wish I had half their energy.






So folks as you can imagine with such a fun day yesterday, and I have to add I had loads of customers, I now have lots of sewing to be going on with....plus on top of all that I had an evening dress and a bridesmaid's fitting yesterday, another bridesmaid today, another bridesmaid tomorrow and on Friday I have a bride and a bridesmaid's fitting.....oh and at some point I have also got a prom dress to do a fitting on!  I have a feeling someone is trying to tell me I have had enough fun for one week  :-)

Lastly I just wanted to say I have now finished my WOYWW PIF gift and thought I would tease you all with a sneaky pic of just a little of it  :-)

Do pop over to Julia's now to join in the WOYWW fun.  Have a brilliant week and thanks for calling by.

A special gift and amazing skies...

Yesterday Twiglet and I were treated to a lovely lunch by a very special friend.  We arranged to meet Tina at The Lowfield Inn at Marton which is located between the three of us. It's a lovely place to go and the food is always reliably good.  Tina came bearing gifts and I felt the need to share her works of art....

She makes these beautiful brooches using mixed media and if you click on the picture to enlarge it you will see she encorporates old letters making them even more special.  It's a lovely way of extending the life of a beautifully hand written letter.

If anyone would like to buy one then it would be well worth a visit to their gorgeous shop, Indigo Moon, in Montgomery because it really is like an Aladdin's cave of the most amazing treasures.....including two of my pictures now  :-)

Thank you Tina for this special gift and for treating us to our lunch.  You really are a treasure...we love you lots.




Tina and Twiglet came back here and we spent some quality time here in my sewing room.  Tina had been trying to teach herself to crochet so I spent a little time showing her how to get started....and I expect to see some beautifully crocheted flowers very soon  Tina :-)

I would also like to show you what a difference a few miles makes.....

This was the view from my kitchen door this morning ....the sun was shining and there were only pretty white fluffy clouds in the sky.  My darling hubby planned to dig fence holes to put up a new garden fence.

Twiglet sent me this pic of the view from her window!

You would think we lived at different ends of the country wouldn't you not literally 10 minutes from each other!

As I said to her...'the sun shines on the riteous'  :-)

Needless to say by the time I am writing this we now have a shower of rain.  Guess the varied weather is one of the things that makes England England.  :-)

Bluebells and garden success....

I have now finished my bluebell wood picture and thought I would do a show and tell.

...it includes dumfing, machine and hand embroidery.  I'm rather pleased with it cos it's been a while since Twiglet and I got creative.  I'm hoping this is the first of more to come.

'Lettuce spray'  :-)

I have to say a few prayers might have been said but I never spray my lettuces  :-)

'Beany success'

I thought I would start the kidney beans off in pots in the greenhouse and wow what success.  I think every little bean is now growing so will let them grow just a little before they are planted out in the garden......Twiglet has a patch all ready dug over for them to go into  :-)

Thanks for all your lovely comments yesterday.  I feel I have soooooo many really good friends out there that I have yet to meet.  You are all such a caring and thoughtful lot.

A poem for those difficult times.....

 I'm sure we all have times when, how ever much we know what are doing is the right thing to do, there is always someone out there doing their best to make life difficult for you.  I am having one of those times in my life just now and thought I'd share the poem I read to help me cope.  Hope it helps all who read it as much as it helps me.  Please feel free to copy, paste and print it and keep it close for when life throws you problems to deal with.....and don't let the buggers win!!!

Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centred;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, they may cheat you;

Be forthright anyway.

What you spend years building, they may destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous and scorn;

Be joyous anyway.

The good you do today, they will forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it will never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them, Anyway.

Anonymous

It gives me the confidence to continue doing what I know is the right thing to do so hope it helps you too.

Hugs to you all.  Annie x

WOYWW

Happy Wednesday to one and all of you WOYWWers.  Another fab week has passed with all the excitement of the Royal Wedding and a bank holiday with gorgeous weather to enjoy a few days off.

Firstly I would like to show you a few pics of crafty creating.

This is my latest finished little knittie.  I now have a white hoodie to knit for one of my customers before I knit the next for the family.  Both daughters have their gender scans on 14th so I will know more what colours to knit then  :-)  I've been asked to go with the eldest daughter to see the scan so am really excited at seeing the babies.

Wedding season has started here too and I already have a wedding dress and set of bridesmaids here to alter.  This bride has chosen to have her bridesmaids all in different colours and what a pretty choice of colours she has made.

Having missed yet another funday Monday Twiglet and I decided we needed to have a funday Tuesday this week instead so she joined me for a creative day yesterday.  I was seriously missing creative crafting time so I had my embellisher set up by the time she arrived and surrounded myself with dumfing inspiration [ for those that still don't know what dumfing is please click on the link to the right to find out more  :-)  ].

I really enjoyed a creative day and was proud of my efforts having dumfed a picture using the inspiration all around me....hope you like my bluebell woods pic.  I may well tweak it a little yet before I finally frame it properly but I rather like how it's going.

What a fabulous weekend we all had weather wise.  My darling hubby and I spent most of it in the garden pulling weeds, tidying up the flower beds and generally having a good sort out of sheds etc.

Here you can see how my hubby has cut a doorway into the weeping willow so that the children can use it as a play tent / hidey hole.  They haven't seen it yet but I know I would have loved playing in there when I was little.

The wisteria is now out in full bloom and smells just wonderful.....if only I wasn't suffering hay fever.  :-(

These are some of the blue bells in the back garden with our deep red peony on the right just coming into bloom.  Maybe you can see where my inspiration for my dumfing came from now  :-)





Thanks for popping by and for all your wonderful comments.  I do hope you will now pop over to Julia's and join in the WOYWW madness but be warned cos it is addictive  :-)