Look what the postman brought today....

I want to say a huge thank you to Anne and Wanda for sending me material to make more little dresses with.  I am pretty blown away by their generosity and will soon cut out and make gorgeous little dresses with the beautiful material they have both sent.

Anne sent me 4 gorgeous pieces of children's printed material.  These will make really cute little dresses so thank you so much Anne for being so generous.

Wanda sent me 4 pillow cases and two pretty pieces of material all the way from USA......the world really is a smaller place to be isn't it?  Thank you so much Wanda.  We will have a lot of fun making all this gorgeous fabric up into pretty little dresses.

As they say the more the merrier.  The 30 dresses we have already made are now winging their was to Louise so I can now fill my rail with more pretty dresses.  Thank you all for your wonderful support for this great cause.  I am happy to have any spare pillow cases or pieces of cotton/poly cotton fabric posted to me and will keep running up as many little dresses as I have spare time for....I am really loving the challenge and having little girls in our own family makes me realise how important feeling pretty is to all little girls the world over.

Friday night's fun time...

As I said in one of yesterday's posts Twiglet was coming down for a fun evening last night and the plan was to parcel up the dresses we had finished to send to Louise at Sew Scrumptious.  Twiglet had managed to make three more dresses in the afternoon taking her total up to 9 and I managed another one yesterday afternoon to take my total to 21.

Here is the last one I made to go in this parcel.  It's made from material from a double quilt cover with a pretty little pocket on the front....so plenty more fabric left to make other.

We then parcelled up our 30 little dresses and I will post them later this morning.  It was such a thrill to see them all together and we would really love to see Louise's face when she opens the parcel.

Twiglet then lifted down my boxes of stored fabric pieces and we found enough fabric to make 5 more dresses and many more other pieces to trim up others.  Probably the next time you see these pretty fabrics they will be trimming up lots more little dresses cos we will be making the next batch very soon.

What a pretty pair....

Twiglet is coming down for the evening tonight [whilst the men are at a footy match] and we intend to parcel up the dresses we have made so far to post them to Louise so me, being me, and my OCD, had to round my dresses up to the 20.  :-)  After all 18 just wouldn't do would it?  :-)

So here is the pretty pair of dresses I have just ran up this morning in my coffee break  :-)

They are both made from pillowcases and I've used the trimmings from the one to pretty up the other....nothing gets wasted here  :-)

So Louise keep an eye out for that postman cos they will all be winging their way to you very soon.

If there is anyone wanting to know more about the Dresses for Africa then please pop over to Louise's blog and if you are unable to sew but would like to support the great cause I am more than willing to make dresses out of any pillowcases or pretty cotton/poly cotton fabric you are willing to donate to the cause.  Just email me at wipso@toucansurf.com for details.

Colour from our garden....

I had a quick walk around our garden last night snapping a bit of colour to share with you.

It's not the best snap cos he didn't really want to pose for me but this is our visiting woodie feeding on the nuts literally just 4 foot from the shed I was standing in  :-)

These are a couple of the thistles in our wild area at the bottom of our garden....some,as you can see, are rather more planned than others  :-) The finches will enjoy these when they go to seed.

The veg garden is looking good too....here are the kidney beans now growing big enough for the picking and sharing....you need to help yourself Twiglet.  :-)

We have put a new obelisk for our everlasting sweet pea to grow up this year and it really seems to be enjoying it's new home

Wow.....look at my poppies now.....just my most fav flower.  They are such a stunning bright red at the mo.

And to finish off here's one to put a smile on every face.  Sunshine on a stem....cos there isn't much up in the sky here today so far.  Enjoy your weekend.

I'm hooked.....

I am really loving making these little dresses for African girls and have to say I'm rather hooked now.  I have been promised lots more material so I shall be setting to and making all I can in the spare time I have during my working days.  It's such a well worth while cause so I feel my time is being spent wisely.

Therefore I just might be posting a few dresses to keep you posted each day or so.  These are my today's selection.....

This is another one made with the blue sheeting one of my customers gave me trimmed up with the trimmings from a dress I shortened for another of my customers....A great way of using up such pretty materials don't you think?

This is one made from the navy spotted material Penny sent me from France.  Being a darker fabric we thought it would make really pretty dresses for bigger girls and I've trimmed this one up with white bias binding and a pretty embroidery anglaise pocket.....I hope you approve Penny.

Another little dress made using the blue sheeting but this time trimmed up with bias and pockets made using the pretty quilt cover I picked up in a charity shop....a gain gain situation don't you think?

I can see a parcel will be heading your way pretty soon Louise to make room for the next batch here  :-)

If you want to learn more about why I'm making little dresses then please pop over to Louise's blog at Sew Scrumptious.  If you are unable to make the dresses yourself but have fabric you are willing to donate I will keep running up as many little dresses as I have time for.  I'm really loving the challenge.  Just email me for details of where to post to.

What I did yesterday when the rails of sewing were cleared...

I set to and cleared my sewing pile early cos I was expecting my big....no I mean BIG girl to come to have fun here for the day....company for us both  :-)  [and of course she had another little sewing job for mum to do].  We were also joined for a morning coffee break by Twiglet and her daughter M.....thanks for popping down to see us.  It was really lovely to share our special times.

I insisted M posed so you could share the excitement of the growing bump with us.  I had lots of special 'hands on' time during the afternoon while the twinnies were having their daily exercise....boy do they kick! [ouch!]  As you can see there is no room upwards now so the only way is out cos she still has 11 more weeks to go yet!  Thanks M for allowing me to share this exciting time with you.

Also I set to and made 3 more pretty dresses to pass on to Louise for little girls in Africa..This one was made with some of the blue fabric given to me by one of my customers and I've done a bit of machine embroidery and put a pretty pocket on the front to jazz it up .

These other two are made with the pretty material Penny sent me from France....thanks again Penny they are really pretty.  Ive made matching bias bindings for them both and added pretty little pockets too. [sorry about the camera angle...they really are even both sides  :-) ]

The other thing I wanted to share with you is the lovely parcel that arrived yesterday morning from Di....I was one of the lucky ones to win some pro marker nibs in her gift draw.....now all I need is some pro markers to put them on  :-)  Thanks Di

WOYWW....

What a busy week it's been so far....Monday was manic and Tuesday was no better.

My weeks story in pictures...

I finished my latest pair of little knitties for the twins over the weekend.

One of several batches of home made bread made so far this week...I rarely buy bread but who would blame me?  If this was smelly blog then you would understand.

The postman brought me a parcel Monday morning all the way from Penny [Violet-White] in France for me to use to make little dresses for the African girls.....Thank you so much Penny for your support....the world really is a smaller place.

By  the end on Monday Twiglet had helped me cut this material into 6 little dresses and 3 larger ones...plus another batch from some pale blue sheeting one of my customers gave me to use.

This little bird had flown into my sewing room window so I gently picked him up and he happily hopped up and down my arm while he recovered so Twiglet snapped a quick picture for you.

These three offered me no help what so ever and decided to just enjoy the sunshine!!

During Monday we had a visit from M so I snapped a quick pic for you to see how the twinnies are growing.  Bless her she has little room left and still has another 11 weeks to go/grow.  She came out with one of her friends [also 21 weeks pregnant] and her little 2 year old boy who needed his trousers shortening.....I can't wait to have little grandsons....little J was so cute and such a good boy.

During Monday I had soooooooo many customers and they filled my 'to do' rail with 3 curtains to shorten and 8 pair of trousers!!

I guess I don't have to tell you what I spent Tuesday doing.

So?  What's on my work desk today?

This lot has just arrived through my door and he would like these 5 pair of trousers all done to pick up later today!!  3 need either letting out or taking in and all 5 need shortening!!  Another busy day ahead of me!

Sorry my post is so picture heavy today but it was the easiest was of sharing my week with you all.  In my quiet times I shall be running up as many little dresses as I can fit in and am still accepting any donations of spare pillow cases or fabric so please hunt out any you've got spare and send them along to me....just email me for more details.

Before you shoot off to Julia's to join in the WOYWW fun just leave me a quick comment even if only to say hello.  Have a great week.

A dress before 9.....

My day has started off well.  I've cleared the decks ready for a full table this afternoon.  We are expecting our friend T to join Twiglet and I as normal but are also expecting Suz and Tina to join in our fun afternoon today  :-)

I'm not expecting we will get a lot of crafting done so I've made an early start and have made a little pillowslip dress before 9 o clock!

It's made from a cream pillowslip with a delicate flower print so I have trimmed it up with pink bias and a pretty lace trimmed pink pocket.

Looking forward to our Funday afternoon of chat and giggles.  Hope you all have a great day too.

Today's dress...

This morning I managed to finish sewing pockets onto the last of the 10 little dresses I'd made this week before then clearing my 'to do' rail of my customers sewing so this afternoon I have ran up dress number 11 from a pillow case.

I've trimmed it up with a matching lilac bias binding and a little appliqued pocket.  What do you think?  I'm sure any little girl would love a pretty dress covered in flowers.

More pockets....

You will have seen in the earlier post that I have been making pockets for the pink dresses.  Those ones are now stitched on and the dresses look really pretty.

Well, here are the next ones I have just made to go on the turquoise / blue / green ones  :-)  I will stitch these on in the morning.

I have appliqued flowers on the front and have stitched buttons for their centres.  Cute or what?  :-)

I can now make another batch of dresses with some wonderful pale blue sheeting that has been kindly donated by one of my customers.  She has given me two enormous pieces of brand new broad loom sheeting.  Now all I have to do is to hunt out some pretty blue fabrics to jazz it up with ....easy peasy....cos blue is my fav colour so I'm certain I will find lots of pieces suitable.

Lucy Locket lost her.....

Well?  As we all know she lost her pocket.  

I spent this morning finishing off the 10 little dresses for Africa.

Here they are hanging on my 'to do' rail.  Don't they just look lovely?

I felt there was one thing missing from them though so I sorted out some matching fabric and have, so far, made 5 pockets for the pink dresses.  I'm sure all little girls like a pocket to put something special in.

I was disturbed mid morning by big sis who joined me for coffee [thanks for the company Jo].  As you will have seen on her blog she has been knitting for our expected grandbabies.  She had knit a little pink cardy and a little blue cardy but was really struggling to find buttons for them. 

 I tipped out my box of blue buttons on my ironing board [look at how many I've got and those are just the blue ones!] but even then we really struggled to find 4 little matching blue ones for the cardy.  Would you believe it?

For those that missed my request in yesterday's post....If anyone has spare pillow cases that you would be willing to donate to the cause I would be happy to run them up into extra little dresses for Africa so please would you hunt them out and email me at wipso@toucansurf.com for details of where to post them to. They can be patterned or plain and as long as they still have life left in the fabric they will be good. Thank you ever so much if you can help out.

Latest update and a request .....

Wahooooooo Curtains are done and my 'to do' rail is now empty so look what I've done since.....

These are the latest 4 little dresses for Africa to be finished. I have 3 more cut out and ready to be sewn so should soon have ten finished  :-)  I know these 4 are all the same but it was pretty fabric and I'm sure there will be lots of little girls out there that really won't mind.  

I shall be on the look out for more suitable pillow cases or quilt covers when the last 3 are made up.  If anyone out there has pretty spare pillow cases that still have plenty of life left in the fabric and would be willing to donate them to the cause I am happy to run a few more up so please email me for details of where to post them to.    Never an idle minute here.....[it keeps me out of mischief.]

WOYWW.....

There is so much going on over here at Sewing by Annie's at the mo.  What with theatre visits to see some pretty hunky young men work their magic on Sunday night [see post below] to a really wonderful workshop on our Funday Monday [see Twiglet's blog to catch a glimpse of the pretty dress she made].  There is always something going on here.

On Saturday, whilst in Shrewsbury, we popped into a few charity shops looking for pillow cases to make some dresses to be sent to Africa.  If you check out Louise's blog at Sew Scrumptious you will see she is a collection point for these dresses and has now gathered over 100 [50 of which have already been taken out to Malawi ].  I have been watching this collection growing but had been really busy with the sewing business til now but was determined to join in by making a few.  I was unable to find any suitable pillow cases but managed to find two single quilt covers [just £4.50 for the two so the charity shop benefited too] and after cutting curtains first thing Monday morning Twiglet and I set to and cut out 10 dresses from the quilt covers.  Our friend T arrived for our Funday Monday armed with her own pillow case and we set about making.  What a brilliant afternoon we had.  There was much laughter and learning going on and of course the compulsory drinking of coffee/tea and eating of chocolate [thanks T].

Here is what was achieved in just one afternoon.  3 pretty little dresses. [Would have been more if I hadn't been disturbed by customers...they are just so thoughtless aren't they?  :-) ] We cut self fabric bias strips for binding the arm holes and straps and these were easily pressed into shape using my clever bias binding making tool. [wouldn't be without it].

[ I am imagining them being worn maybe by 3 little girls in one family and a very proud mum pointing them out to her friends.]  

As you can see the material to make the other 7 is close by and I promise I will make these as soon as I have cleared my mountain of sewing that is waiting for me.....

This is my 'to do' rail today.  I know....boring boring boring but the, now 1098 customers, I have seem to like coming back for more  :-)  I'm still getting 2/3 new customers every week....where do they all come from?

...and yes, that includes curtains  :-(  huge ones that I have to shorten and join together back to back to make a door curtain!

And of course I have to leave you with a bit of colour out of my garden for this rather gloomy week.

Hold on to your hollyhocks girls!! 

 

Thanks for calling in.  Please leave me a comment if only to say hello and then pop over to Julia's blog to join in the WOYWW fun.

One not to be missed...

Last night Twiglet treated my darling hubby and I to theatre tickets to go to see Blake at the Severn Theatre in Shrewsbury.  They are truly 4 very talented young men [and very handsome too].  They have amazing voices and sang a variety of types of music [and are very handsome too].  They were joined on stage a couple of times by a local youth choir and another choir from Chester who raised the roof with their harmonies.  It was really brilliant entertainment and all three of us came home feeling uplifted. I'm still humming their music....this is helped by the fact my hubby bought me their CD and the [very handsome] young men signed it for me before we left the theatre. 

If you get the chance to go to see them grab it with both hands.  It was a brilliant night's entertainment......and, by the way, they are very handsome.  :-)

Thank you soooooooo much Jo. xxxx

I feel it was worth the effort....

I know a lot of you were fascinated by me using two balls of wool to knit the fronts and sleeves so the pattern in the wool matched when knitting my latest little hoody.  I finished it last night and though you would like to see how it worked out.

I'm so pleased with it and really love the little toggles I've managed to find for it.  What do you think?  Wasn't it worth the effort to get the matching two halves?.

WOYWW.....

Another busy week for me and the sun has been shining too.  This means there has been time spent outside at the weekend.

Monday was another fun day and the table had 4 of us round this week.  My Tuesday afternoon coffee friend has been off work following having her tonsils out [ouch] so she brought her knitting round and joined in the fun and laughter [and chocolates of course...thanks T].  Twiglet sat on her sewing machine creating another amazing work of art in her Montgomery featured range of buildings [I'm sure she will be doing a show and tell of it soon].  T sat the other side of the table on her machine making a beautiful appliqued owl cushion [I hope to show you that when she has finished it] and our friend E and I sat knitting [E is knitting a beautiful fluffy scarf and I'm knitting the next little hoodie for one of the grandbabies].  What an industrial lot we looked.

During our funday Monday I had a lot of customers with a lot of items of clothing so it was a catch up Tuesday...that is in between a hair cut, a house viewing at our neighbours house [ yes folks, we are now able to sell out elderly neighbours house for her :-) ] and of course Tuesday afternoon's coffee time with E.  :-) so this is what is on my 'to do' rail today.

I have now finished the beautiful baby blanket.

This is just a close up of the border....I love it cos it has really brought the right colours out in the blanket.






Of course it wouldn't be a Wednesday show and tell without just a few snaps of our garden for you.

A newly trimmed front hedge.  This took all of Sunday afternoon to trim and we still have the other side to do for our neighbour!

A much treasured old milk churn of my fathers that sits by my sewing room door and looks lovely with the begonias in the top.

I couldn't resist a quick snap of this beautiful clematis....I really love this colour and shall prob use this picture as inspiration for one of my fabric pictures.

Look at this amazing flower head on this dahlia.  Isn't it just gorgeous?  Thanks M [this was one you gave us].

Now folks I would like to thank you for dropping in.  Please leave me a comment if only to say hello and then pop over to Julia's to join in the WOYWW fun and to find out more if you have no idea what I am talking about.