Happy halloween

I would just like to wish you all a Happy Halloween and share with you our little pumpkin.

Amy brought her three dressed up in their Halloween outfits round 'trick or treating' so thought I would make you smile with little Stephen's pic.....I have a feeling this will be one for the album when he is 18 don't you?  :-)

I own up....I've been shopping...

My name is Annie, I'm 54 years old and I'm a materialolic.....and I believe there is no know cure for it.  :-)

I've been to our local shop looking for a new advent calendar panel and a bit of red fabric to make some new Christmas stockings for the new little family members and I have to admit I got a bit carried away....like you do in these shops.  :-) :-) :-) 

I ended up getting enough to make 4 new Advent calendars [cos normally when I need one I struggle to get any], some plain red cotton material and white fleece to make the Stockings out of [I probably got enough to make stockings for half the village!] and of course I just had to buy enough shirt / top lengths to make 3 new winter shirts out of for me.  Think I have enough to keep me busy now don't you?

So? What have you been up to today?  Anything you'd like to own up to?

Multitasking.....

"Help Nanny.  I'm still wearing them!"

Today's smile is another pic of little Lexi.  When washing and baby need carrying down the stairs at the same time then Mummy has to multitask of course.  I just hope Mummy remembers that Lexi has to get her clothes dirty AND take them off before they go in the washing machine  :-)

I hope my pic has made you smile and you all have a great weekend.

Wooly wellies!

Most of you will have seen on yesterday's post what I would have classed as a knitting failure....and here's the proof.

"Oh Nanny.  What have you knit me now?  They won't fit me 'til I'm ready for school and they let in the rain!"

WOYWW...

Well folks here we are on yet another Wednesday.....where do these weeks go?

I'm doing a picture heavy post today cos I had another wonderful 'Nanny Annie' day with the gorgeous twinnies yesterday so that means I will be playing catch up today with my sewing.

Firstly I'm sharing my birthday flowers with you all.  They were just too lovely to keep all to myself  :-)

On funday Monday this week we decided we would all enjoy a dumfing session [for those that still don't know what we call dumfing then you can click on the link on the right hand side to find out more  :-) ].  I'm still not feeling very creative and spend most of my crafting time lately following a knitting pattern so that my lack of  mojo hasn't been really missed. 

Our dear friend T, that joins us on our funday Monday sessions, bought me  this gorgeous birthday card to give me some inspiration so of course it would have been rude not to have used it.

So, using my card as inspiration this is what I came up with during our fun afternoon and I'm rather pleased with it.  I snapped it before framing it so you can enlarge it to see the beading it in detail.

This is the black frame I have put it in but of course it reflects the glass when snapping it.

Not all my knitting is as successful as I hoped...these are supposed to be a prem size pair of booties for Lexi but I feel they have turned out more like knitted wellies  :-)

This is what is on my desk today so if I fail to pop over to your blog to say hello this week please forgive me...I shall have to clear this mountain of sewing first.

Of course my Wednesday blog post wouldn't be complete without an awwwww moment.  This is a copy of the photo of the twins that was taken professionally in hospital.  

I just love it.  :-)

So folks,  before you pop over to Julia's blog please leave me a comment if only to say hello.  Hope you all have a great week and I will do my best to pop over to see what you've been up to when I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

I'm sharing a first...

As some of will have noticed on Jo's blog, I had an annual event yesterday  :-)  I have to say it was up there with the best too.  Jo popped down at morning coffee time with a bag full off goodies and I feel the need to share a couple of them with you cos I was so blown away by them.

This was the birthday card she made for me.  It's all machine embroidered and of course is meant to be me with my, now, 5 little grandchildren.  I love it.  Isn't she just so clever?

 This is the other pic that I want to share with you. It's well worth clicking on it to enlarge it cor a closer look. She has done us one of her amazing collage pics of the front of our house.  She has chosen the fabrics to perfection and done a truly amazing job of it.  There is just no doubt of where it is a pic of and it will be framed up to take pride of place in our home.  Thank you so much Jo.  You really are so talented.
If anyone wants one of their home then do let her know.




The only thing I ever really ask for on my birthday is to get all my family together and we have often all gone out for a meal but as you can imagine it's not so easy with 3 new little family members so this year I decided to celebrate by having everyone here for a buffet tea.  It's my son Mark's birthday on 25th too so we always have a party at some point.  

So, my first is that it was the first time all my 5 little grandchildren were together since the latest arrived.  Jo had big ideas that I would be able to get a photo of me with all 5 but it's just not that easy....one being a little shy with all the people around, one not sitting still for more than a few minutes and any one of the other three needing feeding :-)  So I just snapped away and have put them all together as best as I could  :-)

Hope you have enjoyed my celebration post as much as I have  :-)

The postman has just called....

My postman has just called with two amazing parcels from a very special lady.  Most of you will know Tricia from Tricias Confetti and my parcels are from her today.  I have filled my ironing board to overflowing with all she has sent us.  It includes.

• 14 Pillow cases
• 2 Double quilt covers and
• 3 Double sheets

to be used for the little dresses we are making for the Dress a girl around the world scheme.  It is such a truly generous donation and we will make big efforts to get little dresses cut out and made as soon as we can....life just seems to have got in the way for me lately but I promise it will all get used in time.

What gorgeous bright colours too.  Thanks so much Tricia.

Also as promised here is a quick snap of the 5 little dresses that I managed to make on Wednesday

Numbers 81,82,83,84 and 85

The lighting was poor this morning but you will probably notice I am certainly in the pink  :-)

Yesterday was spent filling my 'to do' rail with work while I had special 'Nanny Annie time' with M and her gorgeous twinnies so today is a catch up Friday to clear my sewing mountain.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

Hugs,

A x

WOYWW....

Actually on my work desk [ table ] today is....

Nothing and on my 'to do' rail is....

Nothing  :-)  Shhhhhhhhh  I'm hoping to get some little dresses made today for the little African girls.

 What I will show you though is this gorgeous wool.  We all need a little passion from time to time don't we?  :-)

I ordered 3 balls from Cari Crafts and it arrived last Wednesday morning.  It was to knit two little body warmer type cardies for Amy's two big girls so they had a little parcel to open when their little brother arrived....best made plans eh?  Of course you will all know by now that 'little' Stephen arrived rather rapidly later on last Wednesday so I had to knit rather more quickly than planned.

Amy brought her little family here Saturday morning and by then I had knitted two rather gorgeous knitties for the girls....and they loved them  :-)  [Yes, it did mean some rather late knitting but it was worth it to see their little faces]. Here is one just before I put the buttons on....doesn't the wool knit up lovely?  It really lends itself to this knitting 'on round needle' pattern and they looked even better when trimmed up, one with purple buttons and the other with turquoise buttons. [I forgot to take snaps of them both finished...basically cos I was still wrapping them as the girls pulled up on the drive!!]  If anyone wants to have a go at this pattern it can be found on Ravelry.

The other thing I would like to share with you is a parcel that arrived yesterday from my blogging friend Jo.  She sent me parcels for the little twinnies and has now also sent me another gorgeous fabric panel to make into an ABC bag for 'little' Stephen  :-)  Thank you so much Jo.  You really are such a generous lady....I promise I will get them made as soon as I am able  :-)....I really love your card too.

Now folks that's all from me today.  I'm hoping to get my head down to make some little dresses but will do my best to call in as many as I can.  Do pop over to Julia's blog and join in the WOYWW fun but leave me a little comment before you go  :-)  Have a great week everyone.

Hugs,

A x

Family and friends time.....

It's been a fab few days of family and friends and I have a few pics to share with you including a couple to show you the generosity of others.

On Saturday my youngest daughter Amy brought her little family here.  She is amazing.  She had only given birth to Stephen on Wednesday and life is already back to 'normal' for her.  She loads her car with the three children and all the bags, bottles and bits you have to bring with you and drives herself the 45 min journey to get here.  The two little girls are so proud of their baby brother and are such good little helpers for their mummy.  After a couple of hours of really special family time Amy then loaded them all back into the car and set off to meet her sister in law and baby nephew Jack in town for lunch and a bit of shopping!

As you can see 'little' Steve is is being carefully watched over by his big sisters in top left pic, being cuddled by Great Auntie Jo in the middle and hugged by his cousin Jack in bottom right pic. It's as if he has been around for ages  :-)

Yesterday we had a wonderful Funday Monday because we were joined by Michelle, Sam and Lexi  :-)  Brent had gone back to work so they came out for a bit of company and to brighten our day  :-)

We were joined by our friend T [bottom left] and Jo's daughter M [bottom right] and of course there is no Funday without Jo and we share everything so it was such a special day for us all.  Michelle is doing a brilliant job with our gorgeous little twinnies....they are being weighed today and I'm sure they have gained lots since their last weigh in  :-)

All three of our new grandbabies have been so spoiled with gifts from so many kind people.  I feel I just must show you the huge parcels that came through my door for them from my dearest blogging friend Keryn.

Both my girls were totally blown away by her generosity cos in each parcel was...

A beautifully crocheted blanket for each of them and a selection of knitted cardigans.  Aren't they truly wonderful?
Thank you so much Keryn...we all love you so much.
I'm sorry but I failed to snap Steve's parcel when opened.

The other gifts I received for the twins were two beautifully parcelled little bibs sent to me from Louise.  Michelle really loves these and they were commented on several times when she took the twinnies into her school to show them off to the staff she works with.  Thank you so much Louise.  Louise makes these bibs to sell so keep a look out for her next batch in her folksy shop if you're interested in buying some.

Some of our dresses are off on their travels...

Louise has written a wonderful post about a Backpack project by Mary's Meals - a charity that provides daily meals to children in school in developing countries like Malawi and Liberia to encourage school attendance.  They are an amazing country currently feeding over 500,000 children in 16 countries!

Her little girl Izzy is taking part with her school so Louise has contacted the charity and they are putting one of the little dresses for the Dress a Girl around the world scheme in each backpack........and some of the ones we made are in the 50 that are going  :-) :-)   Please pop over to Louise's blog and read all about the wonderful charity work and check out the gorgeous pics of the little girls that some of our dresses are going to.....do leave her a comment to support her in all the amazing work she does to organise this making little dresses scheme.

If it doesn't make you want to take up sewing then I will be surprised..... if only to make a little dress for one of the gorgeous children who have so little in life.  We will continue to make dresses for as long as we have fabric to make them.....and thankfully we have so many wonderful friends who have donated gorgeous fabrics that we will be sewing for a while yet.

All ready to go home....

For those that missed my post of last night.  Here is little Steve all ready to go home from hospital today.....he looks like he has been here before doesn't he?   It sounds like Amy has had a really good first night with him and our latest addition to the family is feeding and doing all he should.....I changed his big sister's first dirty nappies when they were born and Amy asked if I would like to pop in to change Steve's  :-)  When I declined she asked me if I would like a photo?  :-)....you will be pleased to hear I declined that too hehehe

Yahoo more great news to share...

Amy and Dave would like me to share with you all their great news. Stephen David was born at 4.52 this afternoon weighing in at 8lb 10oz.  Amy text me at 3.50 to say she was on her way to hospital having contractions every 3 mins.  Next text said....'My waters have just gone in the car and we are still 10 mins from the hospital!'.  Thankfully she managed to safely reach the hospital but was only on the ward 22mins before our gorgeous little grandson arrived!  Both are doing really well [and doesn't she look amazing?].....he looks enormous up against his little twinnie cousins  :-)

WOYWW.....

I'm a bit late today but I have a really good excuse.  I normally type up my Wednesday post on Tuesday night and put it to launch automatically so I can start my day's sewing first thing on a Wednesday morning but last night I had some rather special visitors that filled my house with love.  The two new additions to our family came to visit with their mummy and daddy and so did their big cousins with their mummy [still playing the waiting game for number 3 to arrive...it won't be long now] and to join in the fun their Uncle M and Auntie G came too.  The first fun gathering of the clan with all our children and grandchildren and very probably the only one while we only have 4 grandchildren cos little Steve will be coming out to play very soon.  :-)

How much love can you fit on one settee? It's only a 3 seater but I can count 8 on there if I can count the one tucked up inside his mummy  :-)

Big cousins enjoying a cuddle with their baby cousins.  :-)

Here is one very organised new daddy showing us how to transport twins.  :-)

The health visitor is really pleased with the twinnies cos little Lexi has gone from 4lb to 5 lb and her big brother Sam has gone from 5lb 13oz to 6lb 8oz.  What a great job M and B are doing.  

 On my desk today you can see the two boxes full of little African dresses all cut out ready to make....and this is just some of them cos Twiglet has lots more cut out and ready up at her house......looks like I have a bit of catching up to do with my dress making doesn't it?

Sitting watching me is the last Mr Tumble doll that I was asked to make.  Yes he is still here....because the lady that ordered him just never emailed me back! Why would anyone order something and then just disappear?

So if you know any little person who would like to own a Mr Tumble dolly then please email me for details....he will have red buttons when finished but these will be made of felt if the child it is wanted for is under 3 years old for safety reasons.

Well folks thats all from me for today....I have sewing waiting for me and the postman should bring me more gorgeous wool today to knit some chunky cardies with so I had better get moving  :-)  Thanks for dropping in.  Hope you all have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

Another 64 reached Louise and what Nannies do...

Louise is the lady who is our UK organiser for the dress a girl around the world appeal and she has just posted our last parcel of little dresses on her blog.  Please pop over to check them out if you are one of the very kind people who donated fabric to us to make the dresses with.  You will see that we have put it to good use  :-) Louise has also given me the heads up with my little bears.  She very kindly bought 7 of them for her family after seeing my bags full on my last post.

I would also like to show you what to do if one of your new grandchildren arrived rather smaller than expected.  Little Lexi was supposed to be over 5lb on the scan her mummy had 2 weeks before she was born but surprised us all by being only 4lb and nearly 2lb smaller than her big brother.  M has struggled in finding clothes to fit her so Nanny Annie has been knitting.

This is the first that you saw in the making on Wednesday's blog. These little cardies only take a couple of days to make and make lovely little body warmers.

And these are two more I've made since.  What makes them even more special is yesterday I popped into Tesco's [one of the very few places you can buy tiny baby clothes] and managed to grab some real bargains.  They had a rail full of half price baby clothes and I managed to get 3 tiny little outfits that will not only fit her but match the little knitties to perfection  :-)  Of course I couldn't miss out little Sam and just had to treat him too.  :-) .....isn't that what being a Grandma is all about?  :-)  

Of course we then just had to call in to see them on our way past and give them a cuddle too.  You will all be really thrilled to hear M is now looking and feeling much better and those gorgeous twinnies are just adorable.

Also don't forget that baby number 3 for my youngest daughter A is due this week too so more excitement is yet to come  :-)

WOYWW and someone special has a BIG birthday today...

Firstly girls I must say a Happy Birthday for someone special in my life that has a BIG birthday today.

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to Twiglet,

Happy Birthday to you,

Yes, it's a really BIG one for her today and I know you will all want to sing along with me.  Happy Birthday Jo.  Really hope you have the best of days.  I have sooooooo much the thank you for especially of late.

Now girls you will all know that M is now back home with her gorgeous babies and life is returning to 'normal'....slowly and steadily.  She has asked me to say a huge thank you to all of you wonderful bloggers who have supported us through the last two weeks and has allowed me to share with you this really special photo of the happily little family now enjoying special times together at home.

I have done a lot of catching up with sewing jobs this week and still have more to go yet so blogging has been pushed right to the back for me.  I will do my best to get round as many of you as I can but please forgive me if I fail hopelessly.  I will get there eventually.  

I've done the sewing job for the lady who lives in Scotland....if anyone needs sewing doing I am more than happy to do any sewing jobs as long as you are happy to pay the postage and will happily give you a quote for any job....it often works out cheaper than getting it done locally cos I charge very reasonable prices.  :-)

My WOYWW post is going to be a picture heavy to let you all see what I've been up to....

 These are pics taken Monday of the latest little dresses we have made for the African girls.  My little sewing room was completely filled with them.  There is another 64 here bringing our total now up to 193!!  They are all colors and all sizes so I'm sure there will be lots of happy faces on a lot of little African girls.  A huge thank you to all that have sent us fabric to make them with.  I hope you can see we have used it wisely.  These are all now winging their way to Louise so I'm sure will be featured on her blog soon.

 

Ive singled out this pretty little dress so you can see the lovely job our friend T did to make this one.  She is very new to sewing and learned a lot while working along side us to make her first little dress.  What an achievement and how lovely of her to choose to give it away to the great cause.

Twiglet and T spent Funday Monday afternoon working on making a bag for T from a felted cardigan.....I will do my best to put a pic on here when the bag is finished.

I spent the afternoon knitting another little cardie for tiny little L.  At 4lbs it's not easy to find clothes small enough to fit her  :-)

Today my desk is covered with my little bears.  My baskets are needing filling up for the craft fair that Jo and her daughter are having a table at on Saturday in Montgomery.  Please call in and give them some love and support if you can.  I have declined to help this time as we are still awaiting the arrival of our other daughter's baby [due 14th].  So much happening still in this mad world I live in  :-)  :-)

If anyone wants little bears for a special person then please pop over to our blog shop to check them out and email me with your order.  I write the little poems that come with each little bear and they have been known to work real magic by bringing smiles to those needing them most.

Well folks, that's it from me for this week.  I will try to get round to your blogs when I can I promise.

Hugs,

Annie x