And then there was one....

Do you remember this pic?

Well they were still sitting there yesterday morning but then we had little visitors [and a few big ones too]...

Little Lulu just loves her Uncle Mark especially at story time.

Phoebe is a jigsaw whizz kid and just loves doing a big floor puzzle to impress her Aunty Gina.

Here's the latest pic of 'little' Steve with Amy.  I'm sure she must have developed extra muscles since she had him.  Amy is back to a size 8 now and must feel pretty clever at 'making' that little man and feeding him til now on just breast milk!  He is such a good baby too.

The little dolls were a huge success.  Even though Nanny Annie had intended keeping them here for all our Grandbabies to play with they were so well loved that two had to go home with two little girls  :-)

They are just the perfect size to be dangled by the hand and cuddled  :-)  There were tears at the thought of leaving them here [what a huge compliment] so Nanny will make some more now :-)......I know, I'm just a big softie but that's what Grandbabies are for....spoiling  :-)

My family is growing...

I try to find a picture every Friday to put smiles on faces ready for the weekend.  I'm not sure this one will do it for you but it makes me smile  :-)

You will have seen that I have been making dollies and that I had bought material to make covers for our two new 'V' cushions for the Grandbabies to use.  Here is how my table is looking this morning....

The covers are made and you can see the 3 dollies I have now made have made themselves at home here  :-)

My latest Doll is a little boy one as you can see and I think he's rather cute.  I'm planning to possibly make a few dollies to go in our blog shop so if you are interested in buying one I would be happy to make you one to order.

I do hope my pic has made you smile and that you all have a super weekend.  Stay warm and well.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

These weeks are flying by and here we are at another fun Wednesday link up with over 100 crafters who expose their messy desks creative spaces to all who call by.  I love Wednesdays.

This week has seen a house move for our daughter A, her hubby and their lovely family....long may they be happy in their new home [It's a rather gorgeous house they have moved to  :-) ].  We had a lovely time Sunday helping them set up with a telly wall bracket, window blinds, plumbing in and setting up of washing machine and and tumble dryer......it's what Dads do  :-) [Whilst I helped make lunch and played with my gorgeous grandchildren  :-) ].

Monday morning was totally wasted spent measuring curtain fabric for one of my customers to finally decide that we couldn't do what was wanted with the material she had brought.....big repeat of pattern, 2 pieces of same fabric but both different so patterns didn't match, insufficient fabric to match patterns to make double width curtains out of......yes, a nightmare!!  An hour plus wasted and still nothing!!  Guess customer won't want to pay for our wasted time.  Now you can see why we don't like making curtains.

We did make up for it though and had another fun afternoon with our friend T.  Thanks for the scrummy cake Jo.  Both Jo and T created little characters with socks and I started to make another little rag doll.

Here you can see the chaos on my table this morning.

• 1 finished doll
• 1 new doll in the making.....blue/yellow fabric this time.
• 2 packs of Pro Markers used for doll face details [never used for card making though  :-) ]
• 2 new pieces material [1 blue and 1 pink with teddies on] to cover 2 new 'V' cushions to be used for grandbabies.
• 2 pair of pink snippers [I'm never satisfied with just one :-) ...in fact I have them by every machine I use normally! ] , scissors, piece of tailors chalk.
• ball of wool used for doll hair.

I put curly hair on my little finished dolly but my girls didn't like it [comments about short curly hair were chuckled about!].....so I took it off.

Here she is with her new hair style and I have to agree with my girls that she looks much nicer now.......what do you think?

This week I've also made pockets for more little African dresses.  I've now sewn them on and nearly made the next 7 dresses .

Here you can see that I'm hoping to sew the last of the bias strips in place today on 4 of the latest little dresses.

Well that's about all I've got to share with you today.  I hope you've all had a creative week....I shall do my best to call by to see what you've all been up to but if I fail hopelessly then please forgive me cos life here does get rather hectic at times......hmmmm actually quiet moments are rather rare  :-)

Please leave me a little 'hello' comment before popping over to visit our wonderful organiser, Julia.

Hugs for you all,

Annie x

Your Friday's smile.......

I bet you're smiling now  :-)  Here is the twins having some tummy time.  What a lovely age they are now.....lots of chuckles and they only get a little grumpy when they are tired or hungry.  Such happy babies......long may it last.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Good morning to all who pass by here  :-)  Brrrrrrrrr it's a cold one.  I hope you're all tucked up in the warm today and all those that have been feeling poorly are now feeling much better.

I have a few pics today to show you what has been going on in the world of Annie this week...

Monday was another fab fun day with, much older sister, Jo and our friend T.  Jo and I set to in the morning and cut out another 14 dresses with the latest donated bedding parcels.....Jo has already made loads from the 88 dresses we cut out from the Saturday mammoth cutting session that featured in my celebration fun quiz [alas my work load has been manic the last two weeks so I haven't manage to make even one little dress].....

For those that haven't already seen....Crafty Womble was the lucky winner and these little parcels are now winging their way to her.  Thanks to all that joined in the fun.

We had a fun afternoon catching up with news, giggling and crafting [drinking coffee and eating chocolate!].

I cut out and started to sew a little dolly made using an 'Oh Sew Dollin' pattern that I bought in 2009 and hadn't got round to using.  I love dolly making and really enjoyed making the latest Mr Tumble lookie likey so thought I'd give my new pattern a go.  My  youngest daughter A bought me the gorgeous tiny print fabric pack to dress the little dollies in so here you can see the pretty pink one I've chosen for my first dolly.  She is a bit fiddly when it comes to the stuffing and I still have to give her a character with her facial features and hair etc so she has still to grow on me.  I shall be adapting the pattern so she is suitable to be played with and not just a collectible because I know that certain little people in my life just may want a play with her.    Speaking of which.......

This is how we finished off a wonderful Monday.  My two gorgeous girls, Brent and my 5 very special little people came to spend the evening with us.  Our room was filled with fun, laughter and lots and lots of love. [from the left the babies are Sam [twin], Steve [youngest], Phoebe [eldest], Louise and Lexi [twin].  This picture really makes me smile.....I'm such a proud mum and nanny and I really love my family times.

Most of you have left me lovely comments about the baby blanket I've been knitting so here is a quick update on it's progress.....

I finished knitting the 30 squares and laid them out on my table to space out the colours. [sorry about the poor lighting]

I stitched the squares into rows and then the rows of squares together in my chosen pattern.

I have since spent my evenings crocheting the border round the outside.....I like to do 2 rows of each colour in double crochet to give a nice wide band and as you can see last night I finished it  :-)  I'm so thrilled with the finished result too.  Can't you just see a summer baby wrapped in those sherbety colours?











I hope you will all leave me a little 'hello' comment before popping over to see Julia and link yourselves in to the fun.  I hope each and every one of you will stay warm and well and have a wonderfully creative week.

Hugs,

Annie x

And the winner is......

As promised I am here today to announce the winner of my celebration fun quiz.  It took a while for you girls to raise your numbers to be close to just how many this Scissor Sister's team can cut out in probably no more than 5 hours....the rest was spent drinking coffee and laughing  :-)

We work like clockwork when we get together and can usually know exactly what the other one needs doing next to get the job done.  Quilt covers get spread out on my table and very quickly we decide whether to make lots of little dresses or a few less of rather larger dresses....we aim to make dresses of all sizes so that all girls can have a special dress.  We have plain fabrics and patterned and do our best to team up the colours so that each dress makes the little girls feel special.  We also cut out all our own bias strips from the sheeting because it is softer and nicer to wear than the bought stuff.  We give each one a pocket or two....just because we can plus all little girls like a pocket and you will have seen the latest ones Jo has appliqued on her blog [I think we have made so many dresses now that it makes them more fun for us to make if we use our skills to make them all a bit different].

Right, enough waffling.  I guess what you really came here for is to find out who won.  Well.....

The actual number of cut out dress packs you could see on that table was....

88

So the winner is.....drum roll please......

Crafty Womble

Well done to you.  Can you please email me your snail mail addy and I will get a little something in the post to you asap.

Thank you to all who joined in the fun.

Hugs to you all,

Annie x

Mr Tumble is finished...

You will have seen on my Wednesday's post that I had another order for one of my Mr Tumble lookie likey dolls.  

Well, here he is finished.  I promised to put a pic up to show his new owner before I send her an invoice so I really hope she is pleased with him.  :-)

You can see I have put felt 'buttons' on the front because he is for a 2 year old little girl. 

Getting closer but not there yet and a smile or two.....

I think my yesterday's clue helped a few.  We have a guess or two in the right area now but still no correct answer as yet.

Today's Clues.....In this decade dolls came from the vegetable patch, a dividing line fell in a European country and music was being made by Duran Duran, Dire Straits, Genesis and Queen to name but a few.

Good luck folks x

 I missed to post my 'make you smile' post last Friday so to make up for it I have a couple of snaps to make you smile today.

'What a mum will do to amuse two babies at once'

.....M was definitely not going to let the twins watch Mr Tumble but it seems that needs must and in fact they certainly seem to be loving all the bright colours.....I can see orders for two more Mr Tumble dolls coming next can't you?

I know this one will cause a few Awwwwws.  It came via text to my phone with the caption....

'I'm in love with my beautiful boy'

....and who can blame her?  A says Steve is the easiest of her three babies to care for.  I have to agree with her cos he eats and sleeps and smiles and makes gorgeous noises when he's awake. 

I hope these have put a smile on your faces for the weekend and that you will all have another guess in my celebration quiz.  I will be back Monday to name the winner......good luck x

Hugs,

Annie x

Keep on guessing and here's a clue....

I have had lots of guesses in my competition now but so far no one has guessed the right number.  If by Monday the exact number hasn't been guessed I will be giving the prize to the one with the nearest guess.

Clue......'The Scissor Sisters top the charts'

If you are still struggling then I may give out more clues between now and Monday.......do feel free to use your other guesses if you have done the following and linking requested :-).......and good luck.

Leave your guesses in the competition post

WOYWW

Hello to all my wonderful blogging friends. Since last Wednesday I have sewn and sewn til my hands ache and 

.....my 'done rail' is now full to capacity

.....plus there are 6 motor cross bike trousers in a huge bag below it that have all been finished too [and what a job they were!....stiff and heavy]

....but my 'to do' rail still looks like this and I have much more still in bags waiting to be done.

Plus my ironing board looks like this today...and that can mean only one thing....wahoooooo I have another order for one of my Mr Tumble lookie likey dolls.  The last one you saw sitting here keeping me company went to a really good home just before Christmas.

So, I would have to say business wise it's been a really good week and long may it last cos we have a Wedding to pay for this year as you will have seen in the last post  :-)

Church and Reception venues...... booked

Flowers...organised

Photographer....booked

Cars...booked

Wedding dress.....bought [needs altering]

4 Bridesmaids dresses....bought this week [pretty coral pink and need altering]

Wedding stationery....in the planning stage.....Thinking....Ivory / Coral / Pink / Gerberas / Butterflies.....any suggestions for a simple design are very welcome.

 So?  You see I'm leading a pretty hectic life but that's pretty normal here.  I've still managed a bit of knitting and now have only 4 more squares to make before I can join them together and then crochet the edging on the latest baby blanket.  Do pop over to Julia's blog and check out all the other crafty spaces [I'm sure there are many more far more exciting than mine this week] but do leave me a quick hello comment before you go and I will do my best to pay you a visit in between my sewing jobs today.

PS don't forget to pop to the prev post and make your guess to join in my celebration fun to be in with a chance to win.  No one has got it exactly right as yet....folk just don't realise what a great team we make and how much we can get done in a day [well 5 hours of it anyway] :-) :-) :-)

A Count up for a Competition to help me Celebrate.....

I have so much to celebrate....

• My first born child was 28 on Saturday.  You will know her as M, Michelle or Shell, and a beautiful new mum of two gorgeous babies. She has had 12 months of extreme highs and lows as you know but has thankfully survived and has sooooo much to celebrate.  

Here you can see her with her gorgeous 'husband to be' on Friday night with another wonderful birthday cake made by my very talented son and his girlfriend. They get married in July so we have lots of exciting planning going on between now and then.

• I have now posted over 500 posts here on my blog and would like to thank all that have encouraged and supported me.
• I reached 200 followers over the Christmas break but life got in the way and I was unable to celebrate it.
• I have just been asked to make another Mr Tumble doll. You will be able to watch him develop here over the next couple of weeks.
• We are having a sale over in our blog shop so do pop over here to grab a bargain.
• I have made 91 little dresses for the 'Dress a Girl' charity and would like to thank all that have donated the fabric to make this possible.  I mention this because it is an ongoing challenge for Jo and I and this Saturday was spent cutting out more dresses.....which leads me to the competition.

The Competition

Jo and I had taken a short break from making the little dresses for the charity we support over the last few weeks because Christmas, New Year, hospital admissions and life just generally got in the way and alas there are still only 24 hours in every day.  We had been kindly given very many sheets, quilt covers and gorgeous pieces of material by so many people that I was struggling to store the huge mountain that they made.  This Saturday our men left us for the day and travelled north to watch their footy team play in the cup [alas they lost 1-0] so we were foot loose and fancy free for a whole 12 hours!  

So? What do two sewing sisters do for 12 hours?....

Answer .....we cut out dresses  :-) :-) :-) :-)

Here you can see all the little dresses that we managed to cut out.  What I am asking you to do is to guess how many we managed to bag up.  We have cut out the dresses plus bias strips and pockets and trims for each dress and bagged them up ready for sewing.  Do note that there is more than one dress kit in each bag.

Rules to enter the competition

1. Guess how many dress packs we cut out on Saturday and leave your guess in a comment below
2. Be a follower of here and in our blog shop and you can have another guess
3. Pop a link to our blog shop on your blog and you can have a third guess

There will be a prize [or two] for the nearest guess and you will have a whole week to get there  :-) :-)
I will be having a count up and will post the answer with the name of the winner next Monday.
.....and I'm not telling you what you will win yet.....cos I haven't decided  :-)

I do hope you will join in the fun and help me celebrate.

WOYWW.....we survived :-)

As most of you will know 2011 was a real challenge for us.  We seemed to go from one emergency to another.  We thought Christmas with little Lexi in hospital would be the last emergency of the year but her daddy managed to squeeze in one more!  He was rushed to hospital New Year's Eve morning in an ambulance with severe kidney pain [and those that have suffered it will know just how painful it is].  We had an early morning call to help with twin care and another day was spent feeling anxious worrying about another loved one.  He was given an injection to relieve the pain, blood tests, xrays etc and then sent back home with more pain tablets and antibiotics with instructions that if it got worse he would need to see the urologist after the holiday break!!! [Do people really not get proper care during the holidays?].  Thankfully his pain seems to have settled down now and he returned to work yesterday so we are all hoping that the new year has arrived with better health and rather less emergencies.

So, on my desk today you can see a pile of Christmas cards....yes we have taken down all our decorations [have a feeling we were both just glad to have survived it all].  I will be cutting up my cards to make labels ready for next year's pressies when I have a spare few minutes.

Also you can see the progress with the latest baby blanket.  I've just had them all out to count how many more I need to knit...20 made and just 10 more to go now  :-)  It's been a real God send to me cos I have had something to grab when shooting out the door on emergency call out.....I don't need a pattern now cos I have knit so many that I can almost knit them in my sleep.....and have been really glad to have something to keep me busy.






So folks it's a really Happy New Year to you all.  Thanks you for your wonderful support over the last twelve months.  Life just wouldn't be the same without each and every one of you.  Special thanks must of course go to Julia who holds us all together [she's like the Wednesday super glue  :-)  ]

Hope you all have a really creative year ahead of you.  I will enjoy popping in to see what you're all up to so do 'show and tell' all the wonderful things you're making. Having shut up 'Sewing by Annie' for the festive celebrations I had a steady flow of customers yesterday but also had little twinny visitors with their Mummy for the day so my 'to do' rail is now full.  I promise I will call in on as many as I can in between my sewing jobs.

Love and hugs to you all,
Annie x