WOYWW...

It's a desk with a difference for me this week.  I've been getting messy so here's a look at what I've been doing....

Yes I've been doing some lino cutting and printing for a couple of designs of Christmas cards.

The designs were taken from ideas I found on the good old Pinterest.  I've not done and lino cutting or printing for years so it was lovely to have a play.

Here they are drying before being mounted onto cards.

I think I prefer the little houses to these but we will see what they are like when mounted up and finished.

But mostly this week I've been sat suffering a flare up of my arthritis in my left hip, dosed up with Paracetamol and Nurofen and sitting on a heated pad to ease the pain so I've been doing a bit of knitting.

I just grabbed a pair of needles, some wool and a fairly easy pattern to keep my mind off the aches.....I'm not saying it worked but I guess it helped.

So that's it from me for this week.  I will do my best to call in at yours to say hello but please forgive me if I don't do a lot of blog hopping this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 247

Hello all.  I hope you've all had a lovely week filled with smiles and you will share them with us all by linking them at the bottom of the page.  Many thanks to those who join in each week....I really love to see what's making you all smile so please keep up the good work.  It's good for us to smile so consider it your therapy for the week  :-)

It's been a rather trying week here but as always I have smiles I can share....

My little twinnies have been trying on their angel outfits they will be wearing at the school end of term nativity.....cute little angels eh?

Milly has been getting to know a new toy we treated her too because her little brown dog favourite is alas perished and I'm struggling to get it to fit inside the replacement covers I make.....I'm sorry to say that even though this is meant to be a tough toy it may not be tough enough for our little Milly as I've already had to repair it twice!!

I thought this pic might raise a few chuckles....I'm making some Christmas fairies/angels for the fayre that's up and coming....here they are hanging as glues are drying waiting for their wings to be made and if you listen very quietly you can here them singing.....'I wish I could fly'.  For those that don't know the song I mean here's a link for you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGnuMxFnc1k

I have a feeling you will be humming this for a while now.....I have been  :-)

And finally I thought I'd share a few pics of the autumn colours in our garden at the mo plus a few of the flowers that as yet haven't been nipped by the early morning frosts.....such gorgeous colours out there aren't there? Sorry if some of the pics are a little blurred but it was a blustery day and the flowers wouldn't sit still for me.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called in and if you can then link up to your own smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

This is where the fun starts.  Last week there seemed to be so many of you making Christmas cards that I thought I'd best get started so after hours of searching on Pinterest for inspiration and finding nothing that stirred my creativity......

I filled my desk with Christmas fabrics.....but couldn't get inspired to make cards out of any of it so.....

I found a roll of gorgeous gold voile that a good friend [you know who you are....thank you] gave me a while back and using festive ribbons I made several 'masterboards'.

Now that's inspiring isn't it?

I chopped them up and......

Hey presto I've now made my first 40 Christmas cards!!

The Christmas fabrics were still 'calling' me so I searched Pinterest again and I found an idea to make some stars for my up and coming Christmas fayre.

Each one needs four 3"x12" pieces of fabric that you fold into four length ways to enclose the raw edges then with lots of clever folding origami style it makes a star with no sewing required.....just a lot of patience!!

I think they are Scandinavian in origin and I rather like them.  What do you think?

That's all from me for this morning.  I hope you like my start to Christmas crafting and will leave me a little message so I know you've called in then as soon as I'm able I will do my best to pay you a return visit.  Have a fun week folks.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 246

Another week has passed and we are here at my round up of the smiles from this week.  Many thanks to those who join in each week....I love to see what's making you all smile,

My week's smiles have been many so here's a few pics to share with you all....

My two little brownies went to the Remembrance service at their local church on Sunday and were given the job of laying the poppy wreath for their Brownie group.....proud moments.

Little Theo loves his books as you can see....he's reading while his mummy changes his nappy  :-)

There's such a wonderful world out there to explore when you've just learnt to walk....here he is enjoying some family time with his mummy and daddy at Attingham Park at the weekend.

My happy post for the week was this stack of gorgeous cotton laces.....I've got to stop stroking them and find a special job for these now.

And this is the gift that just keeps on giving....we were given it for last Christmas and just look at it now.  It's simply stunning and I don't think I've even seen one with so many blooms before.

There you go.  Those are my smiles now please leave me a little comment then share your smiles with us by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Another week has passed and still no Christmas card making here for me....I just may have to buy some this year!!!

I have a few pics and tales to share with you of course.....

Yes just look at these two pics....I have dusted and cleaned and cleared the decks ready for a crafty morning with that much older sister of mine and our friend Toni [and taken pics before we messed it up again!].

Jo brought her rug that she's making and some knitting and Toni brought her dumfing machine with her....something she hadn't done for a while but as we say 'it's like riding a bike' [not that I can do that!].  I'm sorry to say that we chatted, drank coffee, ate chocolate brownies [thanks Jo] and crafted but alas I missed to take any pics.....but I'm sharing my clean/tidy room with you.

These are the three latest Memory bears I've made...

This one is to remember a special dad called Bob who always carried a hankie in his pocket so of course Bob the bear had to have a pocket with a little hankie in it.

And these two are the ones I've made for the foster mum to put in the memory boxes of the latest two little ones she has in her care ready for when they move on to their forever homes when they are adopted.....there should be more foster carers like this one shouldn't there....she's special?

This is what's on my desk this morning.  I have cut up two tiny babygros ready to make two little hearts in memory of a little baby who was born 'sleeping'.  I do get asked to make some really special things don't I?.....I just hope I can do just what is needed to give the parents some comfort in the years to come.

There you go.  I always say no two days are the same here at Sewing by Annie's and this week has proved it.

I have a draw over at my Facebook page so that on Christmas day I will choose one lucky winner to win one of my Memory bears so please head over there and get liking, sharing and tagging all your friends because the more you help me to spread the word the more chances you get to win it.  Good luck folks.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 245

Oh what a week it's been here at Sewing by Annie's.....and yes thankfully one filled with smiles.

Firstly let me thank those who took the time out of their busy lives to share their smiles last week....you really are such special friends.

Now on to a quick round up of my week's smiles in pics....

I've managed to finish the sewing for a big order for a shop in Doncaster....it just needs bagging up now.

• a 3 metre [approx] length of bunting
• 20 doggy bandanas
• 10 doggy ties and 
• 10 doggy bow ties.

On top of that little lot I've also had orders for 6 Memory Bears ....and yes that really makes me smile because each one comes with it's special reasons for making them.

A very special friend send me some really happy post as a belated birthday present....how well she knows me even thought we have only met once in real life.  Thanks Ellie xxx

As you know my grandchildren never fail to make me smile.  Theo has been having some fun with some salt dough and his mummy shared a few pics with me.

This is Phoebe, our eldest grandchild, blowing out the candles on her birthday cake....she's 9 now and is such a beautiful girl inside and out....I know I'm biased but I'm such a proud Nanny Annie.

 And here she is with her sister Lulu and brother Steve pulling faces for their mummy....don't you just love them?

There you go.  I've shown you my smiles now leave me a little message so I know you've called by and then link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Another week has passed and lots has been going on on my desk this week so here's a quick catch up...

The pretty fabrics you saw on my desk last week were stroked and pondered over and eventually I cut them out into 36 x 6" squares having removed the spotty one as suggested by Catriona last week....she was right that it didn't go with the others.  Here I am mid joining the pieces together.....Coffee cup handy of course.

Here it is wadded, backed, quilted and edges bound...I like to do a row of a pretty machine embroidery to hold the binding in place to finish it off.....I'm sure this will put a smile on the face of the birthday girl I've made it for.

I then moved on to making some bunting to go in a new shop near Doncaster....pretty fabric isn't it?

This is actually my desk this morning....I'm making two bears for a Foster mum so that the bears can be given to the two little ones she has at the mo when they move on to their new adoptive parents....isn't it a lovely idea and I'm sure the bears will hold very happy memories for them.....I do get asked to make some really special bears don't I?

There you go.  Just a quick round up but I hope you've enjoyed your visit.  Please leave me a little message and I will do my best to pop over to yours when I get a spare minute.....I don't always get many of those so if I don't call by then please forgive me....I do my best.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 244

Here we are at our weekly catch up of smiles for the week.  I'm sure it does me good to focus on the happy times each week so why not have a go and join in the fun?  Everyone is welcome.  Just write a post on your blog sharing a smile or two from your week and link them below so we can all benefit from a few extra smiles.

Many thanks to those who joined in last week.

As promised my smiles this week include some pics from Mark's 30th birthday celebrations....you may spot a few faces you know on there.....just click to enlarge if you need a closer look.

Everyone made a big effort at getting into character as you can see and a great time was had by all.

Of course it's also been Halloween this week so I am sharing a couple of pics of my little trick or treaters...

As you can see Poppy the dog likes to be in on the pics too....she thinks she's one of the children I'm sure.

You may be able to see Sam has a spider on his left cheek and he insisted he hugged me and I had to kiss that side of his face cos he knows I am scared of spiders....little monkey!

That's my smiles for this week.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and if you can then link up to something that's made you smile this week.
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW.....

Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our friends and their creative spaces around the world.....I love seeing what you've all been up to.

It's been another manic week here at Sewing by Annie's since last Wednesday...

• We were out Thursday night enjoying some quality time together with my life long friends to celebrate her 60th Birthday...she has moved recently to Chirk which is just 40 mins away from us so we hope to catch up on a more regular basis from now on.
• Friday night was our son Mark's 30th birthday party....it was an 80s / 90s themed fancy dress party and I hope to share some pics with you on my Friday smiles post so if you need a giggle then please pop back then and why not share your own smiles too and link up with us?
• Saturday morning was supermarket shopping and then in the afternoon we had our daughter Amy and her three here for a couple of hours.
• Sunday morning we enjoyed a walk around Attingham Park with Milly....she loves catching up on all the doggy news with the many dogs that walk there.  In the afternoon we enjoyed the sunshine and had a good tidy up in the garden ready for winter.
• Monday it was back to work for a rest and this is what I've been sewing......

A friend of our daughter Amy gave me a bin bag  filled with old jeans because she felt I might make use of the denim so as a thank you I made a memory bear out of one of the pairs for her 6 year old little boy.....washed denim really is lovely to sew with and it made a really lovely little bear.

One of my customers brought me a pale blue cardigan and a navy cardigan that used to belong to her one Grandma and a beautiful cream embroidered nightie that used to belong to her other Grandma and these are the two Memory bears I've made out of them for her.  Both very different but they hold very special memories of the two much loved ladies.

The other thing on my desk is this selection of fabrics that I have sorted out to make a lap quilt out of for an elderly aunt who will be celebrating her 100th birthday just after Christmas.....I may add/edit them yet before making the quilt but thought these were rather pretty.

That's all I've got to share for today so if you leave me a little message so I know you've called in I will do my best to pay you a return visit to see what's on your desk this week....and don't forget to call back on Friday for your smiles of the week and join in the fun if you can.

Hugs,

Annie x