WOYWW....

Well folks what a wonderful week last week was....for so many reasons.

The 9th blog anniversary saw me visiting everyone who had joined in the fun....even if there were a few I was unable to leave a comment on [sorry about that].

I've had a lovely week since with happy mail popping through my letterbox each day with ATC swaps.....

Many thanks to...
[from top left...]

Sarah
Jo
Margaret
Heather
Jan
and Neet

Nikki
Cindy
Angela
Julia
and Shaz

They are all so different but each one was made with love and I will treasure them....just got to make a folder now for them to go in :-)

It was a really busy week for me with sewing too.  In the 4 days I worked [I don't work Tuesdays as I often have little Theo to look after] I managed to.......

• Make 2 Memory bears and 1 Memory rabbit 
• Shorten 2 bridesmaids dresses 
• Put a concealed zip in a heavily sequined evening dress 
• Shorten 3 dresses 
• Shorten the sleeves on 2 dresses 
• Shorten 4 pair trousers and
• Take in a bikini top

As you can imagine there weren't many spare minutes in my days but I love it when I'm busy and was really buzzing.

The one little Memory bear was made out of a school fleece jacket with a special label around his neck......I hope Ella likes it as much as I do cos it's really cuddly.

The other two were made in memory of a much loved sister.  I really love the colour combination of these two and the lady I made them for loved them so much she would like me to make a cat to match them....so it's back to the drawing board for me to design a cat pattern.....

First draught of pattern.....will make one up now to see what it looks like.

You may see the finished cat next week....if it turns out ok :-)

That's all from me for today.  Please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pay you a return visit ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 273

Oh what a week it's been and what a lot to smile about.

Wednesday was the 9th Anniversary of the WOYWW gang and what a wonderful day it was too.  I managed to call in on everyone who linked up even if I couldn't manage to leave comments on a couple [the google+ blogs].....I'm sorry I couldn't comment but I did pop over to see what they were up to.  Of course since then I've had happy mail through my door each day.....I've not opened them as yet because I'm waiting for Jo to pop round so we can open them together over a cup of coffee....more to smile about.

I've had a really manic week with customers and my to do rail has been filled to capacity with many needing their sewing done to pic up before the weekend so I've been buzzing with work.  I love my job and meet so many lovely people during my day.

My photo smiles to share today are....

Sam has just started Beavers [ junior Scouts] and here he is looking very pleased with himself in his new Beavers top....he's already gained a couple of badges so no doubt this proud Nanny will be sewing them on soon.

The other pics are of the latest flowers in the garden.  I really enjoy watching the colours burst forth from each flower bud and they never fail to make me smile.

Those are my shares for this week.  As you can imagine I will be head down sewing all day today but would love you to leave me a comment to let me know you've called by and please link up to your own smiles so I can share them later.

Hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend filled with more smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Happy 9th Anniversary to you all.  What a wonderful thing this is that Julia started all those years ago.  I know she doesn't like thanks but I'm sure we all would thank her for her efforts keeping us linked up each week [and Jan too for when she needs to step in and help out].  

My desk today has a pile of spare fabric I begged from my big sister so I can make a few more charity bags for Margaret in my spare time....yes I do get a bit now and then.

These 5 pieces will do the job nicely and I have plenty of pieces I can use to line them with to make the bags all different.

My other shares are this little Memory dog which was the 100th Memory bear/dog/rabbit I've made since I designed the pattern on 3rd August 2016 so that's in less than 2 years.....quite and achievement wouldn't you say?

If you'd all like to pop over to my Facebook page you will see he is also there to celebrate the numbers of my followers now reaching over 700 and why not get your name in the Gift Draw over there.....it would be so lovely if one of you won.

The other special thing I've made this week is this little Shrewsbury Town rabbit.  He's made from old Shrewsbury Town shirts and is to celebrate our local team heading off to Wembley on Sunday for the playoffs.  I hope he brings them luck and they win the game....our men will be there to cheer them on and Jo and I will be having a bit of quality time together but of course will be watching the game on the telly.

That's all from me for this week.  We have posted our swap ATCs and my PIF ATC will be going in the post later today so there will be lots of happy mail flying around the world in the next week or so.....what a lovely way to celebrate special friendships.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 272

The weeks seem to fly by and as always I have found some of the smiles of my week to share with you.  I like to spend a little time each week focusing on the happy moments and even on the worst weeks I always find something to smile about.

We had lots to smile about on Monday when our blogging friend Margaret called in to see us [even though my photo that I shared on Wednesday didn't show the girls smiling much].

Tuesday I had little Theo for the afternoon and that always fills my time with smiles.  He's like blotting paper at the mo, soaking up everything he hears and sees.  He can count to 10 already and can now say more words than we can keep count of.  It's so special watching him grow and brings so many memories flooding back of when his daddy was little.

These are the photos I'm sharing with you....

Theo had a sleep over with his cousins at the weekend and Shell sent me several photos to show me what a lovely time they had together......happy memories.

I'm just finishing off with a few snaps I took of the garden yesterday.....it's a riot of colour with promise of more to come in every corner at the mo so I felt I just had to capture it and share it with you.

Please leave me a little message to say you've called in and then if you can please share your smiles from the week by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

As you will all know the 9th WOYWW blog Anniversary will be celebrated next week.  I will be joining in by sending an ATC to the next in the Mr Linky list but Jo and I like to spread the love and send out a few more to anyone who would like to join in a swap.  We have already sorted out all that's on our list below but do have a few spares if anyone else would like to swap so if so please email me on wipso2310@gmail.com and send me your details ASAP.  We do our swap together to save on postage costs so if you are sending to us both feel free to put both our ATCs in one envelope and post them to either of us....we promise to have a coffee together and share them out.

Our list so far is...

1. Julia [the boss]
2. Jan [second in command]
3. Jo [big sister]
4. Neet Hickson
5. Shaz Brooks
6. Sarah Brennan
7. Angela Radford
8. Cindy Ashplant
9. Sylvia Hildman
10. Christine Brown
11. Elizabeth Worthington
12. Nikki Carpenter  
13. Margaret Wright
14. Helen Lindfield 
15. Heather Marshall 

Now onto my desk for this week...

 Meet my new best friend.  You may have seen Jo had bought herself a new sewing machine and shared it last week.  After seeing the demo in the shop and having a play on Jo's I could see it had many functions that would make my job easier so I've taken the plunge and bought one for me too.....and having already put it to good use she has become my new best friend.....you can see I've had a little time to play with it's new stitches too.

My new friend needs a name, she's def a girl cos she thinks of everything I need to do and does it to perfection....answers in the comments please. :-)

Here's the first job I did on my new machine.  It's a little Memory bear using tiny babygros.  Isn't she cute?

Of course my new machine has already had a good workout with shortening trousers etc but it has also made these three more Memory bears mad from a much loved Husband's / Dad's dressing gown......oh what a difference my new machine makes to my teddy making.

This is the other photo I'm sharing today.  On Monday Jo came to join me in the afternoon so she could meet Margaret who called by to pick up the bags, knitted squares and Jo's knitted dollies that we made to go out to Uganda.

It's so lovely that from the little seed Julia planted all those 9 years ago that so many friendships have grown....thanks Julia x

That's all from me for this week so please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

 

This week's smiles...week 271

Sorry for being late this morning I'd obviously forgotten to click the publish button!!  Old age!!

I'm pleased to say life has been rather kinder on us this week and there's been lots to smile about....so here's my smiles.....

This is possibly my biggest smile of the week for me.  Since we moved, nearly 4 years ago we have had no more than 1.9Mbps of Internet even though we are now living on the outskirts of the town.....even out in the little village where we moved from we had 19Mbps at least!!  We have kept asking when our BT box would be updated and eventually this Wednesday we have cable connection.  There had been a problem with updating the box we are attached to as it's on someone's property apparently.  As you can see we now have 36.8Mbps and whooooo it's made a huge difference.

Milly had her hair cut last week and you can now see her stripes again....she's like a little tiger now and she's so much happier in the sunny weather we've been having.

 The local farmer who put sheep in Amy's field has now moved them round to their other field and as you can see Poppy is enjoying watching them munch the new long grass.....they have been escaping in several places so Amy has been playing shepherd and rounding them up a few times.....I'm sorry to say Poppy isn't much of a sheep dog!

The grandchildren have been making the best of the sunshine, as you can see, and the twins joined Theo for fun and games in his paddling pool at the weekend.   :-) :-)

Amy's three have also been having fun in their paddling pool too.  I'm not sure whether the two girls were copying Poppy dog or whether she was copying them sunbathe / dry off.    :-) :-)

Finally I'm sharing the riot of colour that are all around our garden now.  I try to snap them when they are in bloom because so many of them this year seem to be dropping their blooms quickly and aren't lasting long.  Aren't they beautiful?

Now please leave me a little comment and then share your own smiles by linking them up below and thanks for calling in and joining in the fun.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Hello all.  The days are creeping ever closer to our 9th anniversary swap of ATCs [just two weeks to go now] and as ever that much older sister of mine and myself will be sending our ATCs out together so if your wanting to swap with us feel free to send ours to either me or to Jo...save on the postage cos we are more then happy to get together over a coffee and share them out....it's a good excuse [not that we need one of course].

My list so far is...

1. Julia [the boss]
2. Jan [second in command]
3. Jo [big sister]
4. Neet Hickson
5. Shaz Brooks
6. Sarah Brennan
7. Angela Radford
8. Cindy Ashplant
9. Sylvia Hildman
10. Christine Brown
11. Elizabeth Worthington
12. Nikki Carpenter  
13. Margaret Wright
14. Helen Lindfield

If, in all that's been going on here, I've forgotten to add you to my list and you'd like to swap with us then please email me with your postage details....to wipso2310@gmail.com

Onto my desk for today....

I've had lots of trousers to shorten this week amongst other jobs and in between all that I have been making another quilt ordered for a special little girl called Chloe [fabrics and colours chosen by my customer].....her mummy said she really loves it and little Chloe will treasure it for ever so I'm really chuffed.

On top of that I have had orders for more Memory bears so looks like I'm going to be kept out of mischief for another week or so.

Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 270

Well, what a few weeks it's been.  There's been lots of sadness when a young man died far too soon leaving a young family of four without their father and we have also had worry and concerns when a family member needed major surgery at Stoke hospital but it was cancelled as they had no bed.  Thankfully he was able to go in this Tuesday, had his surgery Wednesday and after spending a night wired up to many machines and monitors was out of bed, showered and dressed yesterday [he may even be home by the time you're reading this!].  I do think life likes to challenge.

So this week for us has been spent playing juggle the grandchildren.  We had little Theo on Tuesday afternoon while his mummy worked and fetched Amy's three from school each night, gave them their tea and then took them home to put them to bed each night.....It's been really lovely of course but the last time we had three children at this age we were 30 years younger!!  Shall I just say we have slept well?

So my photos for this week are....

Little Theo went last Friday with his daddy to Cosford to see the planes and I don't think he could quite believe just how big they were....and of course they called in after to tell me all about it.  :-) :-)

Special times spent with his Grandad on Tuesday afternoon and what makes this photo even more special is the little stool was made by Theo's Great Grandad and it's so lovely to see it's still being used by the next generation....Theo's grandad used to sit on it when he was a little boy  :-) :-)

Having had 4 of our Grandchildren at ours on Tuesday afternoon meant lots of happy moments of course but this one really made me smile....Lulu is such a little 'mum' with her little cousin and after their tea she found a book and read him a story....he's really snuggling up to her while she's reading.....happy happy memories.

That's all from me for this week.  Please leave me a little comment and then, if possible, please link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

So, here we are again meeting up for our Wednesday catch up with our blogging friends from around the world.

I was bag making for Margaret last week and several of you asked to see them when finished....

I had to chuckle when making them because, as you know I can sew but I obviously can't count.  I had cut out and made 12 bag outers and straps but had only cut out 11 linings  :-)

I have since made up a red lining and made up the 12th bag now.  Each lining is a different colour so each child will feel special.

I'm not sure where I would be without my sewing during challenging weeks and it's so good to know these bags, not only uses up some of my fabric stash but they will be put to good use by the charity....and that's more than enough thanks isn't it?

Since making the bags I have had a few more orders for Memory bears....these two were made from a much loved mum's blouses.....a third blouse was used to make the scarves tied around their necks.

My customer was thrilled to bits with them and that always makes me happy.

This little bear was made out of tiny babygros...they always make a lovely soft, cuddly bear even if I have to cut out very carefully to find pieces big enough to make a bear.

I take a photo of every little Memory bear/dog/ rabbit I make and make collages of them for record and to be able to show my customers what I could do and have just printed off the last two pages and laminated them.....I was excited to count up and see that I just need to make 6 more and I will have made 100!!!....that's a lot of memories captured isn't it?

The other thing that's on my desk today is some proud nanny sewing I've been doing....sewing on lots of badges for Amy's three little ones.

6 badges each onto the girl's Brownie hoodies then more badges onto all three of their swimming badges.....it's so lovely to see them all achieving.

That's all I can share for this week and it's going to possibly be a busy and challenging week for me so I will do my best to return your visits but if I don' get to you this week please forgive me.

Hugs,

Annie x