WOYWW...

A new post using a new laptop at the start of our new beginning....Hubby's retirement has started and he was presented with a new laptop for his retirement gift from the Company he used to work for so I have to learn how to use it....including a new photo programme too so here goes....

I have had the promise of several orders of bears to arrived this week plus I have been asked to make a special quilt for a new baby so I've been sorting out my fabrics in the colour range asked for and my desks today looks like this....

The request is for pale blues / greens and colours to go with them so I've sent pages of fabrics to my customer so she can choose …..she's not local so we will be organising it all over messenger but this will be the third quilt I've made for her so it's really lovely to get repeat orders as her new grandchildren arrive.  The first two were for little girls but this is for her first Grandson.

That's all that is on my desk for today but I will be busy getting to know this new laptop....we seem to be getting on well so far :-)  I also have an appointment at the dentist later so wish me luck as I hate dentists!

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 331

Oh what a week...there's been so much to smile about this week so here goes with the pics...

We spent the weekend trying out our new Motor home on a campsite in the Forrest of Dean and really loved it.....so did Milly :-)

I think she thought the new fixed bed was hers!

On the way home on Sunday my darling hubby surprised me by taking a detour past the little church in Upton Bishop where over 40 years ago my Mum and Dad were married.  Mum and Dad sadly lost their first little girl when she was only 13 months old and she is buried in the churchyard here too so it was a rather emotional visit but so lovely.....I'd only been there once before as a child but I remembered it so well.

Sunday evening we went to watch Lexi taking part at a dance performance of all ages.  She performed 2 tap and one ballet dance with her group and was a real little star.

Saturday there was a local music festival organised in aid of a cancer charity and Mark, Gina, Theo and some of their friends went.....I really love this photo.

This photo really made me laugh...Lexi is playing in a tray full of slime....rather her than me!!

While the twins were playing in their back garden they had some visitors.....

....In through their back gate waddled over 16 ducks from the pond over the road from their new house.  The twins feed them and they have become really tame and when they got up yesterday morning the bottom pic shows you who was waiting at their front door when the twins got up....think they were after their breakfast.

My last smile today is this one of Milly who had made herself comfy on Theo's booster cushion that I made him....she likes to make herself comfy anywhere :-)

That's my smiles for you this week.

I'm sure we will have lots to smile about over the weekend because it my darling hubby's last day at work today.....

Happy Retirement Doddy.  Love you lots and here's hoping we can enjoy many happy years together in the next phase of our lives.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Well, please don't blink or you will miss it today.  On my desk is pretty much nothing.  I'm guessing everyone is on holiday cos its been really quiet here at Sewing by Annie's since last Wednesday.....that is until yesterday and all I can say is it certainly wasn't quiet.  There were several cups of coffee/tea drank and there just might have been a few cakes eaten.  There were ladies that lunched and pretty well non-stop chatter.  Why? I hear you asking......we had a visit from our friend and yours, the one and only Margaret from Glitter and Glue fame.  She called by, picked me up and we joined that much older sister of mine for some really quality time together....it was so lovely to see her and we had such a good catch up that none of us even thought to take a photo....sorry.

So here's my desk....

The only thing waiting for me to do today is this pair of torn jeans needing patching and darning.

I will have the company of my darling hubby today too.....he now only has to work tomorrow and Friday and then he retires and I will have him as my full time assistant stuffing bears.

Hugs all,

Annie x

This weeks smiles....week 330

This week my post is one full of so much promise....I can't stop smiling.

The lovely raised veg garden I shared with you last week has changed a little....

We had a delivery of two dumpy bags full of topsoil dropped at the front of the bungalow so my darling hubby had to barrow it all round to the back and this is how he filled the raised garden.  

We spent the weekend preparing the soil and planting it up and can already see new growth....we've planted dwarf french beans, beetroot, mixed coloured carrots, mixed salad leaves and mixed coloured radishes.

Our little greenhouse also holds a lot of promise...the tomatoes and fruiting well and with all the sunshine we are having I'm sure will soon start ripening for us.

Having bought a Motor home last September and spent many weekends in it we realised there was one or two things we wanted so this week we have upgraded it and now we have this ....and I love it.

This is the main reason...this one has a fixed bed that can be made up and left up to save my poor hubby having to make the bed up each night....my knees don't allow me to kneel so I am unable to do it.

My other smiles have been from the wonderful photos Amy has sent me from their holidays in France....just look at that sunshine and sunflowers.

I hope you have found something to make you smile today and will leave me a little message before you then link up below to share your smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Well hello to all my Wednesday visitors.  It's such a special day of the week catching up with lots of creative friends all around the world ....and I love it.  It's been a week filled with promise of up and coming orders of my Memory bears....

• One lady is posting her items of clothing for 1 bear
• Another lady is bringing items of clothing for 2 bears
• and another lady is posting me 3 shirts to make 3 bears from
• But on top of that I have had a man from Motherwell in Scotland asking if I can make him 20 bears!!!!!....I never hold my breath while waiting for any of my orders to materialise [did you see what I did there?] but orders like that sure do get my heart pounding for a few minutes.

On top of that you will remember that my two little Brownies had faith in me that I could turn their Brownie hoodies into special cushions with all their badges on ....well, what a labour of love that was.

I had to remove the biggest part of all the badges I had previously sewn on to reposition them so that all the badges they had would fit on their cushions and of course sew them all back on in their new places.....

Then I had to sew the two sides together to make the cushion covers.  I am really chuffed with the results and can just imagine two little faces when they see them....it makes all the hard work so worth it doesn't it?

...the front of the one and the back of the other.....what lovely keepsakes for them eh?

That's all from me for this week..short and sweet [for me].....hope I get a gold star this week Julia :-)

Hope you all have a great week....and my orders for bears flood in soon.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 329

It's been another lovely sunny week filled with smiles for me so here's a few pics from our little back garden this week.  When we moved here 5 years ago the whole of the garden was overgrown and the plants were badly neglected....most were waste height on 2/3 of the garden!....so we had a lot of sorting out of what we wanted to keep and what had to go.....

These are a couple of snaps from back then.  As pretty as the Japanese anemones were they had taken over most of the garden and it's taken us til now to remove all but a few that are where we want them to grow....if you leave even the tiniest piece of root it shoots up and spreads!

We kept the old garden shed because it still had a lot of life left in it and as you can see there are now some really pretty plants growing up it.

We cleared areas of the garden to have as lawn for the children and Milly to play on.

This is the latest addition to the garden.  Since we got here we have wanted a small veg patch so now my darling hubby is winding down to retirement he has had more time to get his head around building us a new raised bed to grow a few plants in....we've had all sorts of comments about it looking like a spa or a coffin so all I will add is if I go missing then you will all know where to start digging to find me :-)

Hopefully the top soil will be delivered today so we can get at least a few salad veg growing for this years enjoyment.

As you can see its tucked around the side of the kitchen extension by the water butt and little greenhouse where there are already lots of tomatoes growing so it should be perfect.

Here's a few of the latest flowers coming into bloom...there's always something coming out into bloom to make me smile.  I really love our little garden.

I have found a few gardening funnies on Pinterest that I thought I'd share with you....hope none offend.

I will add that the cucumber plant we planted was eaten by the slugs so we won't have any this year.

 I've not been able to kneel down since I had my knee replacement so maybe this is the answer?

 Think this is the mug to get Dod for his retirement....I'm hoping he will enjoy playing in the dirt and growing us some yummy veg.

We have so many bees and insects enjoying our garden that this one made me chuckle....I'm easily amused.




I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will share your smiles with us by linking them below.  have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Oh what a week it's been here at Sewing by Annie's.....bears, bears, more bears plus a rail filled with sewing....so I'd say it's been a busy one for me.

As promised here are the 4 bears I was making last Wednesday that I said I would share with you today [many of you have already seen these on my Facebook page....in fact they have been seen by over 8000 people!!!].  :-)

Since then I've made this one from a much loved hubby's trousers and shirts.  I added a little pocket on the front and embroidered his initial on it.  :-)

That one was seen by my next customer who wanted a bear making from her hubby's shirt so she also wanted his initial putting on a little pocket on the front. :-)

Then came a little school bear for a young man leaving to go to 'big' school....this was the school I went to one or two years ago.  :-)

Next was a bear wanted in memory of a man who as you can see was a sports man who took part in many sporting challenges.

And finally was this little Theresa bear wanted in memory of a lady who played in a local rounders team....this one was wanted for her funeral.

What a lot of bears I've made this week and each one has a story to tell....I really love making each and every one.

On top of that little lot I've also filled my sewing rail with...

• 2 pair of trousers I've taken in at the waist and seat
• 1 pair of trousers I've shortened
• a winter's coat I've shortened the sleeves on and 
• a dress I've taken in.

Hanging on the rail is also 2 pair of my leggings that as yet I've not had time to shorten.....what is it they say about a cobler's wife walking bare footed?  :-)

The last photo I'm sharing is this....its the mystery plant Elizabeth identified for me correctly as Purple Loosestrife a few weeks back.  It's now in full bloom and the bees and insects are loving it.

Sorry it's such a long post from me for today [I'm sure Julia will having me writing lines now....I must write shorted posts....I must write shorted posts.....I must write shorted posts.....].  Thanks for sticking with me to the end and for your, as always, lovely comments.  I will do my best to pay you a visit ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 328

Another week and there's been plenty to smile about.  The Memory bears have come flooding in, I now have 5 sitting finished on my desk and I still have more arriving today.....that has given me lots to smile about.

 I also have a few snaps to share with you...

One of my orchids has new blooms and the other two plants behind it also have shoots heading upwards.

A little cyclamen that I thought was dying has burst into bloom....there are 6 already and several more to come yet....I'm sorry to say it had been rather neglected but has survived thankfully.

Phoebe and Lulu have just finished going to Brownies and Amy sent me the photos of their first and last days....oh how they have grown over the last two years....they tell me they would like me to make them cushions out of their hoodies now with all their badges on.  :-)

And finally here's a couple of funnies I found on Pinterest.  The sun has been shining over the last week or more now and there are so many people about who have overindulged.....it's all or nothing here in England. :-)

I hope you've enjoyed your visit and found something to smile about.  Please share your smiles by linking them below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Now this really is a special blog post for me.  This week I was asked if I could make 4 bears out of a Grandmother's wedding dress....another first for me but what a wonderful thing to be asked eh?

On Monday the Granddaughter arrived with the dress and really threw me a curved ball....I had imagined a long white / ivory dress.  Her Nan was 98 and had only died a few weeks back and when sorting through her things they had come across an old Marks and Spencer's carrier bag [So old that it was actually a St Michael's bag!] and when asked what it was her daughter had said it was Nan's wedding dress.  Here's a pic of what came out of the bag.....

It's a beautifully patterned dusky pink slub silk dress.....My Mum got married in powder blue so I'm not sure why I was surprised as she would have been married at a similar time.  It was war-time and I guess long white dresses just weren't possible.

I feel to blessed to be trusted with such a special dress and will be making 4 bears for her 3 daughters and 1 granddaughter out of it.

....And here's a pic of Nan's Wedding day with her wearing the dress.....I get to share so many special memories don't I?

I've already taken my scissors to it and removed the skirt panels and pressed them ready to cut out the 16 bear panels.

Just look at the gorgeous buttons on the front of the dress....and strangely enough there are 4 of them so they can each have one on the front of their bears.

So you can see what I will be doing today....and loving every minute of it.  I really hope you're enjoying your day too....I will be over to yours ASAP to see what you're up to.

Hugs,

Annie x