This week's smiles....week 356

Another week, same place and yet more smiles. :-)

The weeks seem to be whizzing by.  Here we are at the end of the first month already.  I always remember my mum saying how much quicker time passes as you get older and now I know what she meant.  Each week comes and goes so quickly but thankfully each one has something to make me smile....I'm blessed.

On Sunday our local football team, Shrewsbury Town, was playing in the 4th round of the FA cup against Liverpool so the family were very excited.  Here they are all dressed ready to go....and they were even happier when Shrewsbury held Liverpool to a draw and now they will be off to Anfield to play the return match.....exciting times eh?

Molly dog went to be neutered this week.  Everything went well and she is now wearing a vest this week to keep her from disturbing the stitches.  She's such a lovely dog and gets on so well with Poppy....when Poppy lies down Molly just has to be lying close enough to her that they are touching :-)

Theo is really in to make believe play now and here he is benefiting from the shop his daddy made for use in Gina's school.....he's growing up so quickly.

And finally...I saw this on Pinterest and think it will be my new motto.  I make such a lot of dust with all the fabrics I use so my sewing room is almost always in a state of needing cleaning.

I hope I have made you smile this week and you will leave me a little message so I know you've called by.  If you link to your smiles below I will pop over to see what's been making you smile this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Happy Wednesday to one and all.  I hope you are all well and happy and have an enjoyable creative week since we caught up last. 

My shares this week are...

The last 5 Memory characters that have now gone to their new homes....3 cats and 2 bears.

They are all proudly wearing their personalised labels and I've heard back from my customer that all their new owners really love them so that make my job so rewarding.

I think there's been some hanky panky going on in my sewing room because, as you can see, there is a new little bunny.  They are born naked, of course, but hopefully I will get time soon to make her some clothes....watch this space.

Bunny number 5 has now been cut out and I've made a start at putting him together....then there's just one more little boy bunny to make to complete the 3 girls and 3 boys for our grandchildren.

I have had a lot of interest shown to them and have said that I will happily sell them [for the right price of course], and will then replace any needed.....I am really enjoying making each one different.

I saw this on Facebook and it sure fits the bill for me.  I keep taking my happy pills.  My sewing really does lift my spirits when needed.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit this week and will leave me a little hello message so I know you've called in.  I will do my best to pop over to yours ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 355

What a busy week I've had here at Sewing by Annie's.  I'm thrilled to say I've managed to finish all my sewing [until the next customer comes through the door and hopefully it wont be another 3 with 13 Memory Character requests between them like last Friday....details on Wednesday's post below].

So here's a few snaps of my smiles for this week....

We all seem to have had some gorgeous skies this week and this was my favourite of one morning this week.

Amy sent me these photos from over the weekend of children doing what children should be doing....enjoying being outside.

The top pic is of their field from the kitchen window where there have been sheep on.  They have grazed it very low so the children have been enjoying the hard frosty days sledging down the bank and the bottom photos are of a day at the Welsh coast over the weekend....bliss eh?

Tuesday saw this little man at our house and I just had to share this photo.He's been a little under the weather for a few week and had played hard and fast all morning but was beginning to flag a little...he had asked his Grandad if he could watch one of his favourite programmes on his Grandad's iPad....just look at that concentration :-)

Shell sent me this photo of little Jet peeping at her over her laptop while she was trying to do some school work .....how can you resist that face?

Everywhere is so wet and mucky out in the garden but I just had to share these pics of our first snowdrops popping their heads up through the muddy ground.

And finally here's a funny Amy sent me this week.  I have a new fit bit to keep and eye on how much exercise I'm getting and she thought this was a good tip for increasing my step count.....I'm thrilled to say I've now lost a stone in weight :-)

I hope I've made you smile this week and you will share your smiles with us by linking them up below.  I've needed a few smiles this week as I've had a streaming head cold on probably my busiest week that I've had in a long time....thankfully it seems to be drying up a bit now but has left me rather washed out and weary.  Fingers crossed it goes very soon.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Oh what a week I've had here at Sewing by Annie's.  I shared my pic of my boy rabbit on Friday if you'd like to see him but since then I've not had spare time for rabbit making because...

• at 8.30am on Friday I had a customer with clothing to make 3 Memory bears out of
• at 9.30am on Friday I had a customer with lots of different items of clothing wanting me to make 2 Memory Elephants, a Memory cat and 2 Memory bears and
• at 10.30 I had yet another customer with several items of clothing wanting me to make 2 Memory bears and 3 Memory cats!!!

As the saying goes it never rains but it pours.

The first 3 Memory bears were easy as they were to be made using a pair of moleskin trousers so nice to use and no interfacing needed and here they are....

 The other 10 Memory characters were all to be different with special requests as to what fabric goes where on which particular character and every item of fabric required backing with interfacing so that meant I had to cut out.....

• 80 body panels  [each of the 10 needed 4 body panels and each one needed interfacing backing]
• 48 ear panels  [6 characters required ears so front and back of each ear plus interfacing for them all]
• 16 tail panels  [4 cats needed tails plus interfacing]
• 2 elephants have plaited tails

I can never guarantee that I wont get the same through my door on my next working day so I spent all weekend getting my head around which panel was to be in which fabric [right or left or front or back] and I carefully cut them all out and put them ready to start sewing Monday morning....

the first 5 lined up by my sewing machine and...

....the other 5 all cut out and lined up on my cutting station desk.

These will be even more challenging as most of the fabrics are fleecy and fluffy plus these 5 all have to have labels hanging around their necks with 'For ever in my heart' machine embroidered on.

And just so you know I've been kept busy here are the first 5 now completed [ done on Monday].

Of course I don't work Tuesdays with having our little visitor here so the other 5 will hopefully be made today so it will be another busy day head down sewing for me.....of course the streaming head cold with earache that I now have really doesn't help me does it?

I will do my best to pop over to visit you at some point but I may be a little late this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 354

Life is good here at Sewing by Annie's at the mo.  Sewing for customers is steadily coming and in between jobs I have been filling my time with sewing for me....It's what I do and it makes me smile.  We are keeping up the 3x a week visits to the gym for now...the 14 week course ends on Feb 14th and sadly they are asking for over £800 for the next 12 months which isn't something we can manage so we are planning to keep up the exercise in other ways....commit to a good walk at least 3x a week will be a good start.

My photos this week have been mainly of my Luna Lapin rabbits and here's the latest now completed...

He's now wearing his jeans, fully lined waistcoat and shirt.....and looking rather pleased with himself too.

Each item of clothing is like making a miniature version of the real thing...the shirt has a box pleat in the back and a double yoke just like a man's shirt.  The instructions are not very clear [even for this experienced sewer] so there has been much reading and rereading before it's clear what to do next but I have really enjoyed the challenge.

I've now ordered more felt in three other colours so watch this space....there will be more rabbits in the making very soon.

I saw this on Pinterest and it described moments of my week perfectly so thought I should share it with you.

There were moments of this too :-)

But mostly this describes me.  I'm so blessed to be doing a job that brings me so much happiness.

And finally for all you animal lovers out there I thought I'd share these photos that Shell sent me of little Jet settling in with their 3 legged cat Monty.  There have been a few 'moments' between them but mostly Jet has made herself very comfortable in her new home and has made friends with Monty.

I hope something I've shared has made you smile and you will now share your week's smiles with me by linking them below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello all.  Here we are at our weekly meet up of creative desks from all around the world....if you want to know more then click on the link to The Stamping Ground where you will find details and will be made very welcome to join in the fun.

I've had a steady flow of customers here at Sewing by Annie's since I started back after the holidays but it's still allowed me some time to 'play' so my show and tell for today is Luna Lapin based. Since last week I've been busy making clothes for the two rabbits you saw last week and then there is a surprise at the end for you.

The instructions in the book aren't the easiest to understand and you certainly need a certain level of sewing knowledge to make the dresses but I've been enjoying the challenge.

This is the first dress I made.  It's called the t shirt dress and has a detachable bow on the front.  I'm afraid I'm a perfectionist and have gone that extra step by overlocking every seam....most of the seams in the instructions are left raw so would fray over time and that just wouldn't do for me lol.

This was the next little dress I made....this one has tiny pockets on the front and a beautiful white collar....all made like miniature versions on the real ones so very tricky to do so small.

This one reminded me of my Grandma as she was a little Victorian lady who wore dresses with white collars just like this [She died aged nearly 101 when I was just 16 years old and she is who Jo and I get our sewing genes from.  She was a seamstress and her two sisters were tailoresses :-)].

I then tackled the making of the lacy shrug....I needed a degree to work out how this went together but was so thrilled with the result once I'd worked it out.

I'm really loving making these tiny clothes...it reminded me of the small versions of things we had to make in our school sewing lessons.

Of course when you make heirlooms and you have 6 Grandchildren then you just might need to make them one each so guess what?  Yes, I've been busy again....

I sat in front of the telly last night and finished rabbit number three...this one has rather more gender neutral ears and feet so may well be dressed as a boy rabbit and yesterday I printed out the pattern pieces for.....

....jeans, a shirt and a waistcoat.

As they say....Watch this space!

I hope you have enjoyed my show and tell of what's on my desks this week.  I will do my best to pop over to yours ASAP to see what you've been up to.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 353

It's so good to be back to normal life....whatever normal is :-)  I've had a lovely week back at work this week and already have ....

• Put a zip in a gents coat
• Shortened 7 pair of trousers and 
• Made my first Memory bear of the New Year

....so it's been good to get back in the flow of things [and earn some money of course :-) ].

I have a few snaps of what's made me smile this week....but of course there's been many more :-)

I saw this on Facebook this week and it really made me smile because just look......

....that's just what Theo was telling me in this photo on Tuesday morning and on Tuesday evening when we popped round to see Michelle for her birthday [yes, our first born baby girl was 36 on Tuesday!!] Sam ran up to me and told me he loved me too. :-)

Out of the mouths of babes as they say eh?

We have been feeding and letting out little Jet while Shell's been at work and I thought you'd like to see a couple of snaps of this little cutie.....she's such a good girl and is really settling in well to her new home.

My final photo this week is of my two Luna Lapin style rabbits.  They have caused many giggles this week and it was suggested that I needed to quickly make them some pants....not only to cover their modesty but to stop rabbits doing what rabbits do.....I think folk imagined me getting over run by rabbits.  :-)

You will be pleased to see they are both now wearing pants and hopefully very soon they will have dresses etc too.

I hope you have enjoyed my smiles this week and will share yours too by linking them below....everyone is welcome to join in.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

It's as if it never happened now.....Christmas is all packed away in it's boxes and back in the attic until next year now and I'm back at work.....and just to prove it.....

First thing Monday morning I replaced a 26" open-ended zip in a Gent's coat and then the postman arrived with a parcel for me.  It contained a shirt belonging to a much loved Grandad and, of course, by lunchtime I had made my first Memory Bear of the New Year.....not a bad start to the New Year eh?

He's made from brushed cotton so is a rather cuddly bear too and was really lovely to make.

Since last week the bunnies have multiplied [of course they have cos that's what bunnies do isn't it?] and there's now two completed and sitting waiting patiently on my sewing machine for me to make them some clothes....Phoebe and Lulu saw them at the weekend and they said, at the very least, they need some pants!!

I have printed out and cut out some of the patterns to make their clothes and been sorting out all the tiny prints ready to make them some out of....of course when Jo saw them on Monday morning when she called in for coffee [yes I had time for a catch up with my much older sister too on Monday morning] she said she had some fabrics with tiny prints on and she sorted me out a bag of bits I can dip into too.

You will be pleased to know I've already cut out one pair of pants :-)

That's all I have to share today.  I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a little message so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pay you a return visit when I get a minute.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 352

Oh what a fortnight filled with smiles and happy memories it's been.  I was missing in action on the blogging front last week but it does us all good to step back from time to time.  I was very busy making memories and enjoying some 'me time'.

So, I wont waste any more time and will share just a few of my smiles with you...

Changing times

 Over Christmas Gina made this collage of Theo showing just how he's grown....it just happens while you're not looking doesn't it?  I really will have to stop calling him little Theo won't I?  :-)

Special memories being made

 This was over Christmas.  Mark got his guitar out while Lulu was at his house and they spent a little time together with it.  She has guitar lessons at school and was so chuffed to have Mark teaching her on his best guitar.

Moments of madness 

 Here's a selfie of us showing Michelle how much we love one of our Christmas presents from her.

Moments of magic

 Isn't nature just amazing?  This was a quick snap of the sky during the Christmas holidays.

The promise of things to come

 In every corner of our garden there's bulbs shooting up and little signs of new life....I love this time of year.

New additions to the family

 On 29th December Shell, Brent and the twins collected a new little puppy called Jet.  She's a Labrador x Border Collie and is simply gorgeous.

The first of many I hope

 Yesterday we had our first trip out in the motor home for the New Year.  We took the motor home for a run to Aberdovey and really enjoyed a walk on the beach with Milly.  Here's hoping 2020 will be filled with many happy trips out together.  We are still going to the gym 3x a week and I think I've already lost 10lbs so lets hope this is a good beginning with more to follow.

I hope you've enjoyed my first Friday smiles of 2020 and will link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Oh wow what a week it's been here at Sewing by Annie's.  My intentions really were good last week but when it came to leaving all my blogging friends comments I failed hopelessly until Boxing Day....I plan to do rather better this week.

So firstly what's on my desk this week?  Well nothing at all has gone on in my sewing room but I do have another desk to show you.....

This was my 'desk' last night.  I have really really enjoyed some 'me time'.  I've been using the Christmas present from my darling hubby that I showed you last week.  Luna Lapin needs only 5 minutes of machine sewing and the rest is all done by hand and I've really enjoyed my week.  As you can see I've now made one rabbit and in the bowl next to her I've been making another one.  The clothes need to be made using my sewing machine so they will be made between sewing jobs when I start back to work next week so for now I am enjoying my hand sewing.....and the rabbits are breeding lol.  Also you may have noticed that I am treating myself with a glass of Baileys....a girl has to see the New Year in with a tipple doesn't she?

So without more a do I just have to wish you all a very Happy New Year and here's hoping 2020 comes with lots more fun, love and friendship and we can all enjoy good health throughout.

Hugs,

Annie x