This week's smiles....week 432

 Hello all.  Happy Friday to you all.  It's been a busy week here at Sewing.  I've had a steady flow of customers and thankfully it's been a bit cooler to do all the work.

I've had lots to smile about too....Lexi was dancing on stage with her dancing group in the park in Shrewsbury at the weekend....they all did very well....proud Nanny Annie moments.

More proud moments with the news that Stephen has been signed up after his trials to play with Shrewsbury under 10s.....he's one very happy boy.

Theo had more x-rays this week and the Dr was very pleased with how it's healing.  He was given the choice to go without his plaster but needed to be careful....as his mummy said....there is no careful in a 4 year old little boy so it was decided to put it in a soft short plaster for a couple of weeks then hopefully it can come off.....He's rather pleased with his new red plater.

I thought this photo might make you chuckle....it did me.

Poppy's collar had come off so Betsy has picked it up and is trying to put it back on for her....they are such lovely dogs.  :-)

Finally here's a different colour scheme of our garden flowers for you this week.

Isn't it lovely that I have enough flowers to be choosey?

I hope you have all had a lovely week and have lots of smiles to share with us too.  Please leave me a message so I know you've called in and then link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

woyww...

It's been a week of posh frocks here at sewing by Annie's.  Of course that means I've had a week of dress fittings too and, in the extreme heat, this was no joke as my sewing room faces South and gets very hot. I have a fan running, windows open and the blinds down but it was still too hot to work comfortably but this has made all the difference....

My darling hubby has hung a bottle of ice in front of the fan and it really lowers the temperature of my room....my life saver.

Now, for those who like to see the posh frocks I've snapped them for you...there are two of the grey bridesmaid ones on the left of the photo and the red and green ones are prom dresses.....these were both for 16 year olds and they looked stunning in them [but much older than 16!!].

For those who were wondering what my challenge was last week with my desk filled with felt...

Our very own Caro, she of the Blue tits wild water swimmers, messaged me wanting a holder for her badges like the one that one of her friends had made so I of course accepted the challenge and here it is.....I hope she likes it when she gets the parcel.

Caro is actually holidaying in Shropshire this week with her family and I said she was welcome to call in for a cuppa if she could spare the time and guess what?.....

....she rang me yesterday to say she was calling by.  It was so lovely to see her.......we could have chatted all day.  Thanks Julia for starting this group all those years ago and for all the wonderful friendships that have developed from it all.

That's all from me for today.  I hope you're all managing to stay cool and are enjoying life.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 431

 Here we are at my weekly round up of what's made me smile this week.  We have been away for a long weekend adventure in our motor home and this time we went to a lovely 'tranquil site' over near Boston in Lincolnshire.....it was an adult only site [hense the tranquility!!].  It was a lovely site with lots of trees and birds and there was an enclosed dog run so Milly could be let off her lead to run.

It was really hot while we were away so we enjoyed the shade of the trees around us and we bought Milly a new cool mat [as you can see she quickly found out how good that was].  There might have been a few glasses of Pimms drank [well you do have to keep hydrated in this heat].  We enjoyed several BBQs and  hubby even had rainbows on his legs at one point although the photo doesn't show it as clearly as we could see it.

While we were away Theo was in charge of watering our tomatoes [with his daddy and mummy of course] and as you can see his reward was a yummy carrot out of the garden :-)

I just love that little face :-)

Lexi has taken on a pink and purple look for her holidays [it's only temporary so wont last long].

I'm not sure what colour I will go yet :-)

There's been lots of this going on in this heat this week....bliss.  For those wondering, Theo has a special waterproof protector on his arm for the water.

Steve has been for trials to play for Shrewsbury under 10s this week....hes a brilliant little goaly and really loves his football....even in the heat!!

Finally, for those that enjoy my garden updates.  There's colour in every corner and I love it so just have to share it with you all.

And that is all for this week.  I hope you're all managing to stay cool in this heat and have lots to smile about.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and then link to your smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Hello all.  Firstly I must apologise for my lack of comments last week.  Work was crazy and as always it all came at once and I had to get it done because Saturday we went off on our adventures in our motor home again.....this time to a lovely tranquil site near Boston in Lincolnshire....and we didn't come home until yesterday.

So this week I'm showing you ....

This little bear.....this is what you get when you have to have your jumper cut off you when you break your arm.  Theo moves up from his Preschool to 'big' school in September so it's a good way to remember his happy times at his Nursery.....maybe breaking his arm wasn't the best memory but he's had some really happy times there.

This is another bear for the same school as I made the one last week....the little girl saw the other one I made and she wanted one too  :-)

This has been my desk for the last few days.  I've had a well deserved rest and I've enjoyed some play time with my paints.

This is my desk this morning.  You all know I love a challenge and this is the begining of my next challenge.....but of course you may need to wait a while to see what it's going to be ;-)

I'm such a tease :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 430

 Another week has passed and I have more smiles to share with you.

There was lots of fun at the weekend with the family.  We were all excited to watch England playing in the footy finals against Italy....we didn't win sadly but our team really did us proud by getting that far and hopefully next time.......

Lulu and Steve had their school's sports day [Lulu's last one before she moves on to Secondary school] and, as you can see from their badges they both did really well.

It was our last week to have Theo before the school holidays and of course he starts school in September so it's the end of an era for us.  As the song goes....'One more step along the road he goes'.  We made the best of the time we had and had a picnic lunch at Ellesmere Lakes and then fed the ducks....thankfully we had taken a big bag of duck food with us cos there were an awful lot of hungry ducks, geese, swans and even a few pigeons there.

In the afternoon we went for a ride on the Sabrina boat on the River Severn.

He's adapted well to coping to life with an arm in plaster and had more x-rays on Monday...the Drs are very pleased with how it's healing thankfully.

That's all the photos I have to share with you this week.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and link to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our creative friends around the world thanks to the wonderful Julia over at the Stamping Ground...I just love Wednesdays.

Firstly I'm sharing my latest School Memory bear with you....this is another new school for me and brings the number of schools I've now made bears for to 32.

It's such a lovely way to use old school uniform to remember happy days at Primary school before moving on to 'big' school and I have  more heading my way to make soon.

I'm now showing you a very rare couple of desk shots ....I hoovered and damp dusted everywhere on Monday morning....I do make an awful lot of dust with all the fabrics I use.  All the cupboards were moved out and the dust bunnies evicted from underneath them all and my machine was cleaned and serviced....I even changed my needle!!

Are you asking why?

If so here's the answer....

I had a Wedding dress fitting lunchtime on Monday. It's a sort of pale coffee/champagne colour with lots of beading/embroidery  on the bodice....and its gorgeous.

I have to alter the bodice to make it fit [lots of hand sewing involved because of the beading and embroidery] and then shorten the 4 hems and add a 'hold up' underneath to hold up the train when she's dancing.

That's what is on my desk today because although I've made a start I am a long way off finishing it yet but as yesterday was a Theo day and today is an extra Theo day because his mummy has a transition day in school for all those that are moving up in September.....so its a bonus day for us as yesterday was supposed to be our last day with him before he starts school....of course we will still see him often but these are our last 'on duty' days while his mummy works.

As you can imagine, I may be a little late in doing my visits this week but I will do my best to get round as many desk as I can.  I hope you all have a happy creative week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 429

 These weeks seem to fly by don't they?    Thankfully it's been another week filled with smiles for us and I hope you too.

The football and tennis on the telly has given us lots to smile about....Come on England!!  I've also had some really lovely customers, all thrilled with the sewing I've done for them....It really does make my heart sing.

Lexi and her little friend called in to see us yesterday morning all dressed up and ready to go for their dancing exams....they rang later in the morning to say their teacher said they had both done really well but they might not get their results from the examiners for about 6 weeks.....Their little dresses were provided by their dance school and were really lovely and floaty.

I just wish I could do that with my leg!!

We've had some special visitors to our garden this week...this was the only one I managed to snap.  If you don't know, it's a Jay and we have also had a baby woodpecker and for the first time in the 7 years we have been here we had a baby squirrel. 

I really love all the birds we now get in our garden...there's sparrows, starlings, black birds, pigeons, collared doves, robins, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, wren jackdaws....and probably more I can't remember. I could sit and watch them all day :-)

Finally here's this weeks blast of colour from our garden....it just keeps on giving doesn't it?

We have now had the last meal of peas [think we have had 5 meals off them in total].  The garlic and onions have now been pulled up and are drying and the area they came from has now been filled with more rows of beetroot and carrots.  The veg garden has done really well this year.

That's all from me for this week.  Please leave me a little comment before linking to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 It's been another busy week for me with sewing thankfully and our little wounded soldier had his arm x-rayed on Monday and it appears to be healing well.  He's pretty frustrated with not being able to use his arm and having to limit his activities but so far so good.[....I'm writing this on Monday afternoon because Theo will be here for a long day Tuesday so we will have to find as many activities we can to occupy him sitting down].

I've managed to finish the tiny felt bears I was making last week.

For those that didn't see it over on my Facebook page here's the Memory cushion cover I made this week.  It was made from a much loved Dad's favourite jumper....It was loved by so many and very many made really lovely comments about it.... that sort of gives me a warm, fuzzy glow.

I've been sorting out my buttons....I have so many and they are all colour sorted into jars but you can guarantee if I need 4 the same of any colour I will only have 3!!

Does anyone have any good suggestions as to what I can use them for?

The final photo I'm sharing today is of these three little Memory bears made from a much loved Dad's favourite cardigan.  It was a chunky knit, lined cardigan so one was made from the furry lining and the other two from the knitted fabric....very challenging to sew with but I'm really pleased with how they all turned out.

That's all from me for this week.  I will do my best to visit all I can but for some reason, known only to Mr Blogger, I have been unable to leave comments on some of the blogs I've visited.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 428

 Here we are at yet another round up of my week's smiles.  You may have seen that little Theo fell awkwardly at Preschool last Friday and broke the two bones in his lower left arm.  [The photos are pretty graphic so don't scroll back to see if you're squeamish]  It was a traumatic weekend for all while he went to surgery on the Saturday to have it manipulated back into place but thankfully he's been a very brave little man through it all and, apart from the frustrations of not being able to use it and having to rest and not run around this week, he's doing very well thankfully.

He came to us for a few hours on Tuesday so his mummy could catch up on her jobs and some very well earned sleep.  We found lots of sitting down activities to do together and he was spoilt by being able to eat his dinner on the settee instead of up at the table like we normally do.  He's such an independent little man who likes to do everything himself so having to have a little help with the tasks that need two hands is the hardest part.

The garden is filled with so much colour this week that I've filled 2 collages to share with you....doesn't all that colour lift your spirit?

This photo really made me chuckle.  Amy's two dogs had been for their walk and had got wet so on return Amy had thrown towels over them both...of course they sat here waiting to have their photo taken before being dried....they are such gorgeous dogs.

That's my smiles for this week.  I hope you've all had a great week and will share your smiles with us by linking them up below.

Hugs,

Annie x