This week's smiles....week 461

 Hello all.  It's been a much quieter week for me this week.  Thankfully, with lots of rest Gina's tightenings [contractions] have settled down most of the time.  She has been checked by her consultant this week and he says baby is fine but she is going to need to get lots of rest over the last weeks of her pregnancy as he feels she has an irritable uterus, but that he doesn't think they will let her go beyond 38 weeks....that's another 6 weeks to go!!  I'm keeping everything crossed.

I've had plenty to smile about this week although I have still had no customers.

The top photo is one of my hubby with Mark, our son, and we found it this week and showed Theo.  With a very puzzled look he asked if it was him with??? his Grandad.  We explained that it was his daddy when he was a little younger than the age Theo is now.

The two photos below are of Theo with his daddy and Theo with his Grandad....talk about peas in a pod eh?

Theo is not only like his daddy in appearance but in ways too and I am really loving reliving every minute.

These are photos Lulu sent me.  Her and Phoebe have new fabrics and trimmings and are enjoying designing and making dolly clothes.

Seeing these really made my heart sing.

This made me chuckle....Milly has found some sun to sunbathe in.  She is such a funny little character.

Over the years we have had 4 Cairn terriers but Milly is the only one that likes to sit up and beg.....she's asking the boss to let her out here and almost talks to us to let us know what she wants.....love her to bits.

That's all from me for this week.  I hope you all have lots to smile about and will share then below.....everyone is welcome to join in the fun cos we really can't have too many smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hello all.   I'm sorry I didn't make it to join in the fun last week....it was an eventful week as many of you will know from reading my Friday post.  I'm pleased to say things have settled down again now but we are expecting more ups and downs over the next few weeks so I may have to go AWOL again.....as long as our little grandson arrives safe and well we will do all we can to help out.

It's strange but when I have family demands I never have customers and last week was one of those weeks so, when I was able, I spent my time sewing for pleasure...

The cot quilt is now finished.  I tried to do do the panels with applique but soon realised that to make it washable it would all have to be securely sewn in place and it didn't look right so I found some fabric panels to replace them...and am rather pleased with the results.

There were spare panels and fabrics so I have also made a matching cushion for the chair in the baby's nursery and matching bunting too.

I then made 12 little 'favour bags' for the up and coming baby shower party [just hope she makes it til then!].  They are rather cute and will decorate the table well.

I hope you have all had a great week.  If you leave me a little message I will do my best to pay you a return visit asap.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 460

 Hello all.  It's been one of those weeks hence why I didn'y manage to post on Wednesday but thankfully we have plenty to smile about...now.

Monday teatime Gina messaged us to say she was getting regular tightenings [at 31 weeks!].  Mark was working away so we popped over to help.  When we got there [20 mins from us] sure enough, she was getting tightenings every 4-5 mins [the midwife in me kicked in] and they were pretty uncomfortable so Gina rang the hospital and was advised to go in to be assessed.  I went with her although she has to go in to the assessment unit alone and Grandad stayed to look after Theo.  I waited for her in the waiting room for over 5 hours while they checked what was going on....the wait was so long because all the Drs were in emergencies and they couldn't decide whether to keep her in or not.  Eventually one of the senior midwives assessed Gina and decided she had a wee infection [that was what was causing the tightenings they felt] and with a prescription for antibiotics they sent her home at 12.30.....still having tightenings!  They said she was to go back in if things got any worse as the infection could put her into prem labour.

As Mark was working in Leicester he decided he should drive home but of course wouldnt get home til gone 3am so I stayed the night in the spare room, just in case.  I think none of us got much sleep Monday night and as Theo is up bright and early each morning we didn't get a lie in either.  Mark stayed home all day Tuesday but as things seemed to be settling down with Gina he travelled back to Leicester as soon as we arrived at teatime on Tuesday and I had another night on the spare bed on nursing duty....but was woken by Theo at 6am tapping on my door asking if he could come in to snuggle up with me and do Wordle together....my heart sang [even if it was 6 am].

Mark was able to finish the job he was working on and came home about 10.30 on Tuesday night so I managed a night in my own bed and thankfully, as long as she rests lying down the tightenings seem to have eased for now although it's left her feeling pretty achey....it would be really good if the baby can stay where he is for another 4 weeks or more so we are keeping everything crossed.

I am really counting my blessings that we are both well and able to help our family when needed.

This notice on the side of my bottle of orange juice made me smile.....it must have known!

It always makes me smile that when I have other priorities my customers don't make demands on me and as I have had none this week I have been busy with the baby quilt I'm making....I decided that maybe I wouldn't have all the time I had planned to get it made if he was going to put in an appearance early.

Milly wen't for a much needed hair cut yesterday....she looks like a different dog now.  I love it when we can see all her stripes.

As you can see, she was very happy snuggling up under her blanket after her trim...I guess she was enjoying the extra warmth.  She will need her wooly jumper on for a few days when out walking I'm sure.

That's all from me folks.  I hope you all have plenty to smile about and will link up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week459

 Hello all and a happy Friday to you all.  I'm here to catch up with the smiles from the last week and I'm lucky to say there's been plenty to smile about.

On Wednesday I had Gina here [hense the photo of me!].  She sat crocheting and I sat making bunting in bright colours for Theo's bedroom.

Here's the proof that I finished making it and just how pleased he was when he came home from school to see it....it makes everything worth while doesn't it?

Here's Gina sat in my sewing room crocheting her ripple blanket.  I'm so proud of her progress with her crocheting and just look at that gorgeous baby bump in her lap....I actually felt him kick this week  :-)

I thought you would like to meet our next grandson....it's a 4D scan of him now at 30 weeks. He's about 2lb 14oz now. Modern technology is amazing isn't it?  We have also seen videos of him moving and really feel like we are getting to know him before he arrives.....he's sooooo like his big brother.

The next generation are progressing well on their sewing machines....these are 19 hair scrunchies that Lexi has made for their school performance of Joseph.

And this is a project that Phoebe is working on at school....it's a design of a crisp packet and she has used free machine stitching on the front.

I'm so proud to see my grandchildren sewing.

Finally here's a funny I saw on Facebook....it could have been written about Milly.  Every new toy she gets she shakes it till she 'kills' it and I don't think she has one with a 'living' squeaker in it now lol.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing my smiles and will share yours by linking up at the bottome of the page.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 It's been one of those weeks to really try your patience for me this week....

• I printed off the sentiments chosen by the customer [this is important later] for the fronts of the 9 Memory cushion covers...I have to iron bond-a-web onto the back of fabric and cut it out A4 size for it to go through the printer.
• I cut out the off white hearts and the larger hearts and bond-a-webbed the backs.
• I made up the toppers for the fronts of each of the 9 cushions using machine embroidery.
• I cut out the cushion covers....each one was to have the sleeves accross the front as a hug.

Here are the 9 toppers all made up

I made up the 9 cushion covers and sent their photo to my customer for approval.

I also made her a Memory bear out of the same fabric as the large hearts on the cushion toppers....isn't he gorgeous?

Several days later [and before collection] she messaged me to say her Sister-in-law had noticed a mistake on the sentiment!!   Did you notice it?  None of us had and neither had my customer but of course it had to be right so I had to correct it.

• I had to unpick the machine embroidered stitch all round them, a stitch at a time on all 9, reprint it and replace it.  Of course it's not so easy to do when the cushion covers are all made up and there were times when the air got a little blue but I did it.  I don't always get everything right but lesson learnt now!!

I now have jobs lining up on my desk for today...

• The cot quilt is now all planned and the material to make is is all ready to cut out.
• I have 4 Memory bears to make and each one is to have a personalised label around his neck.
• I have 21 rainbow flags cut out ready to make new bunting for Theo's bedroom.

So that's all from me for this week....please leave me a little message 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 458

 Hello all.  It's been a busy week here at Sewing by Annie's and I've had lots to smile about.  I hope you've had a good week and have lots to share with us by linking up at the bottom of the page.

I've been snapping pics around the garden and there's certainly lots more signs of Spring shooting up and that always makes me smile.  The tulips are shooting up all over the garden, the snowdrops are now showing their faces and there are several Primroses now in bloom.

The only other things I have to share with you today are these funnies I found on Facebook.

I hope something there makes you smile....they did me.

Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and if you can then link to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Wahoooo It's been another busy week here for me at Sewing by Annie's and I'm loving it.

I managed to find a few details on the T shirts you saw on my desk last week to put on the front of the 3 Memory bears I was to make and I'm rather pleased with the finished bears [and so is my customer].

I've had another bag full of factory trousers to put new zips in....my darling hubby helped by taking some of the old zips out for me and I've managed to get the new ones put in.....I made friends with the old industrial machine we bought for the job and it certainly took a lot of the pressure off my other machines.

On my desk today is some plotting and planning going on while I wait for fabrics for 9 Memory cushion covers to arrive, hopefully later today.  I'm making a quilt for the expected new baby's cot.  Requests are grey, blue and woodland animals and I'm hoping to applique some animals like the ones in the pics....watch this space as they say.

There is more fabrics on the way so got to wait til that arrives to do the designing really.

That's all from me for today....I will do my best to call round to see what you're up to this week. 

Hugs,

Annie x