This week's smiles....week 467

 Here we are at the end of yet another busy week catching up on what's made us smile....and there's been plenty to smile about here and I hope with you too.

Theo is proudly showing me the award he was given at school...it's for Maths and he was awarded it for 'challenging himself to think of different ways to make numbers using addition and subtraction and for describing his favourite shape, a nonagon.'....it's so easy to forget he's only 5!!

He had to make an Easter bonnet for school too and thought he'd pull a face in the photo he sent me....he's so funny.

This has to be one of my favourite photos....and of course as Gina is to be induced on Monday there wont be many more photo opportunities like this.

Gina has rested lots all week and is now uncomfortable all the time so I'm sure she will be glad to get it all over now....but hopefully not until Mark has a negative Covid test!!...I really don't want him to miss out on the birth of his second son. It's so exciting.

This really made me smile [and no I wasn't just sitting watching him!].  On Wednesday morning we gave my sewing room a deep clean...I do make an awful lot of fluffy dust! We got it finished just in time to find a home for my new industrial machine I have been given.  The old one we bought just wasn't up to the job we got it for sadly.

Finally here's a couple more collages of Friday funnies to share with you all.  I hope you've had a good week and will share the smiles you've got by linking them below....we can never have too many smiles and everyone is welcome.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Phew. Another week has passed and it's been so hectic here.  Poor M has been in and out of hospital more times than we can remember....each time her contractions have been a little stronger and more regular but they still manage to ease off and she ends up being allowed home with her ever growing baby bump.  One day she just might come out with two little babies  :-)

Last night we had our other daughter A here with her two little treasures and her ever growing baby bump.  Bless her she is almost as big as her sister now and is only carrying one baby! [and you know me, I just had to snap a quick pic] I have a feeling he will be an 8lb plus little boy  :-) ...she has just 4 weeks left now.

Here is a quick snap of A's two little treasures.  They are such gorgeous girls and are both real little entertainers.  We had a very special evening.

So?  I hear you ask.  What is on my work desk today?

More b****** curtains.  I have to cut off the 3" tape off the top and replace it so it's pretty straight forward.....just a lot of material to handle so not one of my fav jobs.  I've had a pretty busy week with my sewing business and juggling being an expectant Nanny and the disturbed nights that goes with it so have made very few little African dresses.  Twiglet is making enough for both of us at the mo though as you will have seen over on her blog.  

This is one little dress that I have managed to make though.  It's made with some of the fabric given to me by one of my customers and I've added some machine embroidery and a little bow to the pocket.  Cute eh?

Well folks that's about all from me today.  I need to get my head down and get my sewing done before I'm called upon for Nanny duties again.  Please keep your fingers crossed for M that her twinnies arrive soon and I promise you will will post pics as soon as they come out to play.  Thanks to you all for your lovely comments.

Another donation and the latest pic...

Yesterday afternoon I was given another 3 pillowcases by one of my customers to make 3 more little dresses with.  My customer was apologetic that she couldn't find more but as I said to her that will be three more little girls with smiles on their faces and every one is greatly appreciated.  I really love the one with sunflowers on too.

Also I'm sharing the pic I took of M while she was here for lunch yesterday.....every picture tells a story as they say  :-)  She is pleased to have reached 1st September cos the twins will now be counted in the next school year....can you tell she is a teacher?  :-)

Surely she can't go much longer?

 We had a house full of love here last night.  We had all our family here together probably for the last time before the twins arrive so of course Mum just had to insist that we had a bookend pic for one last time.  It amazed everyone that A can still suck her tummy in and her bump almost dissapears....not so with M.

For those watching developments....M went straight to the hospital from here last night.  I could tell she was pretty uncomfortable so I insisted....thankfully.  She was found to be 1cm dilated but still only 34 1/2 weeks so they gave her some pethadine and hoped things would settle down....and so do I cos when they got to the hospital they told them that if she went on to deliver they would have to transfer them to another hospital because they didn't have neonatal beds available for the babies!  She has just text to say things settled down a little through the night but she is still getting contactions this morning so I guess we will know more when the Drs do their rounds.  Keep everything crossed girls. x

Blown away with the generosity of others....

Yesterday I received yet another parcel full of gorgeous fabrics.  I had had an email last week asking for my address but I didn't recognise the name as a blogger I knew.

This was one of the biggest parcels I've had and I'm certain you will all agree with me that the fabrics enclosed are all really gorgeous.  There was a card enclosed [also gorgeous] and the lady had written me a message to explain that wasn't in fact a blogger [yet] but just followed our blogs and felt she would like to donate some fabric to the great cause.  I'm sure a lot of you will understand why I was moved to tears to receive such generosity from a 'stranger'.....Isn't the world a wonderful place.  The news seems full of nothing but trouble and riots....why don't they fill their pages with wonderful uplifting stories like the generosity of others?

All I can say is a huge Thank You to CM and to say hope you start blogging soon....I'd like to 'get to know you'  :-) :-) :-) [So far all I know is you are a really generous lady and your favourite colour is pink  :-) ]

The other thing I want to share is the latest pic I have taken of my youngest daughter A.  Both my girls like to sit crossed legged so their baby bumps sit in their laps and last night I snapped a quick pic of A doing just that....I tell them they look like little pixies  :-)  Doesn't she hide her bump well?..... and she is nearly 33 weeks pregnant! Thankfully she keeps really well and manages her two busy little girls to perfection....I'm so proud of her cos she is a really good little Mum.  

Twiglet joined us last night for an evening of fun with A and her two gorgeous little girls.  A fab evening of proud moments and special memories.

WOYWW.....

Hello to all my blogging friends. [do check out the pic below for the wow factor]

This week I've ...

• Had a trip to London to see Les Miserable...yes I actually took a day off to go  :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
• Made numerous more little dresses
• Posted our latest 50 dresses to  Louise [do check out the pic below for the wow factor]
• Cut out yet more little dresses from the latest donations of fabric
• Picked fresh veg from the garden and tomatoes from the greenhouse
• Knitted two fronts and started on the sleeves of a little cardie for one of the twins
• Paced the floor on Monday night cos M was having contractions!!!  At 32 weeks I don't think so!!!!  Thankfully after a full assessment it was decided she had a wee infection and it was irritating her uterus so a course of antibiotics was started and she was sent home....thankfully she is now much better.
• Oh and I've worked [sewn for real money  :-) ] each and every day apart from Friday of course.....customer numbers keep rising and I've got well over 1100 now!
• Nearly forgot ....I've done a bit of cooking, baking bread, washing, ironing and cleaning etc in my spare time.

So what is on my workdesk today?

Customers sewing.....I've had some really lovely skirts and dresses to alter this week.

The latest donation of bedding to make little dresses given to me by another of my customers....I think we will be making dresses for years  :-)  It really is a very positive thing to do in your spare time.

These two little dresses were made yesterday from some of the fabric one of my customers gave me. 

 As promised here is a pic taken of M yesterday [32 weeks now so only 6 more to go til they induce her if she lasts that long!].....still in one piece after the excitement of Monday!

So as you can see there are very few dull moments here at Sewing by Annie's.  Please leave me a comment if only to say hello before you pop over to visit Julia and check out all the other WOYWWers.  Have a great week.

WOYWW...

Good morning to all my wonderful blogging friends.  

Firstly I want to say a big thank you for all your concern and lovely comments following my fall on Saturday morning and to say that, although a little more stiff and achy than normal, things now seem to be returning to normal [well, normal for me at least]....I have taken advise and have had rather more water with it since.  :-)

It's been another week of busy activity here at Sewing by Annie's....more parcels have arrived with lots more gorgeous fabrics in them and many many more dresses have been cut out and put ready to sew....and I've even made a few more with them already.  

So? What's on my workdesk today?

My 'to do' rail has yet more trousers to shorten plus this week I have a skirt to shorten and a gorgeous red dress to alter.  I shall hopefully clear my rail this morning so then I can get making more little dresses.

Funday Monday morning Twiglet and I set to and cut out and bagged lots more dresses from the gorgeous fabric Twiggy and Karen sent us this week.  We then set to and made 5 dresses between us during the afternoon.

Dress number 36 is made from fabric Penny sent me from France.  It's a bigger dress for a larger child and I've trimmed it up with white bias and a pretty embroidery anglaise pocket.

Dress number 37 is made using fabric Twiggy sent and it is also one made for a larger girl.  We aim to use the material wisely so as little as possible is wasted so the size of the dress is really decided by the piece material.  This fabric was really lovely to sew and has trimmed up prettily with a bit of  floral fabric.

This pretty little dress [number 38] was made using fabric Karen sent us and I've trimmed it up with pink bias and added a little pocket with an appliqued heart on it.  Isn't it pretty?

Here is what my rail of little dresses is looking like now. 

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) 

You can see 17 dresses in all colours and all sizes.  Doesn't it make you smile?  I'm so thrilled to have such a wonderful project on the go and am really loving every minute of creating each and every one so keep sending any fabric you can spare in our direction.  We promise to make up each and every dress and give you the head's up for your kind donations. 

I've just noticed my screen saver in the bottom left corner too....that's another reason for smiling :-)  Aren't they just gorgeous?  Proud Nanny Annie here  :-)

 Just a quick snap taken on Monday to show you that M is still doing a brilliant job of growing my grandchildren...and yes she is still smiling even though her iron tablets really are making her feel pretty sick when she takes them.  She really does humour me when I ask for a new pic and poses for me to snap away....."thanks M.  I'm so very proud of you.  The apple will fall when it's ripe and it won't be long now."

That's all from me today [ I hear you say...'thats more than enough!!'  :-) ].  Thanks for calling by.  Please leave me a comment if only to say hello before you pop over to Julia's blog to join in the WOYWW fun.

What I did yesterday when the rails of sewing were cleared...

I set to and cleared my sewing pile early cos I was expecting my big....no I mean BIG girl to come to have fun here for the day....company for us both  :-)  [and of course she had another little sewing job for mum to do].  We were also joined for a morning coffee break by Twiglet and her daughter M.....thanks for popping down to see us.  It was really lovely to share our special times.

I insisted M posed so you could share the excitement of the growing bump with us.  I had lots of special 'hands on' time during the afternoon while the twinnies were having their daily exercise....boy do they kick! [ouch!]  As you can see there is no room upwards now so the only way is out cos she still has 11 more weeks to go yet!  Thanks M for allowing me to share this exciting time with you.

Also I set to and made 3 more pretty dresses to pass on to Louise for little girls in Africa..This one was made with some of the blue fabric given to me by one of my customers and I've done a bit of machine embroidery and put a pretty pocket on the front to jazz it up .

These other two are made with the pretty material Penny sent me from France....thanks again Penny they are really pretty.  Ive made matching bias bindings for them both and added pretty little pockets too. [sorry about the camera angle...they really are even both sides  :-) ]

The other thing I wanted to share with you is the lovely parcel that arrived yesterday morning from Di....I was one of the lucky ones to win some pro marker nibs in her gift draw.....now all I need is some pro markers to put them on  :-)  Thanks Di

WOYWW....

What a busy week it's been so far....Monday was manic and Tuesday was no better.

My weeks story in pictures...

I finished my latest pair of little knitties for the twins over the weekend.

One of several batches of home made bread made so far this week...I rarely buy bread but who would blame me?  If this was smelly blog then you would understand.

The postman brought me a parcel Monday morning all the way from Penny [Violet-White] in France for me to use to make little dresses for the African girls.....Thank you so much Penny for your support....the world really is a smaller place.

By  the end on Monday Twiglet had helped me cut this material into 6 little dresses and 3 larger ones...plus another batch from some pale blue sheeting one of my customers gave me to use.

This little bird had flown into my sewing room window so I gently picked him up and he happily hopped up and down my arm while he recovered so Twiglet snapped a quick picture for you.

These three offered me no help what so ever and decided to just enjoy the sunshine!!

During Monday we had a visit from M so I snapped a quick pic for you to see how the twinnies are growing.  Bless her she has little room left and still has another 11 weeks to go/grow.  She came out with one of her friends [also 21 weeks pregnant] and her little 2 year old boy who needed his trousers shortening.....I can't wait to have little grandsons....little J was so cute and such a good boy.

During Monday I had soooooooo many customers and they filled my 'to do' rail with 3 curtains to shorten and 8 pair of trousers!!

I guess I don't have to tell you what I spent Tuesday doing.

So?  What's on my work desk today?

This lot has just arrived through my door and he would like these 5 pair of trousers all done to pick up later today!!  3 need either letting out or taking in and all 5 need shortening!!  Another busy day ahead of me!

Sorry my post is so picture heavy today but it was the easiest was of sharing my week with you all.  In my quiet times I shall be running up as many little dresses as I can fit in and am still accepting any donations of spare pillow cases or fabric so please hunt out any you've got spare and send them along to me....just email me for more details.

Before you shoot off to Julia's to join in the WOYWW fun just leave me a quick comment even if only to say hello.  Have a great week.

WOYWW....

Happy WOYWW to one and all.  I really hope you had a great Easter weekend.  We had a super family time with a couple of gatherings of the clan  :-)

Sunday was a gathering of my hubby's family and it was really lovely to catch up with family members that we don't see too often.  We had a BBQ in a beautiful garden in the sunshine by the side of the River Vyrnwy.  Bliss.

 

Monday was our turn to host a party.  It was our youngest daughter's 26th birthday yesterday so we gathered all the family in our garden to celebrate a day early before everyone returned to work.  My darling hubby had spent hours over the weekend building a new swing frame for the granddaughters so there were two happy little girls occupied on the new play equipment in the sunshine.

This is the latest picture of the twin baby bump  :-)  It seems to have grown every time I see M  :-)  For those following the progress you will all be as thrilled as I am to hear M was well enough to go back to work teaching yesterday and is back eating for the three of them again  :-)

 How different can two bumps can be eh?  This was a quick snap of my youngest daughter A's baby bump taken last night....and there is only one baby in there!  We baby sat for her hubby to treat her out for a birthday meal and had just the best evening with our two gorgeous little granddaughters.  They really do melt my heart so if number three is just as gorgeous I can't wait  :-)

Here you can see the new box I've bought to hold all the baby knitties and as you can see it is filling fast  :-)....and yes I am still knitting for England.  I have lots of expected babies up and coming and like to knit a little something for each of them.

  Here is our personal computer expert fixing our lap top  :-)

I'm proud to say this extremely handsome, talented computer expert is my baby.....hehehe.  As you can tell he is well beyond the nappy stage but as all Mums reading this will know they are still your babies even when they are all grown up.  Thanks M for clearing off the computer virus for us....I will do my best to keep your Dad off those sites again!  :-)....seriously folks he was only searching for pottery marks to verify a plant pot's identity and a computer virus attached itself to very many programmes on our laptop!

My last photo is of that gorgeous crab apple tree that I showed you last week.  Already the gorgeous vibrant pink blossoms have faded to a delicate pink colour and are falling like confetti all over the ground below.  What a shame the beauty of nature just doesn't last a little longer eh?

Right folks, that's all from me for this week.  I am still catching up from having a few days off over the weekend and of course we have another long weekend up and coming too.  Please pop over to our leader's blog now and join in the WOYWW fun.  Thanks Julia for linking us all together.

Sewing all done...

Just so you know all that list of sewing in the post below is now done plus I've had in and completed all this as well!!.....

• Dress...shortened
• Trousers...shortened
• Dress..... taken in
• 2 tops...... taken in
• Skirt ....taken in
• Jumper....repaired
• 2 x trousers....rehemmed
• Trousers.....buttonhole reinforced
• Vintage evening dress.....lots of repairs

Never a dull moment here  :-)  I'm please to say I've now finished all the sewing I'm gonna do for today  :-)

Plus while I've been doing all that my daughter has been teaching her twins how to colour and draw things ready for teaching her class about the Royal Wedding  :-).....just look at the size of that bump now!!

WOYWW.....

Here we are at yet another Wednesday of mass exposure.  If you still don't know what I'm on about [then where have you been?] pop over to Julia's blog to find out more and join in the fun.

My week, as ever, has been a busy one full of wonderful memories.

Saturday was Tina and Gavin's Wedding day and Twiglet, my hubby and I were thrilled to be asked to share this wonderful day with them.  It was a beautiful sunny day and they were surrounded by all their family and friends to make their vows.  What a special time for us all.  Thanks to both Tina and Gavin for allowing us to share your special day. [I'm sure she will be posting her photos on her blog so keep an eye out].

Sunday was another day of celebration as it was our 29th Wedding Anniversary.  I am truly blessed to have spent 29 wonderful years with my soul mate.  He really is one in a million.  Here's to the next 29 :-)  These are the flowers he gave me [even if he had to have a little helper to get them for him!....thanks M].

Monday was to be another Funday but alas we were greeted with two pair of curtains at the start of it which sort of takes the edge off the fun! [you all know what I think of curtains!].  Twiglet set to and did the cutting for me straight away so I have to do the sewing at some point this week.

My rail filled to overflowing during the day but we chose to spend our day with my fast growing daughter helping her to do her lesson planning for when she goes back to school after the holidays.

 ...she is now feeling much better and as you can see here her lap is now filling with her baby bump [she says they are each as big as oranges this week and I don't think she means satsumas!....it looks more like a whole fruit bowl to me  :-) ].  

I'm really thrilled to have you looking so much better M...enjoy every day.

Here is the now finished gorgeous little cardi you saw last week.  It's so pretty and def a girly one so I'm keeping my fingers crossed  :-)

The last two pics are just to share with you.  My miniature apple tree is now in full bloom.  It looks and smells wonderful and stands no more than a metre tall  :-)

These are our three dogs enjoying the garden [of course I did have a hand full of treats to get them to pose for you!].  From the left they are Wispa, her big brother Rocky and the old lady, Skye.  They are all Cairn terriers and, as it says in the book we have, once you've had one you will never be without one.  They all have different characters but all love to please and I wouldn't be without any one of them.

Right now friends I'm off to tackle my sewing......

• Long dress.... needs shortening.
• Jacket....needs a new open ended zip.
• Dress....needs taking up on the shoulders.
• Trousers....need shortening.
• Jeans....need patching.
• Skirt....needs shortening
• Skirt....needs taking in.
• Jeans....needs new zip.
• 2 x tops...need shortening.
• 3 x jeans....need shortening
• Shorts....need shortening.
• Shorts ...needing repairs.
• Oh yes and 2 pair curtains need hemming!!!

....and that's just until the next lot arrives!!!  I will do my best to call in on you all but I may be under a sewing mountain for a while first.  Have a great week.