WOYWW....

 Here we are at another catch up with our creative friends all around the world to see what they have on their desks and a little of what's been going on with them over the last week....I love my Wednesdays.

On my desk today is a box full of 10 little frogs waiting for their eyes [buttons].  A group of frogs is called an army and I feel this is most appropriate as these will be going to children newly diagnosed with cancer and I really hope they will help them in their fight.

Those 10 little frogs used up most of my green fabrics so I contacted Denise from Cabin Crafts and told her what I wanted the fabric for.  She then searched through all the fabrics she had and sent me pics of all she thought were suitable.  These gorgeous fabrics are not only lovely quality and are reasonably priced but they arrived at my door within a couple of days.....brilliant service Denise, thank you so much.

I thought some of you might like to see all the dresses that were hanging up in my sewing room, needing steaming, last week.  Lexi put them all to really good use last weekend....and I can proudly say I was thrilled to be able to watch her dance.

Lexi is now one of the youngest in the group she dances with, as she is now 12, and was thrilled to bits to come away with a third place....she loves her dancing.

I hope your week has been as lovely as mine.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 226

Wow. What a week it's been here for me.  Before I get started I will thank all my wonderful friends who join in each week to help make the world around us a happier place to be.  Smiling really is contagious so lets keep spreading them.

It's been a really busy week with sewing for me and today I will be at a craft fair at Belvidere Primary school between 3 - 6 so I've not only been busy with customers but I've been making a few last minute bits to take with me and getting everything ready to take.

So what's been making me smile?  It's taken nearly three years of living at our new home....

• the first year of course was making plans and getting planning permission to alter our new home
• the second year was spent with building work to structurally change the bungalow to make it ours
• the third year has been spent painting, tiling, fitting carpets / flooring etc and we are just finishing the last room being the utility....it's not easy to get it all done when you both work full time and we have been determined to take our time and to enjoy life too.

I have worked hard during this time to keep my sewing business going but I can now see growth in my customer numbers and each one of them is happy to spread the word so I'm buzzing.  This week I have had orders for 6.....yes 6!! Memory bears with the promise of more to come and I really love everything about making them [UPDATE.....I had another order last night so that makes 7 bears ordered in just 4 days and 5 of them already made  :-) :-) :-) ].  I've met some really lovely people and have really enjoyed making very special memories for each and every one. 

I have recently worked hard [with the help of my wonderful family] to test all the baby toys etc that I make so I can put a CE logo of safety on them.  To do this I also had to contact my fabric suppliers to ask them for safety certificates for the materials I use.  One particular supplier has been really helpful in doing this and I feel I must give Denise at Cabin Crafts recognition for doing this for me.  As a thank you for her help I felt it was right to give her my business and put an order in for some more of her 100% cotton fabrics......You would wouldn't you?  Buying fabric from Denise is really easy and the fabrics are of such lovely quality at good prices so I feel well able to recommend her to any of you fabric crafters out there.

These are the 10 pieces of children's print fabrics I bought from her....aren't they gorgeous [I haven't taken my scissors to any of them as yet but I will because I can rely on being able to buy more when I need it].  Of course my fabric just might not be enough to make you all smile but I'm also sharing a few funnies I found on Pinterest with you and for those of you that know me well I'm sure you will understand why I'm sat here chuckling now just reading them.

There you go....it's been a bit of a long post today but I hope you will understand why I'm buzzing and wanted to share it with you all.  Please leave me a little message and if at all possible then link to your own smiles below.  Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

When I find something good I like to share.

This is for all you fabric crafters out there.

You will have seen the PE bags and pencil cases I have been making and may have noticed that I do my best to make each one slightly different. 

Why?

• It's just nice to have a change so you don't get bored making lots of identical products
• It's really fun matching the different colour combinations of my fabrics
• It's a good selling point that when it comes to the end of a school day the PE bag can be picked out easily amongst all the others. 
•  Every child likes to feel special.

Because of this I don't like to buy large amounts of the same fabric....even 1/2 metres are too much. I hear you saying "why not buy fat quarters?" 

Answer....My PE bags need 70cm width pieces and fat quarters are too narrow.

So I put a call out in a Facebook group I am part of and almost every one said they do fat quarters or a minimum of 1/2 metre length....OR they would cut 1/4 metre lengths for an extra charge!

I was contacted by one really helpful fabric provider.....Cabin Crafts ......who was more than happy to cut me 1/4 metres of a really extensive selection of bright children prints in 100% cotton for a really good price so I selected 10 different prints.

Here they are.  It's all really good quality cotton fabric and it arrived really quickly so I have to say I'm thrilled with the service and will be ordering from them again.

You will all know just how much I like to stroke new fabrics for a while before I take my scissors to it but as I know when I've used this I can get more I've already used some of it...

Here's the first two girly PE bags I've made using some of it.  I like to use the feature fabrics across the bottoms of the bags so that, if requested, I can applique names across the top section.....just in case you were wondering. 😀

So, my friends, if you are looking for good quality fabrics at a sensible price I can highly recommend Cabin Crafts.  Here are the links to where you can find them.....

Cabin Crafts on Facebook 

or 

Their web page is Cabin Crafts