WOYWW.....

 Well, it was a different sort of week for me.  It was my birthday weekend so my darling hubby booked us a long weekend in a cottage in South Wales....and what a weekend it was!!  We had rain...lots of it and gale force winds :-)  I was just really glad we decided to stay in a cottage and didn't take our caravan.

There were lots of highlights of course...we always make the best of our time away.

Saturday our dear friend Jan had a craft stall just half an hour from us so....

...it just had to be done.  It was so lovely to catch up with my little Welsh sister and her hubby.  She did really well on her stand too.

We did make it onto Pendine sands a couple of times.....as you can see the miles of sands were pretty much empty.  If you enlarge the pic you might see our little Peggy ....she's the tiny dot almost on the horizon, and she was having the time of her life fetching her ball....we have a ball launcher so it goes miles for her.

We didn't get home until yesterday afternoon and I had no customers booked in so I made the best of my time making my first batch of Christmas cards.

That's all from me for this week.  I will do my best to pop over to see what you've all been up to.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Hello all.  Here we are at the best day of the week when we catch up with our creative friends all around the world.  Our friend Neet is still in hospital so I'm sure you will all be with me in wishing her lots of love and hoping that her meds kick in and start to improve things for her.

Life here at Sewing by Annie continues to be busy,,,

I completed the 4 little memory hearts I was making last week and my customer really loved them.

I made the two Memory bears with the funky clothes I had on my desk last week and....

.....also made this lovely Memory cushion [front and back showing].

My customer was really thrilled with them all.

I then went on to make this pretty Memory bear out of a special dress to give a young lady to remember her God Mother by.

When my customer collected this little bear she brought me enough clothes/fabrics to make 4 more :-)

I have now cut the 4 bears out and will be making these today....but I do have 4 more arriving this morning :-)

In my spare time I have also made another batch of Christmas cards....and I think I've now made enough :-)

That's all from me today.  I will pop over to see as many as I can when I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

The first thing I must do is to give you all a little update....I heard from Neet this week and she told me they have told her she may be in hospital for another 6 weeks.  I told her we were all thinking of her and sending her lots of love and good wishes for a steady recovery.

It's a time of new beginings and being creative here at Sewing by Annie's.

As many of you know our son has been living with us for the last 13 months and last weekend he got the keys to his new home so we had a weeekend of him moving all his stuff out of our bungalow [and caravan] ....an exciting time for all.  Our home seems a lot bigger and quieter of course so I have been keeping myself busy to fill the void.

I finished the Christmas rocking horses that you saw last week.

I made 8 little lined Christmas stockings to put Christmas money in for our Grandchildren.

I made a good start with making my Christmas cards and made 10 with baubles on and 10 with stars on....I really enjoyed being creative. The star ones are sparkly but it doesn't show up on the photo.

I had these funky clothes arrived to make 2 memory bears and a memory cushion with....I love hearing about much loved  family members.  These were in memory of a Dad who was a hippy :-)

I made this piece of patchwork, as requested, by a customer out of the clothing that belonged to her Mum and Dad to make 4 little hearts to hang on their Christmas trees this year....watch this space.

As you can see I've had a busy week but I've really had fun.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to your's to see what you've been up to.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Here we are at another catch up with our creative friends from all around the world who link up at Sarah's Craft Shed each week.....why not join in the fun?

I've had a quiet week with sewing, as often happens in the school's half term holiday, so I have enjoyed a bit of creative play making a few Christmas cards and have enjoyed quality time with our new little fur baby.

 

Here she is sitting on the gorgeous new blanket sent to her by our blogging friend Lynn Holland.  It came through the post, gift wrapped with Peggy's name on it.  

Lynn bought one for Milly when we first had her too.  Thank you so much Lynn, you are so very kind and thoughtful and Peggy is well and truly spoilt.

Here's a few of my cards, they still need a bit of tweaking yet but I was well glittered at this point :-)

I can proudly share this photo of Sam with the cushion he made at school....what a talented young man he is.

His teachers were so impressed that he was chosen to represent his school in The Young Textile Design Competition organised by Shrewsbury Drapers.

That's all from me for this week.  I hope to be able to visit all who call by here to see what you've all been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Oh what a lovely week I've had.....Christmas cards are in the making and we've had very special visitors up from South Wales.

I've been doing a bit of strip quilting to cut up for my Christmas cards....and have really enjoyed making them.

My little assistant has been 'helping' sort out the felt ready for a crafting session at Jo's on Tuesday.....every time I pull out one of my boxes she jumps in to 'help' and actually curled up and fell asleep in this one. :-)

Sunday teatime we all met up for a Sunday roast dinner....the food was really good and the company was even better.

Tuesday morning Jan joined Jo and I for a crafty day at Jo's.  Jan enjoyed an hour or maybe more ;-) sorting through the huge box of my donated fabrics and filled a box with stuff that she could use for her makes for the RNLI....this really made me smile.  

Jo provided a yummy lunch...[thanks Jo] and in the afternoon we all sat around Jo's dining table on sewing machines and enjoyed some free machining time to eventually make a Christmas wreath with what we made....they may take a while to make but I'm sure you will see the finished results at some point :-)

All in all we had a wonderful time chatting, creating and enjoying each others company....life should be filled with days like that.

It is a Louie fun day today so please be patient with me but I will drop by to see what you've been up to as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie xxxc

This week's smiles...week 488

 The weeks seem to be flying past and Christmas will be here before we know it.  I have had a quieter week here at Sewing by Annie's and it's given me time to get on top of making my Christmas cards....now almost finished and that really makes me smile....cos I never know what's round the next corner workwise.

We've enjoyed lots of quality time with the grandchildren with having the twins before and after school on a Tuesday and Wednesday and Gina sent me this photo and that really makes me smile...

Louie is playing with a fabric book I made for Theo [and I'd actually forgotten I'd made it].  It's so lovely when the things I make and treasured and enjoyed.

I've even had time to get my paints out and I always love a bit of creative time....not had so much of that lately lol.

I really love these paint brush pens because each one is really loaded and they all blend together really well.....just need to get started now.

Of course it wouldnt be a Friday without a few funnies....these really made me chuckle and I hope they make you smile too.

I hope you've all had a good week and have smiles to share by linking them at the bottom of the page.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Hi all.  It's been pretty full on with my bear making this week and there's more to come yet.  Since last Wednesday I've made...

These were the 4 you saw ready to make last Wednesday...I really love how the pink ribbons make them 'pop'.

These were the next 4 I made and, as you can see, they each have a bandana made from the man's favourite bandana.

I have also made this really cute 'little sister' bear using tiny babygros.  I do love having repeat orders from my customers...I made one for her big sister a few years back :-)

This brings the number of Memory bears/characters I've made up to 621 :-) :-)

In my spare time I have also started making my Christmas cards and have now finished the first 32....so probably as many to make again yet :-)

I keep saying I wont make them because of pressure of work but I really love making them so I'm sure I will find time to make the rest :-)

I have a set of 7 memory bears and another 2 coming soon so not sure when I will find the time lol.

That's all from me for this week.  I hope you have enjoyed your visit and I will do my best to return your visit if you leave me a little comment.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles ....week 450

 This is the 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' post.  My Christmas cards are all made and now posted and everywhere is beginning to look festive so thos are the photos I'm sharing with you today...

Amy has always been the one of our three that has loved Christmas the most in our family and now she is spreading the love of it to her family too.  The Christmas trees [yes, more than one of course] are going up around their house and they love to make the most of all the Christmas events that they can.

Of course their two dogs like to join in and pose for their photos too....they are such lovely dogs and never like to miss out.

Of course, last year Covid got in the way but this year as always my little elves like to come to Nanny Annie's to decorate the tree and, as you can see Theo joined them this year.....Phoebe had decorated the top of the tree [because she's the tallest of course] and Theo is just putting the last few bits on here.

Phoebe, Lulu and Stephen have decided that this year [Like Nanny Annie of course] that they would use their sewing machine to make their Christmas cards....This really made me smile.

Finally but by no means least this is a gorgeous painting that Lulu did for her mummy and daddy to go in the unit where they work....isnt it lovely?

That's all from me for this week.  I hope at least something has made you smile and you will now share your own smiles by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our WOYWW freiends from around the world....my fav day of the week.  It's been another busy week for me and today I will be plouging through another pile of factory trousers to put new zips in....not my favourite job but the funds will go towards Christmas and I have enough of jobs I love doing to balance it all out thankfully.

On my desk today is the last 4 Christmas cards I have left...they are all made and posted now so I can move onto other things.

The pile of fabrics at the back are 5 more advent calendars to make ready for next year....if you saw my post on Wednesday you will have seen that I will need to make at least one by then :-)....exciting times.  

I try to make a few each year for others that don't sew to make memories with the little people in their lives and this year I sold the 3 I'd got within an hour of putting them on my Sewing by Annie Facebook page.

There is also a teddy cut out to make for my Christmas gift draw over on my Facebook page...I do this every year as a thank you for my followers so keep a look out if you'd like to get your name in the draw.

I'm doing a bit of knitting....it's slow progress as I can only do it when my arthritis allows but I'm loving the colours and there's no rush.

The other thing I can now share with you is the baby blanket I'm crochetting with my new hooks.  Every row or two is a different pattern and I love the way the colours are working together.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a little comment so I know you've called in.  I will do my best to pay you a return visit in between my sewing jobs.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Welcome to the mad house....it's been crazily busy here over the last week but I managed to get on top of it all thankfully.  The 49 zips are now replaced in all those trousers....and there's another 36 coming when they collect these ones :-)

The very delayed parcel that arrived last Tuesday night contained a fluffly dressing gown which I hade these 4 gorgeous Memory bears from and I'm pleased to say that they have now arrived safely via a courier with their new owner [I wasn't going to risk the postal service with them!!]

The customer I made the 5 memory bears you saw last week loved them so much she wanted another one making....I do love it when this happens.

Over the week I tried my new sewing machine out and found it wouldn't do any of the jobs I needed it for so yesterday we returned it back to the dealer, tried out and tested another machine while we were there and bought a better one to meet my needs.  It meant paying a bit more for it but they offered us a good deal so it was too good to miss.

In my spare time [lol lol lol]  I have also finished the 3 batches of Christmas cards I had been making....just another 20 to go now with the next design.

I struggle to write my Christmas cards by hand because of my arthritis so I add inserts but I do love to make them all....these are all appliqued, machine embroidered and embellished then the toppers are machined onto the cards.

So folks that's all from me for today.  I did call round on all I could last week but was unable to leave comments on some from my phone so sorry for that.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 It's Wednesday and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at Sewing by Annie's....

I've been working on 3 different designs for my Christmas cards...

There's been lots of ironing fabric onto bond-a web, drawing on my designs and then fussy cutting it all out.

These will be reindeers when they grow up.

These will be candles and holly when they are finished.

And these will be patchworked Christmas trees when they are finished.

I've had a quiet week with sewing so I've been making the best of my time with Christmas card making.  

The parcel coming from Swansea that was posted last Monday with clothes to make 3 Memory bears in it still hasn't arrived....I really hope it arrives eventually as clothes from a loved family member are so special.

As you can see I've had a little helper in my sewing room.  Milly is so funny when I pull out one of my boxes full of materials she likes to climb on top....she's always done this since she was a puppy.  I think she thinks she's helping :-)

That's all from me for today.  I really hope you are alll keeping well and filling your days with things to make you smile.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 What a difference a week makes eh?  Last week I had no customers at all so I worked hard with making my Christmas cards and now think I've made enough for this year....

I've made 60 cards in 7 different designs.  Some are appliqued, some are machine embroidered, some are hand embroidered and some are made using 1" squares of different Christmas fabrics.  I've made them in batches and really enjoyed being creative.

Monday started a whole new week.  I have..

• Shortened 4 pair of trousers
• Shortened the sleeves on a gent's coat
• Cut out the Memory bear [left] ready to make it this morning and..
• Hopefully the clothes to make 3 more Memory bears and a Memory elephant will be arriving in the post today.....so that should keep me busy for the rest of this week.

That's all I have to share with you today so if you leave me a little hello message so I know you've called in I will do my best to pop over to yours later [I did my best last week and think I popped in to see most of you].

I hope you're all keeping busy and staying safe and happy.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Happy Wednesday all. Here we are, yet again, at the best day of the week when we all link up with creative desks all around the world.  I've had very little sewing from customers this week so I've been making the best of the break and been making a start with my Christmas cards.  My desks and tables are all full to over flowing with crafty goodies so I'm just quickly going to show you what I've been busy with...

The sewing machine has been well used and there has been lots of 'push back' been going on to have room to sew....even the box of metallic threads is out today.

It wasn't a good start as I sewed 2 of the toppers together and had to unpick the machine embroidery stitch!!

The results of the sewing is piled up on my cutting station....there's 20 in the one pile and 6 little Bethlehem scenes in the other pile.

I have even had the glass paints out and done a couple on laminated sheets....but half the glass paints have been thrown out and the rest were put away in disgust because either I couldn't open the tops or the paint was drying up so won't be doing any more like these.

So that's all from me for today....I have many more cards to make yet so I hope my Christmas mojo comes soon so I can get them done. Any ideas are welcome on a postcard :-)

Hugs,

Annie x