Another Funday....

Jo joined me as normal this morning to share another Funday Monday here at Sewing by Annie's.  We always start our morning measuring and cutting any curtains as you know but today....wahoooooo we had none to do so we had a catch up and then decided to spend our time sewing for Africa  :-)  The lovely Di sent us a pretty pink floral quilt cover and toning pink sheet a while back to make into little dresses but as we were both having a catch up with other sewing jobs at that time it had been put into our store for future use.  We decided today was the day to make use of it so we chatted over the colour combos and the pieces were cut out ready.  Jo has since made the 3 pretty little dresses and I'm sure will do a show and tell over on her blog later.

This morning I read Louise's blog over at Sew Scrumptious and saw she has now received 1314 dresses to date but is now needing shorts making for little boys.  Of course we had just the material for the job and today I have run up the 5 little pairs of shorts we managed to cut out earlier this morning.

Louise is in need of 50 more pairs of shorts by the end of June so if you would like to join in and make her a few then please follow this link to see how....they are simply made but I'm sure they will do the job nicely.

Fun on a Monday....including a bit of skydiving practise!

As most of you will know Jo joins me for fun on a Monday and today is no different except I think it looks like she is practising for a bit of sky diving today.....

What do you thing girls?   :-) :-) :-)


To be honest she is just squashing the latest parcel of little dresses before taping it up to send it to Louise....this one has the latest 60 dresses Jo has made and my latest 11  :-) :-) :-)

That brings my total up to 101

and Jo's up to 238 [wow wow wow]

So in total between us we have now made 339

Here is a quick snap of the one I made this morning before Jo arrived  :-)
My number 101

A little celebration to make you smile today...

I try to find something to make you smile on a Friday and this week I am sharing a little celebration with you that is making me smile today.

I started off my morning doing my customer's sewing that was waiting on my 'to do' rail and then set to and have just made two more little dresses for the 'Dress a girl round the world' charity bring my total up to.......

I'm sat here grinning from ear to ear at the thought of 100 little girls smiling because of these dresses.

I would like to say a huge 'Thank you' to all who sent me fabric to make this possible.

Here they are...dresses 99 and 100  :-)

I'm so chuffed that I have managed so many along side a full time job and a busy family life....you never know what you can do if you don't try  :-)

Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope each and every one of you are well and have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

These weeks are flying by and here we are at another fun Wednesday link up with over 100 crafters who expose their messy desks creative spaces to all who call by.  I love Wednesdays.

This week has seen a house move for our daughter A, her hubby and their lovely family....long may they be happy in their new home [It's a rather gorgeous house they have moved to  :-) ].  We had a lovely time Sunday helping them set up with a telly wall bracket, window blinds, plumbing in and setting up of washing machine and and tumble dryer......it's what Dads do  :-) [Whilst I helped make lunch and played with my gorgeous grandchildren  :-) ].

Monday morning was totally wasted spent measuring curtain fabric for one of my customers to finally decide that we couldn't do what was wanted with the material she had brought.....big repeat of pattern, 2 pieces of same fabric but both different so patterns didn't match, insufficient fabric to match patterns to make double width curtains out of......yes, a nightmare!!  An hour plus wasted and still nothing!!  Guess customer won't want to pay for our wasted time.  Now you can see why we don't like making curtains.

We did make up for it though and had another fun afternoon with our friend T.  Thanks for the scrummy cake Jo.  Both Jo and T created little characters with socks and I started to make another little rag doll.

Here you can see the chaos on my table this morning.

• 1 finished doll
• 1 new doll in the making.....blue/yellow fabric this time.
• 2 packs of Pro Markers used for doll face details [never used for card making though  :-) ]
• 2 new pieces material [1 blue and 1 pink with teddies on] to cover 2 new 'V' cushions to be used for grandbabies.
• 2 pair of pink snippers [I'm never satisfied with just one :-) ...in fact I have them by every machine I use normally! ] , scissors, piece of tailors chalk.
• ball of wool used for doll hair.

I put curly hair on my little finished dolly but my girls didn't like it [comments about short curly hair were chuckled about!].....so I took it off.

Here she is with her new hair style and I have to agree with my girls that she looks much nicer now.......what do you think?

This week I've also made pockets for more little African dresses.  I've now sewn them on and nearly made the next 7 dresses .

Here you can see that I'm hoping to sew the last of the bias strips in place today on 4 of the latest little dresses.

Well that's about all I've got to share with you today.  I hope you've all had a creative week....I shall do my best to call by to see what you've all been up to but if I fail hopelessly then please forgive me cos life here does get rather hectic at times......hmmmm actually quiet moments are rather rare  :-)

Please leave me a little 'hello' comment before popping over to visit our wonderful organiser, Julia.

Hugs for you all,

Annie x

A Count up for a Competition to help me Celebrate.....

I have so much to celebrate....

• My first born child was 28 on Saturday.  You will know her as M, Michelle or Shell, and a beautiful new mum of two gorgeous babies. She has had 12 months of extreme highs and lows as you know but has thankfully survived and has sooooo much to celebrate.  

Here you can see her with her gorgeous 'husband to be' on Friday night with another wonderful birthday cake made by my very talented son and his girlfriend. They get married in July so we have lots of exciting planning going on between now and then.

• I have now posted over 500 posts here on my blog and would like to thank all that have encouraged and supported me.
• I reached 200 followers over the Christmas break but life got in the way and I was unable to celebrate it.
• I have just been asked to make another Mr Tumble doll. You will be able to watch him develop here over the next couple of weeks.
• We are having a sale over in our blog shop so do pop over here to grab a bargain.
• I have made 91 little dresses for the 'Dress a Girl' charity and would like to thank all that have donated the fabric to make this possible.  I mention this because it is an ongoing challenge for Jo and I and this Saturday was spent cutting out more dresses.....which leads me to the competition.

The Competition

Jo and I had taken a short break from making the little dresses for the charity we support over the last few weeks because Christmas, New Year, hospital admissions and life just generally got in the way and alas there are still only 24 hours in every day.  We had been kindly given very many sheets, quilt covers and gorgeous pieces of material by so many people that I was struggling to store the huge mountain that they made.  This Saturday our men left us for the day and travelled north to watch their footy team play in the cup [alas they lost 1-0] so we were foot loose and fancy free for a whole 12 hours!  

So? What do two sewing sisters do for 12 hours?....

Answer .....we cut out dresses  :-) :-) :-) :-)

Here you can see all the little dresses that we managed to cut out.  What I am asking you to do is to guess how many we managed to bag up.  We have cut out the dresses plus bias strips and pockets and trims for each dress and bagged them up ready for sewing.  Do note that there is more than one dress kit in each bag.

Rules to enter the competition

1. Guess how many dress packs we cut out on Saturday and leave your guess in a comment below
2. Be a follower of here and in our blog shop and you can have another guess
3. Pop a link to our blog shop on your blog and you can have a third guess

There will be a prize [or two] for the nearest guess and you will have a whole week to get there  :-) :-)
I will be having a count up and will post the answer with the name of the winner next Monday.
.....and I'm not telling you what you will win yet.....cos I haven't decided  :-)

I do hope you will join in the fun and help me celebrate.

WOYWW....

Good morning to one and all.  These weeks certainly are whizzing by for me at the mo.  What with sewing, knitting, baking, and the occasional bit of housework of course and fitting all that in between cuddling my gorgeous Grandbabies at every opportunity and enjoying our little Granddaughters 3rd birthday celebrations [see Monday's post].  It's been another busy week for me.  

Here's a few pics to share with you....

 Here's my rail today...it's a sign of the times when it's full of winter coats, warm skirts and thick cord trousers isn't it?

Brrrrrrrrr it's cold.

This was my table on Monday .....lots of fab activity and coffee drinking going on there [thanks for the chocolate brownies this week Jo].  

Jo made a gorgeous diamond wedding anniversary card [she might show you a pic of it on her blog], T made several dumfing creations and I made a little African dress [msg for Jo from Jozart....I know I told you I was gonna make up some of the little animals for my ABC bags but I got waylayed....so what's new I hear you say  :-) and huge thanks for the phone call ....it was so lovely that we could all chat together while [much older sister] Jo was here.....we will meet up for that coffee and cake one day  :-)]

Here is my, now finished, advent calendar from last week just to show you I actually do get some things finished  :-)

Here's little dress number 91 

I failed to snap numbers 88, 89 and 90 before we posted the latest parcel [27 dresses and 5 pair of shorts made by Jo and 10 dresses made by me] to Louise on Monday and they were 3 more gorgeous bright yellow ones made with the gorgeous fabric Tricia sent us....sorry Tricia.  I will try to let you know when Louise puts them on her blog so you get to see what I made with your gorgeous fabric.

Last night my darling hubby took me and that much older sister of mine to see Paul Zerdin at Oakengates Theatre.  Paul is a brilliant ventriloquist who appeared in the 1999 'Royal Variety Show' in the presence of the Queen. and here is a pic of him with the puppets he had with him last night.  What a talented young man he is.  I love the magic world of puppets and have to say I am still grinning.  If you get the chance to see him then I would guarantee you a great evening's entertainment.

Right folks,  I have to get my head down to sew now cos I have 7 flat sheets here that I have to make into fitted sheets today......hours of straight stitching, overlocking and a bit of threading in elastic....not much of a challenge there is there?  Do pop over to Julia's blog to join in the WOYWW fun but not before you leave me a little 'hello' comment.

Thanks for popping by and leaving such lovely comments always.  I will try to pay you a return visit as soon as I can get these sheets made  :-)  Have a great crafty week.

Big hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Good morning to one and all.  It's another of those wonderful days when we all buzz round the world dropping in on our blogging friends who have exposed all to share their space with others.  Our wonderful leader Julia is still doing a brilliant job of linking us all together so I thank her for that.  Before you pop over to Julia's please leave me a 'hello' in the comment box and I will do my best to pop over to as many of you as possible to check out your spaces.

So? Whats been going on in my space this week?  The answer is lots...as always :-)

As promised yesterday this is what is now on my desk today thanks to an industrial weekend and a very busy Funday Monday.  The lovely Jo from Jozart sent me several fabric panels to make up for my new grandchildren and I have been preparing them all...the ABC bags have 26 little pockets for 26 little toys to fit in and each has two sides to cut out, the Noah's Ark has lots of pairs of little animals to make too so it's taken quite a while to get this far  [I need 4 x16"zips, lining fabrics, wadding, some 1/2" foam and some stuffing to complete them so will get to work on these soon].  I have also now nearly finished making one of the new Advent calendars that I bought on Saturday...it just needs wadding, backing and hanging loops. 

This is the latest little knittie I have finished...it just needs a button.  Isn't it pretty wool? It's a Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter wool and I love the Fair Isle effect it gives.

This is a new top I made this week and a little pic of the machine embroidery detail on the front....of course you will have seen that I have now bought 3 more pieces of fabric to make some more in my spare time.

These are two more little African dresses I managed to make too this week.  These are numbers 86 and 87 for me.  I will soon reach my 100  :-)

 

This is my 'to do' rail today so I will have to clear this before I can enjoy catching up with you all but I will get there as soon as I can.  Hope you all have a really great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's Funday Monday...

As most of you will know we plan to have a Funday Monday here at Sewing by Annie's every Monday and yesterday was no exception...In fact it was a rather productive one.

As you can see my table was filled with machines, fabric, threads, reels of elastic and the odd mug or two [we must have eaten the chocolate]   :-)  Twiglet sat busily making little African dresses, our friend T sat dumfing a brooch as a gift for a special Aunt and I sat at the ironing board pressing, snipping, pinning and eventually even doing some sewing.

What a truly fab afternoon we had.  Thanks girls for making my day so special.  It never fails to amaze me how crafting really lifts your spirits.

Here are the 4 gorgeous little dresses Twiglet made while she was here.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Behind my chair and to the right of the picture you can see boxes, boxes and yet more boxes and they are all full of material to be used for the little dresses.....we will be dressing lots of little African girls wont we?

I'm not sharing what I sat doing til tomorrow  There are lots who have asked me to post my makes on my WOYWW post so I'm saving it til then so watch this space.

The postman has just called....

My postman has just called with two amazing parcels from a very special lady.  Most of you will know Tricia from Tricias Confetti and my parcels are from her today.  I have filled my ironing board to overflowing with all she has sent us.  It includes.

• 14 Pillow cases
• 2 Double quilt covers and
• 3 Double sheets

to be used for the little dresses we are making for the Dress a girl around the world scheme.  It is such a truly generous donation and we will make big efforts to get little dresses cut out and made as soon as we can....life just seems to have got in the way for me lately but I promise it will all get used in time.

What gorgeous bright colours too.  Thanks so much Tricia.

Also as promised here is a quick snap of the 5 little dresses that I managed to make on Wednesday

Numbers 81,82,83,84 and 85

The lighting was poor this morning but you will probably notice I am certainly in the pink  :-)

Yesterday was spent filling my 'to do' rail with work while I had special 'Nanny Annie time' with M and her gorgeous twinnies so today is a catch up Friday to clear my sewing mountain.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

Hugs,

A x

Some of our dresses are off on their travels...

Louise has written a wonderful post about a Backpack project by Mary's Meals - a charity that provides daily meals to children in school in developing countries like Malawi and Liberia to encourage school attendance.  They are an amazing country currently feeding over 500,000 children in 16 countries!

Her little girl Izzy is taking part with her school so Louise has contacted the charity and they are putting one of the little dresses for the Dress a Girl around the world scheme in each backpack........and some of the ones we made are in the 50 that are going  :-) :-)   Please pop over to Louise's blog and read all about the wonderful charity work and check out the gorgeous pics of the little girls that some of our dresses are going to.....do leave her a comment to support her in all the amazing work she does to organise this making little dresses scheme.

If it doesn't make you want to take up sewing then I will be surprised..... if only to make a little dress for one of the gorgeous children who have so little in life.  We will continue to make dresses for as long as we have fabric to make them.....and thankfully we have so many wonderful friends who have donated gorgeous fabrics that we will be sewing for a while yet.

WOYWW.....

I'm a bit late today but I have a really good excuse.  I normally type up my Wednesday post on Tuesday night and put it to launch automatically so I can start my day's sewing first thing on a Wednesday morning but last night I had some rather special visitors that filled my house with love.  The two new additions to our family came to visit with their mummy and daddy and so did their big cousins with their mummy [still playing the waiting game for number 3 to arrive...it won't be long now] and to join in the fun their Uncle M and Auntie G came too.  The first fun gathering of the clan with all our children and grandchildren and very probably the only one while we only have 4 grandchildren cos little Steve will be coming out to play very soon.  :-)

How much love can you fit on one settee? It's only a 3 seater but I can count 8 on there if I can count the one tucked up inside his mummy  :-)

Big cousins enjoying a cuddle with their baby cousins.  :-)

Here is one very organised new daddy showing us how to transport twins.  :-)

The health visitor is really pleased with the twinnies cos little Lexi has gone from 4lb to 5 lb and her big brother Sam has gone from 5lb 13oz to 6lb 8oz.  What a great job M and B are doing.  

 On my desk today you can see the two boxes full of little African dresses all cut out ready to make....and this is just some of them cos Twiglet has lots more cut out and ready up at her house......looks like I have a bit of catching up to do with my dress making doesn't it?

Sitting watching me is the last Mr Tumble doll that I was asked to make.  Yes he is still here....because the lady that ordered him just never emailed me back! Why would anyone order something and then just disappear?

So if you know any little person who would like to own a Mr Tumble dolly then please email me for details....he will have red buttons when finished but these will be made of felt if the child it is wanted for is under 3 years old for safety reasons.

Well folks thats all from me for today....I have sewing waiting for me and the postman should bring me more gorgeous wool today to knit some chunky cardies with so I had better get moving  :-)  Thanks for dropping in.  Hope you all have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

Another 64 reached Louise and what Nannies do...

Louise is the lady who is our UK organiser for the dress a girl around the world appeal and she has just posted our last parcel of little dresses on her blog.  Please pop over to check them out if you are one of the very kind people who donated fabric to us to make the dresses with.  You will see that we have put it to good use  :-) Louise has also given me the heads up with my little bears.  She very kindly bought 7 of them for her family after seeing my bags full on my last post.

I would also like to show you what to do if one of your new grandchildren arrived rather smaller than expected.  Little Lexi was supposed to be over 5lb on the scan her mummy had 2 weeks before she was born but surprised us all by being only 4lb and nearly 2lb smaller than her big brother.  M has struggled in finding clothes to fit her so Nanny Annie has been knitting.

This is the first that you saw in the making on Wednesday's blog. These little cardies only take a couple of days to make and make lovely little body warmers.

And these are two more I've made since.  What makes them even more special is yesterday I popped into Tesco's [one of the very few places you can buy tiny baby clothes] and managed to grab some real bargains.  They had a rail full of half price baby clothes and I managed to get 3 tiny little outfits that will not only fit her but match the little knitties to perfection  :-)  Of course I couldn't miss out little Sam and just had to treat him too.  :-) .....isn't that what being a Grandma is all about?  :-)  

Of course we then just had to call in to see them on our way past and give them a cuddle too.  You will all be really thrilled to hear M is now looking and feeling much better and those gorgeous twinnies are just adorable.

Also don't forget that baby number 3 for my youngest daughter A is due this week too so more excitement is yet to come  :-)

WOYWW and someone special has a BIG birthday today...

Firstly girls I must say a Happy Birthday for someone special in my life that has a BIG birthday today.

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to Twiglet,

Happy Birthday to you,

Yes, it's a really BIG one for her today and I know you will all want to sing along with me.  Happy Birthday Jo.  Really hope you have the best of days.  I have sooooooo much the thank you for especially of late.

Now girls you will all know that M is now back home with her gorgeous babies and life is returning to 'normal'....slowly and steadily.  She has asked me to say a huge thank you to all of you wonderful bloggers who have supported us through the last two weeks and has allowed me to share with you this really special photo of the happily little family now enjoying special times together at home.

I have done a lot of catching up with sewing jobs this week and still have more to go yet so blogging has been pushed right to the back for me.  I will do my best to get round as many of you as I can but please forgive me if I fail hopelessly.  I will get there eventually.  

I've done the sewing job for the lady who lives in Scotland....if anyone needs sewing doing I am more than happy to do any sewing jobs as long as you are happy to pay the postage and will happily give you a quote for any job....it often works out cheaper than getting it done locally cos I charge very reasonable prices.  :-)

My WOYWW post is going to be a picture heavy to let you all see what I've been up to....

 These are pics taken Monday of the latest little dresses we have made for the African girls.  My little sewing room was completely filled with them.  There is another 64 here bringing our total now up to 193!!  They are all colors and all sizes so I'm sure there will be lots of happy faces on a lot of little African girls.  A huge thank you to all that have sent us fabric to make them with.  I hope you can see we have used it wisely.  These are all now winging their way to Louise so I'm sure will be featured on her blog soon.

 

Ive singled out this pretty little dress so you can see the lovely job our friend T did to make this one.  She is very new to sewing and learned a lot while working along side us to make her first little dress.  What an achievement and how lovely of her to choose to give it away to the great cause.

Twiglet and T spent Funday Monday afternoon working on making a bag for T from a felted cardigan.....I will do my best to put a pic on here when the bag is finished.

I spent the afternoon knitting another little cardie for tiny little L.  At 4lbs it's not easy to find clothes small enough to fit her  :-)

Today my desk is covered with my little bears.  My baskets are needing filling up for the craft fair that Jo and her daughter are having a table at on Saturday in Montgomery.  Please call in and give them some love and support if you can.  I have declined to help this time as we are still awaiting the arrival of our other daughter's baby [due 14th].  So much happening still in this mad world I live in  :-)  :-)

If anyone wants little bears for a special person then please pop over to our blog shop to check them out and email me with your order.  I write the little poems that come with each little bear and they have been known to work real magic by bringing smiles to those needing them most.

Well folks, that's it from me for this week.  I will try to get round to your blogs when I can I promise.

Hugs,

Annie x

In the pink...

I've had a day of finishing off clearing my 'to do' rail full of sewing and then I moved on to making a few more little dresses.  As you can see I've been in the pink all day.

These are numbers 77 and 78 and were both made with pretty pink pillow cases one of my customers gave me. I have prettied them up with trimmings off other fabric and ribbons.

Numbers 79 and 80 were made with yet more of that gorgeous pink sheeting Di sent us.  I really love this material and can just imagine little African girls loving it too.