WOYWW...

Firstly of course it's my 'Didn't we have a lovely day, the day we went to Bangor'.....well, it was actually Llandudno and it was for the weekend and lovely was an understatement. It was a really special weekend spent with just the best of people.....what a lovely group we belong to.

Friday night Margaret very kindly invited us with a few others for dinner.....and very yummy it was too.....Thank you Margaret for making us feel so very welcome.

Here are all the lovely girls at the crop on Saturday..

Back row, [L-R] .... Jan, Eva, Elizabeth, Me, Sarah, Neet, Julia 

Front row, [L-R] .... Dolores, Christine, Margaret, Chris, Anne

 

It was sooooo lovely to meet people I feel I have known for years and to hear the dialects from all round the UK and beyond. 

 

 

I took my dumfing machine and those that wanted to had a little go on it...what lovely results they achieved too.....I have a feeling Dolores may have already bought herself a dumfer.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

That much older sister of mine, Jo and Maxine her daughter didn't come to the crop but they did send one of Maxine's little pictures to go in the raffle and Dolores was the lucky winner....here she is holding it up so I can share a pic with Jo and Max.

 

What a lovely weekend eh?  I will be back  :-)

Now, as I'm here to share my desk, I'd better put a pic here of it in all it's glory....I've stood back and taken a couple of long shots today so you can all have a good snoop and even stay for a little play if you want to.....

 I really love my sewing room....it's such a lovely light room to work in and on sunny days I open the door at the end to enjoy the garden too. As you can see I have a little friend who likes to keep me company and as she had her hair cut yesterday she's looking rather pleased with herself.

I hope you have enjoyed my show and tell today.  Please leave me a little comment and I will do my best to pay you a return visit as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Wahoo wahoo he's back.  Who? I hear you ask.  Why, Mr Mojo of course.  I did just what I said I was going to do.....

I got out all my boxes of wool rovings, threads, silk fabrics etc and uncovered my 'Dumfer'.  I cut out a piece of linen and prepared it by zigzagging around the edges to stop it fraying then used fabric crayons and wool rovings to make a background.  I then got dumfing....and here it is so far.....

I rather like how it's going so far but it still needs more dumfing, some machine and/or hand embroidery and possibly some beading to bring out the detail.

It may well come with me to the crop in September to give me something to pretend to be working on while we eat cake and chat.

The other thing I'm going to share with your today is this desk full of babygros.  They were used by two tiny prem baby girls and were brought to me this week to make a bear out of.....the one babygro was so small that to make a panel out of it I had to join three pieces!!

Of course, being stretch fabric it also all had to be backed with iron on vylene so the bear was quite a challenge to make but......

.....here she is finished wearing the tiny tutu that the baby girls used to wear.  I did have to adjust the tutu a little but I think she's rather cute.

The other bear I've made so far this week is this blue one made out of a Dudley Girl's High School scarf.

This one came with more challenges because it was a fairly loosely knitted woollen scarf that had to be stabilised with fabric iron on interfacing and there was only enough of the fabric in the scarf to get three out of the four panels out of.  Thankfully I had some blue fabric in just the same shade as the school uniform.

Don't you just love it when you can overcome the challenges life throws you and the finished result is so lovely?   I get a big thrill out of what I do....can you tell?

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today and will leave me a little message so I know you've called by.  I will do my best to pay you a return visit but I have rather a lot of orders for my Memory bears and cushions this week.  :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello all.  Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our creative friends around the world and what they are exposing this week.....on their desks of course!

Mine has been a hive of industry again this week....I've been dumfing [check out the link in the side bar if you want to know more]. 

I coloured a strip of white felt with dye sticks and wool rovings then dumfed yarns and fabrics in to make a batch of embellished card toppers.

I then machine embroidered details on each and mounted them onto cards.....each one is different and I love all the bright cheerful colours amongst them.

I have made 4 little Tic tac toe travel games using up some of my big buttons.....thought they might sell on the craft table but if not I know some little people who would enjoy playing with them.

The other thing I'm sharing today is something that made me smile.  It might not be so exciting to everyone but when you have to change an open ended zip in a quilted man's coat it's always exciting to me when it goes in without a hitch and all the seams line up to perfection.....I'm easily pleased 😀

So there you go, that's what's on my desk today.  How about yours?  If you leave me a little comment to let me know you've dropped in I will do my best to pay you a return visit.  I always read the blogs but there are a few I am unable to comment on [usually google+ blogs] so I'm sorry about that.  Hope you have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Hello all.  I've got lots to share with you today cos it's been a busy, productive week here at Sewing by Annie's so here goes....

Having, eventually, sold my industrial sewing machine I have now bought a new table to go where it stood in my sewing room and have set it up for my embellishing machine....it had stood pretty much neglected under it's dust cover since we moved houses and to be honest I had forgotten the pleasure had by using it.  I really enjoyed making these little note book covers.....a bit of dumfing [check R.side bar if you don't know what this is], some machine embroidery and a few beads and hey presto......

I then looked at my full to overflowing box of scrap fabrics and decided to use some of them.  I chose colours that toned/matched and made two pieces of crazy patchwork, embellished it with machine embroidery and....

....made two fabric book covers with it. 

These little owls were another idea I made as little gifts suitable for teachers at the end of the school year....They are little paperweights and used up more of my fabric scraps.....I do have rather a lot of fabric scraps don't I?

The rest of the week I have been making more of my Memory bears.  I feel very honoured helping grieving families by using special items of clothing to remember much loved members of their families. 

These three were made from a much loved husband and father's trousers, scarf and coat lining and the little red ear on each of them is a little fabric taken from a hat that was his all time favourite......it was very special for me to learn a little of the character of the man before I incorporated some into the three bears.

This one was made in memory of a much loved dad and it was by special request that I added the buttons on the front.....I rather like this effect don't you?  The pinstriped grey on the right side was from his trousers he had worn at his wedding.

There you go....sorry I took so long this week but I knew some of you would want to see what I've been up to.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called by and I will do my best to pay you a return visit.  I do read all the blogs but am unable to leave comments on some....sorry.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello all.  Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our crafty blogging friends from all round the world....if you want to know more then please pop over to Julia's where our leader will share details.  I love my Wednesday's.

There has been lots going on here at Sewing by Annie's but I have no sewing on my desk today....yet.

It's not a great photo because I framed it before taking the pic and the glass reflects too much to share the details with you but I have now finished my latest dumfing pic and it's now proudly hanging in our new hall opposite the roller blind that I took the inspiration for it from.....I'm chuffed.

We have been emptying more boxes now we have room to put the contents [a lot has been boxed for 3+ years so has come out like long lost friends].  I have filled one wall in my sewing room with home made treasures.... everything from wood carvings my dad did when he retired and embroidery I've done to lots of little cross stitch works of art my three did when they were little....I love each and every one.

I'm also sharing this with you.....it's one of my new business cards with my newly extended hours on....many customers were wanting to come out of hours so I have changed my hours to suit....exciting times eh?  I have printed off and laminated lots of new business cards and posters to put in public places to let folk know.....that's taken most of my creative time up this week  :-)

So there you go.....sorry it's not more creative but these things have to be done.  :-)  Let me know you've called in and I will pop over to yours as soon as I can to see what's been keeping you busy this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

I'm sure many of you are here to see my desk so I'd best show you what's been going on in my sewing room this week.....[sorry but it is a bit picture heavy today]

That much older sister of mine came over Saturday for some dumfing fun [embellishing for those that don't know what I mean....and if you want to know more please click on the link in the right side bar].

I wanted to use my new hall blind as my inspiration to dumf a picture to go on the hall wall....pretty isn't it?

I found some linen in just the right colour for the background in my fabric stash and made a start with dumfing some green wool rovings as a background.

Next I found some threads/yarns and some dumfable fabrics to add some details for leaves and flowers.

Since then I have had a couple of sessions on it to machine embroider some finer details for the stems/flowers.

Here's a closer look to show you a bit of the machine embroidered details.

It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed some dumfing fun and to be honest I'd forgotten just how much I really enjoyed it.  I have lots more detail to work onto the pic before it's finished and may even do some hand embroidery and add some beading.

The other thing I'm quickly sharing with your today is my now finished dust cover I made for one of my sewing machines.....after all I do have 6 machines and can't use them all at the same time and we do have rather a lot of dust here lol.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today and will leave me a little hello comment to let me know you've called in and I will do my best to pop over to yours so see what you've been up to this week as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Hi all.  I hope it's rather warmer and drier where you are today......brrrrrr and they call this summer!!

I think most of my customers have gone on holiday at the mo so my desk today is a quiet one and not worth sharing but I do have a few snaps of what I've been doing on it this week...

Last week I was in the process of planning / making a tissue box cover for my new sewing room so I've snapped a couple of pics of it now it's finished....

Every side has a handy pocket on it for all the bits and bobs I use in my sewing room and the one side even has a pin cushion.....hope you like it as much as me :-)

The other finished item I'm sharing with you today is a card I made using one of the little dumflings I've made.  I've mounted it on a toning pretty piece of fabric and edged it with machine embroidery....rather pretty isn't it? :-)

That's all I've got to share with you today.  I hope you've enjoyed your visit and will leave me a little message to let me know you've called by so I can pay you a return visit.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

It's a quick post from me today.  Life here is keeping me pretty busy.

On my desk today is...

I've snatched a few creative minutes and have done some machine embroidery on the dumfed pieces I made a couple of weeks ago....they are still not finished pieces.  I will add more embroidery and a few beads etc to finish them when I get a few more creative minutes of play time.

 This is what is taking up a lot of our time at the mo.  Last week the builders put the new door and two windows in the end of what will be my new sewing room and since then we have been preparing the space where they will build our new kitchen/dining room extension ....exciting times and a lot of mess to come yet.  :-)

That's it from me today....I said I would be quick :-)  Please leave me a little hello message to let me know you've called by and I will pop over to yours to say hello ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Mine's a bit of a two for one post today......and I blame Sam [Hettie].

You will have seen last week that Sam paid us a visit.....well, she had been given a dumfer for her birthday.  For those that still don't know what dumfing is please feel free to click on the link in my right side bar for an explanation.  Where was I?  Oh yes Sam and her dumfer!  I follow Sam on Pinterest and she had been pinning dumfing ideas so of course I had my creativity stirred and I woke Thursday morning with my head full of ideas and feeling desperate to dumf.

So...

• Where was my dumfer?....in it's cover having not been used since we moved!
• Where would I find some linen type fabric to dumf onto?.....oh no!! all my boxes have been moved ready for the building work to start!!!
• Where are my wool rovings, threads etc to dumf with?.........

 

 

Of course they were in box on the bottom of a very big stack of boxes that are now sitting behind the settee in the living room......why is it that what you want is always at the bottom of the pile?

 

An hour and a half later I managed to find the basics and set myself up on a table in amongst the plaster and brick dust in what will be my new sewing room for a bit of dumfing fun......results will follow some other time.

 

 

And on my usual sewing desk today is a little job for Lexi.  She tore the skirt on her fav dress so Nanny Annie was asked to mend it :-)  That's what Nanny Annie does :-)

So, there you go.....two desks from me today.  Please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will pop over to yours to see what you've been up to.  Thanks for calling by.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Hi folks.  It's just a quick post from me today to say this week I've been dumfing [if you're here and don't know what I mean then feel free to follow the link on the right side of my blog to find out more].

It's not been the easiest of weeks so I needed something to keep my mind occupied and it's been ages since I did any dumfing.  I pulled out all my wool rovings [yes all those bags fit in the baby box that I use for my dumfing store!].  As you can see I've made a start at a little character on my table [can you guess what it is?].  The compulsory mug of coffee is on show keeping me company too.

You might have noticed the gorgeous patterned green carpet on the floor.....not my choice at all and is looking very tired but I am refusing to pull it up to replace it until the building work has been done so it's very make do for now....and so is the blown vinyl wall paper throughout the bungalow but it's clean and tidy enough until all the messy stuff has been done  :-)

We have had a sad few days this week as we have had to have one of our little dogs put to sleep.  She had gone almost blind and had been diagnosed with a liver disease....why do we take these little friends so much into our hearts? I'm not sure what her brother will think of it all but one thing is for sure we will miss our little Wispa.

If you would like to leave me a little message to let me know you have called by I will do my best to pay you a return visit in between the fun and games with the twinnies today.

WOYWW....and more ATCs :-)

Hello folks....I've had a steady flow of extra ATCs dropping through my letter box all week so I'm quickly showing you the latest batch....

1. RosA
2. Peggy
3. Nikki
4. Elizabeth
5. Dolores

Thank you so much to each and every one of you.  They are each so special but each so very different and I will treasure them all.  I plan to make a book for them like I did for last  years....If only I could find the box it has been put in to remind me how I made it    ;-)

I still have one ATC waiting patiently here for an address to post it to...
Shazsilverwolf

 I will try to leave a message on her blog again this week .......but if you are here reading my blog could you please email me your details to wipso@toucansurf.com     :-)

On my desks today are.....

I have mounted up the dumfed pics I showed you last week and made lots of cards with them that are now drying and adorning all the surfaces in my sewing room!!!

For those that still don't know what dumfing is you can click on the link here or in the left side bar to find out more ;-)  ------->

As you can see my ironing board is also covered too....so no ironing will be done by me today!!!  Any excuse eh? :-)









I am also starting Wedding dress season....its started with my daughter-in-law to be's Wedding dress fitting last Sunday plus the first 3 of her bridesmaids are coming tomorrow night for their fittings [3 more big bridesmaids and 3 flower girls dresses to follow].
Also yesterday I had a phone call from a lady needing two bridesmaid's dresses shortening for a wedding a week on Saturday!!! [I normally start alterations for wedding/bridesmaids dresses 6-8 weeks before a wedding!!!].
I am expecting all the dresses for another 3 or 4 August Weddings too....and of course in the middle of all this I just might have a moving date  :-)  I have a feeling life is going to get just a little busy for me. :-)

On that note I am going to say thanks for calling by.  If you'd like to leave me a little hello comment I will do my best to pay you a return visit asap but if I fail please forgive me :-)
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW......ATCs galore

Wow wow wow what an amazing day last Wednesday was.  There was soooooo much love flying around the world in the form of ATCs between many folk that have never even met and I'm sure you are like me and consider each and every one of them a friend.  I had so many really special envelopes through the post box and will quickly do a show and tell to thank each and every one of you who took the time to swap with me.....

1.  Sandra de
2. Annette
3. Sam
4. Jill
5. Margaret
6. Big Sister Jo

1. Chris Porter
2. Sylvia
3. Chris Bedford....really love the dumfing extras xxxx
4. Nan
5. Laura...big thank you hugs from Lexi and Sam too xxxx
6. Janet
7. Eliza and Yoda
8. Chris Porter...not sure why this one is on twice :-)

1. LL Jan
2. Caro
3. Kyla
4. Minxy
5. Shazsilverwolf
6. Helen
7. Maggie C
8. Alison Haselgrove
9. Bluebeard and Elizabeth

1. Robyn Oliver
2. Neet
3. Julia

Aren't they all simply wonderful? Thank you all soooooooo much.  I love each and every one...all so different but each one made with love.  I have sent ATCs to you all..

that is except from.......

• Shazsilverwolf
• Ali H and 
• Robyn Oliver

I have left message for you each on your blogs but have had no reply as yet....I need your addresses to post your ATCs to you please.  Can you email me to wipso@toucansurf.com with your details.

And...what is on my desk today?

I have been really enjoying some quality creative time dumfing.

The poppies in the front have now had details machine embroidered in and I have sewn black seed beads to the centres of each flower....they are now ready to be mounted onto cards.

The 4 strips at the back I managed to dumf on Monday during an afternoon of fun and creativity with that big sister of mine...thanks for the distraction Jo.

That's about all from me for now.  Thanks for calling by. Please leave me a message so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pay you a return visit ASAP. 

Hugs,

Annie x

Wahoo! wahoo!     It's a very Happy 5th Anniversary to you all today.  5 years of fun and friendship.  So much to celebrate for us all......and so much to thank Julia for.  She has, without fail, kept us all together each and every week.  Wednesdays have now become, not just the middle of our weeks but, a day to look forward to.

Thank you Julia   xxxx

 I have already had quite a few wanting to swap ATCs with me and thanks to that much older sister of mine have organised posting them but through the chaos of this house selling etc here I might have missed your email so please if your name isn't on this list below and you'd like it to be just email me your details and I will get one out to you in the post today with my pass it forward ATC for the one after me on today's Mr Linky

1. Julia
2. LL Jan
3. Jo
4. Neet
5. Hettie
6. Margaret [glitter and glue]
7. Caroline Johnstone
8. Dolores
9. Anne Williams
10. Rosa A
11. Annette West
12. Kate [Spain]
13. Fiona Cullen
14. Diane Baker-Williams
15. Eliza and Yoda
16. Kay Hammock
17. Janet Batten
18. Sylvia Hildman
19. Chris Porter
20. Chris Dann
21. Jill Bersey
22. Sandra de
23. Peggy Pilapil-Lasa
24. Caro Staton
25. Nan Gustafson
26. Christine Bedford
27. Patsy Paterno
28. Helen Lindfield
29. Maggie Craner

 All these ATCs are ready in their envelopes [some have already been posted] but I still have a few more up for grabs if you'd like a little hug from me :-)  Just email me your details to ....... wipso@toucansurf.com........and we can swap  :-)

......and on my desk today is......

.....wait for it.....

.....some Dumfing!!!!!!  Yes I'm actually being creative.  :-) :-)

It's months and months  since I felt creative....mainly because all my creative materials are tucked away in a box or 20 ready for the ?????move????  I felt the need to dumf!!!  I've rummaged through some of my stash and found just enough materials to play with and was totally lost in creativeness for several hours [no twins this week as it's half term hols here so was determined to use my time well].  What wonderful therapy it was too....now all I need to do is the machine embroidery on it all and maybe a few tiny beads and who knows there just might be a set of cards to show you soon.

Well folks, that's it from me for today.  Short and sweet just how the boss likes it.  I want to get round a few desks now so will love you and leave you.  Have a wonderful day celebrating our amazing blogging bunch.

Hugs,

Annie x

Pufflette needs a home....

I have been busy dumfing whilst watching telly in the evenings over the weekend and thought you might like to see the latest feltie that has gone into the blog shop this morning....

I made him from some of my new wool rovings that I bought from Sara last week.  This was the blended merino wool rovings called Summer fruits.  It was so lovely to work with and is such a yummy colour.  If you would like to give Pufflette a home [and of course he can only go to the best of homes] then please pop over to the shop to check out details and email me so I can mark him up as sold  :-).

Jo will be down later for our Funday Monday and I think we will be making a few more little Christmas mice as I sold the last of them over the weekend.  

Hope you have a great day......I know we will  :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Happy Wednesday to one and all.  It's another of those 'I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours' days for the WOYWW gang.
.

It's been a week of dumfing for me in between my sewing jobs....I've started a new large poppy picture  :-)

This is where I've been creating.....sat at my craft table dumfing with all my yummy wools, threads and fabrics around me.

This is who was sat across the table from me on Monday!.....me, with my dumfer, and Jo with her sewing machine this week.

This is the chaos organised work space across the other side of my room with all a few of my machines.  My 'to do' rail filled on Monday while we were having fun  and, as I had the twins yesterday, there will be steam coming out of the top of these machines while I plough my way through my sewing mountain today.  The frame on the floor is the one I hope to be filling with my new poppy picture.

This is the stage I have got to with my poppy picture.....  A wet felted background mounted onto a pre felt base with more wool rovings and threads dumfed into it.  I will be machine embroidering details and will probably add hand embroidery and a few beads to it too.....watch this space!

If only you could smell this you would all be round for tea tonight.  :-)  It's a sign of autumn and colder days I guess when we get out the slow cookers but I do love the aromas in the house while they are cooking.....beef casserole in here today......yum yum







Well folks that's it from me today.  If you'd like to leave me a little hello message I will do my best to pay you a return visit in between my jobs.  Thanks for calling by.  Have a great week.
Hugs,
Annie x

p.s. for those wondering how the little wounded soldier is now....I don't think he even notices the plaster on his leg now thankfully.  We had a great day of fun and giggles on Tuesday.  :-)