WOYWW....

 Here we are at another weekly catch up with our creative friends all over them world.  It's been a busy one for me here at Sewing by Annie's

I've made this lovely set of Memory bears in memory of a lovely man using his 4 fav tops/shirts.  Each bear has a panel of each of the 4 shirts but because they are in a different place on each they are all different.

On my rail today there's a jacket that I've shortened the sleeves on, two nurse's tunics that I have taken in on the sides and 4 gorgeous powder blue bridesmaid's dresses....I did the fittings on these yesterday but when I came to start the work on them guess what?....

I only had two reels of thread in the right blue and these were nearly running out....You wouldnt believe that I have all these threads in my blue/green drawer and yet not enough of the right colour....guess I need to go shopping before I can start.

If only I knew on Saturday I could have bought some when I was there buying more black/white interfacing and stuffing for my bear making!!

I have mastered the art of cord making this week and now just have to decide what to do with it :-)

Thanks for calling in today.  Please leave me a little message and I will do my best to call over at yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello and a happy Wednesday to you all.  I've changed to the new blogger and this is my first go with it so we will see how it goes....wish me luck :-)

The demand on the face masks has eased this week but I've been busy making Memory bears and still have more to come this week yet.

Here's the 5 memory bears that came last week....

They each had to be different and I was given clear instructions as to which items of clothing were to go on each bear but......

• Every item of fabric had to be backed with interfacing because they were all stretchy
• Some items were light weight, some much thicker and some were even fluffy so they all needed careful balancing out to make each bear and
• The one in the front was to have a little gilet made out of Grandma's gilet

As you know I love a challenge and these 5 were certainly that but at times like that I do feel I get a little devine help because the gilet went together perfectly [no pattern!] and the finished results were really loved by my customer so that made all the extra work well worth it.

Since then I've made this lovely pair out of a much loved Grandad's shirts...no interfacing needed with these and they went together with ease.

I thought I'd share this lovely comment left on my Facebook Post about my face masks by the Bank manager of Barclays Bank...it sure made me smile :-)

Since I started making face masks on 17th April I have saved all the empty cotton reels I've used to make the [very nearly 1000]  facemasks.

On top of that I've bought and used well over £300 worth of fabrics and several huge reels of elastic.  It's been really lovely using all the gorgeous fabrics and quite challenging to keep up with the demand.

I have a feeling there will still be a demand especially if the government reduce the social distance to just 1 metre so watch this space.

I appear to have got to the end of this week's WOYWW with no real problems with writing my blog on the new set up apart from the fact I can now only download one photo at a time and no spell check now?...which is a bit of a pain....anyone else have the same?

That's all from me for this week.  Hope you're all keeping well and happy.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Oh wow what a busy week it's been here and there more arriving today to keep me busy....I've got a lady coming with items of clothing to make 6 memory bears....yes 6!!! Plus another lady is coming lunchtime wanting several sewing jobs done so never a dull minute here for me......and my sciatica still hasn't gone!!!

So? What have I been up to?.....

My special blogging friend Ellie [we have only met three times but she knows me sooooo well] sent me a voucher for Doughtys for my birthday with instructions to spoil myself so I bought this gorgeous fabric and have made two large cushions to go in our motor home. ....I made the cushions and covers.

It was suggested by several of you that I should made a travelling bear to come with us in the motor home so here he is....I've made him from an old fleece jumper of my hubby's so he's really cuddly and of course he had to have a back pack and hat for his camping trips....I still plan to knit him a scarf to go round his neck.

I haven't thought of a name yet...any suggestions?

You may get to see some of his adventures over the months ahead. :-)

Update......Scarf knitted.  He's all ready for his first adventure now.....but is still needing a name.

My darling hubby bought me a gorgeous new purple fleece as part of my birthday present and of course the sleeves needed shortening to fit me but just look .....even with all the threads I have I didn't have one to match!!....Who would have believed that?

The other thing that's on my desk today is a bit of paper crafting.....card and scissors were involved at least :-)

We have the twins calling round trick or treating with some of their little friends tonight so I had to make the effort lol.

That's all from me for this week.  I will do my best to visit as many as I can but I have a feeling I'm going to be rather busy this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Here we are again.....I love my Wednesdays.  Several of you asked to see the quilty comforter I was making last week so here it is....

I was rather pleased with the results as was my customer....and it will soon be flying round to the other side of the world to a new little family member....so I'm conquering the world slowly.😀

Another job I've finished this week is this cushion cover.  The pic of Rod Stewart was cut from a favourite tee shirt and I've appliqued it on the front of a cushion cover as requested....I get asked to do all sorts here. 😀 

 I've snapped a few pics of my drawers full of sewing threads for the folk that thought you'd seen a lot last week.....those ones were just my shiny machine embroidery threads.

These are my threads I use for every day sewing....rather a lot aren't there? ....but trust me I still have customers who bring clothing of a colour I don't have needing top stitching!

The pic in the top left is just the bobbins I use for my two machines.

The other thing I want to share with you today is this lovely ATC I had from Vickie [Okienurse] this week. It was for our last year's anniversary but was a little delayed because of her ill health.  It was just lovely to think that she was now well enough to think of me [and Jo cos she had one too]....we are so lucky to have friends from all round the world aren't we?

Of course I put it with my other ATCs from last year that were still sitting in a poly bag!!!

So.......

....I wheeled out my cupboard where I keep my card supplies [yes I do have some 😀], I dusted it off and set to and with card, favourite fabric, ribbon and a button or two I made.....

......my latest book to hold my last years ATCs safe.  I've now filled it with all the gorgeous ATCs from all my special friends around the world and it's now lined up on my book shelf in my sewing room with my others....

I really love looking through my books.  They are so inspiring and are filled with so much love.

Don't forget if you would like to swap ATCs with me this year to let me know and I will add you to my list....email is

wipso2310@gmail.com 

now so be sure to send your details to my new address.

Hope you all have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW......

Here we are at another Wednesday catch up.  If you would like details about WOYWW then pop over to Julia's at the Stamping Ground and join in the fun.

Many of you last week asked how the craft fair had actually gone and did I sell out....We all had a lovely day but footfall was really poor and I brought home almost all I took with me.  I made enough to cover the cost of my table and a little extra and was able to hand out lots of my fliers so got the word out locally to a few more potential customers where to find me so all was not lost.  Because of this my Mojo has gone on holiday.....and until he returns I guess I will have little to show you.

I have made a lovely pair of Memory Bears this week....

They are in memory of a much loved mum and dad.  The clothing used to make the bears held special memories, plus Mummy bear has a bow made from one of her favourite scarves and Daddy bear has his own little tie out of his favourite tie.  The results caused a few emotional moments and I was given a big hug so I feel it was a job well done.....they are rather cute aren't they?

Apart from that I have a few more new fat quarters to show you....I couldn't resist.

And I have a rainbow of new threads that Jo saw being sold off as random bags of 5 reels for just 50p so of course these were just too good to miss....and they will all get used at some point I'm sure.

So, that's all I have to share with you today.  Life has thrown us a few challenges this week so I will be stroking my new fabrics while I'm waiting for Mr Mojo to return from his holidays and I hope I have more exciting projects to share with you soon.
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW...

Phew....I've blinked and turned round and here we are at another Wednesday drop in when we all travel the world through the blogs to see what our blogging friends have been busy creating in the week....whether it be paper crafting, painting or fabric crafting they are guaranteed never to be boring and you never know just what tips you might pick up on the way so why not pop over to Julia's for more details and link up to join in the fun.

It's a picture heavy post from me today cos there's been lots going on as always but I will be as brief as I can...

 I was in need of new supplies so here are a couple of the things that have arrived this week to make me smile....
Two boxes of new threads and...

Three packs of Christmas fat quarters.  Plus I had two huge bags of new stuffing to fill my memory bears with.

After seeing the lovely Christmas coasters on Jan's [LLJ] last week I was inspired to make a few with some of my new fabrics.

I've made a few Christmas minions to go on Christmas trees....they are just waiting for hanging loops now.

Here's my latest Memory bear made out of a little girls first babygros....I'm rather pleased with how she's turned out.

I have 4 more Memory bears to make  at the end of this week out of a very special Great grandad's shirts to give to his 4 great grandchildren to keep in his memory....the idea is proving very popular.

This is my latest idea that I'm plotting and planning with.....Naked bear!

Some events that folk want to remember don't have items of clothing sufficient to make a whole bear with so I'm thinking of offering a naked bear that I can dress for them in clothing using the treasured items......

.....possibly a Christmas party dress or.....

....a pair of dungarees?  I am still tweaking the pattern to get them right but what do you think of the idea?

I'm open to suggestions so please tell me what you think [as long as it's not too rude of course :-) ].

There you go I did tell you I'd been busy....and that's just what I've been doing between my customers sewing!

Please leave me a little message and I will do my best to pay you a return visit when I can.  Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

So?  You've come here to see my desk?  Well, as you know we are having building work and many of you will know that my little make-do sewing room, that I've been using in the last year since we have been here, will become part of our kitchen / dining room.  My mojo has gone on holiday so I have been using my energy planning and designing my new sewing room.

I have snapped a few pics of all my clutter in it's glory to show you what I have to pack up and move so that a wall can be knocked through into the new extension. You really wouldn't believe how much I can fit in such a small space......

This is where I sit to sew using a 'push to one side' method to use the particular machine I'm needing at the time.  The wall you are looking at with the window in it is the one that is to be removed!!

This a pic of what is right behind me when I sew....two crammed full wall cupboards, a hanging rail for customers items, a small table and lots of boxes and clutter!!

This is a 'bare all' set of pics of my three wall cupboards full of clutter

....and you thought I was such a tidy worker didn't you?....I just hide a lot behind cupboard doors. :-)

In the first pic you will see my new set of Ikea drawers well this is what I have sorted into the top 4 drawers......top one has the bobbins for two of my machines [.....there are more somewhere in a box for my other sewing machine!]

The next three drawers hold my sewing threads.....hmmm I do have rather a lot but, whether you believe it or not, there are times when I still don't have thread the right colour!!.....like Saturday when I wanted to shorten the sleeves on a jacket for me [isn't it always the way?].

I'm still running my sewing business but it really isn't easy when all around you is clutter and it's never easy to find what I need to do the job.  So I've been planning and thought you might like to see the floor plan for my new room....

This is just a rough plan and of course there will be wall cupboards and shelves too.  I intend my room to be a pretty, light, airy space for all my crafty friends to come to play with all my fabric and stash and machines to hand so I can create just when the mood takes me.....Oh I can't wait.

If you follow me on Pinterest you will see that I've been pinning lots of lovely ideas and hopefully at least some of them will take shape fairly soon  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today 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....

Please help yourself to a face mask before you go any further.

I know there will be some who call by here to check up on me every week but today you venture on at your own risk.  Over the weekend we were called out to help care for the twins....their daddy and both the twins were being sick at the same time and bless her poor Shell just didn't have enough hands to cope....This b****** Norovirus is an awful thing. 

One of the poorly babes  :-(

Lots of cuddles needed.

 

 Late on Monday afternoon my darling other hubby and I also went down with the bug.  :-(

I have no crafting on my desk to show you today as frankly there has been none done so I'm just sharing my gorgeous birthday crafty goodies.....but of course they are all still at the stroking stage as yet!

Aren't they just wonderful?  I have been really spoilt....now all I need to do is to get better so I feel like using some of it.  Thanks for calling by today....I'm not promising to do much blog visiting til I feel better but before you leave will you please wash your hands cos I don't want anyone else feeling like this.

WOYWW.....

Good morning blogging friends.

Another busy week has passed and we are back to the best day of the week when we all have a good snoop round lots of crafting spaces.  If you are here by chance and don't know what I mean then please pop over to Julia's blog and join in the fun.

My new carpets are down and I'm thrilled to bits with them.  My sewing room looks so much bigger and lighter now and I can now honestly say I am on cloud nine every day...see prev blog to know what I mean :-) 

All my fitted cupboards under the window had to come out to have the carpet fitted under them so all my threads had to be bagged up :-#   As you know I do have an awful lot of threads and they filled 3 carrier bags!

So......Of course one of my jobs over the weekend was to sort all of these threads and put them back in the drawers......my OCD really did kick in Sunday when I did this  :-)  Don't they look lovely girls?  I normally say if I don't have a colour then it prob doesn't exist but believe me when I say there are times when even I don't have the right colour to use.

I have now also finished my Christmas card toppers and thought you would like to see the latest ones.  I rather like the colours of these ones.

This is what's on my desk today.  I am using some of my Christmas fabrics to make some rag wreaths ready for the Craft Fair at Montgomery on Sat 27th.  I love how using different colour combos make them look so different.  Which one do you like best?





For those wondering how my wounded soldier is....His index finger is still throbbing but I have a feeling having to keep busy over the weekend didn't help.  He had taken Monday off as a day's holiday to put all the furniture, pics etc back too.  Think he was glad to get back to work yesterday for a rest  :-)  Thanks for all your kind comments...I have passed each and every one on to him  :-)

I had my 2 little Granddaughters here yesterday afternoon while my daughter had  day surgery so I shall be catching up big time with my sewing today so will do my best to visit blogs at coffee break times.  Thanks for all who take time out to read my blog and leave me such lovely comments.