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....

I was MIA again last Wednesday...we were off on another adventure in our motor home and had no internet so I was unable to join in the Wednesday fun....I did put a few pics on my Friday post if you'd like to know where I was. 

I'm back in full on sewing mode this week.  My desks are full to overflowing with a gentleman's shirts that I am cutting up and making into 8 Memory cushion covers.  I started Monday morning by patching and darning a pair of trousers for my son and then had a customer needing 2 pair of trousers shortening so I did those before I made a start with the cushion covers.

I have cut the backs off the shirts to use for the patchworked fronts of the cushion covers and sorted them into colour ways.

I've cut out the 8 backs of the cushion covers using the button fronts of the shirts as the fastenings.

I've now made the first 3 cushion covers using the items that my customer requested so will be working on the other 5 today.

As most of you will know I make a Christmas tree decoration for each of my Grandchildren [plus a few extras] every year and this year I've made pigs in blankets.  I've really loved making them while I was rather more quiet workwise and just know they will cause a chuckle or two.

If anyone wants to make a few I have a pattern printed out ready.

The last thing I'm sharing with you this week is this lovely collage of Amy's three.  Both Phoebe and Lulu have sewing lessons at school so Amy asked me to see if there were any good basic sewing machines suitable for the children.

I've been looking for quite a while and this week I found them a real bargain...the lady that owned this lovely little Singer machine had bought it on a whim and had only used it twice before packing it back in it's box so it was just like new.

All three of the children had a lesson on it here on Sunday afternoon and could manage it prefectly.

As you can see the girls then delved into my scrap fabric box and have already made their dolls some new bedding.....unaided :-)

As you can probably tell I'm buzzing here this week.  I love to be kept busy with my sewing and had such a thrill to see just how much the next generation took to their new sewing machine.  I hope you've all had a great week too.  I will do my best to pop round as many of you that I can although on Friday I did have trouble leaving comments on some of the blogs ...I did visit and read them all.

Hugs,

Annie x

As you will all know the 9th WOYWW blog Anniversary will be celebrated next week.  I will be joining in by sending an ATC to the next in the Mr Linky list but Jo and I like to spread the love and send out a few more to anyone who would like to join in a swap.  We have already sorted out all that's on our list below but do have a few spares if anyone else would like to swap so if so please email me on wipso2310@gmail.com and send me your details ASAP.  We do our swap together to save on postage costs so if you are sending to us both feel free to put both our ATCs in one envelope and post them to either of us....we promise to have a coffee together and share them out.

Our list so far is...

1. Julia [the boss]
2. Jan [second in command]
3. Jo [big sister]
4. Neet Hickson
5. Shaz Brooks
6. Sarah Brennan
7. Angela Radford
8. Cindy Ashplant
9. Sylvia Hildman
10. Christine Brown
11. Elizabeth Worthington
12. Nikki Carpenter  
13. Margaret Wright
14. Helen Lindfield 
15. Heather Marshall 

Now onto my desk for this week...

 Meet my new best friend.  You may have seen Jo had bought herself a new sewing machine and shared it last week.  After seeing the demo in the shop and having a play on Jo's I could see it had many functions that would make my job easier so I've taken the plunge and bought one for me too.....and having already put it to good use she has become my new best friend.....you can see I've had a little time to play with it's new stitches too.

My new friend needs a name, she's def a girl cos she thinks of everything I need to do and does it to perfection....answers in the comments please. :-)

Here's the first job I did on my new machine.  It's a little Memory bear using tiny babygros.  Isn't she cute?

Of course my new machine has already had a good workout with shortening trousers etc but it has also made these three more Memory bears mad from a much loved Husband's / Dad's dressing gown......oh what a difference my new machine makes to my teddy making.

This is the other photo I'm sharing today.  On Monday Jo came to join me in the afternoon so she could meet Margaret who called by to pick up the bags, knitted squares and Jo's knitted dollies that we made to go out to Uganda.

It's so lovely that from the little seed Julia planted all those 9 years ago that so many friendships have grown....thanks Julia x

That's all from me for this week so please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x