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

This week's smiles....week 295

It's been my birthday week so there's been lots to smile about.  When your birthday is mid week you just have to catch up with family members at the weekend so it spreads the celebrations over a week....and I've been well and truly spoilt.

There's been...

• Flowers
• Parcels to open
• Envelopes to open [with the help of little Theo of course]
• Hugs and kisses and of course
• Cake....a chocolate cake too :-)

Here's just a few of my smiles...

I was treated out to brunch by Theo and his mummy, Gina, on my birthday morning and then Theo and I enjoyed lots of fun and giggles for the rest of the day....here we are playing and singing 'Wheels on the bus'.

Cant you have a lot of fun with a cardboard box, some paper plates and some double sided sticky tape?

The box was what my next smile came in.....

On Wednesday my hubby took the day off to run me to the Dr's for my annual blood tests and then took Milly to be clipped.

During the morning he had an erection on the front drive....this is a new clip on awning for our motor home and will allow us to put up table and chairs etc and then unclip it to drive away whilst we are camping.....exciting times eh?

When these two get together they are inseparable.  Lulu is such a loving big cousin to little Theo.....and I rather think the feeling is mutual.

Here's Steve trying on his new Shrewsbury Town football hat and scarf....a late birthday present and he's rather pleased with it as you can see.

 This is my last smile to share with you today...it was sent to me from our Dutch friends and as you can imagine it's caused lots of giggles.....if only eh?

There you go.  That's a few of my smiles for this week.  I've showed you mine now show me yours by linking them up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

As you will have seen on Julia's blog the Crop ten celebrations are going to be here in Shropshire next year and I thought you might all like details of when and where.  It will be on Saturday June 1st and will be held here....

You should be able to click on the link for more details but I know some of you have been making plans already and we really do want as many as possible to join us there this year so get the date on the calendar....we will take numbers nearer the time.

Now onto what's been going on at Sewing by Annie's this week.....

I've used more of those Laura Ashley samples that Margaret sent me and have made some lavender bags using the lavender Catriona sent me.

I was asked to make a waistcoat by one of my customers for her little boy for Christmas so I used the pattern I was given by a lady on a Facebook group I am in and made one that's supposed to be for age 5-6.  As it seems to have come up a very generous size and the little boy it's for is slender build I have now made another smaller one and a blue one too.....I was on a roll :-)

I have also made this rather special Memory bear...it's for a lady in memory of her Father made out of his school scarf and tie....that is over 100 years old!!

I do feel very honoured to be trusted with such special items of clothing.

That's about all for me for today.  It was my birthday yesterday so it's been a week of smiles and spoils for me....I may share a few of them on Friday when I post my happy moments and share them with you all.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 294

Another week and I've yet more smiles to share.  When you have 6 grandchildren there is always at least one of them achieving something special and wanting to share it with me....I'm such a proud Nanny Annie....

This week it was Steve's turn.  He had passed his tests in his kick boxing and got 70/70 and now has his orange belt....well done Steve.  

He knows how to make his Nanny proud and now not only does kick boxing but plays football and tennis in after school clubs....and loves them all.

You may know that we had our first weekend away in our new motor home last weekend and although it was a very wet and wind weekend we had a really lovely time.  We took our little Milly with us and she really loves the life on the move.

Just about all her walks were taken in the rain.  I love rain and so does Milly even when I insist she has a cuddle in a towel after....just look at that little face.  :-)

She loves sitting on the backs of the seats and watching all the comings and goings on the camp site....and the rain drops running down the outside of the windows :-)

Our youngest daughter, Amy and her hubby took their three to a cottage near Harlech for the weekend so they also enjoyed walks and fun times on the beach with their dog in the rain too....here are the three children all snuggled up in their dressing gowns after their walk.....I love how they happily snuggle up together for a photo. :-)

Those are my shared smiles for this week.  I hope they made you smile too and you will now share your smiles with us too by linking below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Hello all.  Happy Wednesday.  I have been busy doing something that will surprise many of you this week....I've been cutting and using my fabrics almost as soon as they dropped on my doorstep.

That fun fabric that Catriona sent me has been put to good use already.  I made two of these pocketed hanging holders, one for Catriona to say thank you with and the other to go in our motor home for the toiletries to go in.

Last Friday also saw me working hard in the morning to finish these two quilts before we set out after lunch on our first adventure in our motor home.

We had two nights down near Builth Wells on a site we used to visit when our family were growing up.  It has been greatly improved since then with all new facilities so was even better than we remembered and although it poured with rain all weekend and blew a gale at times we had a really lovely couple of days away.

I even sat snipping all the thread ends off whilst we were away to finish the quilts off.....if those two customers hadn't turned up on the Friday morning I would have finished them before we left!!

On my desk this morning is my next project.  One of my customers asked if I could make her little boy a waistcoat for Christmas but I struggled to find a pattern to make one with so I put a shout out on a Facebook group I'm in and a really kind lady on there sent me this one free of charge....there are so many lovely people out there aren't there?

The pattern is a little smaller than I need I think but at least I now have something I can adapt....watch this space as they say.

That's all from me for today.  I hope you all have a fab week and thanks for calling by.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 293

It's been one of those weeks when it's been good to focus on things that have made me smile because my sciatica has done it's best to drag me down....and I'm not letting it win!

My happy parcel that arrived on Monday really helped to lift my mood thankfully but I've also managed to find lots that has made me smile this week too so here's a few snaps for you....

The sun has shone and little Milly has been soaking up the rays....it's not surprising my garden plants have a flattened appearance is it?

Saturday afternoon saw me being tied up to play a game with Sam and Lexi....they thought it really funny that the timer was running out so Nanny was supposed to blow up!  I now know how the bodyguard felt  :-)

Sam has been awarded his Beavers necktie this week for achieving all his challenges.

Tuesday afternoon was my time to look after little Theo....it never fails to amaze me just how quick he learns how to do new challenges.  He loves jigsaws.

This is Steve opening one of his birthday presents....it's his birthday today.  It doesn't seem 7 years since he was nearly born in the car on the hospital car park!! 

Happy birthday gorgeous boy xxxx

I hope you have enjoyed my smiles  for this week and will leave me a little comment before leaving a link to your own smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

My post today is a big thank you to a friend I've never met.  Monday morning saw me suffering big time still with my sciatica and I was generally feeling very sorry for myself.  I do my best to not make a fuss or moan so was here in my sewing room twiddling my thumbs with no customer's sewing to do when my postman knocked at my door.  He handed me a parcel from a special friend called Catriona from Scotland.  She and I have been in touch for years, she follows my blog and we have emailed etc.  She had seen that we had bought a motor home and just decided to share some of her stash with me....so that's what's on my desk today.

In my parcel was....

3 large pieces of fabric with camper vans on them.

A gorgeous bag that she had made...she says she uses one when going across the camp site to the showers....and that's exactly what this one will be used for.

A bag full of lavender....because when I had spoken to her last I had mentioned I was looking for ideas to use my Laura Ashley fabric samples for.

A bag containing tiny hearts with 'made with love' on, a Scottish badge and a roll of tape with 'handmade' on......just because.

I was completely blown away by her generosity and I have to say she couldn't have chosen anything better or sent it to me to arrive at a better time.

All I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart Catriona....and I will look forward to buying you that coffee when we meet in real life.

So on my desk now is....

Fabric chaos....I've sorted out all my fun, colourful pieces of fabric and have now cut out enough squares to make two quilts to go in our motor home.....there really is no better therapy is there?

The other thing I've made from the Laura Ashley samples Margaret sent us is this set of 6 coasters....I've machine embroidered each one and quilted them.

That's all from me for this week.  This blogging lark really is a wonderful thing and this week has really proved it to me.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 292

Another busy week here at Sewing by Annie's and it's been another one filled with smiles so I'm here to share a few of them with you....

Our little grandson Theo is starting Nursery one day a week and this week he's been having his induction sessions.  We looked after him for the day on Tuesday and he had to go for an hour and a half taster session in the morning.  As you can see his bag is nearly as big as him but he insisted in being a big boy and carrying it.

He had a lovely time and when we collected him he was playing very happily outside with all the other children and we managed to watch for a few minutes before he noticed we were there :-)

....one more step along the road he goes :-)

Another of our Grandsons, Steve is nearly 7 and last Saturday he went to watch his first Shrewsbury Town football match with his daddy...and loved it.  Here he is grinning from ear to ear wearing his new football shirt which is an early birthday present.

My dad always used to go to watch Shrewsbury play with my hubby and his dad and now our son, Mark goes and the next generation are catching the bug too....it's so lovely to see the love of watching our local team passing down the generations.

As you know we have recently bought a motor home and have been enjoying setting it up with all it needs but as yet haven't had a free weekend to go away in it.  We wanted to test it out so last Sunday morning.....

I filled a box with all the essentials....

....and we drove up to Cardingmill Valley, a local National Trust park, and I cooked us a brunch.  Yum yum it tasted as good as it looked and everything in the motor home worked well.

Our little Milly doesn't usually travel well but she really seemed to love the new life style and, as you can see, she enjoyed watching the world go by while we were up in the hills.

We enjoyed a walk up there before we left then drove on a little further before......

.....Stopping up by Wenlock Edge for a coffee and cake break and another walk before heading for home.

I love our new found freedom and I'm sure this is something we will be doing often.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing my smiles and will leave me a little comment to say you've called by before linking up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello all.  Hope you've had a good week.  We are here to link up with Julia over at the Stamping Ground and show what's on our desks this week.  If you'd like to know more then just click on the link and why not join in the fun?

You saw the little bear I was working on last week?  

Well, here he is finished.  The fluffy fleecy fabric made a really lovely little bear.  Isn't he just gorgeous?  My customer loved him so much that, as there was still plenty of the fabric left in the item of clothing she brought me, she has now ordered two more bears to be made from it for other family members......which I will enjoy making once my order of the woven, iron on interfacing arrives.

The rest of the week I have filled my time in between my customer's sewing with little items using the Laura Ashley samples that Margaret sent for Jo and I to use.....I love a challenge as you know.  So here goes...

Two little hearts to hang up.

5 little lined, zipped purses.

A fabric brooch.

Plus 4 little owl pin cushions.

I hope you like what I've made so far.  I still have fabric to use but I'm struggling to think what to make next.....any ideas?

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called in and I will do my best to pop along to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x