WOYWW...

 Hello all and a very happy Blog Aniversary to you all.  Here is the ATC I made to share with you all...

I felt a poppy was appropriate this year to remember our dear friend Neet.  She was someone I'd known as long as I'd been part of the wonderful group of WOYWWers and I would have called her a dear friend...she will be sadly missed.  If you'd like to help yourself to a copy of my ATC please feel welcome and thank you all for your love and friendship over yet another wonderful year of blogging.

I was missing last week because I was somewhere in the depths of doing this...

...this is one of the many prom /wedding /bridesmaids dresses I've been busy with but this one was special for me.  It is for a young lady I've known from a baby and seen growning up.

She's a lovely young lady and looks stunning in her dress....it has 5 layers that all needed shortening so it was a job and a half.

We have also been busy out in our garden and our little Peggy just loves to pose for a photo.

I thought you'd like to share in the fabulous flowers making us smile in our garden at the mo.....there seems to be colour in every direction at the moment.

Lastly but by no means least I would like to share this photo of Lexi who took part in a dance show put on by her dance group on Sunday.

We enjoyed 2 1/2 hours of fabulous dancing by all ages ...I think the youngest was 3-4 years old and she melted our hearts.

Lexi is the smallest in the group of girls she dances with but she was amazing and this photo just shows her love for what she does...so very proud of her.

So that's all from me for this week.  I will do my best to call by at yours in between my sewing jobs.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Hello folks.  Here we are at another Wednesdays catch up with our creative friends.  Here's hoping Neet is going on OK...no one seems to have heard from her. :-(

It's been a busy week for me so haven't had a lot of time for mischief.  I've had bridesmaids dresses, Prom dresses and holiday clothes to sort for my ever flowing queue of customers....and I'm loving life.

My clothing rail has filled and emptied several times :-)

My second twiddle mitt is slowly being filled with things to twiddle.....

....I'm loving knitting them so much that I've made a start on number three.

Knitting with chunky wool on big needles is so much easier for my arthritic hands.

I had 3 shirts arrive lunchtime yesterday to make 3 memory bears with...just 7 more to come now to reach my 1000 and 6 of those are coming this week :-)

That's all from me for this week.  If you leave me a little message I will do my best to pop over to yours between my sewing jobs.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Here we are at another catch up with our creative friends to see what they have been busy with this week.  If you want to know more then please pop over to Sarah's Craft Shed for details and why not join in the fun?

I've had a busy week with a steady flow of customers.  I've....

• Shortened 7 pair of trousers
• Let one pair of trousers down for a very tall young man
• Put a new zip in a pair of jeans
• Shortened the straps on a Bridesmaid dress [made more difficult because the straps had frills]
• Plus I have made this gorgeous Mamory Bear...

It's made to give the groom-to-be and is made from his Nan's top, his shirt he wore for his first job and on the back is a panel from his first child's babygro....lots of very special memories.

That's all from me for now.  This little bear has brought my numbers up to 990 so I just need to make 10 more now to reach my 1000...and I have 9 on their way very soon :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hello to all my WOYWW friends.  Here's hoping Neet it still going on well and is able to join us now and then....we miss you lots.

I've had a week of folk coming out of the woodwork wanting sewing done for Weddings, Proms, Memory bears and everyday clothing....my diary is fast filling.

This is one of the bridesmaid dresses that I have done this week.  I had to take it up on the shoulders so that needed little gathers putting in the tops of the capped sleeves once the amount was taken out .....lots of keyhole surgery done and it was a very fiddly job but it was worth it because the finished job was lovely.

I also had to shorten the hems of the 3 layers of the skirt....all 13 metres of them!! 

In between my sewing jobs I have knitted my first twiddle mitt while watching the telly....thanks Jo for the instruction. I've found knitting with chunky wool on large needles so much kinder on my arthritic hands and have really enjoyed making it...so much so that I have now started number two.

I'm not the only one to have enjoyed some telly this week.  Peggy really loves David Attenborough's Secret Garden programme....she sits like this every time one of the animals comes on screen :-)

This is all from me for this week.  If you leave me a little message I will call by to see what You've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hi all.  I've had a busy couple of weeks but have no crafting to share with you sadly.  We had our first weekend away in our caravan at our favourite campsite in Wales and came home to watch....

...Sam playing the part of Mungojerrie in Cats at the theatre in Shrewsbury.  He was amazing as were the other performers....we are so lucky to have so many talented young people in Shrewsbury.

He sang and danced and the show was brilliant....so very proud of him.

We had Shell, Lexi, Sam, Theo and Louie round for an Easter treat.  It was so lovely to have them all here together.

We had a trip out to a garden centre near Welshpool to buy plants to restock our garden and here's a few pics of what is making us smile out there at the moment.

We took Peggy for a run up on Lyth Hill near us and I always try to run my Merlin bird app while I'm up there and this was the results of our trip....we are so lucky to have such a lovely place to visit.

That's all from me for this week.  I'm getting busy with customers coming for Wedding alterations now so I'm not sure what I will have to share with you by next week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Another week has gone by and I've had a few more customers this week so have things to share with you.

I love that no two days are the same here at Sewing by Annie's.  This week I was brought these details embroidered on a piese of net that I was to transfer to the bottom edge of a Wedding veil.

I had to stitch over each individual letter then had to carefully cut away the excess netting to just leave the lettering....a tricky job that needed a lot of patience.

In between sewing jobs I have got a ball of pretty rainbow yarn out and have been knitting little jointed teddies....I used to knit these about 40 years ago and many of them still hold special memories :-)

I've also made two banana and sultana cakes...they are rather yummy so please help yourself to a slice to have with your coffee.

Monday morning Peggy went to the groomers and is now feeling very proud of her new haircut and wanted me to share it with you. :-)

The other thing I wanted to share with you because I thought they would make you smile.  Our garden is bursting into blooms in every corner so I've snapped a few pics and collaged them for you...I hope you like them.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 In short there isn't much on my desk today.  There's been lots going on here...mainly putting our bungalow back together after having our tiles layed and thankfully I've had no customers so I've not had to work around it all.

I have made Hazel a lovely blouse and pair of dungarees and that's all I have to share with you today...

She really loves her new outfit...and so do I.

That just leaves me to say I hope everyone of well and happy and our friend Neet is continuing to improve.  I will pop over to yours to see what you're all up to if you'd like to leave me a little message.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hello all.  There's been lots going on here at Sewing by Annie's....I've been closed for customers though.  We have been having the floors in our kitchen, halls and utility tiled.....our tiler has been busy here all week and yesterday he finished so we now just have to put everything back and put up our new curtains [sadly I think they need shortening].

I decided I needed a little project that I could be busy with and be able to do in what every space I was able to get to and I found...

...this book that had been sat on my sewing room bookshelf for a few years.

It involved making the little rabbit and lots of clothes for every season and each one needed a lot of hand sewing.

Meet, who I've called, Hazel.  She's 6" to the top of her head then ears are extra.  Her arm and legs are poseable so she can stand and sit.....I've already fallen in love with her.

I've made her a pretty Spring dress and matching ear bows.

Every outfit is fully lined and uses hand and machine sewing so I've used the machine when I could get in my sewing room and then I've put all the pieces in a basket and taken it all to the living room to hand sew.

I also made her the hand embroidered coat and bonnet.

She also has a lovely pair of pyjamas.

There are several other projects in the book to make so it may well be an ongowing project and Hazel just might have little adventures that I can share with you all.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I've kept myself busy with and, if you leave me a little message to say you've called in I will pop over to yours to see what you've been up to.

Hugs,

Annie x 

WOYWW....

 Happy Wednesday to one and all.  Here's hoping you're all well and happy.  Our dear friend Neet messaged me earlier in the week to say she's back in hospital again but as yet I don't know why....I just hope whay ever it is they can get her well and back home soon.  Sending her lots of love and hugs.

I've been busy bear making again...these two are in memory of a much loved 98 year old Mum....they are made from her jeans and favourite jumpers [yes, she still loved wearing her jeans at 98].

I've also been recovering the seat pads on our kitchen chairs/stools.

We are having the kitchen, halls and utility floors tiled so I thought new chairs pads and curtains would look good.

I know many enjoyed the colours of threads in the blue/green drawer so once I had time to do my two other drawers I thought I would let you see them all.

I do use lots of threads and if something needs overlocking then I need 3 reels of those colours to thread up the overlocker.

At least now I can easily see the colours and they are no longer tangled up.....good job well done :-)

I've also taken time out to do a bit of baking this week....cheese scones.  And they tasted every bit as good as they look....please help yourself to one to have with your cuppa.

If you leave me a little message I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hello all.  Here we are at another Wednesday desk share with our creative friends.  It's been a different sort of week for me...

Monday  I was supposed to have a customer wanting me to make her 2 Memory bears having recently lost her Mum but she messaged me to say on sorting out her Mum's clothing she decided she wasn't ready to have them made just yet....the time for these things has to be right.

  This meant I had a day to find something else to do so...

...I decided to sort out one of my thread drawers...the blue/green one.  My threads tend to get rather mixed up and tangled and finding the one I need becomes difficult.

The bottom pic is my now tidy drawer....doesn't it look fab and yes I do have a lot but you can guarantee I wont have the right colour for the next job that comes through my door.

Yesterday I had to look at a prom dress to see if it was possible to reduce it from a size 12 down to a size 8....it had a pretty beaded band around the bodice and there was no way of taking it in as much as was needed because of it sadly.

So, yet again I was looking for something to do to use my time wisely...

I sorted out some small pieces of fabrics and cut out 1 1/2" strips to do some patchwork with and made these pretty key rings for the charity....what do you think?

Whilst cutting the tiny patchwork squares I learnt an important lesson...my rotart cutter is very sharp when it's got a new blade in it!!!! Ouch it hurt and it bled like a pig.

That's all from me for today.  If you leave me a little message I will do my best to pay you a visit to see what you've been up to.

I hope Neet is continuing to recover well at home...sending her lots of love.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Another week has passed and the sewing keeps coming...thankfully.   I've still had spare time so have been frog making this week. 

 I'm going to start this week with a smile.....

My Amaryllis has continued to make me smile when the third stalk opened up with yet another 4 blooms...so 12 in total.  Not bad for something I felt sorry for at Aldis...it's repaid me in full.

I decided to try out a couple of different patterns to make the frogs for the charity this time and made 3 like this which I rather like and....

....two like this [so far]....I like this pattern most because it's more like the frog Harry drew before he died.  There will be more made like this one.

That's all from me for this week.  I will pop over to see what you've been up to so please leave me a message if you call by.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Hello all.  I heard from Neet yesterday and she could tell be she is now back in hospital having had an accident at home so please send her lots of healing wishes.  I really hope she is back home soon.

I've had a lovely week since we spoke last Wednesday.

Do you remember me telling you that I had bought the last amaryllis in Aldis?  Well it is now repaying me in full.  The first of the three stems has 4 blooms, the second stem now also has 4 beautiful blooms and the third stem is now starting to open up....I wonder how many blooms that one will have?

Our Sunday afternoon was spent being proud Grandparents.

Firstly we went to watch Lexi dancing in a competition and what a beautiful little dancer she is now.

Then we rushed to Theatre Severn to watch Sam in Dare to Dream Jr.

He had to sing a solo [emotional moments]....and he has a beautiful voice.

There was over 30 youngsters performing and there were some really beautiful voices amongst them.

I have made 8 little rabbit bags filled with chocolate eggs for the charity.

I have also used a piece of fabric that Jan sent us to make this lovely quilt for the charity...fabric well used Jan, so thank so much for sharing with us.

I made these two beautiful bears yesterday.  One of my customers gave me the piece of beautiful Indian fabric to make a bear out of so I made two and intend to give her one of them as a thank you.

I am making another Memory bear today so that will bring me to just 12 from 1000 bears...exciting times.

I will do my best to pop over to yours later.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 It's been a busier week here at Sewing by Annie's.  I've took in several pairs of trousers and shortened them and I altered the shoulders on a posh frock for a Mother of the Groom.

I have also made this very special Memory Bear made from a wedding dress.  The dress had been cut up for several different projects but thankfully there was enough to make a bear from and the front of the bear was made from the front panel off the dress.  It was rather tricky to make but it was worth the effort because my customer loved it.

In my free time I have managed to make these 12 popper purses for the charity and then.....

.....I used some of the new fabrics that I may have bought on Saturday while we were on a little adventure in Shrewsbury.

I made 7 little carrot bags that are now waiting for some chocolate mini eggs to fill them.

I'm sure these will sell well for the charity.

That's all from me for this week.  I do have more trousers to alter today so I will do my best to pay you a visit in between my jobs.  

I believe Neet is now back home so I hope she is feeling much better now.  Sending her lots of love.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Hello all.  I hope you've all had a good week.  I haven't had many customers this week but enough to keep me ticking over.  Of course I've not been sat doing nothing.....

I found something I fancied making and it needed lots of little squares cutting out so I set to and worked out how many I needed from the pattern I'd cut out.  I  found lots of pretty fabrics and covered my sewing machine table in colour.

I spent last Wednesday patching together the pieces and then made this cute Easter rabbit....I was rather pleased with it even though it didn't look quite the same as it was on the picture even though I'd printed off the pattern supplied.

Yesterday, I finished making these 8 bowl cosies...each one is different with a different lining to the outers.  Jo wants a couple of these and the rest will go to make money for the charity.

We've bought a new soup maker this week.....I've always made soup using a pressure cooker then blitzed it with a hand held liquidiser ...lots of time, effort and mess needed.

I'm loving the soup maker and, having spent a few days with a sore mouth post my dental extraction, I really enjoyed both of these soups...the top one was broccoli and stilton and the lower one was tomato and vegetable.....yum yum.

A few weeks ago I took sympathy on the last amaryllis in Aldis when we shopped.  It has now rewarded me by sprouting three flower shoots....I've never had one with three before so I'm really looking foward to it blooming now.

It's not a clear photo but my snowdrops have now started blooming....this always makes me smile.  Spring is on it's way.  Yahooooooo

That's all from me for this week. If you leave me a little message so I know you've called by I will pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.  I hope it's been a good one for you.

Hugs,

Annie x