This week's smiles ....week 526

 It's been a lovely week here at Sewing by Annie's.  I've had a few customers but have also had time to sew for pleasure too...just the way I like it.  I have had sooooo much to make me smile too so will share this week with lots of pics....

 On their way back from their holiday in France Mark, Gina and the boys called in at Rocmador ...this is somewhere we had been to many years ago so it was lovely to see the boys enjoying it there.....I really love the first pic of Louie...he looks like he's skipping and it makes me smile.  

                                                                

     On their way home through England they called in at Legoland in Windsor and had a really lovely day.        

 Sam has given me lots to smile about this week.  He rang me to see if I had some pink and blue fur fabric he could 'borrow' ....of course I do and it's what Nanny's stash is for.  He wanted to make some puppets with it and, as you can see he made two amazing puppets which he is now using to make short films :-)

Of course he is now hooked and asked if I had any more colours I could let him have so we dropped off a bag with 4 more colours for him to use.

What makes me smile most is that he is using one of my old sewing  machines to make them on...and it's the one I made my Wedding dress on :-) 

Our garden has given us lots to smile about.

The tomatoes are ripening fast and furious now and are so yummy....there are red large, red small, yellow and 'black' ones.

We harvested the beetroot and had lots to eat fresh plus it made 3 jars of pickled beetroot and then I made many jars of beetroot chutney with the rest...and I love it.  

 The garden is also still blooming and has colour in all areas.      

Of course it wouldn't be Friday without a few funnies and I hope you will find something here to make you smile.  Please leave me a little message before linking to your own smiles at the bottome of the page.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

This week's smiles ....week 452

Happy Friday all.  It's been another really busy week for me with sewing as many seem to have left their orders to last minute but I've manage to keep up to date and hopefully I won't be getting many more requests before Christmas now.....hopefully I will get a little time to marzipan and ice my drunken Christmas cake [it's been having regular tipples] that Jo baked for me and might even find time to make a few pince pies too.

On Saturday I was treated to lunch out and a fun Kinkiglass workshop with Amy and the two girls.....we had a great time and hopefully will be able to hang the results on the tree once they are fired....I made a robin :-)

Amy and the girls were wearing their Christmas jumpers so I put my Christmas face mask on for the photo :-)

Doddy dug up the last of our beetroot this week and whilst I was busy sewing he then made it into beetroot chutney...we make a great team and he made 6 jars of really yummy chutney....yes there's only 4 here because we have sampled the one jar and another one has gone to Shell and family.

Catriona sent me the pattern to make a different style of face masks this week and, as it looks as though we are going to be wearing masks for a long time yet, I thought I'd give it a go and make us one each....they really do seem to be the most comfy of masks so I may make us a couple more to wash and wear. 

 Thanks Catriona xxx

I hope you have enjoyed my smiles for this week and will share yours by linking them below....we can never have too many smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

Friday's smiles...

These are a few snaps of things that have made me smile this week....

When the twins have finished their meals they like to sit and hold hands and giggle together.

I have a room full of toys for them to play with but as you can see here their favourite toy is playing peep behind the curtains!....yes those are Sam's feet sticking out on the left of the pic.  :-)

Who needs a hoover after lunch time for the twins?  I have two little doggies who really love their visits.  :-)

I've been bitten by insects many times this year so Saturday I decided to tuck my trousers into my socks to keep the little b*****s out while I picked the veg down the garden.....vest tucked into my trousers too and I was covered with insect repellant!!

Having picked a huge bag full of kidney beans I mentioned to my 'Gadget man' that the old bean slicer was still hanging up in the shed from when I was a child so of course he had to search it out and ...

...ta da it still works!

Needless to say that, although it was like meeting an old friend, I still sliced them by hand cos there is more flavour in the thicker slices.

Beetroot, cooking apples and onions fresh out of the garden and what do I make?

4 jars of the most yummy beetroot chutney that's what  :-)

It's been a busy week for me but I have had so many things to smile about.  How about you?

Have a great weekend.

Hugs,

A x

Did I have a holiday?....

Someone told me I have had my summer holiday. :-)

As you can imagine life very quickly returns to my normal plate spinning routine. You will be pleased to hear at the moment I am still able to save all the spinning plates from dropping.....just.

My 'to do' rail filled very rapidly on Friday....I had 3 male customers call all at once and all with arms full of sewing!

Having taken my neighbour B into hospital on Wednesday she was discharged on Friday back to the Care home so it was another settling in for her on Friday night [alas the hospital failed to inform anyone of what they found wrong with her]. Each move finds her more and more upset and frightened in her confused state. Bless her if only she could be anywhere long enough to settle in. Her feet managed to touch the ground on Saturday but bless her she was rushed back to hospital [with yours truly in close pursuit again] on Sunday morning. After yet more long hours in A & E she was again admitted to the ward for observation and as far as I'm aware that's where she remains. Today she has to attend a fracture clinic for her broken leg and very likely she will be transferred back to the care home either later today or tomorrow. Old age really doesn't have a lot going for it does it?


In between hospital visits, care home visits etc etc I have managed to fit in the most enjoyable Saturday afternoon at Shrewsbury theatre at a Knit and Natter group organised by the wonderful Suz.
She happily taught me to do the Spike stitch crochet that she has been doing on her blog and I came home with the most amazing 10 balls of wool bought from her stock. She sells it at a very reasonable price so if anyone wants some pop over to Suz blog to find out more.




I managed to quickly make another batch of beetroot chutney and here are all the chopped up ingredients ready to be simmered down....it made 6 more jars of yummyness :-)




I also had a wonderful couple of hours with my youngest daughter A and her gorgeous little girls P and L. P is now 21 months, a real little girl and loves having her hair put up into pig tails...she had such fun playing in the garden with a little bucket and the garden chippings and playing hide and seek with her Granddad along the paths that weave through our garden :-)
Little L is now 4 1/2 months and is so much like her mummy as a little girl with big brown eyes and the most gorgeous sandy red hair....oh aren't we blessed :-)

So girls that's my busy weekend.....How was yours?

WOYWW....

Another week has passed and here we are again exposing our crafting spaces to the world. Thanks to Julia a weekly snoop at other desks/spaces has become an essential part of my week. What a fab group of bloggers I visit every week too. The crafts are varied and even though I'm not much of a paper crafter I really do appreciate the wonderful cards you girls make and am in awe of the amazing equipment some of you have and use regularly to such great effect. I get excited each week when I see a sewing machine out or fabrics in use and even more excited at the huge number of you that regularly visit my blog and leave me such lovely comments. It really makes my week and for that I would like to thank you all.




This week I can show you the gorgeous wedding dress I steamed last week. This one was a fairly simple/classic design but looked really lovely on it's wearer :-)








On my to do rail is a jacket that needs a new zip....nothing new there I hear you say....but this one was left for me to do by my latest new customer [number 1012!!] who has come from the United Arab Emirates!! Wahoooooo I'm conquering the world slowly girls :-) You can fly in from anywhere now just to bring me your sewing :-)









Right girls I'm keeping it short this week. Please pop over to Julia's blog and link your blog on Mr Linky to join in the WOYWW fun. Be warned though cos it's really addictive.

Just as a little extra....I was asked for the recipe I use for beetroot chutney. If you like beetroot it's well worth a go cos the result is really yummy.

Ingredients:

• 3 Ibs beetroot
• 1 large onion
  
• 1 large cooking apple
• 12ozs sugar
• Level tspn salt
• 1 pint pickling vinegar

The amounts of vegetables aren't crucial really and I often add more onion, apples or even courgettes to the mixture.

Method:

1. Cook beetroot, peel and dice into small pieces
2. Peel and dice onions
3. Peel and dice apple
4. Put into large pan and add sugar, salt and vinegar.
5. Bring to the boil and simmer until ingredients are soft.
6. Fill jars and label.

Tasty on meat sandwiches or added to salads.

Garden magic and a special order feltie...

Yesterday we picked more of the wonderful produce from our garden and with a bit of chopping and cooking the onions and beetroot together with some apples, sugar and vinegar were transformed into.....

....... some really yummy beetroot chutney...I know it's yummy cos we had some in a sandwich at lunchtime today :-)

Also my other show and tell of today is a cute little bride bear I have been asked to make for a blogging friend. This is my latest feltie creation who I have named Grace. She is a one off feltie but I would be willing to make similar to order for anyone wanting one.