WOYWW.....

Hello to all on this gorgeous sunny Wednesday.  For those few that still don't know what WOYWW is all about then please go to the Stamping Ground where our wonderful Queen of Snoop, Julia will explain all about it.  We are such a friendly group and many wonderful friendships have been made because of it so please feel you can join in to have fun.

For those that have called in this week to see what's been going on here at Sewing by Annie's I have snapped a few pics to show you that there really is a sewing room here and that it is still in full working order ....even if it's rather temporarily set up ready for the move that as yet still hasn't happened.

• Top left...my computerised machine and my overlocker
• Bottom left....my industrial machine
• Right....my blind hemmer

As I say my machines are still in full use but all my work surfaces have been removed from the walls and the machines are perched on make do surfaces now.....just didn't want any of you thinking I was sat here with my feet up  :-)

And this was my table on Monday....in full creative flow showing you what Jo and I get up to on a Funday Monday when the twins are on school holidays with their mummy.

....yessssss it was full of fabrics and fun.  :-)

Jo even caught me in full flow being creative making some mug rugs [like coasters made in fabric].

Please note the plaster on my finger....yes my kitchen knife was very sharp!!!

And here are the results....6 quilted mug rugs using patchwork and applique skills plus a wadded fabric holder to keep them all in.......dare I say these would look good in a new house!!!

Hope you have enjoyed your visit today.  It's been really good therapy to be rather more creative this week and share my creations with you all.  If you leave me a little hello comment I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

AWOL.....

I've been AWOL for a few days and I have a feeling that blogger has been playing up while I've been away!!

I automatically posted my Friday's smile post for Friday but it failed to show up in my followers side bars for some reason.....and for those that normally drop in on a Friday the picture of Lexi was a good one  :-)

We have been up to Yorkshire for a few days with Dutch friends that we met in France back in 2000 and lots of fun and giggles was had by all....doesn't it just recharge the batteries?

Today has been Funday Monday and as always that 'much older' sister of mine joined me for another day of creative fun.  We have opened up the Valentine's Day shelf in our blog shop and had a wonderful afternoon of dumfing fun.....I'm sure you will see pics of the results at some point.

If you'd like to pop over to the new shelf in the shop you will see the fab makes Jo has been up to while I was away over the weekend......I'm sure more will be added as it is completed so keep a look out.

I'm on a roll....

I have had so many lovely comments about my Love Bugs....thank you to each and every one of you.  I have now finished number three.  

Meet Love Bug Buzby....

He was visiting a flower as I snapped him but was happy to pose for his photo.

Guess what I will be doing during Funday Monday?  :-)

Yes you are right....number four is already in the making.

That just leaves me to wish my big girl a very happy birthday.....she arrived at 5.15pm 29 years ago today and her Daddy had to miss Shrewsbury town playing in a cup match but trust me when I say she was well worth missing footy for.  Happy Birthday Shell.  Love you to bits. xxxx

Meet Ellie...

I have been having such fun making new feltie characters and thought you just might like to meet the one I have made during my Funday Monday with Jo.

This is Ellie.  I have been using some of that gorgeous new wool rovings that I bought a few weeks back from Sara at Crafts of Texture.  If you are a dumfer like me you really should try out Sara's wool rovings cos they felt up so beautifully.  I have really enjoyed making all of my latest little characters with it......of course I did have to spend some time stroking it first cos they were such yummy colours.  This does of course mean I just may be tempted to buy some more now....I popped over to her site earlier and I see she has lots more gorgeous new colours over there.

I have put Ellie on the feltie shelf over in our blog shop and she has been making friends with Huffle the baby dragon.  Please email me if you wanted to offer her a good home.

Hugs,

Annie x

Dumfing fun....

Jo and I have been having more Monday fun today.  I've had a steady flow of customers but in between I've beaded up my latest batch of dumflings and Jo has been busy making broiderie anglaise pinnies for my little Granddaughters to cover their flower girl dresses for the up and  coming family wedding.....I'm sure she will do a show and tell when those are finished.

Here are my latest dumflings that you can now buy over in the blog shop.....

Meet Rosie and Suzie.....

Happy Funday Monday to you all.  I have been busy making more little friends this week.  The little brown dolls have proved very popular so I have made two more pretty little girl ones.

These are the latest two that I will be putting in the blog shop.

 

This is Rosie and she is wearing a pretty green and white spotty dress.

As Jo will tell you green is not my fav colour but I do rather like this spotty fabric and think she looks rather cute.

This is  Suzie and she is wearing her Sunday best dress and pants.  I think she looks like she's off to a party.  Doesn't she look pretty?

I shall be uploading these two cuties in the shop later if you have a special little one in your life that you'd like to buy them for.

Fun on a Monday....including a bit of skydiving practise!

As most of you will know Jo joins me for fun on a Monday and today is no different except I think it looks like she is practising for a bit of sky diving today.....

What do you thing girls?   :-) :-) :-)


To be honest she is just squashing the latest parcel of little dresses before taping it up to send it to Louise....this one has the latest 60 dresses Jo has made and my latest 11  :-) :-) :-)

That brings my total up to 101

and Jo's up to 238 [wow wow wow]

So in total between us we have now made 339

Here is a quick snap of the one I made this morning before Jo arrived  :-)
My number 101

WOYWW.....

These weeks are flying by and here we are at another fun Wednesday link up with over 100 crafters who expose their messy desks creative spaces to all who call by.  I love Wednesdays.

This week has seen a house move for our daughter A, her hubby and their lovely family....long may they be happy in their new home [It's a rather gorgeous house they have moved to  :-) ].  We had a lovely time Sunday helping them set up with a telly wall bracket, window blinds, plumbing in and setting up of washing machine and and tumble dryer......it's what Dads do  :-) [Whilst I helped make lunch and played with my gorgeous grandchildren  :-) ].

Monday morning was totally wasted spent measuring curtain fabric for one of my customers to finally decide that we couldn't do what was wanted with the material she had brought.....big repeat of pattern, 2 pieces of same fabric but both different so patterns didn't match, insufficient fabric to match patterns to make double width curtains out of......yes, a nightmare!!  An hour plus wasted and still nothing!!  Guess customer won't want to pay for our wasted time.  Now you can see why we don't like making curtains.

We did make up for it though and had another fun afternoon with our friend T.  Thanks for the scrummy cake Jo.  Both Jo and T created little characters with socks and I started to make another little rag doll.

Here you can see the chaos on my table this morning.

• 1 finished doll
• 1 new doll in the making.....blue/yellow fabric this time.
• 2 packs of Pro Markers used for doll face details [never used for card making though  :-) ]
• 2 new pieces material [1 blue and 1 pink with teddies on] to cover 2 new 'V' cushions to be used for grandbabies.
• 2 pair of pink snippers [I'm never satisfied with just one :-) ...in fact I have them by every machine I use normally! ] , scissors, piece of tailors chalk.
• ball of wool used for doll hair.

I put curly hair on my little finished dolly but my girls didn't like it [comments about short curly hair were chuckled about!].....so I took it off.

Here she is with her new hair style and I have to agree with my girls that she looks much nicer now.......what do you think?

This week I've also made pockets for more little African dresses.  I've now sewn them on and nearly made the next 7 dresses .

Here you can see that I'm hoping to sew the last of the bias strips in place today on 4 of the latest little dresses.

Well that's about all I've got to share with you today.  I hope you've all had a creative week....I shall do my best to call by to see what you've all been up to but if I fail hopelessly then please forgive me cos life here does get rather hectic at times......hmmmm actually quiet moments are rather rare  :-)

Please leave me a little 'hello' comment before popping over to visit our wonderful organiser, Julia.

Hugs for you all,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Good morning to one and all.  These weeks certainly are whizzing by for me at the mo.  What with sewing, knitting, baking, and the occasional bit of housework of course and fitting all that in between cuddling my gorgeous Grandbabies at every opportunity and enjoying our little Granddaughters 3rd birthday celebrations [see Monday's post].  It's been another busy week for me.  

Here's a few pics to share with you....

 Here's my rail today...it's a sign of the times when it's full of winter coats, warm skirts and thick cord trousers isn't it?

Brrrrrrrrr it's cold.

This was my table on Monday .....lots of fab activity and coffee drinking going on there [thanks for the chocolate brownies this week Jo].  

Jo made a gorgeous diamond wedding anniversary card [she might show you a pic of it on her blog], T made several dumfing creations and I made a little African dress [msg for Jo from Jozart....I know I told you I was gonna make up some of the little animals for my ABC bags but I got waylayed....so what's new I hear you say  :-) and huge thanks for the phone call ....it was so lovely that we could all chat together while [much older sister] Jo was here.....we will meet up for that coffee and cake one day  :-)]

Here is my, now finished, advent calendar from last week just to show you I actually do get some things finished  :-)

Here's little dress number 91 

I failed to snap numbers 88, 89 and 90 before we posted the latest parcel [27 dresses and 5 pair of shorts made by Jo and 10 dresses made by me] to Louise on Monday and they were 3 more gorgeous bright yellow ones made with the gorgeous fabric Tricia sent us....sorry Tricia.  I will try to let you know when Louise puts them on her blog so you get to see what I made with your gorgeous fabric.

Last night my darling hubby took me and that much older sister of mine to see Paul Zerdin at Oakengates Theatre.  Paul is a brilliant ventriloquist who appeared in the 1999 'Royal Variety Show' in the presence of the Queen. and here is a pic of him with the puppets he had with him last night.  What a talented young man he is.  I love the magic world of puppets and have to say I am still grinning.  If you get the chance to see him then I would guarantee you a great evening's entertainment.

Right folks,  I have to get my head down to sew now cos I have 7 flat sheets here that I have to make into fitted sheets today......hours of straight stitching, overlocking and a bit of threading in elastic....not much of a challenge there is there?  Do pop over to Julia's blog to join in the WOYWW fun but not before you leave me a little 'hello' comment.

Thanks for popping by and leaving such lovely comments always.  I will try to pay you a return visit as soon as I can get these sheets made  :-)  Have a great crafty week.

Big hugs,

Annie x

This week's Funday Monday...

As most of you will know we plan to have a Funday Monday here at Sewing by Annie's every Monday and yesterday was no exception...In fact it was a rather productive one.

As you can see my table was filled with machines, fabric, threads, reels of elastic and the odd mug or two [we must have eaten the chocolate]   :-)  Twiglet sat busily making little African dresses, our friend T sat dumfing a brooch as a gift for a special Aunt and I sat at the ironing board pressing, snipping, pinning and eventually even doing some sewing.

What a truly fab afternoon we had.  Thanks girls for making my day so special.  It never fails to amaze me how crafting really lifts your spirits.

Here are the 4 gorgeous little dresses Twiglet made while she was here.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Behind my chair and to the right of the picture you can see boxes, boxes and yet more boxes and they are all full of material to be used for the little dresses.....we will be dressing lots of little African girls wont we?

I'm not sharing what I sat doing til tomorrow  There are lots who have asked me to post my makes on my WOYWW post so I'm saving it til then so watch this space.

Family and friends time.....

It's been a fab few days of family and friends and I have a few pics to share with you including a couple to show you the generosity of others.

On Saturday my youngest daughter Amy brought her little family here.  She is amazing.  She had only given birth to Stephen on Wednesday and life is already back to 'normal' for her.  She loads her car with the three children and all the bags, bottles and bits you have to bring with you and drives herself the 45 min journey to get here.  The two little girls are so proud of their baby brother and are such good little helpers for their mummy.  After a couple of hours of really special family time Amy then loaded them all back into the car and set off to meet her sister in law and baby nephew Jack in town for lunch and a bit of shopping!

As you can see 'little' Steve is is being carefully watched over by his big sisters in top left pic, being cuddled by Great Auntie Jo in the middle and hugged by his cousin Jack in bottom right pic. It's as if he has been around for ages  :-)

Yesterday we had a wonderful Funday Monday because we were joined by Michelle, Sam and Lexi  :-)  Brent had gone back to work so they came out for a bit of company and to brighten our day  :-)

We were joined by our friend T [bottom left] and Jo's daughter M [bottom right] and of course there is no Funday without Jo and we share everything so it was such a special day for us all.  Michelle is doing a brilliant job with our gorgeous little twinnies....they are being weighed today and I'm sure they have gained lots since their last weigh in  :-)

All three of our new grandbabies have been so spoiled with gifts from so many kind people.  I feel I just must show you the huge parcels that came through my door for them from my dearest blogging friend Keryn.

Both my girls were totally blown away by her generosity cos in each parcel was...

A beautifully crocheted blanket for each of them and a selection of knitted cardigans.  Aren't they truly wonderful?
Thank you so much Keryn...we all love you so much.
I'm sorry but I failed to snap Steve's parcel when opened.

The other gifts I received for the twins were two beautifully parcelled little bibs sent to me from Louise.  Michelle really loves these and they were commented on several times when she took the twinnies into her school to show them off to the staff she works with.  Thank you so much Louise.  Louise makes these bibs to sell so keep a look out for her next batch in her folksy shop if you're interested in buying some.

She's home....

Just a quick update for those that have been, like me, waiting for this moment.  M was given the all clear and was allowed home with the twinnies on Saturday.  It's just so lovely to see the little family learning to get into their routine.  It's been a really eventful couple of weeks but it was all worth it for this moment.

I just want to wish them so many special happy family times together.

Twiglet will be down later and we may even be tempted to try for a 'Funday Monday'  :-)  ....that is when she has helped me make a huge canopy to cover a barn roof!!!!  I do get all sorts of jobs to tackle.  :-)  Oh, and I've also got a sewing job from a lady who lives in Scotland....postal service too now.  :-)

A dress before 9.....

My day has started off well.  I've cleared the decks ready for a full table this afternoon.  We are expecting our friend T to join Twiglet and I as normal but are also expecting Suz and Tina to join in our fun afternoon today  :-)

I'm not expecting we will get a lot of crafting done so I've made an early start and have made a little pillowslip dress before 9 o clock!

It's made from a cream pillowslip with a delicate flower print so I have trimmed it up with pink bias and a pretty lace trimmed pink pocket.

Looking forward to our Funday afternoon of chat and giggles.  Hope you all have a great day too.

WOYWW.....

There is so much going on over here at Sewing by Annie's at the mo.  What with theatre visits to see some pretty hunky young men work their magic on Sunday night [see post below] to a really wonderful workshop on our Funday Monday [see Twiglet's blog to catch a glimpse of the pretty dress she made].  There is always something going on here.

On Saturday, whilst in Shrewsbury, we popped into a few charity shops looking for pillow cases to make some dresses to be sent to Africa.  If you check out Louise's blog at Sew Scrumptious you will see she is a collection point for these dresses and has now gathered over 100 [50 of which have already been taken out to Malawi ].  I have been watching this collection growing but had been really busy with the sewing business til now but was determined to join in by making a few.  I was unable to find any suitable pillow cases but managed to find two single quilt covers [just £4.50 for the two so the charity shop benefited too] and after cutting curtains first thing Monday morning Twiglet and I set to and cut out 10 dresses from the quilt covers.  Our friend T arrived for our Funday Monday armed with her own pillow case and we set about making.  What a brilliant afternoon we had.  There was much laughter and learning going on and of course the compulsory drinking of coffee/tea and eating of chocolate [thanks T].

Here is what was achieved in just one afternoon.  3 pretty little dresses. [Would have been more if I hadn't been disturbed by customers...they are just so thoughtless aren't they?  :-) ] We cut self fabric bias strips for binding the arm holes and straps and these were easily pressed into shape using my clever bias binding making tool. [wouldn't be without it].

[ I am imagining them being worn maybe by 3 little girls in one family and a very proud mum pointing them out to her friends.]  

As you can see the material to make the other 7 is close by and I promise I will make these as soon as I have cleared my mountain of sewing that is waiting for me.....

This is my 'to do' rail today.  I know....boring boring boring but the, now 1098 customers, I have seem to like coming back for more  :-)  I'm still getting 2/3 new customers every week....where do they all come from?

...and yes, that includes curtains  :-(  huge ones that I have to shorten and join together back to back to make a door curtain!

And of course I have to leave you with a bit of colour out of my garden for this rather gloomy week.

Hold on to your hollyhocks girls!! 

 

Thanks for calling in.  Please leave me a comment if only to say hello and then pop over to Julia's blog to join in the WOYWW fun.

WOYWW.....

Another busy week for me and the sun has been shining too.  This means there has been time spent outside at the weekend.

Monday was another fun day and the table had 4 of us round this week.  My Tuesday afternoon coffee friend has been off work following having her tonsils out [ouch] so she brought her knitting round and joined in the fun and laughter [and chocolates of course...thanks T].  Twiglet sat on her sewing machine creating another amazing work of art in her Montgomery featured range of buildings [I'm sure she will be doing a show and tell of it soon].  T sat the other side of the table on her machine making a beautiful appliqued owl cushion [I hope to show you that when she has finished it] and our friend E and I sat knitting [E is knitting a beautiful fluffy scarf and I'm knitting the next little hoodie for one of the grandbabies].  What an industrial lot we looked.

During our funday Monday I had a lot of customers with a lot of items of clothing so it was a catch up Tuesday...that is in between a hair cut, a house viewing at our neighbours house [ yes folks, we are now able to sell out elderly neighbours house for her :-) ] and of course Tuesday afternoon's coffee time with E.  :-) so this is what is on my 'to do' rail today.

I have now finished the beautiful baby blanket.

This is just a close up of the border....I love it cos it has really brought the right colours out in the blanket.






Of course it wouldn't be a Wednesday show and tell without just a few snaps of our garden for you.

A newly trimmed front hedge.  This took all of Sunday afternoon to trim and we still have the other side to do for our neighbour!

A much treasured old milk churn of my fathers that sits by my sewing room door and looks lovely with the begonias in the top.

I couldn't resist a quick snap of this beautiful clematis....I really love this colour and shall prob use this picture as inspiration for one of my fabric pictures.

Look at this amazing flower head on this dahlia.  Isn't it just gorgeous?  Thanks M [this was one you gave us].

Now folks I would like to thank you for dropping in.  Please leave me a comment if only to say hello and then pop over to Julia's to join in the WOYWW fun and to find out more if you have no idea what I am talking about.

Just like lizards....

It's a beautiful sunny morning, so far, over here at Sewing by Annie's and I have just snapped this quick picture of our 3 dogs all lined up against the white painted shed soaking up the sun's rays.  They obviously think they are lizards  :-)  The two dark ones often sit here to warm up but this morning Skye has joined them and it amazed me that all 3 sat happily for me to walk up to them to snap the pic....they would normally have run over to greet me.

It's another Funday Monday here today so I'm off to clear the sewing jobs that are waiting for me on my 'to do' rail before the fun starts.  Have a great day and, if you're free, pop over here and join in the fun  :-)

WOYWW.....103

Happy Wednesday to all who pass by here.

Yet again it's been a manic week here at Sewing by Annie's. The weekend was a really successful one with the wonderful Church Gardening Club Sale on our front garden on Saturday.  Sunday came with even more success....Twiglet grabbed us a real bargain from Churchstoke Sunday market....I have been searching for a clean, light weight, second hand, double buggy to keep here for when I look after the twins.  She text me to say there were two up there this week....one at £30 and the other at £80 and the cheaper of the two was immaculate and just what I had been looking for [but up til now had only found ones on ebay for over £50 plus postage!].  I told her to use her judgement and to try to knock her down on the price a bit [well you have to don't you?]......AND she got it for £20 and that includes waterproof covers!!!!!  It's spotless and we really can't believe our luck....thank you so much Jo [especially cos she then pushed it all the way up her bank to get home].

This was our Funday Monday table full of goodies.  Twiglet and our friend T were planning making fabric hearts so all the yummy fabrics and lace trims filled the table.  At the front you can see one of my WIPs...another crocheted baby shawl for yet another pregnant friend's daughter.

Hmmmm I see we haven't hidden the Monday treats very well today so I guess I'd best say help yourself girls....yes we really didn't eat them all  :-)

This is my 'to do' rail today so you can see I wont be sat idle today.  I have 3 posh dresses and a jacket on there as well as many other jobs plus on my long dress hanging rail.......

.....I still have a really gorgeous Wedding dress under wraps that needs a lot of work doing cos I have to shorten the very many layers it has......quite a challenge!

Here is another of my WIPs.....as we have two little boys expected I have been asked to make a patchwork blanket for one of them and these are the colours we have chosen......I rarely have only one project on the go and tend to swap between them when my arthritis plays me up.

 Finally for all you garden lovers [you might want to click to enlarge this one].....I am stood literally just the other side of the window from this cheeky little devil!  He just sat there watching me while I snapped away with my camera! I love to feed the birds but really squirrels are just rats with furry tails even if they do have such cheeky little faces!

Now girls please pop over to Julia's to join in the WOYWW fun.....and don't forget next week is our second year celebrations so make sure your PIF gifts are all ready to post.....mine is  :-)