WOYWW...Number 900!!

Hello all.  We are celebrating the 900th Anniversary of WOYWW, a brainchild of Julia's.  I joined in on 3rd September 2009 so have been going for quite a while and have seen so many different folk joining in the fun over that time. Sarah over at Sarah's Craft Shed took over the running of our group from Julia and it's wonderful to join in the fun each week.  Sarah suggested we shared one of our blogs with 00 at the end so I have been looking back over the years.  I'm not certain of the number as I never number mine but it seemed around the right time and look what it is.....

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

WOYWW.....

So on my desk this week is....

Curtains, curtains and more curtains......talk about a labour of love eh?  :-)

I've also shortened some really pretty window blinds to make them more just window dressing......rather more tricky than planned too cos the main fabric pulled out of shape while trimming the bottom [cut into a 'v' shape] and both blinds [yes there are two little windows] had to be done twice!!  I'm rather chuffed with the finished result though and now just hope they look as pretty as we hoped when up at the windows.

 This is the other project I've been working on this week. It was something I had in mind to do at some point but a friend gave me a shove in the right direction and this week has seen me designing the pattern for a Memory bear and making a few prototypes to get the pattern how I wanted it.  Plus I have designed a label for those wanting special details on the bear.

The idea is to use special fabrics to make them out of to keep memories together...

• A first babygro
• A special outfit from a toddler
• A junior school uniform when the child moves on to big school
• A special family member's clothing when they die

....in fact any clothing can be used [up to 4 different garments] to keep a memory safe.  I have put the pics in my Sewing by Annie Facebook site and have already got orders for 6 so they are proving very popular.  :-)

There you go....that's all from me for this week.  If you'd like to leave me a little message I will do my best to pay you a return visit as soon as I'm able.  Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

                                                                                                                                                                   

It's my first Memory bear I made!! and so much has happened since then. 

On my desk this week was....

These were the rainbow of favourite silk ties [opened out and ready to use] belonging to the husband of one of my customers. She wanted them made into two Memory bears for her Grandchildren.

.....and this was the result.  They were really lovely to make being in silk and are so bright and colourful.

These bring the number of bears I've made up to 1015!!!! now.  What a lot has happened since August 2016 eh?

Each little bear I've made has had his photo taken and they are all put together in my Bear file :-)

So.that's all from me for this week.  Happy 900th Anniversary to you all and thanks for all the love and friendship over the years.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hello all.  I was missing last week because we didn't get back from an escape weekend in our caravan until Tuesday and I had nothing to show and tell.

We went to a lovely little campsite near Monmouth with only 12 pitches and really lovely facilities.  As you can see Peggy loves the camping life. It was a little too hot and the internet signal was poor but who cares...a lot of nothing was done and batteries were recharged.

I was really missed and have spent the last week catching up with work.

This customer said she was coming for 2 memory bears and when she arrived she decided to have 4 made :-)  They are made from a Dad's/Grandad's favourite shirts and turned out really lovely.

One lady came on Wednesday morning [a week early by mistake lol], ten minutes before I was expecting a Bridesmaid and an evening dress to arrive!  She came with a bag full of dresses and skirts but was well prepared so I managed to fit her in before my other customers arrived.  :-)

 In fact this week I have....

• Made the 4 Memory bears
• Shortened an Evening dress
• Shortened a Bridesmaid dress
• Shortened 5 summer dresses and 2 Skirts
• Took 2 dresses up on the shoulders
• Top stitched up the front of a blouse
• Shortened 2 pair of leggings to make them cropped length
• Cut up the front of a fleece top and put a zip in
• Shortened the sleeves on a Demin Jacket

....Phew.  And there's more to come yet. 😊😊😊😊  I've had lots of new customers lately as well as my regulars...I don't know where they all come from?

On top of all that this is what's been going on at the end of our front drive.  3 weeks ago we reported a water leak at the end of our drive.  During the next 3 weeks it got worse and was reported several times. It took 4 teams and 3 weeks to deal with it!!

1 guy came and drew a blue box round it!

3 weeks later the next team came and dug a hole and repaired the leak.  Another team came to backfill the hole and the next team came to tarmac it all.

Eventually the road sweepers came and washed the road and pavement.

No wonder there's a drought eh?

That's all from me for this week.  I will do my best to pop by at yours to see what you've been up to.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 It's been another busy week for me here at Sewing by Annie's.....I've been so grateful for the cooler temps.

My rail has filled, emptied and filled again....everything from trousers to Jumpsuits and dresses.

The customer that asked me to make the 5 Memory bear came back this week with more tops to have 3 more made :-)

They were really lovely to make and my cystomer is thrilled with them.

The other thing I can share this week is that the twins have been to Disneyland, Paris with their Mum, Dad and lots of friends.  Lexi and her dance troop danced there at the weekend...what an exciting time for them all.  I have seen a few videos of their dancing and they all did very very well.  Something they will never forget I'm sure.

That's all from me for this week.  I will do my best to pop over to see what you've been busy with this week.  Hope all is well and happy with you.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Phew it's hot.  I don't know about you but I'm ready for some cooler weather.  We were away last week in a lovely little cottage up in Yorkshire and boy was it hot.  The air conditioner in the car was certainly put to good use.

We came home Friday and since then my phone hasn't stopped going....I think my customers missed me :-)

I have....

• Shortened a bridesmaid dress
• Took in a dress for holiday use
• Shortened a pair of trousers for a page boy and.......

....made these 5 gorgeous Memory bears for a much loved Mum, Nan and Great Nan.

The lady who died had 6 daughters and these bears are for just one of them so there could well be more orders coming soon.

And all that has been done in just two days!!

Peggy was as good as gold away with us in the cottage last week but seems to be enjoying being at home now.

She has sat here every morning since we got back but by the time the sun moves round to the back of the bungalow she will be found stretched out on the floor tiles where it's nice and cold.

I hope you have managed to keep cool this week.  I will pop by to see what you've been up to ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 

It's a celebratory post from me  this week because I have now made my 1000th Memory bear.....  This week I made..

...another school bear for a child leaving the school nearest us.  I made one for his elder brother a couple of years ago.  I so love repeat orders.

I also made these two lovely bears in memory of a special Aunt....these were lovely to make and were so cuddly when finished.

Our garden is making us smile in every corner....most survived the heat and I'm sure I could here them drink when we had a shower of rain at the weekend.

That's all from me for this week.  Please raise a glass to help me celebrate. I hope you have a fun week and I will see you soon.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

 Phew.... it's getting hot in here...and I can't take off all my clothes cos it puts off my customers :-)

I hope you are managing to keep cool and hydrated.

I've had a steady flow of customers even though it's been a hot one.

I managed to finish the bear you saw I was going to make last week and the lady who brought those clothes loved the bear so much that she asked me to make another one with the left overs [for her other daughter].....

...this time adding a green jumper her daughter wore as a deputy head girl.

She's shared these two with her friends who also have children moving up to big school this time so maybe I will get more orders :-)

The pile of cut out frogs has grown and I've even started sewing some of them but it's been too hot to do much more.

That's all from me for today.  I will pop over to see what you've been up to as and when I can.

Stay cool and drink plenty folks.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Hi all.  It's been a bit of a butterfly week for me.  I've gone from one job to another.  I've had a steady flow of customers and as soon as I've done their sewing they have come and collected it so there has been lots of coming and going.

I added twiddlers inside and out of my latest twiddle mitt and finished it off....I think my 3 will go with Jo's up to the hospital's dementia unit at some point.

In between sewing jobs I have started cutting out another batch of frogs for the charity...it's been a while since I made some.

These are the latest pair of Memory bears I've made this week...this means I just need to make 5 more to reach my 1000. :-)

Finally the last thing I'm sharing today is this lovely Bridesmaid dress that arrived yesterday afternoon...I will be shortening this today so will be visiting all those that call on me in between jobs.

I hope you all have a great week.  I will be thinking of Jan tomorrow when she goes in to have her cataracts done...really hope all goes well Jan.

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....

 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.  I hope you're all well and happy and the weather has been kind to you.

I managed to finish the lovely bears I was making last week when you called in...

They look so lovely with their tags and these three mean I just need to make 16 more to reach 1000.

I have made 4 peg bags using some material that Jan sent us to use for the charity and then made...

...three little popper purses and...

.....three glasses cases.

These were the ones I had cut out last week.

Since then I cut out 8 glasses cases using this gorgeous owl fabric...I thought the little owls lent themselves to glasses cases and hope they sell well for the charity.

We have enjoyed making this jigsaw that Maxine gave us for Christmas and have now passed it on to Jo to do....and Jo gave us the sunflower one they did.

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...I didn't get to everyone last week because I had to have a wisdon tooth out on Thursday and it knocked me about a bit so I've been recovering all week....I guess we don't heal as quickly as we get older.  I hope to do better this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

 Hello all. Here we are to link up with our creative friends all over the world to see what they have been up to in the previous week.  Here's hoping 2026 finds you all well and happy and finding a little time to have fun. 

I've made the best of the couple weeks with no customers....

I have 20 boxes that I keep my material in but some of it has been in there for years and it was all mixed up, so much so that when I needed something specific I could never find it.

I pulled each box out, sorted all the contents and threw out anything that I would never use [and there was lots of that!!].

Every surface/shelf was cleared and dusted [I make a lot of dust during my working days.

It was so lovely to start on Monday morning with a spotless sewing room.

Monday morning I cut out 4 peg bags, 3 glasses cases and 3 little purses to make for the charity...this will give me something to do in quiet moments.

On my desk this morning are the three bears that arrived yesterday.  These are for a returning customer for other family members because they loved the last ones I made for them.

They just need labels making this morning with 'Mum and Dad' on each.

These 3 mean I just need to make 16 more to reach 1000 :-) :-)

I have a little chuckle for you. Lexi and Sam pose for a photo every year wearing the Christmas stockings I made them as babies....they fit inside them back then but, as you can see,  they struggle to get even their feet in them now. :-)

That's all from me for today.  I will do my best to pop over to yours in between jobs to see what you've been up to.

Hugs,

Annie

WOYWW....

 Here we are at another Wednesday catch up with our creative friends around the world.

It's been another bear filled week for me...

I made the four you saw on my desk last week and made each one a label as requested...I really loved making these.

I then made these four for another returning customer and she loved them so much that she now wants another 2 making...

....and these are now cut out and waiting on my desk to be sewn today.

In between making those bears I was asked to make this lovely school Memory bear....it's to be given to a member of staff that is leaving at the end of term...I think it's a lovely idea....and it's for a school that I've not made a bear for before.

I then had to make these two lovely bears in memory of a dad who was taken too soon for his children to remember him by.

Julia laughed last week at the thought of me having spare time but I do :-)

When Sally called in for all the things Jo and I had made for The Harry Johnson Trust she said that tags sell well so I made a few...they now have ribbons attached .

The funny thing is that while I was making these Jo was also making some.

I also had fun making these Christmas tree hangers for the fur babies in the family.

Talking of fur babies. Our little Peggy was spayed on Monday and here she is in her protective vest.  She's been a very good girl and has kept me company in my sewing room since her op.

The hardest thing we have to do is to stop her running round and jumping up for 10 days....wish us luck.

That's all from me for today.  I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a little message.  I will do my best to pay you a return visit  ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x