WOYWW....

 It's been a really busy week here for me at Sewing by Annie's and I've had a steady flow of posh frocks to alter and trousers to shorten.....

My sewing rail today is mostly filled with the 5 pair of trousers I shortened on Monday morning but there's also the wedding dress I showed you a few weeks back still hanging there in it's cover.....the bride asked me to do all those tricky jobs but has made several excuses to not collect it til hopefully later today [if there isn't yet another excuse for not collecting it!!].  I do get rather frustrated when my customers mess me about as I always work hard for them to get things done efficiently and then it is nice that I get paid for what I do....and I have little room for storing extra dresses.

You can see just how busy I've been by the size of the trimmings that I have cut off when shortening items.....this pile is just from the last few days work.  I always keep them until items are collected in case my customers say they want them for something.  Thankfully most of the jobs are collected quickly.

I have put up a special offer, over on my Sewing by Annie Facebook page, of 10% off my Memory bears for the first 10 orders I get so if anyone is wanting one then pop over to benefit from the offer....but be quick.

That's all I have to share with you for this week.  It's been one of those weeks of all work and no pleasure so I've had no time for painting or being creative in any other way.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

What a lovely week I've had so far.....

• Sunday was our gorgeous Grandson Stephen's christening [see post below] so it was spent in the company of family and friends and a truly wonderful time was had by all.

•  Monday was spent having fun with my 'much older sister' Jo...and what fun we had too.  We chatted, giggled, entertained my two hunky firemen who clean my windows [yes I did say firemen] , drank coffee and dumfed....and here are my latest results that will be heading for our blog shop very soon when I've found the time to bead them up.

• Yesterday was spent with my gorgeous munchkins.  Lots of fun was had by all.

And today?  What's on my work desk today?

This is my latest prom dress.  It has 6 layers to the skirt, all needing shortening and I have to take the bodice in to fit....Lots and lots of work but I love the challenge and it is such a pretty colour too.

Some of you will remember the ABC bag I made for the twins.  It included a 'f'' for fish but alas the little fish met it's doom when their chocolate Labrador ate it so I have made a replacement one....not easy to do as the details of the last one was printed on the fabric but I'm sure this one looks fishy enough  :-)

The other thing I wanted to share with you is my fab new business signs that our daughter Amy and her hubby  Dave printed for me.  As I now close on a Tuesday to look after the twins I needed my hours of business changing on my signs.  I'm thrilled to bits with the new signs so thank you both so much.

If anyone wants any business signs / banners making then you can follow their link to find out more.

Big Value Banners.

Last but by no means least these are two of my latest ATCs from the birthday swap.
22. Jane and
23. Cardarian

Thank you so much girls.  I love them.

Hope you've enjoyed my little catch up this week.  Please leave me a comment before you rush off to visit Julia and join in the WOYWW fun and I will do my best to pay you a return visit when I can find a minute.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....and a blue bell pic update

Happy Wednesday to you all.  Our 3rd birthday celebrations are creeping up on us.  Only 2 weeks to go now  :-)

I had never made an ATC before and as you know I love a challenge so when Julia suggested it for our birthday celebrations I was ready to give it a go. I eagerly made my first ATC ready for the swap but now I'm hooked and have now made several....no pics of course as yet....so if any of my regular visitors would like to swap ATCs with me can you please email me your address to wipso@toucansurf.com and I will happily do a swap with you [If I get more swap offers than I've already got made then I will happily make more :-) ].  This will of course be extra to the pass it forward recipient who will get one whether they want one or not  :-) :-) :-)

I've really enjoyed being creative in my spare time and it has helped me not being quite so creatively frustrated....my arthritis has flared up in my hands at the mo and it is stopping me knitting [something I love to do while watching the telly in the evenings] :-(

So? What have I been doing that I can actually share with you?

I've cut out 6 little dolls for the twins to have at home.  The two on the left are some of the ones I made years ago and they have become firm favourites with the munchkins when they come to play at Nanny Annie's.

Here is a snap of one of my latest posh frocks that I've been working on lately [sorry it's such a poor pic].  It has a beaded bodice and a very full layered and gathered skirt [and is a size 26!].  I've had to shorten it and take it in on the bodice to fit snug.....yes, quite a challenge!

The patterned turquoise you can see hanging behind the black dress is gorgeous silk fabric that I'm making me a new top with....I'm adapting the neckline from the pattern so will have to pick it up to finish it when I have a little more time to fiddle with it but I'm really loving working with such fab material.

My 'to do' rail is full and I have already had three more new customers again this week so I have a busy day ahead of me for today....there is never quite enough hours in the day is there?  Thank you for calling in to read my WOYWW post.  Please leave me a little 'hello' message before you  pop off the link up at Julia's and I will do my best to do a return visit during my coffee breaks  :-)

Don't forget to email me if you fancy swapping ATCs in 2 weeks for our birthday celebrations.  I feel so very blessed to mave made so many wonderful friends in the last 3 years so it would be really fab if some of you would like to swap with me......as you can see I have lots here in this little box waiting to find new homes :-)     Hehehe  I'm such a tease?






I've just nipped out and snapped you this pic of my bluebells in the sunshine that I'm sat looking at while I sew.....enjoy  :-)

My mad week and my WOYWW.....

If you have ever been paint balling you will know how I have felt this week. Life seems to be throwing everything at me at the mo. Everything from emergency ambulances for an elderly friend with a broken leg and visiting her in hospital [45 minutes each way!] to babysitting my granddaughters [treasured memories] and many other family commitments. All that, along with sewing, sewing and yet more sewing [including making my outfit for next Saturday night] and yesterday I had a room full of wedding and bridesmaid's dresses to steam [sorry but I can't share these with you yet]. We have the theatre tomorrow night to see an ELO tribute band, a Wedding evening party to go to on Saturday night, our baby Granddaughter's christening to go to on 1st August and a holiday to get ready for. To say the least it's been a little hectic :-)

Saying all that I still have sewing on my 'to do' rail [too boring to show you]....



......and two really pretty posh frocks to alter. For all those who think I make the wedding dresses can I please correct you. I do not make the wedding/bridesmaid's dresses. I just make them fit by altering them. [yes, at times this virtually means taking them apart and starting again but I do not actually make the dresses.







I've been given some really pretty new coloured balls of crochet cotton by Twiglet to make some flowers with. I am enjoying experimenting with this and have even made a couple of double flowers in two colours. I had a lot of interest in my other crocheted flowers but as yet none of those who asked me to make them for them has put an order in so these latest ones will probably be used for one of our creations for the shop.





I have also been knitting a baby blanket with some really colourful random wool and thought you might like to share.



Well, my friends that's a peep into my busy life this week. If you'd like to look at other busy crafting desks then please pop over to Julia's blog and join in the WOYWW fun.

WOYWW....

These are my work desks today.



This one has my computerised [clever] machine on the left hand side, the industrial machine [work horse] in the middle and the overlocker on the right hand side.






This one has my blind hemmer on the front and tends to be my dumping ground at the back.

It's a hive of industry for me this week. Friday brought more customers to my door than I'd had all week, because of the chaos that was going on all week outside on the road [and it's not finished yet!]. Because of that it's going to be a busy week for me to clear my workload.





I've got...


A Wedding dress to shorten 4 layers of hems on shortening the train at the back by about 3 foot [rather a challenging job to say the least] ,



A young lady's posh frock with gathered pleated over skirt to take in on the bodice and this means I have to gather the skirt and regather the pleated part to fit the bodice after I've taken in the back [a tricky job!].

I've also got trousers galore to let out and shorten on my 'to do' rail so please don't imagine me putting my feet up and enjoying the tennis this week :-)



No two weeks are the same here for me. I have already altered a huntsman's red jacket and 4 pair of riding breeches and lifted the shoulder's on a dress and a lady's blouse. Even though I didn't have many customers last week I still had 4 more new ones and I think I now only need about 14 more to reach my 1000th customer :-) What an achievement in just 6 years eh?


For those wondering how the crocheted flowers are going I've now started working on the other colours :-)




Thank you for calling in on my blog. Please pop over to Julia's blog now to add your name to Mr Linky to join in the fun of showing the world what you've got on your work desk [or floor or bed or anywhere else you are being creative]. Be warned it is very contagious and once you've caught the fun bug it's very difficult to shake it off [but who would want to?].