WOYWW....

 Here we are at our Wednesday catch up with our friends around the world....we all 'show and tell' our desks and what we've been up to in the week.  Feel free to join in if you want....its a lot of fun each week.  Check out Julia's blog at Stamping Ground for more details.

Here's a few quick snaps of my week.....

Last weekend I was given bags full of yumminess from my sister-in-law, who no longer sews, and is emptying their old house to sell.  There was lots of fabric, buttons, lace, ribbons, trimmings, elastic, velcro etc and my desk is full of lots of it.....I am sorting it into bags to share it with the family.....It's all far too good to keep it all to myself.

On Sunday I received a bag full of special clothing with the request that I made 4 Memory bears so I started to make them Monday and finished them yesterday.

On Monday I received this quilt cover that belonged to a special young man who died far too young and I've been asked to make 2 Memory bears and a Memory cushion cover with it for family members.....this is what I will be busy with today and...

....this is the first of many bridesmaids dresses that I have to shorten for a wedding that is coming up in April...I fitted this one on Monday and I have appointments for at least 2 others all ready booked in [I'm just not sure how many there will be in total yet].

The first job I need to do this morning is to shorten a pair of trousers for a lady who is picking them up later so I'd better get a wiggle on eh?

I hope you've all had a good week.  If you leave me a little message so I know you've called in I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've all been up to ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Didn't we all have a wonderful day Saturday?   Well I know I did.  To be in a room surrounded by so many wonderful friends was simply perfect.  Since then my feet haven't touched the ground [I took the day off work on Monday to spend it with Jan while she was close by and then had lots of Grandparent duties] so I'm afraid to say I am writing a very quick post today mainly to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all concerned.

During the day on Saturday I didn't get the chance to take a photo but I know many that have so please go over to their blogs to check out all the fun that was had on the day.

I came home with a bag full of ATCs and other wonderful shared gifts and as yet still have to find time to check them all out properly but I've spread them over on my desk for you to see them all.

I won a fabulous bag made by Elizabeth Worthington filled with goodies plus a selection of books for colouring in the draw.

These were the items of stash given to me.....trust me girls they will all be put to good use so thank you sooooo much.

I came home with orders for three Memory bears....so guess what I will be doing today?

For hosting our party Jo and I were both given these wonderful pictures that will be very proudly be hung on the walls in our sewing rooms....thank you so much girls.....and a big thank you must go to the wonderful man holding the picture for me for all his help and support leading up to and on the day to make it all go so well.

I hope you can tell just how blown away I am by the generosity, love and friendship shown to me on Saturday....hopefully normal service will resume next week but for now I have to clear my desks of all my wonderful gifts and get sewing.

Love you all lots,

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Hello all.  Happy Wednesday to you.  Here we are at another fun catch up with all our creative buddies from around the world.  I love my Wednesdays.

So you're here to see what's on my desk this week aren't you?  Here you go...

I've been busy in between the shortening of trousers etc cutting out and making up little Memory bears from two little girl's first babygros.....I'm thrilled to say the orders for my Memory bears are coming fast and furious...everything from first baby memories to memories of a much loved Mum's clothing.

Here are my latest two, now finished, sitting on my table with the two I made to perfect my pattern.  I'm rather chuffed how they have turned out too.

The other thing I've been working on this week is an Advent Calender for our next Grandson....due in under a month now. [Excited!!!!]  I've made Advent calenders for all my Grandchildren so was keen to get one ready for him.....will show you more when it's finished and Mark and Gina have seen it.

The other things sitting on my desk today that I'm really excited over are a stack of ribbons that has just arrived through my door and.....

....some packs of interfacing ready to use for my next Memory bears.....the interfacing stabilises the stretch fabrics of the babygros if you're wondering.  I'm sure you wont be as excited as me to see these but I share your excitement when you share new papers or stamps :-)

There you go.  That's my desk, now show me yours.  Leave me a little message to let me know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to see what you're sharing as soon as I'm able.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

All I want to say is IKEA today  :-)  I am on a roll with the sorting and tidying and planning for my new sewing room.....I'm ever the optimist even though the plans for our building work 'got lost' at our local planning office and we have had to submit them again!!!

So I will get going with my show and tell for today...

Sunday we took a trip to Ikea to pick up a few more jars for my ribbons / lace & trims......Ok ok I know I said a few!!

Can a girl ever have too many storage jars?

Result....all my ribbons now have new homes and I have 3 jars full of lace and trimmings.

Oh and the little jars????

I have rather a lot of buttons that needed sorting...these are just some of the small ones!!

Another result....well all but the black, navy and brown ones!!!

And I need more jars for those!!  :-)

Some of you will have seen that I managed to get some gorgeous fabric off a site I've joined on Facebook [well worth a look if you are into fabrics....just follow the link in the post below].  In that post I mentioned that our local shop rarely had the sort of fabric I like to use to make my tops out of.  Well,  I called in there on Friday as we were passing and they not only had a shelf full of just the fabric I've been looking for but it was in the sale reduced from £8.95/metre down to only £4/metre!!!  I grabbed enough to run up 4 new summer tops for just £10 each....far too good a bargain to miss eh?

 The other quick show and tell for today is this one of the two lined drawstring Lego mats I've made for our two daughter's children.  They both had boxes of Lego for Christmas and asked if I would make them these to make picking it all up so much easier.

I will say enough is enough for today now but will add that there are two awwww moments coming up on my Friday's post for this week that I'm sure lots of you will want to see so be sure to pop back so you don't miss out.  :-)

Thanks for calling by today.  Please leave me a little hello message so I know you've called in and I will do my best to call by at yours asap.
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW....Oh decisions decisions!!!

My show and tell today is full of indecision today.  Some of you may already know that I'm a Libran ....I'm not the best to ask if you're looking for an opinion on something :-)

I started yesterday with my table like this...

Determined to sort out my ribbon stash into my new Ikea storage jars I tipped out the contents of my 4 old plastic [and now very tired] sweet jars onto the table in my make do sewing room.  I started to sort it all out into colours but OMG the indecision was overwhelming.....

• They say blue and green should never be seen....does this apply to ribbon jars?
• Can in fact should creams go in the same jar as the white?
• Should peach go in with the pinks?
• Oh and which jar do all the multicoloured ribbons go?

I bet you're all laughing now.....I know my much older sister was when I told her [and she's a Libran too so is just as indecisive!!]

Here I am part way through the sorting process......

• Reds in one jar
• Pinks in another
• White and creams in another and 
•  Blues, turquoises and greens in another [ cos I couldn't decide if some of the turquoises should go in the green or blue jar!!] 

What has gone wrong?
I started out with 4 old jars and have them all sorted now but I've ended up with 9!!!  So I now need a visit to Ikea to buy 5 more glass jars for my  ribbons and......

This is another old plastic jar jammed full of lace trimmings.....will I need 2 or 3 glass jars to sort these into?

Life is just tooooooo stressful at times isn't it?  :-)  :-)

But can you imagine just how much fun I've had sorting and stroking all that lot?......I've had some of it for years and still can't bring myself to use some of it  :-)

Thanks so much for dropping by today.  I can well imagine I've made some of you chuckle today so please leave me a little message to let me know if you struggle with these important decisions like me and I will do my best to pay you a return visit as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

It's a 3 day twinnie munchkin week for me this week so it's all go here at Sewing by Annie's.  That of course means I have put this post to upload automatically and won't be able to come checking out your blogs til tomorrow at the earliest sorry.....but I will do my best to drop by as soon as I'm able.

On my desk today [and it will be there at least until tomorrow!] is....

The evidence that Christmas card making has started....

• Christmas fabrics sorted and ironed
• a couple of quilted squares using the fabric
• those have been machine embroidered and embellished
• then scanned to make some Christmas card toppers

....so far so good.  :-)

Another Christmas card idea in the making...

• strips of turquoise ribbons bond-a-webbed onto white fabric
• wadding ready underneath ready to machine embroider and quilt down the ribbons in place
• silver trimmings sorted ready to machine embroider on top

...we will see how this develops.  :-)

Been such a busy few weeks that I have the need to keep my hands busy while watching telly [or I nod off!] so have started some random crocheting.  I love the wool and it's chunky so I can use a large crochet hook...not sure what it will be when it grows up yet.   :-)

Well folks that's all from me for today....no time to pee breath think sew really so definitely not much time for creative fun  :-)  I hope you have enjoyed your little peep into my world for today.  Please leave me a little hello comment and I will do my best to pop by asap to say hello.

There will be pics and updates on the quilts being made for the Children in Need appeal very soon as Jacquie has already made the first two!

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello to family and friends  :-)

This week I have lots of curtains to shorten, table cloths to make, trousers to shorten, wedding outfits to alter and even a really gorgeous lacy wedding dress to shorten the 4 layers of hems on so there has been no quilt making for me as yet and wont be til I get it all finished.

I have however been playing with gorgeous fabrics, ribbons, lace etc making some ATCs for the 4th year WOYWW celebrations and this is what is on my desk today...

but of course I will have to clear it all off now to get my work done  :-(

I've chosen spring colours this year but I'm not showing you what I'm doing with it all just yet  :-)

.....and just look at that sun shining in through the window!!!

If anyone would like to swap ATCs with me to celebrate the 4 year birthday of our wonderful WOYWW group please email me your name and address [ to wipso@toucansurf.com ] and I will put one ready to post to you on 29th May....if you want to know the details for the celebration ATC swap then please check them out here on Julia's blog.  If you want to join in you only need to make one to pass on but if anyone wants to swap an extra one with me just let me know.

I'm not boring you with pics of all the sewing I have to do today but will say I will be head down doing it all day today and probably tomorrow and Friday too!!!!  If you leave me a little hello comment I will do my best to pay you a return visit in my break times......yes I do allow myself coffee breaks lol.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

As most of you will know our little Lexi caught the chicken pox last week and was pretty miserable with it but being the loving, caring , sharing sister she is [and here is the proof]...

....she passed it on to her brother Sam so this week we have two little spotty dotties.

Thank you for all your get well wishes on Friday but can you now please double them up so they will both be fit and well again very soon.  :-)

So what is on my desk today?...

 I found another box with fabric I'd forgotten about [how could I forget about all this yummy fabric?] and of course it is just perfect for making the little LillyBo Quilts with.

So with these 3 boxes full to overflowing already we just had to do a bit of sorting and actually half filled a bin bag with bits just too small to do anything with....yes I'm being firm with myself now cos we are putting the house on the market soon to downsize to a bungalow so I can't save every scrap of fabric......can I?

We then emptied 3 sweety jars of ribbon out onto the table to look for 1" wide pieces to go round the little quilts and even with all this lot we didn't find many pieces suitable to use....I just might have to go shopping  :-)

This ribbon is now all sorted into..

• Christmas ribbon jar
• satin ribbon jar and
• patterned ribbon jar.

Time well spent and thanks for your help Jo.

Some of the fabrics are now sorted into LillyBo quilt project bags so when I've got a spare minute or more I can grab a bag and get making instead of having to search for matching bits.

And here's a sneaky peep to show you that quilt number 4 has already been started  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed a quick look into my world this week.  If you leave me a comment I will do my best to call by later this evening cos today Jo and I and several other friends are off on a girly crafting fun day together.

...wahooooo wahooooo [can you tell how excited I am?].

Hugs,

Annie x

Don't forget to snap a happy pic and link it to this weeks Weekly smiles post here.  Please join in the fun and make the world a happier place to be.

WOYWW....

Happy Wednesday to one and all.  Firstly I must let all my concerned friends know that we were lucky enough to not be affected by the floods of yesterday thankfully and as they did back in July the water levels went down as quickly as they came up.  Thank you to those who left me comments yesterday.

I teased you a while ago with the rag dolls I had made for the twin's birthdays.  It was their birthday on Thursday [check out the pics in the posts below] so I can now show and tell the finished dolls and accessories.  :-)

Please click on pic to enlarge to read labels.

We bought Lexi a push chair and a little wooden trike with a trailer for Sam so they have transport for their new dolls  :-)  .... and I'm pleased to report that they love them all.

The new jars [alas plastic not glass] have already been put into good use...

I've replaced my smaller jars with the new large ones and, oops somehow, they are already full!! ....how did that happen?  :-)

Our fun day was rained off on Monday and none of my customers ventured out with sewing jobs through the floods so I set my table up to play alone.  You can see my embellisher on the table and my boxes full of yummy fabrics, all colours of wool rovings and dumfable yarns all spread around me on the floor.  Of course there was no point in clearing it all off for Tuesday as the munchkins came to play and the shop was shut so this morning I will be having more dumfing fun til my customers flood back with work for me.

The little dumfed dragonfly pic on last Wednesday's post sold before it had time to settle in the blog shop so I have now finished this one and will be loading it up in the blog shop at some point soon....Jo has already put her latest in there if you're interested.  I have put this one in a double mount so that who ever buys it can put it in a frame of their choosing.....everyone has a different opinion on the size/colour frame to use and selling them this way also makes them cheaper to post.

For those interested in why Jo and I are dumfing dragonflies you might like to read this link.
Waterbugs and Dragonflies

That's about all from me for today so if you'd like to leave me a quick 'hello' comment I will aim to pay you a return visit ASAP.  Have a great week.
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW....

Happy Wednesday to you all.

It's been another hectic week for me [but nothing new there!].  This week has included...

• A trip to BBC Television Studios to watch the show Pointless....brilliant afternoon's entertainment for free.
• A trip to the theatre with Michelle and Brent to see Billie Elliot....Magical
• An over night stay in a 4 star hotel in London.....felt really spoilt
• The filling of the rag doll shelf in our blog shop [please check it out and let me know what your think]....exciting times
• Precious family times with our grandbabies.
• A brilliant Funday Monday with two special people....I cut out more little dollies
• Bread making, cooking and even a little bit of housework  :-)

There really is NEVER a dull moment here.  I have to admit that after all the walking and climbing of stairs over the weekend that Nurofen has become my best friend to get rid of the aches and pains but I am happy to put up with those to have such quality times with my best friend in the world [I'm blessed with a hubby in a million and would like to thank him for all the wonderful planning he does to make a weekend like that possible].

Now for a few snaps to 'show and tell'  the world of sewing by Annie....

I've been sorting....

• neat pile of tiny print fabrics for my dollies
• box full of wools to use for dolly hair
• a bag with my dolly patterns in it

I emptied out one of my sweet jars full of ribbons to sort out pretty narrow ribbons for the dollies and then.....

.......managed to squash them all back in.  :-)
You wouldn't believe all that would go in one jar would you?.....lots of brute force and determination required  :-)

Today you can see [or possibly not!] that I am making shaped chair arm covers for one of my customers.  I've had to make a pattern and she wants them piping so they will take a while.

And here is a bit of fru fru for you girls who like to see the posh frocks I am working on [this one started off a size 6 and I've taken it in 4"!!!].  It's coming up to prom time and I have several dresses to alter this week.

Now, please pop over to check out my rag dolly shelf and leave me a comment before you dash off to visit Julia and join in the WOYWW fun.  I hope you all have a great week.  Stay well and creative.

Hugs,

Annie x

What a brilliant company...

My postman just knocked on my door with a parcel of goodies I ordered from Cari Crafts yesterday.  They never fail to amaze me with the, always speedy and brilliant, service they provide.  Being a dependable company is one of the main reasons I use Cari Crafts because I need to let customers know when their sewing will be ready for collection.  They never let me down and that means my reputation as a sewing business has grown with thanks to them too.

As most of you will know Twiglet and I are making lots of little dresses for the 'Dress a girl around the world' charity and a little while back I asked Adrian from Cari Crafts if he would be willing to donate any spare bits and bobs for the great cause.....back then he sent me a huge bag of trims etc and said he would keep me in mind for any other bits he could find.  My box this morning was not only full of all the things I had ordered from them but he had put yet another wonderful bag of ribbons and trims in for us to use.....What a brilliant company!  Do pop over to their site if there is anything you need for sewing / knitting / crafting.  They are very competitive with their prices and the service is second to none.

Thank you Adrian. x

WOYWW

Good morning all my fellow WOYWWers. Hope you're all having a great week and aren't too effected by the volcanic dust. I've managed to get all my business book work up to date [getting ready for doing the tax end of year!] and now have 955 customers so it looks like it's not keeping customers from my door. :-)

It's been another great start to the week for me. Funday Monday was especially special because Paula joined us via web cam [and we had a really fun afternoon]. It's brilliant to think that, thanks to the wonderful Queen of snoop Julia, so many friendships have been made and I am certain a lot of them wont be just 5 minute wonders. We all seem to have so much in common and isn't it lovely how crafters are willing to share their ideas? We all have so many skills between us that I am sure we are all benefiting from seeing what others are capable of.....Paula is now sewing and dumfing!!!!! So, beware, it is contagious :-)

I have a mess to show you this week [and no it's not the mess you saw on Monday Paula....but of course you won't tell all my secrets :-) ].


This is my mess today. I have tipped out all my ribbons onto my table ready to sort them. You wouldn't believe all those came out of 3 sweetie jars would you? Over the years they have got very mixed up and it's not easy to find a particular length or colour when making items for the Wedding/Bridal shelf in the shop. This is definitely a 'got to do' job for today!




This is a job I did yesterday. It's a purple Wedding dress. I'm only sharing the top with you so you can see the colour [detail is kept secret]. The bride looks really lovely in the dress cos she has lovely dark hair and plans to have a little flower girl in ivory with a little purple detail to match the wedding dress.



Today I have another posh evening dress to alter and then it's sorting ribbons for me. What are you up to today? Don't forget to pop over to Julia's and join in the fun......


........Oh and remember I may be watching you :-)




11.25....A quick update...

Just to show you all how much better all those ribbons look now they are all sorted :-) Bet I can find just what I am looking for now :-)