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.
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.
Here we are at another catch up with our creative friends to see what they have been busy with this week. If you want to know more then please pop over to Sarah's Craft Shed for details and why not join in the fun?
I've had a busy week with a steady flow of customers. I've....
Shortened 7 pair of trousers
Let one pair of trousers down for a very tall young man
Put a new zip in a pair of jeans
Shortened the straps on a Bridesmaid dress [made more difficult because the straps had frills]
Plus I have made this gorgeous Mamory Bear...
It's made to give the groom-to-be and is made from his Nan's top, his shirt he wore for his first job and on the back is a panel from his first child's babygro....lots of very special memories.
That's all from me for now. This little bear has brought my numbers up to 990 so I just need to make 10 more now to reach my 1000...and I have 9 on their way very soon :-)
Hello all. I've no bears to share this week. It's been a busy week here at Sewing by Annie's though.
I've ...
Shortened a nurse's dress for one customer
Shortened the sleeves on a nurse's tunic top for another customer [I've known this one since she was born and she's now very pregnant with her first baby and it's really lovely to share this with her]
Shortened 2 pair of jeans for a man I was at primary school with
Shortened 4 pair of trousers for an elderly lady
Shortened the sleeves on a Man's shirt [his sleeve had got caught in his stair lift and tore]. It's now a short sleeved shirt and will be a surprise for him on his 95th birthday as it was his favourite shirt.
Shortened 3 pair of trousers for another lady and.....
Finished of 12 Lucky Cluckies for the charity....here they are finished and on the march :-)
Here's my little buddy Peggy who has lost her ball under the cupboard in my sewing room...she wont fit under there much longer :-)
That's all from me for this week. I hope you enjoyed a little insight into the world of a busy sewing lady. Please leave me a little message and I will do my best to pay you a return visit when I am able.
I noticed when I put the two bears on last week that I had forgot to show you the first 4 I made for this customer....
These were made for a Dad/Grandad who died far too young and were made from his favourite clothes.....each item holding special memories.
The clothing for these 4 arrived Tuesday afternoon from South Wales....aren't they bright and cheery?
They are made in memory of my customer's son to give to his siblings and she is coming up from South Wales to collect them at the end of the week when she visits family members.
I think I was very missed while I was away on my holidays because since I started back on Tuesday morning I have.....
Made 2 memory bears with personalised labels
Removed belt straps from a dress.
Shortened a pair of trousers
Shortened 2 skirts
Rehemmed 3 pair of trousers
Replaced a concealed zip in a skirt
Shortened 2 Nurses dresses
Made the 4 memory bears [above]
Repaired the underarm seams on a waterproof jacket
Shortened 2 pair of nurse's trousers
Shortened a pair of jeans
Repaired a seam on an evening dress and
Shortened a pair of jeans
This was all done last week and that also included a day sewing with the twins on Wednesday.....the customers kept coming but the jobs were put in a queue to do Thursday and Friday :-)
This week has started very differently as I have had no sewing to do for my customers as yet [I know I have some coming] so I have made the best of my break and....
I planned and cut out all these pieces.....I bought a new bag while I was away on holiday and fancied making another one from denim.
Hey presto....one new denim zipped bag with a zipped pocket on the front and it's fully lined with two open pockets and another zipped pocket inside too......I'm really pleased with it and it has been made totally with fabrics/ zips/ webbing etc that I had in stock.....and that pleased me all the more.
That's all from me for this week. I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a little message so I know you've called in and I will do my best to pay you a return visit as soon as I'm able.
Two weeks are never the same here at Sewing by Annie's. This week I've been under demand for my services and with having to close for all these Bank holidays there just aren't enough hours in my days so I allowed a young lady come for a Wedding dress fitting yesterday, on my day off, and spent the day altering her dress and also removed the pockets from a pair of linen trousers because my customer didn't like the way they showed through.
I have also made two memory bears, put a new zip in a waterproof jacket and repaired a tear in a dress....I do love the variety that comes through my door.
I love to see my rail full....especially when all the jobs on there are done and just waiting for collection :-)
This little bear will be going to sit at the head of a table at a Wedding where Grandad would have sat.....I love how special the little bears I make are.
This little bear is made from a Dad's shirts and is being given to a special needs young man on his birthday.
That just about sums up my week so far but I have a Prom dress coming today and have 4 more Memory bears coming before the end of the week too....It's all go here and I'm loving the buzz
Hello all. I've had a busy week but, until yesterday, I had virtually no customers so I have been using my time to make bunting.
I now have a table full of jobs waiting for me...
2 pair of school trousers needing shortening
a Burbery cost needing the pocket flaps stitching back down
a referees badge to sew on his black shirt
A panel to stitch in the front of a dress and the sleeves need shortening and
snap poppers to sew onto the front of another dress to raise it at the front
As you can see I will be head down clearing my jobs this morning but I will then be making a start on other makes for the charity I'm sewing for. I have made patterns in brown paper ready to make a reversable bag, little poppered purses, glasses cases and a couple of ideas I've got for key rings....can you tell I'm having fun being creative?
On my desk at the mo is this little lot...
I think I've made about 24 lengths of bunting...they are each about 2 metres long with 10 flags on each and I've used different combinations of the fabrics for them [there are 2 different fabrics on each]....then I ran out of tape to make them with so have ordered more.
I'm selling each length for £10 to raise funds for The Harry Johnson Trust.
I've photographed several of the combinations and have got permission to put them on my Facebook page....which I will do soon.
As you can see I've been using my time well...thankfully I'm feeling rather better now.
I will pop over to see what you've been up to in between my sewing jobs. I hope you've all had a good week.
Hello all. You're here to see what's on my desk today and surprise surprise there's only one little school Memory bear this week....but I do have another one coming later today :-)
This little school bear brings the number of schools I've made bears for up to 36 from all round the world.
It also brings the total number of Memory Characters up to 643 now....I've actually made 22 bears in the last 3 weeks!!
I was brought this jacket this week...it had a 7" zip in the top to be pulled over the head but my customer struggled to get in and out of it so he asked if I could add a panel down the front and put a full length zip in it.....I get asked to do all sorts of jobs and always love a challenge :-)
I will show you a few of my home made decorations that I have up in my sewing room now [no I didn't make the mat but I do rather like robins].
I will be shutting up shop on 23rd and will then be closed until Wednesday 4th January so will hopefully get a good rest and be able to enjoy lots of family times :-)
Hope you're all having a wonderful week. I will call by to see as many as I can in between my sewing jobs later.
Hello all. Did you miss me? I was MIA last week while we had a few days away in our motor home on a wonderful, adult only campsite in Llanidloes....it was one of the many Tranquil Sites that can be found around the country and it was simply perfect.
I'm back this week and have been playing catch up with all my sewing. ...it's been coming out of the woodwork this week so I've been kept very busy.
These are the latest 3 Memory bears I've made but still have two on my desk waiting to be made and many more due to come very soon.
These three were made from a Grandma's favourite jumpers/tops.
I was asked to repair a seam on a settee but as you can see it would only stand on it's end in our hall because of it's size and I had to sewing it by hand, with a curved needle and using extra strong thread.....never again I say!!
I have also, in my spare time, been working on my ATCs for the up and coming swap. I have made about a dozen so am willing to swap with anyone wanting to [first come first served]. Jo and I will be sending our swaps together to save on postage so please anyone who wants to swap please send ours to either Jo or I...we wont fall out as to who gets them :-)
Please send your addresses to wipso2310@gmail.com to save me hunting out the details.
That's all from me for this week but I must say the system here has been playing up for sending comments and there have been several blogs that I have visited that wouldn't let me leave a comment....I promise I do try.
Hello all and a happy Friday to you all. I'm here to catch up with the smiles from the last week and I'm lucky to say there's been plenty to smile about.
On Wednesday I had Gina here [hense the photo of me!]. She sat crocheting and I sat making bunting in bright colours for Theo's bedroom.
Here's the proof that I finished making it and just how pleased he was when he came home from school to see it....it makes everything worth while doesn't it?
Here's Gina sat in my sewing room crocheting her ripple blanket. I'm so proud of her progress with her crocheting and just look at that gorgeous baby bump in her lap....I actually felt him kick this week :-)
I thought you would like to meet our next grandson....it's a 4D scan of him now at 30 weeks. He's about 2lb 14oz now. Modern technology is amazing isn't it? We have also seen videos of him moving and really feel like we are getting to know him before he arrives.....he's sooooo like his big brother.
The next generation are progressing well on their sewing machines....these are 19 hair scrunchies that Lexi has made for their school performance of Joseph.
And this is a project that Phoebe is working on at school....it's a design of a crisp packet and she has used free machine stitching on the front.
I'm so proud to see my grandchildren sewing.
Finally here's a funny I saw on Facebook....it could have been written about Milly. Every new toy she gets she shakes it till she 'kills' it and I don't think she has one with a 'living' squeaker in it now lol.
I hope you have enjoyed sharing my smiles and will share yours by linking up at the bottome of the page.
I'm sure some of you will be pleased to hear that we are slowly winning the fight with the Winter bugs....it's slow but hopefully it's going in the right direction at least.
I've been doing some of this this week. It's a crochet baby blanket for Theo's little brother when he arrives in April. It's slow progress but I am enjoying all the rows of different stitches and the colours I've chosen to work it in.
Gina is off work with Covid and fancied learning how to crochet so I sent her my crochet hooks and some wool to learn with and we have enjoyed a good giggle over the internet together while she's learning. I must say she is doing very well and managing to get the tensions right already.
Sadly Theo has now tested positive too and has been enjoying 'having a go' with some wool and a hook but says 'it's really tricky Nanny'.
He really loves having a go at anything creative but maybe we need a session together when he's out of isolation :-)
The only other thing on my 'desk' for today are these two men's coats. The navy one on the left I've had to shorten by 7" but it was all top stitched so was a really tricky job [especially when you're not feeling 100%].
The brown one is here to have a new zip put in but I had to order the zip [I order from Cari Crafts on line...they are brilliant and always very quick and reliable]. The new zip arrived yesterday so that's the job I will be working on today.
I also have fabrics coming through the post to make 2 memory bears and another one coming on Friday morning so I'm guessing I will be busy this week [busy enough for now anyway :-) ].
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 to say hello.
Here we are at another Friday's catch up of the week of smiles. My aim is to share my smiles and to make the world a happier place and hope everyone who can will link up at the bottom of the page and share their smiles too.
By biggest smile this week is that I am soooooooooo thankful to say I am now feeling much better and more like 'me'. It has been a long haul to recover from the Covid virus...I guess when something knocks you so hard and you're getting older it takes longer than it used to but I have been very sensible and have listened to my body and only done what it was telling me and have rested lots.
As promised last week I have photos to share with you of our babysitting at Amy's last Thursday night...
I set up their Singer sewing machine on the one side of their table and my Janome on the other side and the three children all made a haloween pumpkin out of felt.....they cut out their paper patterns, pinned then onto double thickness felt then stitched carefully around leaving a small gap. They then stuffed them, stitched up the gap and then decorated the fronts.
I was so proud of all three of them and they were all really proud of their finished projects.
My biggest smile came the following day when they set up their sewing machine themselves and each made halloween black cats and/or bats totally unaided using the same method and then sent me the photos.
Theo's birthday treat from his one uncle was a day at Chester Zoo. They had a really great day and sent me lots of photos of all the animals they saw there.
Here are some of the outfits from the Halloween weekend....they enjoyed a bit of trick or treating and some Haloween parties....a fun time was had by all.
Saturday Shell treated me to some birthday fun. We had a mother and daughter session at a Kinkiglass workshop at Ironbridge and then she treated me to lunch out. The rainbow was mine and Shell's was the mermaid. They have to be fired and will then have holes drilled in the top so they can be hung in a window. It was a really lovely couple of hours and we had a good giggle together.
Finally here is the latest collage of colour from our garden. Yesterday we had a good frost so I'm guessing these flowers wont last much longer but it was really lovely to capture the colour before it all drops.
I hope you have enjoyed my smiles and will now leave me a little message before you link to your own smiles below.....everyone is welcome to join in.
I'm here with some smiles today. I'm running at about 60% energy levels but I'm getting there thankfully. I can still nod off at the drop of a hat but I guess that is more to do with my age and recovery than anything else....we don't bounce back the same as we get older do we?
So here's my smiles for this week...
Theo had his first session at the forrest school this week and just loved it. He's been a little gem Facetiming me too to see if I was better...It works like a tonic to see his smiling little face.
Whilst we've been poorly it was Stephen's 10th birthday. Sadly we had to miss joining in the fun this year and his birthday presents were rather late but he said he was just glad to have us better....such a kind caring thoughtful boy.
Lulu had done tie dying at school and couldn't wait to send me a photo of the results.
Both Lulu and Phoebe have had commendation awards at school this week for their sewing....that sewing machine really has helped their confidence. Their teachers were very impressed with their ability....so proud of them both.
Finally I thought this one would make you laugh. This is me at the mo. I saw the pic on Facebook and it seemed so appropriate I couldn't resist sharing it with you.
I must say a big thank you for all the lovely get well wishes from last week and for the gorgeous card that Angela sent me....I really do feel loved.
Hello all. I was MIA again last week and if you check out my Friday post you will see why. I was determined to not miss a moment so make no apologies that I didn't have time for blogging....I just know you will all understand.....Theo starts school tomorrow so time was simply running out.
Since coming back from Wales I have been run off my feet catching up with work.....
I've a rail still heaving and some of it has already been collected. In two days I...
Did fittings and all the sewing needed on two bridesmaids dresses including 5 hems, taking in a bodice and taking one up on the shoulders.
Shortened a lined dress
Shortened a holiday dress and took it up on the shoulders
Shortened another holiday dress and reduced the length of the straps
Shortened the straps on a jumpsuit and
Shortened a pair of gents suit trousers.
Quite an achievement in 2 days eh?
I've even managed a little time for playing with my paints :-)
I would like to share these paintings with you that our 11year old granddaughter Lulu has been doing. She is a rather talented young artist and I love to encourage youth with their crafts. She has a set of painting pens like mine but her mummy has just set her up with some acrylic paints and she has been painting these pics on canvasses...I think they are rather gorgeous too.
Sam and Lexi have been in isolation whilst Sam got over his Covid. He had signs of a cold and was rather washed out with it but he has now recovered and it was really lovely to see them both enjoying fun in their garden pool.
Whilst at home they both did a bit of wood carving and painted them all up too...Rather good too I think.
I'm sorry my desk was rather boring this week so I hope you have enjoyed seeing a little of the talented grandchildren's crafting too....it's such a lovely way of them choosing to spent their time.
I have another busy week planned...I had a customer contact me asking me if I can make her 14 Memory bears in memory of a much loved Grandmother who has just died and all being well the clothing should arrive tomorrow....oh happy days.
