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.

Some of our dresses are off on their travels...

Louise has written a wonderful post about a Backpack project by Mary's Meals - a charity that provides daily meals to children in school in developing countries like Malawi and Liberia to encourage school attendance.  They are an amazing country currently feeding over 500,000 children in 16 countries!

Her little girl Izzy is taking part with her school so Louise has contacted the charity and they are putting one of the little dresses for the Dress a Girl around the world scheme in each backpack........and some of the ones we made are in the 50 that are going  :-) :-)   Please pop over to Louise's blog and read all about the wonderful charity work and check out the gorgeous pics of the little girls that some of our dresses are going to.....do leave her a comment to support her in all the amazing work she does to organise this making little dresses scheme.

If it doesn't make you want to take up sewing then I will be surprised..... if only to make a little dress for one of the gorgeous children who have so little in life.  We will continue to make dresses for as long as we have fabric to make them.....and thankfully we have so many wonderful friends who have donated gorgeous fabrics that we will be sewing for a while yet.

All ready to go home....

For those that missed my post of last night.  Here is little Steve all ready to go home from hospital today.....he looks like he has been here before doesn't he?   It sounds like Amy has had a really good first night with him and our latest addition to the family is feeding and doing all he should.....I changed his big sister's first dirty nappies when they were born and Amy asked if I would like to pop in to change Steve's  :-)  When I declined she asked me if I would like a photo?  :-)....you will be pleased to hear I declined that too hehehe

Yahoo more great news to share...

Amy and Dave would like me to share with you all their great news. Stephen David was born at 4.52 this afternoon weighing in at 8lb 10oz.  Amy text me at 3.50 to say she was on her way to hospital having contractions every 3 mins.  Next text said....'My waters have just gone in the car and we are still 10 mins from the hospital!'.  Thankfully she managed to safely reach the hospital but was only on the ward 22mins before our gorgeous little grandson arrived!  Both are doing really well [and doesn't she look amazing?].....he looks enormous up against his little twinnie cousins  :-)

WOYWW.....

I'm a bit late today but I have a really good excuse.  I normally type up my Wednesday post on Tuesday night and put it to launch automatically so I can start my day's sewing first thing on a Wednesday morning but last night I had some rather special visitors that filled my house with love.  The two new additions to our family came to visit with their mummy and daddy and so did their big cousins with their mummy [still playing the waiting game for number 3 to arrive...it won't be long now] and to join in the fun their Uncle M and Auntie G came too.  The first fun gathering of the clan with all our children and grandchildren and very probably the only one while we only have 4 grandchildren cos little Steve will be coming out to play very soon.  :-)

How much love can you fit on one settee? It's only a 3 seater but I can count 8 on there if I can count the one tucked up inside his mummy  :-)

Big cousins enjoying a cuddle with their baby cousins.  :-)

Here is one very organised new daddy showing us how to transport twins.  :-)

The health visitor is really pleased with the twinnies cos little Lexi has gone from 4lb to 5 lb and her big brother Sam has gone from 5lb 13oz to 6lb 8oz.  What a great job M and B are doing.  

 On my desk today you can see the two boxes full of little African dresses all cut out ready to make....and this is just some of them cos Twiglet has lots more cut out and ready up at her house......looks like I have a bit of catching up to do with my dress making doesn't it?

Sitting watching me is the last Mr Tumble doll that I was asked to make.  Yes he is still here....because the lady that ordered him just never emailed me back! Why would anyone order something and then just disappear?

So if you know any little person who would like to own a Mr Tumble dolly then please email me for details....he will have red buttons when finished but these will be made of felt if the child it is wanted for is under 3 years old for safety reasons.

Well folks thats all from me for today....I have sewing waiting for me and the postman should bring me more gorgeous wool today to knit some chunky cardies with so I had better get moving  :-)  Thanks for dropping in.  Hope you all have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

Another 64 reached Louise and what Nannies do...

Louise is the lady who is our UK organiser for the dress a girl around the world appeal and she has just posted our last parcel of little dresses on her blog.  Please pop over to check them out if you are one of the very kind people who donated fabric to us to make the dresses with.  You will see that we have put it to good use  :-) Louise has also given me the heads up with my little bears.  She very kindly bought 7 of them for her family after seeing my bags full on my last post.

I would also like to show you what to do if one of your new grandchildren arrived rather smaller than expected.  Little Lexi was supposed to be over 5lb on the scan her mummy had 2 weeks before she was born but surprised us all by being only 4lb and nearly 2lb smaller than her big brother.  M has struggled in finding clothes to fit her so Nanny Annie has been knitting.

This is the first that you saw in the making on Wednesday's blog. These little cardies only take a couple of days to make and make lovely little body warmers.

And these are two more I've made since.  What makes them even more special is yesterday I popped into Tesco's [one of the very few places you can buy tiny baby clothes] and managed to grab some real bargains.  They had a rail full of half price baby clothes and I managed to get 3 tiny little outfits that will not only fit her but match the little knitties to perfection  :-)  Of course I couldn't miss out little Sam and just had to treat him too.  :-) .....isn't that what being a Grandma is all about?  :-)  

Of course we then just had to call in to see them on our way past and give them a cuddle too.  You will all be really thrilled to hear M is now looking and feeling much better and those gorgeous twinnies are just adorable.

Also don't forget that baby number 3 for my youngest daughter A is due this week too so more excitement is yet to come  :-)

WOYWW and someone special has a BIG birthday today...

Firstly girls I must say a Happy Birthday for someone special in my life that has a BIG birthday today.

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to Twiglet,

Happy Birthday to you,

Yes, it's a really BIG one for her today and I know you will all want to sing along with me.  Happy Birthday Jo.  Really hope you have the best of days.  I have sooooooo much the thank you for especially of late.

Now girls you will all know that M is now back home with her gorgeous babies and life is returning to 'normal'....slowly and steadily.  She has asked me to say a huge thank you to all of you wonderful bloggers who have supported us through the last two weeks and has allowed me to share with you this really special photo of the happily little family now enjoying special times together at home.

I have done a lot of catching up with sewing jobs this week and still have more to go yet so blogging has been pushed right to the back for me.  I will do my best to get round as many of you as I can but please forgive me if I fail hopelessly.  I will get there eventually.  

I've done the sewing job for the lady who lives in Scotland....if anyone needs sewing doing I am more than happy to do any sewing jobs as long as you are happy to pay the postage and will happily give you a quote for any job....it often works out cheaper than getting it done locally cos I charge very reasonable prices.  :-)

My WOYWW post is going to be a picture heavy to let you all see what I've been up to....

 These are pics taken Monday of the latest little dresses we have made for the African girls.  My little sewing room was completely filled with them.  There is another 64 here bringing our total now up to 193!!  They are all colors and all sizes so I'm sure there will be lots of happy faces on a lot of little African girls.  A huge thank you to all that have sent us fabric to make them with.  I hope you can see we have used it wisely.  These are all now winging their way to Louise so I'm sure will be featured on her blog soon.

 

Ive singled out this pretty little dress so you can see the lovely job our friend T did to make this one.  She is very new to sewing and learned a lot while working along side us to make her first little dress.  What an achievement and how lovely of her to choose to give it away to the great cause.

Twiglet and T spent Funday Monday afternoon working on making a bag for T from a felted cardigan.....I will do my best to put a pic on here when the bag is finished.

I spent the afternoon knitting another little cardie for tiny little L.  At 4lbs it's not easy to find clothes small enough to fit her  :-)

Today my desk is covered with my little bears.  My baskets are needing filling up for the craft fair that Jo and her daughter are having a table at on Saturday in Montgomery.  Please call in and give them some love and support if you can.  I have declined to help this time as we are still awaiting the arrival of our other daughter's baby [due 14th].  So much happening still in this mad world I live in  :-)  :-)

If anyone wants little bears for a special person then please pop over to our blog shop to check them out and email me with your order.  I write the little poems that come with each little bear and they have been known to work real magic by bringing smiles to those needing them most.

Well folks, that's it from me for this week.  I will try to get round to your blogs when I can I promise.

Hugs,

Annie x

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.  :-)