Oh no it's happened again.......and a latest update

Yesterday Twiglet popped down to help me cut the fabric for a curtain for one of my customers and while she was here we had another little dress cutting and preparing session.  We only turned our back for a few moments and look what happened!!!!

 

Yes folks they started to take over my little sewing room again.  As you can see they covered every surface and hung around in every possible hanging space. It was like an invasion so we had no choice but to attack the problem.  We parcelled all 49 of them up [another 17 made by me and 32 made by Jo] and have posted them to Louise.  Doesn't it have a wow factor just seeing them all together like this?

Here are my latest two [numbers 66 and 67] that were popped in the parcel.  They were both made with some of the lovely material Sue sent us.  Thanks so much Sue for sending us such lovely material to play with. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Today's update

The postman has just arrived with yet another wonderful parcel.  This time it is from Julie from K C's Court blog .  Thank you so much Julie....I can't wait to get cutting out dresses using all this...such pretty colours.  We are still happy to received parcels of any pillow cases/ bedding or cotton /poly cotton fabrics and will keep making little dresses whilst ever we have material to use so please email me if you have any you would like to donate to the great cause.

WOYWW...

Happy Wednesday to each and every one of you.  This last week has been a really manic one with lots of customers and even more sewing.  Each one seemed to bring me several jobs and all of them were needed to be done yesterday!  If only there were a few more hours in each day.  I am going to take you through this week in pictures so you don't have to get bogged down with reading.

This morning my 'done' rails are all heaving [the 'to do' rail as yet is empty but please tell no one]....lots has been done and it's all waiting for collection.

The rail at the left is full of little dresses for the African girls.

The one in the middle is full of the shorter length customers items...tops, trousers, skirts etc.

The rail on the right is the longer length rail where I hang all the long dresses and, when I have them, the wedding dresses.

This is my latest little knittie for one of the twinnies.  I knitted a little waistcoat for the little boy so I've knitted this short sleeved cardie for the little girl.  I love this wool and am now knitting a little waistcoat for A's expected little boy in blue and cream fleck.

Penny from The Hen House saw my post about making the little dolly dresses and asked if I could make her some to clothe the dollies for the charity shop she works in.  As you will all know I run a very busy ship here and I had to say sorry but I just couldn't commit myself to any more projects so I quickly ran her up one little dolly's dress and made her patterns and simple instructions so the lady that sews for the shop could run more up.  I've posted this little dress to her so hope she doesn't mind me declining the request.....Mitzi really has started something hasn't she?  :-)  I'm always willing to do my best to help but there just aren't enough hours in the day to do more.

 For those that like to see a little of my garden here is a quick snap of some of the wonderful tomatoes that are now ripening in our greenhouse.  There really is nothing quite like picking a warm, fresh tomato and just eating it is there?  We have several different sorts out there....red and large, small orange ones that are just soooooo sweet and even green ones....yes they are green when ripe but do change colour slightly so you can tell when they are ripe.

Here is a little bit of the early signs of autumn.  The crab apples are such a gorgeous colour now and the horse chestnut tree is already changing to it's autumn wardrobe.

For those that know what a difficult time I have been going through I just wanted to share this picture of this gorgeous rainbow that showed itself to us on Friday.  At difficult times in my life I often see a rainbow and really believe it to be a sign that all will be well.  Please keep everything crossed for us for the next few weeks and thanks to all who have supported us.

For those that are waiting for news on the twins....as I am typing this they are still keeping us waiting.....34 weeks now....Poor M is pretty unfomfortable all the time now and is finding sleeping pretty near impossible....she  'WANTS THEM OUT'  :-)  That's one large bump she has now and if you look closely you can actually see that the little girl this side is pushing her bump this way on the photo! I remember this stage well.  As her Granddad would say to her...'the apple wont fall til it's ripe'.  She is getting pretty strong braxton hicks contractions now all the time and I really don't think we will have too long to wait but when it's you who is doing the waiting every day seems like a week I'm sure.....Hang in there M xxxx

Now, here's hoping you all have a wonderful snoop around the other work spaces that Julia links up every Wednesday.....thanks Julia for all your efforts even when you're really not feeling at your best.  Really hope you get well very soon.  Have a great week and thanks for calling in on me.

Nothing gets wasted here....

Mitzi did such a good job modelling her new dress that I am now taking orders!.  This what you do when you don't even had a big enough piece to make a pocket for a little girls dress with!

You patch pieces together and make dolly's dresses  :-)  We popped over to see our little granddaughters yesterday morning and I took orders for two new dolly dresses.  'Pleaseeeeeeeeeee Nanny'  How could I say no?  I have just set to and made these two tiny little dresses to fit their baby dollies.  Let's hope they fit  :-)

My latest dresses....

Here are dress numbers 62, 63, 64 and 65 that I managed to make in the last couple of days.  It's been a really busy week for me so spare time has been rare but I've loved making these little dresses.

Dress number 62 is a pretty pink print fabric that the lady who follows my blog but as yet doesn't have her own blog sent me.  Thanks CM...it's made a really pretty dress.

Dress number 63 is made using some of the pretty fabric Tammy sent me.  This was really lovely material to use and has made a really cute dress.  Thanks Tammy.

Dress number 64 was made using some of the pretty pink floral material Sue sent us.  I've teamed it up with a bit of bright pink and doesn't it look lovely?  Thanks Sue.

Number 65 is a little pink dress and was made using another of the lovely pieces Sue sent us.  I've prettied up the pocket with some of the lace trim that came from Cari crafts.  I'm still looking at the wonderful bag of goodies they sent us to trim up these little dresses and really struggle to believe just how generous some people can be.

We have had lots of wonderful support from so many people with wonderful donations of fabrics and would really like to say a huge thank you to you all.  We are still happy to accept pillow cases, bedding or cotton /poly cotton fabrics from anyone willing to donate to the cause and will keep making for as long as we have fabric in what every spare time we can find.  Please feel free to email me at wipso@toucansurf.com for details of where to post them to.....do bear in mind it will take us a little time to get through all this wonderful fabric but I do promise to blog each and every dress I make to show you what we do with it all.

Every little girl loves a new dress.....

And Mitzi Monkey is no different.  She has watched me making the last 63 dresses and asked if I would make her one.

Of course the first step was Mitzi's fitting.  Like most women she insisted I used inches cos the number was smaller!

She was so excited when I said she could choose her fabric.  Oh decisions decisions!  Would it be plain or.....

....patterned.  She loves purple and blues and decided a little of both would be nice.  She loved the trimmings off one of my tops and asked if I could make a little blue pocket to match.

She is rather pleased with the results.  What do you think? 

'Oh Mum, does my bum look big in this?'

A little madness makes the world go round....and I'm madder than most as you all know  :-)  I really hope my little bit of madness has made you smile on this cold, damp dreary Friday.  Have a great weekend.

Support from a brilliant craft company......

I have just received a wonderful donation of really pretty trimmings from the on line shop I use for all my sewing / crafting needs  and would love to share this wonderful company with all my blogging friends.  The service they provide is second to none.  If I can't find what I am looking for in their shop they will normally put it there for me to buy and every order is very quickly sent to my door [usually the very next day] which, of course, when you run a sewing business like I do it allows me to run a very efficient service thanks to them. 

My ironing board is literally covered in the most gorgeous ribbons and trimmings as you can see so our little dresses will certainly look pretty when trimmed up with some of this.  A huge thank you to Cari Crafts.....as they say 'if you don't ask you don't get' but this is generosity beyond my wildest dreams.

I am hoping you will all pop over and have a good look round their shop and give them your support for all your crafting needs.  They do come highly recommended  :-)

Cari Crafts
A fast and friendly online craft shop with over 30 years in haberdashery and craft. We stock all kinds of craft products, Buttons.Knitting Yarn, & Knitting Patterns, Embroidery, Haberdashery, Cake Accessories, Airfix and a wide range of craft sundries
We are constantly expanding our product range daily.
All orders are shipped by first class post.
The shop is situated minutes away from the local post office which means we endeavour to dispatch any order received by 3.00pm on the same day. The exceptions are Sundays, Bank holidays, and special orders.

Categories

• Tiaras & Headbands
• Scissors
• Airfix
• Beads & Jewellery Findings
• Buttons
• Cookware & Cake Accessories
• Crafts
• Crochet Cotton Yarns & Patterns
• Fabrics & Accessories
• Haberdashery
• Household Goods
• Knitting
• Quilting
• Partyware

The parcels keep coming and this is why we are making them....

It's just like having all your birthdays and Christmas come at once here.  The postman seems to bring a parcel to my door nearly every day.  Yesterday was no exception.

This was sent to me by Elizabeth over at The Silver Scrapper's Craft Space.  As you can see it's full of lovely pillow cases to make our little African girl's dresses with.  Elizabeth was bothered about them being so plain but as you will have seen in other parcels we have had lots of gorgeous smaller pieces of materials that will trim these up to perfection so thank you very much Elizabeth for sending us them.

Yesterday I managed to finish all those b****** curtains I had to make and clear my heaving 'to do' rail of all my customers sewing [and there was a lot] and before the end of the day I managed to make my dress number 61 .  This was made using some of the fabric Tammy sent us and I have to say it was gorgeous fabric to use and it is my favourite one.  I really love the colours so thank you for sending such lovely material for us to work with Tammy.

Lots of you have asked where the little dresses were going to and I've promised as soon as Louise put photos up on her blog I would let you know.  This morning  Louise has posted the first set of pictures of little girls wearing some of the dresses over in an orphanage in Malawi so please pop over and check them out.  The joy on the faces of those little girls is what make our efforts all worth while.....so you keep sending me any spare pillow cases/bedding or material and I promise we will keep sewing.
http://sewscrumptious.blogspot.com/2011/08/this-makes-it-all-worthwhile.html 

WOYWW.....

It's been yet another eventful week here for us.  We have......

• Had M in and out of hospital again with contractions.  These little twins seem very keen to make an appearance. [All is ok at the mo thankfully and the twins have hung on in there for another week....just another two or three would be lovely so please keep everything crossed for her].
• Been to my hubby's sister's 60th Birthday and had a really special family time catching up on everyone's news.
• Made another 10 little dresses [so far!] bringing my total now to 60.
• Have had a huge order for curtains and cushions [hence only 10 dresses being made!]
• Spent the biggest part of Funday Monday cutting and sewing that huge mountain of curtains!
• And of course I've cooked, cleaned, knitted,and done all the other jobs that needed to be done

On my desk / ironing board today is.....

.....yes! b****** curtains.  

 

There is a huge door curtain that has had to be made with 3 pieces of fabric that have all had to be pattern matched carefully!  There are also a pair of curtains for a window but that too has had to be made from a width and a half of fabric so again the pattern has had to be matched! All the curtains now have to be hemmed, lined [don't forget the lining has had to be measured and joined too!] and header tape sewn on! There is also 8 x 20" squares of fabric cut out ready to be made into 4 zipped cushion covers to match the curtains........Can you tell just how much I enjoy making curtains?

On Monday afternoon we also managed to cut out another batch of little dresses from some of the gorgeous fabrics we have been given this week.  They are all bagged up ready into little dress packs so these will be the dresses that will be appearing on my blog over the next week or so.  Please pop over to Louise's blog over at Sew Scrumptious and check out the lines full of little dresses she featured this week. :-)

 

This is my rail of little dresses so far this week.  I just love to see the different colours....every one is different.  Yet again I would like to say a huge thank you to all who have supported the great cause so far and have sent us such lovely fabrics to work with....You know who you are  :-)

 

 

 

 

That's about all from me for this week.  As you will guess I will be head down making b***** curtains today but will try to pop in on as many of you wonderful WOYWWers as I can.  Hope you will all leave me a message before you pop over to visit Julia and I hope each and every one of you will have a great week.