WOYWW....

 

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Happy 15th Anniversary to you all.  I made a box full of ATCs for the crop but thought Is should make this one special ATC to celebrate our 15 years together so this will be going to the one after my name on the list.  What special friendships we all have made thanks to Julia's wonderful idea all those years back....and I thank you with all my heart Julia for the effort you put in each and every week my friend.  I can't wait for the crop on Saturday.

I was poorly last week so wasn't up to joining in the Wednesday fun but am thankfully much better now and wouldn't miss this week of celebrations for the world.  I have had a busy week with sewing this week.....

• I've shortened two long dresses
• Shortened several pair of trousers/jeans
• Shortened a dress etc etc

My desk today has all the things I've been getting ready for Saturday's crop....

I've filled two little fabric boxes with Celebrations ready for the raffle on Saturday....they are now wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon :-)

I've made a badge to wear so everyone knows who I am....not that I think anyone will be in doubt :-)

Julia asked us to make/wear one and who would argue with the boss? :-)

I've hunted out some random patchwork that I am embroidering on to bring with me to do while I'm there ....I can't imagine I will get much done but I do like to look willing :-)

[too much talking, laughing, drinking coffee and eating cake] 

That just leaves me to say Happy 15th Anniversary to you all and I hope to see at least some of you in Stoke on Saturday.  Thanks for all the love, care and friendship over the years and here's to the next 15 :-) :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW 14th Anniversary

 

Happy Anniversary to you all and a huge thankyou to our Queen of the blogs, Julia for keeping up the group for so long....we have so much to thank you for.

We went on an adventure to South Wales last weekend to deliver our Anniversary ATCs to Jan [of course that wasn't the only reason]. It had been far too long since we had seen her, her gorgeous hubby and youngest son Rhys so, as you can imagine, there was much to catch up on and there certainly were no awkward silences....thanks Jan for making us feel so welcome [including little Milly who is still recovering :-) ].

Being away for a long weekend means I worked yesterday to play catchup with all my sewing jobs and this is the latest very special little bear I have made....it's made from a Grandad's white t shirt and a Grandma's blue stripey blouse [or what was left of it as it had been loved to death and was very frayed].

Well, that's all from me for this week. Sending out lots of love to all our group and hoping we can keep it going many more years.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...The 12th anniversary.

 Happy anniversary to one and all.  Twelve years of fun and friendship really is something to celebrate. I've been making ATCs ready to swap so if you've said you'd like to swap with Jo and I [we are posting ours together so please return ours in the same envelope to either one of us to save on postage] and please be sure to check that we have your postage details.

I've had a really busy week with making Memories for my customers so I'm just going to quickly post them here for you to see...

These were the very emotionally charged pair of bears I was making last Wednesday.  They were made from a mum's wedding dress in memory of her baby girl who was born sleeping.  One is to go in the coffin with her baby girl when she is buried and the other is to keep as a memory of the perfect little angel they lost.

I do get asked to make some really special bears.

These 4 were made from a much loved Dad's dressing gown.  Two are wearing his bow ties and the other two are wearing miniature versions of his favourite scarf.

This one was made in memory of a husband made with his favourite West Bromwich Albion shirt.

These two pretty little bears are made in memory of a Mum and Grandma using her favourite nighties.

I really love how each little bear I make is so different to the next and yet they mean so much to each and every one of my customers and bring them all a lot of comfort....I'm blessed.

Finally I would like to say a huge thank you for all the love and support from you all over the last 12 years and of course the biggest hug is for Julia for keeping us all going all this time.  You're a gem....we love you lots.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

 Happy 600th WOYWW to one and all.  It's really something to celebrate isn't it?  Julia has a lot to answer for and we have so much to thank her for.  It's brought so many like minded folk together and so many friendships have been formed because of it all......Well done Julia....we love you lots.

I am hoping to be able to link up on zoom for our virtual crop on Saturday so in readiness I have made my badge as requested by the Queen of Crop....

I guess you will all know who I am now :-)

I've had a busy week making special memories for my customers...

5 Memory bears and one Memory Elephant.  All have gone off to their new homes now so will be either bringing comfort to some or being wrapped up ready for Christmas.

I have also made a Christmas bear to go as a Christmas gift to the lucky winner over on my Sewing by Annie Facebook page...so if you would like to be in with a chance to win him click on the link and pop over to get your name in the draw.

What's on my desk today is...

The 3 shirts on the right are to make 2 more bears and another elephant for the customer that had the other 3 bears and elephant last week...she loved them so much that she's ordered more for other family members.

On the left of those is two more packs of blank cards because although I had made 60 I still needed more!!....oh happy days :-)

Well folks...I hope you all celebrate today and I am hoping to see you at the crop on Saturday....I will be the one wearing the badge above :-)

Stay well and happy and many many thanks for all that leave me such lovely comments each week....I really value your friendship.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 372

Hello all.  I normally write my Friday post during Thursday in the day but it's been so hectic this week that I didn't realise it was time to write it until I was on my way to bed so this is going to be a quick post from me for this week.  There has been lots to smile about but I have very few photos as evidence.

For those that didn't see my new look on Wednesday here is my lockdown hair style...yes it's purple and that's the WOYWW mask I made for the 11th year celebrations this week.

The twins have been snorkling in their pool in their garden and this photo made me smile.

And finally these are the treasures from our garden for this week....and that's got to make you smile.

Sorry it's so rushed this week...the matchsticks wont hold my eyes open much longer.

Please leave me a little comment and then link up to your smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....10th Anniversary

Wahoo wahoo wahoo.  Today we are celebrating 10 years of fun and friendship with thanks to a wonderful idea our group leader Julia had all those years ago.  I'm sure when she first uploaded pics of her desk all those years ago she never imagined it would still be going strong all this time later.  So many of us have now met up in person and so many wonderful friendships have been formed because of our Wednesday fun.....So a huge thank you to Julia for linking us up every week [and thank you to Jan for holding the fort when Julia needed a few weeks off to recover from her surgery].

I have made some ATCs if anyone, who isn't coming to the crop on 1st June, would like one but so far only Angela has asked to swap.  It's not too late though so just email me at wipso2310@gmail.com and I will pop one in the post for you....of course I will be sending one to my pass it forward friend as well.

Ive a quick couple of pics to share with you today....

My week started off by making another School Memory bear for yet another local school that I'd not made one for before....so possibly there will be friends who will order one now too :-)

Then this little lot arrived on my desk.  It was all the washed pet blankets brought to me by one of my customers who had very suddenly, without warning lost her dog.  She'd was a good age but hadn't been poorly so it was quite a shock to them that they found her dead when they gpt up one morning so they asked me if I could make a Memory dog out of her blankets....oh and a little key ring using one of them too.

Some of the furry blankets were quite thick so not the easiest to use but, you know me, I love a challenge and my customer was thrilled to bits with the finished result.  Cute isn't it?

The blanket my customer wanted using for the little keyring was one of the thicker fleeces so to make it so tiny was a real challenge....but even that worked out well and my customer commented on just how thoughtful I was to use tiny heart buttons for the eyes....I guess you have to be a dog lover to understand the loss of a much loved fur baby.

Well folks that all from me for today.  That just leave me to say a big thank you to you all for calling in each week and for your love and friendship over the last 10 years.....hope to see a lot of you at the crop very soon.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Happy 9th Anniversary to you all.  What a wonderful thing this is that Julia started all those years ago.  I know she doesn't like thanks but I'm sure we all would thank her for her efforts keeping us linked up each week [and Jan too for when she needs to step in and help out].  

My desk today has a pile of spare fabric I begged from my big sister so I can make a few more charity bags for Margaret in my spare time....yes I do get a bit now and then.

These 5 pieces will do the job nicely and I have plenty of pieces I can use to line them with to make the bags all different.

My other shares are this little Memory dog which was the 100th Memory bear/dog/rabbit I've made since I designed the pattern on 3rd August 2016 so that's in less than 2 years.....quite and achievement wouldn't you say?

If you'd all like to pop over to my Facebook page you will see he is also there to celebrate the numbers of my followers now reaching over 700 and why not get your name in the Gift Draw over there.....it would be so lovely if one of you won.

The other special thing I've made this week is this little Shrewsbury Town rabbit.  He's made from old Shrewsbury Town shirts and is to celebrate our local team heading off to Wembley on Sunday for the playoffs.  I hope he brings them luck and they win the game....our men will be there to cheer them on and Jo and I will be having a bit of quality time together but of course will be watching the game on the telly.

That's all from me for this week.  We have posted our swap ATCs and my PIF ATC will be going in the post later today so there will be lots of happy mail flying around the world in the next week or so.....what a lovely way to celebrate special friendships.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Hello all.  The days are creeping ever closer to our 9th anniversary swap of ATCs [just two weeks to go now] and as ever that much older sister of mine and myself will be sending our ATCs out together so if your wanting to swap with us feel free to send ours to either me or to Jo...save on the postage cos we are more then happy to get together over a coffee and share them out....it's a good excuse [not that we need one of course].

My list so far is...

1. Julia [the boss]
2. Jan [second in command]
3. Jo [big sister]
4. Neet Hickson
5. Shaz Brooks
6. Sarah Brennan
7. Angela Radford
8. Cindy Ashplant
9. Sylvia Hildman
10. Christine Brown
11. Elizabeth Worthington
12. Nikki Carpenter  
13. Margaret Wright
14. Helen Lindfield

If, in all that's been going on here, I've forgotten to add you to my list and you'd like to swap with us then please email me with your postage details....to wipso2310@gmail.com

Onto my desk for today....

I've had lots of trousers to shorten this week amongst other jobs and in between all that I have been making another quilt ordered for a special little girl called Chloe [fabrics and colours chosen by my customer].....her mummy said she really loves it and little Chloe will treasure it for ever so I'm really chuffed.

On top of that I have had orders for more Memory bears so looks like I'm going to be kept out of mischief for another week or so.

Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

My first thoughts today are with the affected people following the attack at Manchester arena....it all felt a little too close for comfort for us as our daughter had been there at a Take That concert Friday night.  I hope the families and friends of those affected gain the strength to get through the very difficult days ahead.

It has all been very sad to watch the developments but we must not let these people win so today we must celebrate our 8th year anniversary regardless.....8 years of friendship from all over the world really is something to celebrate....there are a lot of really lovely people out there.  Many many thanks to Julia who came up with this mad idea and who keeps us linked together every week.

Jo and I will be posting our celebration ATCs today together with our PIF ones so if you asked to swap with us then watch out for that postman.

On my desk today are a few projects I've been making this week....

This is the latest little Memory Bear I have made plus I've made two Memory Cushions but I am unable to share photos of those with you yet as they are for gifts and have special details on the fronts.

I had been looking through all my children's fabrics this week and decided to use some of the smaller pieces to make a little activity cube for Theo to play with and here's the result taken from several views.  I'm sure he will love playing with it and as this week he has started crawling it might keep him in one place for a little while as he plays with it.

I put pictures of Theo's activity cube in my Facebook shop and had a lot of interest in it so yesterday I set to and made a couple more but ommitted attaching buttons etc to these so they are safe to sell.  I'm rather pleased with how they have turned out.

I have a busy time ahead of me with lots more sewing work arriving today but promise I will do my best to get round as many as I can this week.  If I miss you out then it may be that I am unable to leave you a comment [google+ doesn't let me comment without joining].  Many thanks to everyone who calls in each week leaving such lovely comments.  Lets hope we are still linking up on a Wednesday for many years to come.

Hugs,

Annie x

My ATC list for the WOYWW anniversary swap....

As promised here is the list of people who have added their names to swap ATCs with me for the WOYWW anniversary swap.  Last year I had several who asked several times if their name was down to swap so I thought it would be easier if I added the names as I get emails with details of people wanting to swap....

1. Julia Budd
2. Jan Appleton
3. Jill Bersey 
4. Bridget Yee Larsen
5. Lynn Holland
6. Lisca Meijer
7. Jo Betts
8. Angela Radford 
9. Denise Bryant 
10. Laura Rumble 
11. Nikki Carpenter  
12. Sylvia Hildman
13. Anita Hickson
14. Sandra De Marchi
15. Shaz Brooks
16. Sharon Koole
17. Lisa Davolt
18. Debbie Rock
19. Helen Lindfield 
20. Elizabeth Worthington
21. Sam McDonald-Elliot

If you name is on this list it means I have an ATC here with your name and address on it waiting to be posted nearer the anniversary date....oooooooh it's always so lovely to swap and send a little love to my Wednesday blogging friends all round the world. Just email me your details if you'd like to swap to wipso@toucansurf.com.

Hugs,

Annie x