Friday's smile....

I hope this post makes you smile as much as it did me....

My eldest granddaughter [age 3] and her little sister [age 2 years in just a few days] have been very busy crafting.....It's in their genes :-) :-)   They like the little craft kits that you can get from most shops these days and their Mummy likes to send me pics of what they have been up to.

 

Painting and printing

Working on a masterpiece on their easel while little brother Steve looks on.....do you think he is their art critic?

Some Easter cards they have made.

Wooden spoon fairies in the making.

Amy never fails to amaze me because she often bakes with the girls too during the day and while she is doing that she is also caring for little Steve, cooking, cleaning and running the office side of their Banner business - taking orders, sending bills and even sometimes doing the artwork too etc etc ......I wonder where she gets her ability to 'plate spin' from?  :-) :-) :-)

I hope you have enjoyed my little show and tell today and it has made you smile too.  Hope you have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....and a quick hello from the Munchkins

Today is another day of special Nanny Annie time with the twins for me so this is all set up to post on auto...fingers crossed it works.  I will aim to drop in to see what you've been up to during their nap times.

Hello to all our on line aunties from the Munchkins

I am doing a quick 'show and tell' of the crafty things I have been up to this week for you to see...

Here are two of the high chair pads I made over the weekend for the twins.  They are such tiny tots that they need a little pad under them and one at their backs to help them fill the high chairs.  I designed and made 4 so they had some here with us and 2 for at home...apparently they work a treat so they will be trying mine out later  :-)

[sorry about the poor lighting in the pic].

This is Sam's little waistcoat that I've been knitting for what seems like ages but finally finished over the weekend.

I want to add this quick snap of our Magnolia that greets all my customers as they come to the door.  It's really beautiful at the mo and I just wish this was smelly vision cos the scent it is giving off is amazing. It's not a huge bush but was grown by my Dad so it's very special to me....he died April 5th 1989 so he is very much in my thoughts at the mo.

What a difference a couple of days makes.  If you check out my last post you will see how the flowering cherry blooms have all opened out in the gorgeous sunshine we have had since the weekend.....I love it  :-)

It's Parmesan and sun dried tomato rolls today if you fancy one for your lunch....please help yourselves before you shoot over to visit Julia, our organiser and Queen of Wednesdays..  :-)







Edit....Postman has just delivered our badges....thanks so much Julia.  We will wear them with pride.  :-) :-) :-) :-) 

A busy weekend and time in the garden..

What a gorgeous weekend it's been.  We seem to have fitted so much into our two days off...

• Shopping...supermarket and even popped into town to have a browse
• Rounding up of an escaped herd of sheep in our neighbours garden....at least 6 mum's each with a set of twin lambs....mayhem!!
• Care home visiting...our dear old friend B hasn't been too well
• Finished knitting Sam's waistcoat and started knitting a cream hooded jacket for a friend's expected first Grandbaby.
• Dropped in to see M,B and the twins to deliver Sam's waistcoat and their new high chair pads.....they are so tiny that they needed a 1" foam pad under them and at their backs so who better to design and make them some [of course I had to make 4 so they could have some here and some at home  :-)  ]
• Time in the garden to mow lawns, rotavate veg garden to get it ready for planting and just generally sit and enjoy the sunshine and the birds.  We could hear Chiff chaffs and sat watching 3 Buzzards and a Red Kite soaring overhead to name but a few.

So here are a few snaps of it all.....

Beautiful cultivated primroses now in full bloom

 

Wild primroses down on our 'back to nature' bit at the bottom of our garden and our gorgeous flowering cherry coming out into bloom with a stunning blue sky behind it.

The gardener at work!  That's my darling hubby tilling the soil [you didn't seriously think I'd been rotavating did you? :-)  ]. He's waited til the garden was in the shade of the trees cos the sun was really hot yesterday afternoon.  What a fab spell of weather we are having.

Friday's smile...

I was asked to share a few snaps of the special day I had this Wednesday.  For those that don't know, my eldest daughter has started her phased back to work days and I shall be sharing the care of her gorgeous twins on the days when she works with their other grandparents.  My days will start early at about 7 am and finish around 5.30 pm and I will be shutting up Sewing by Annie for the days they are here [the sewing can wait and these gorgeous babes will be all grown up before we know it...I don't plan to miss a moment of it   :-)].  

They like to take turns with the toys and equipment and smile and chuckle all day.  I've never known two more contented babies.  They are really easy to care for and I feel so blessed to be part of their care team......Thanks M and B for trusting your most precious belongings with me.

They love to stand so we have just bought a baby walker to keep here for them and as you can see Sam loves it.  We have done our best to equip our house with all the things they need cos you can imagine what it's like to pack everything they need to spend a day somewhere with two babies. 

[Two babies, two car seats, bag of changes of clothes, a days worth of sterilised bottles etc etc....believe me it's like moving house  :-) ]

'Independance rules ok'.  When you have two babies needing feeding you have to find ways round it.  They both hold their own bottles now and just need a little help if their bottles slip.

It was a beautiful afternoon so we even managed a walk....I'm such a proud Nanny and of course was desperate to show them off to the world.  As you can see the fresh air was just too much for them and for the third time during my day I managed to get them both to nap at the same time....it appears Nanny Annie hasn't lost her knack  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed my little show and tell and that they have managed to make you smile like they do me.  Thanks for calling by.  The weather is supposed to be sunny this weekend so lets hope we can all enjoy a couple of chill out days.  Keep smiling.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Another fab week with lots of wonderful family times for me and today I will be AWOL from leaving comments because I have two special little friends arriving here at 7 this morning and staying til about 6 tonight.  Michelle is having phased days back to work before she starts back part time in June and today is a day with Nanny Annie for the twins.  If I haven't lost the knack then I might get them both down for naps at the same time and manage to drop in on a few of you but if my plan goes feet up then I will try to call in on you tomorrow......no apologies made cos I shall be treasuring every moment of today  :-)  :-)  :-)

So what pics have I got to share with you today?

The wonderful parcel of fabric that Di sent Jo and I this week for making more little dresses for the Dress a girl scheme.  We are having a little break from dress making as most of you will know because between us we have now made 401 dresses but we promise this fabric will be used to make more when we have time....Thanks Di x

A 'to do' rail full of trousers to shorten.

This is what I had Jo doing while she was here Monday....Grovelling at my feet!!!!....just where I like her  :-)

She is cutting the linings for the next double width pair of curtains we have to tackle.  I couldn't do curtains without her as I am unable to kneel on the floor with my replacement knee and we make a brilliant team....Thanks Jo you're a gem. x

Said curtains that just need finishing.  I'm sure they will look lovely when finished but as you can see they have a quilted effect with stitching and don't lie nice and flat for hems and seams so are a real pain for making.  :-( .....I hate b***** curtains. [have I ever said that before?]

These two pics are just to share with you the beautiful Azalea and bouquet of flowers that I was given over the weekend for Mother's day.....they are far too pretty to keep them all to myself.  I was treated to lunch on Saturday buy my son, Mark and his girlfriend, Gina....we were joined by her parents, her brother and Nan and Michelle, Brent and the twins.  What a special gathering of lovely people....Thanks so much. x

Sunday we were invited to Michelle and Brent's for lunch.  Michelle did savouries and Amy joined us with her three and she brought cakes and sweets.  They make a fab team and it meant I could have quality time with all 5 of our gorgeous Grandchildren ......what more could a Mummy ask for?  :-)

Thank you so much to all for making my weekend really special.

Now folks, please leave me a little hello comment before you pop over to Julia's blog to join in the WOYWW fun.  I hope you all have a wonderfully creative week.

Hugs,

Annie x

Friday's smile....

You may have seen that on Wednesday I had to turn out one of my cupboards to search out the pattern I designed to make my Wedding bears from.  I eventually found it in the last place I looked [of course] and have made the specially requested pair with their blue flowers.  Several of you have asked to see the finished results so here they are...

I hope you like them.  As you can see they are designed to be given as a good luck gift to the happy couple and come with one of my little poems. 

 I have also finished the latest trio of little dolls I was making.  When I was a childminder it was stressed to us that we should have dolls of different coloured skin tones for our children to play with for obvious reasons and I guess the importance of this has stuck with me.  These will be joining the others for sale in the blog shop as soon as I can get them uploaded.

I've just updated the dolly shelf over in the shop and these are now the dolls waiting to find homes.  :-)

Thanks for calling by and leaving me such lovely comments.  I hope you have some quality free time over the weekend to be creative and that my latest creations have made you smile. 

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

A little update from me to show you what I've been up to this week....

I've finished beading Michelle's Wedding veil ...and she is thrilled with the results. About 320 beads later!  :-) :-)  Sorry if you can't see it in detail.

I've got the latest 3 little coffee coloured dolls to this stage and cut out their dresses and pants out ready to sew.

Two special little people tried on their new cover ups that Great Auntie Jo made for them and then.....

Got them messy  :-)  :-) yum yum

Spent a fab day with Michelle making her wedding favour boxes and two special little people watched and played happily along side us.

 Since then I have had an order for a special pair of my Wedding bears and as it's been years since I have made some I had to search for the pattern that I designed to make them with.....Yes, this was one of those very rare occasions when I couldn't put my hand on what I needed!!  

The result was one empty cupboard, one very full to over flowing table [did all that really fit in one cupboard????], a bin bag full of rubbish and still no b***** pattern!!

 

 What I did find though was lots of stash that I had forgotten I had and stacks of magazines that I no longer need.  Has anyone any suggestions as to what I should do with all these?  The stack on the left is just paper craft magazines!....and as you know I am not really a paper crafter [no time or inclination to do it now].  I don't really want to post them to anyone [unless of course someone wants to pay the postage] but if anyone has ideas as to what I can do with them please let me know.

Well folks, that's about it from me for this week.  I have now found my little bear pattern....in the last place I looked of course!  and I now have to put all my stash back in my cupboard so I can tackle my sewing mountain for today.  Thank you for calling by and leaving me your lovely comments.  Hope you all have a happy, healthy week and can find some spare time to be creative.

Hugs,

Annie x

Friday's smile...

My snaps this week to make you smile are based on 'Mummy's little helpers' or is it slave labour?  :-)  I can well remember similar snaps taken while my family were growing up so obviously slave labour is hereditary  :-)

How to keep a little family busy...

Sorting the washing and putting it in the washing machine.

How to get the banister rails dusted.  :-)

Phoebe even likes to run the office.....Here she is sat at her 'computer' talking to her Daddy on her phone and saying..

'Hello, Big Value Banners.  How may I help you? Oh hello Daddy.  Yes, the children are fine, thank you.  They are playing nicely'

Do you think she has been listening to Mummy?  :-)


I well remember one particular school holiday when their mummy insisted on doing all the family's ironing to help....Need I say it didn't last!  :-) :-) :-)





I hope my few snaps made you smile today and maybe brought a few happy memories back for you too.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW....

Good morning to one and all.

Another week and another Wednesday and lots more creative spaces exposed for the world to snoop round so do pop over to Julia's when you've left me a little comment and join in the fun.

Last week was manic here and thankfully this week is a little more organised but it does include.....wait for it.....curtains for me [and you all know what I think of curtains don't you!]......my arms ache and Jo and I have had to work as a team [be it a very good one] to do these cos they are double width with a large repeat of pattern to match so 2 pair of arms have been needed at times.

I managed to clear the sewing mountain last week with a 'head down and keep sewing' few days but as one lot gets cleared the next lot arrives and every week I have many new customers finding their way to my door.....I'm now up to 1151 customers!  You really wouldn't think I would have so many customers living in such a rural village but I guess not many people can sew these days.....I even get asked to sew buttons on!

So here are a couple of snaps of my room for you this week...

Said curtains overflowing my ironing board.

I thought some of you might like to see where I work.  Here you can see my overlocker on the right, my industrial machine in the middle and my computerised machine on the left.  I love sitting here to sew because this is a south facing window so it gets all the sunshine through the day and I can see all the comings and goings when I'm not head down sewing.

This is a swing to the left picture of my work station in the arch of the old fireplace.  As you can see it does become a bit of a dumping ground at the back and underneath but this is my blind hemmer on the top [that's the machine that puts that magic stitch in hems that little boys sit pulling a loose thread in school assembly and undo their hems!....happy memories eh?].  Under wraps on the floor is my dumfing machine [note to self...need to find some free time to have a play!].

This is what you get when you let your 'much older' sister loose on your cutting out scissors  :-)

She was only cutting the curtains for me at the end of the day! 

....I can't imagine why they make scissors with a plastic hinge screw but they are going back to where I bought them from.

These are two gorgeous little cover ups for the twins that Jo made for me on Funday Monday so, of course, she is forgiven for breaking my scissors  :-)

Aren't they pretty?

Well folks, that's it from me for today.  I shall be head down making curtains today....groannnnnnnn

I really do hope you all have something fun and creative to fill your day and hopefully the curtains will be soon done and I can move on to more fun things too.  :-)

Thanks for dropping in on me and leaving me such lovely comments.

Hugs,

Annie x

Our Celebration weekend....

I just wanted to add a few pics to my blog to record the weekend of my Darling Hubby's birthday.  We always try to get all the family together to celebrate but alas this time our son Mark and his girlfriend were away on holiday skiing and Amy's husband Dave was away for another birthday celebration with his mates so couldn't join us but here is the rest of our happy family.....

This is how you get 5 little people around a table for a party  :-)  Having so many little ones  never stops us going out and they were all really well behaved.  A fun time was had by all and Granddad really loved his chocolate Hugo Hedgehog cake  :-)

Phoebe and Louise will be the two other little flower girls at Michelle's wedding in July so had to try on their dresses for fit at the weekend.

Don't they look fab in their dresses?

I just had to include this fab pic Amy sent us as a Thank you from the children for such a lovely party tea.....Aren't they just gorgeous?....I know, I know....I am a little biased  :-)

Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee.....

Please prove you are not a robot

You've seen those around ~ unless you never leave comments. You probably have them on YOUR blog and lots of you don't even know it! Do us ALL a favour and turn them off!

They really are very difficult to read and I love leaving you comments.



Here is a very good post about this topic with great instructions on how to change your settings.

Friday's smile....

I do my best to find you a pic or two to make you smile on a Friday and this week I have one of a special little girl who would like to show all her 'blog Aunties' her posh frock....

This is little Lexi's flower girl dress for her Mummy's wedding in July.  There is plenty of room for growth but doesn't she look a poppet?

Now all Michelle is worried about is will Lexi upstage her on the big day?  :-) :-)

Here is my first daffodil to come into bloom so spring must be on it's way surely?

The buds are opening on the willow tree in the back garden.

There are even some of the polyanthus coming into bloom too.







I hope my snaps have made you smile and you will all have a great weekend.  We will, cos its my darling hubby's birthday tomorrow and there will be special family times to share.
Hugs,
Annie x