Life just ain't fair...

You will all know that the twins had chicken pox a few weeks back.

Well....

They have confused all medical staff by getting the chicken pox twice in a month!!!  Two Drs said it couldn't happen but Shell took them both to see the same Dr that confirmed it last time and he said he had never seen it before but they both have it again......and this time it is much worse.  Sam is covered.....he has them under his eyelid and his nappy area is so covered that you can't get a finger tip between the spots  :-(

Every picture tells a story  :-(

Poor Shell has been up all night with them both....Oh the joys of motherhood eh?

WOYWW....

Another eventful week over here at Sewing by Annie's.  We have had 3 different estate agents in to value the house and today the one we have selected to proceed is coming to take the photos so that it should be board up and on the market by the weekend....wahooooo.  It's so exciting.

 Monday wasn't as much fun as normal cos that big sister of mine was laid up with a head cold and, so as to not pass on the bugs, she stayed at home.  Mondays just aren't the same without her as you can imagine and I really hope she gets better very soon.

Yesterday was my Munchkin fun day so of course there was no sewing or crafting going on here then either....but we certainly had a lot of fun.  They are growing up so very quickly.

So?  What is on my desk today?....the answer is.....

....the start of my LillyBo Quilt number 6.  I needed something to brighten up my Monday so I chose a bag full of bright cheery colours for this next quilt and have already finished the front of it as you can see.  The fabric in the middle of the quilt has little yellow birds and clouds on it so I just might have to make a little bird or maybe even a duck to go with this one.  :-)

I see Jo[zart] has put her latest quilt on the LillyBo quilt blog  this week and it's really gorgeous....go have a peep.

The other thing I am sharing with you today is this gorgeous bunch of daffodils...they really were far too bright and cheery to keep all to myself.....and of course you have to have fresh flowers in the house when you're selling it don't you?....I can see this being my excuse for a while at least  :-)

Fresh baked bread might help too so feel free to help yourself to one of these for your lunch today.  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed your visit this week and will leave me a little hello comment.  I will do my best to pay you a return visit in between sewing jobs ....and of course showing all the people round who want to buy our house....keeping everything crossed here.  :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

LillyBo quilts number 5...

I really didn't know just how addictive this quilt making would become when I joined in the wonderful cause that Jo[zart] set up in Liverpool but I am really enjoying making these little quilts.  Each one is different and they are all made from from the snippets of fabrics and wools that I have in stock [ Oh OK then, yes I have bought a few extra bits :-) ].  Because of the snippets they are made from I am linking each one up with Di's snippets playground blog.

So here you are.  I have made a collage of my number 5 quilt to share with you....

You should be able to click on the image to enlarge it for a closer look if you wanted to.  Jo and I will be making a parcel up and sending our latest makes to Jo[zart] very soon.  If you would like to join in the fun of making little quilts for these very special children then please pop over to the LillyBo Quilt blog that Jo[zart] has set up for more details......and enjoy.

Hugs,

Annie x

This weeks smiles....week 6

There were not so many of you with something happy to share this last week.  I really hope those that had nothing to smile about felt able to follow the links of the ones that joined in because I'm certain they would find lots to smile about there  :-)

Many thanks to those that did joined in the fun.  This week there was one blog that made me chuckle the most and that was the cartoon that sister of mine put on her blog.  I think there will be many of you out there that will relate to this humour.....it even looked a bit like me  :-)  Do pop over to Jo's blog to share the chuckle.

I always have lots to make me smile and this week is no exception...

Thankfully the twinny munchkins are now well recovered from their Chickenpox and here you can see them sharing a slide whilst away for a few days with their Mum and Dad visiting family down in Cornwall.

Lexi is such a funny little poppet at the mo.  She likes to climb onto the stools at ours on a Tuesday...here she is facing the wall reading her book but I promise it wasn't being used as a naughty chair  :-)

Here she is sat on a little wooden stool that her Great Granddad made.  He would have been so thrilled to see her perched on it too.  :-)

Here is a really happy snap of Amy's three little munchkins.  This one makes me smile every time I look at it so I hope it has the same effect on you.

I hope you have enjoyed my happy snaps this week and will take your own pics to link up and join in the fun.  Come on lets make the world a happier place to live.

It's that time of year :-) ....

We live opposite the church in our village and every year I am drawn out of the house by the hint of what is growing in the churchyard.  I just have to take my camera and capture the moment and thought I'd share it with you today.....

Aren't they just gorgeous?  Enjoy  :-)

WOYWW....or maybe WNOYWW?

This has been a very different sort of week for me.  We are planning on downsizing and moving to a bungalow as soon as we can so the last few weeks there has been a lot of sorting, filling of boxes and dumping of rubbish at the local tip....4 [full to capacity] car loads so far!!!  and a good bit of....

.....finding the right colour tins of paint to touch up where needed.  It's all so exciting......the next big adventure in our lives. 

You can imagine what we have to sort through when I say this has been our family home for well over 60 years! [I wasn't alive for all of them I hasten to add :-)  ]

Yesterday we had the first estate agent here to give us a free valuation so on my desk today is....

....absolutely nothing.....not even my 'to do' rail is cluttering up my sewing room this morning!

We have another valuation being done on Saturday morning so I guess I have to keep it tidy too....but I have to work too so we will see.

What I do have to share with you today is my LillyBo quilt number 4 that is now finished and the....

.....little matching bag to put it in.  I still have to make a little something to go in the pocket that I've put inside the bag but I am sharing this on Di's Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground for this week as my quilts are all made from the snippets of fabric I have in my many boxes.

I hope you have enjoyed the little peep into my world for this week.  If you'd like to leave a little hello comment I will do my best to pay you a return visit asap.

Hugs,

Annie x

There are just a few folk that have found something to share and make others smile this week.  It's not too late to join in so snap a happy pic and link it here to join in the fun......or if you have nothing to smile about then please feel free to check out the lovely posts of those that have already linked and I promise you will be smiling afterwards.  :-)

This Week's Smiles...week 5

Another week with wonderfully happy, smiley and funny posts joining in the fun.  Thank you girls.  I love each and every one of the posts and not one of them failed to make me smile.  

This week I am featuring Angela's post over at Toucan Scraps....really because there is nothing quite like the honesty of a child and one thing for certain is Angela deserves what was said about her.  She copes with her Diabetic children on a daily basis and does an amazing job.  So here is a huge pat on the back from me today Angela.

Here are my smiley pics today .....

Here are Amy's three little munchkins sat on the bottom step of my stairs with chocolate in bowls...

[You wouldn't think butter would melt in their mouths let alone chocolate would you?]

.....but as you can see here the chocolate certainly melted in Steve's mouth....and all down his top!

Don't you just love the face of a child covered in chocolate  :-)

The other pics are of the twins being amused by their Aunty Gina.  They made what they called Chicken Pox buns and as you can see they really loved all the...

"mix mix mix"

As you can see Sam was more than happy to look the part too with his chef's hat on.....

......except he kept pulling it down over his eyes and laughing.  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed my smiley pics today and will join in the fun but uploading your own happy pics and linking them below.  Thanks again to all those who join in making the world a happier place to be

A brilliant day of crafting...

As most of you will know yesterday Jo and I attended a crafting day course.  It was organised by one of our friends at her house [Thank you for being a wonderful hostess Jacqui] and there was just 7 of us there plus of course the amazingly talented Maryke who's course it was.  It was an inspirational day on felt book making and I have collaged some of the pictures here to let you see why the first hour was spent with a room full of ladies oooohing and awwwing whilst handling and striking Maryke's amazing books.....Yes girls we were able and actually encouraged to handle these amazing works of art.  :-)

You should be able to enlarge these collages if you click on the pics and I'm certain you will be as wowed as we were.....In the first collage at the top left hand corner is a peep at the starting phase of my book made with the wonderful materials Maryke sells and using some of the techniques we were taught on the day.....I've a long way to go yet as you can see but that's to be expected as Maryke says each of her big books take months of sewing in every spare minute to complete [and I don't have many spare minutes as you will know :-) ]

If you would like to see more of what Maryke does and buy any of her wonderful materials please check out her web site here.

WOYWW...

As most of you will know our little Lexi caught the chicken pox last week and was pretty miserable with it but being the loving, caring , sharing sister she is [and here is the proof]...

....she passed it on to her brother Sam so this week we have two little spotty dotties.

Thank you for all your get well wishes on Friday but can you now please double them up so they will both be fit and well again very soon.  :-)

So what is on my desk today?...

 I found another box with fabric I'd forgotten about [how could I forget about all this yummy fabric?] and of course it is just perfect for making the little LillyBo Quilts with.

So with these 3 boxes full to overflowing already we just had to do a bit of sorting and actually half filled a bin bag with bits just too small to do anything with....yes I'm being firm with myself now cos we are putting the house on the market soon to downsize to a bungalow so I can't save every scrap of fabric......can I?

We then emptied 3 sweety jars of ribbon out onto the table to look for 1" wide pieces to go round the little quilts and even with all this lot we didn't find many pieces suitable to use....I just might have to go shopping  :-)

This ribbon is now all sorted into..

• Christmas ribbon jar
• satin ribbon jar and
• patterned ribbon jar.

Time well spent and thanks for your help Jo.

Some of the fabrics are now sorted into LillyBo quilt project bags so when I've got a spare minute or more I can grab a bag and get making instead of having to search for matching bits.

And here's a sneaky peep to show you that quilt number 4 has already been started  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed a quick look into my world this week.  If you leave me a comment I will do my best to call by later this evening cos today Jo and I and several other friends are off on a girly crafting fun day together.

...wahooooo wahooooo [can you tell how excited I am?].

Hugs,

Annie x

Don't forget to snap a happy pic and link it to this weeks Weekly smiles post here.  Please join in the fun and make the world a happier place to be.

This week's smiles.....week 4

I am so thrilled to see that there are more and more joining in this fun each week and I thank each and every one of you.  It's so good to know that you will all snap something that has made you smile to share with others.

There are too many to do a full roll call this week and I hope you will all pop here to check out all that joined in this week but I will say the one that made me smile the most this week was Jo from JoZart.  She will turn her hand to almost anything for her gorgeous Granddaughters and this week's pics just showed that she is the girl to get hold of when you need ears making!!!!  Do pop over and here to check out what I mean.

My first snap this week to make you smile is of my little water babies...

A family swimming session always causes smiles for these three.

"Yes, Mum, it says high temperature and spots may well be Chickenpox!"

 Little Lexi doesn't have much to smile about this week cos she has Chickenpox but here you can see she is checking out her symptoms with NHS direct......and no doubt Sam will be next and even the three in the top pic will be joining the club cos they were all together at the weekend when she would have been contagious......better out of the way when they are little I know but it's not so nice to see them poorly.....Get well soon my little munchkin.

Now come on lets make this world one of smiles.  Snap away with those cameras and share the things that have made you smile.  Smiles really are contagious and that's one thing we all want to catch.

LillyBo Quilt number three....

Another ta da moment from me today.  I have now finished my third LillyBo Quilt and have been asked to share it on my blog so here goes.....

I really loved choosing the fabrics for this one.  It's rather pink and girly but I love it.

Think the green on the bag has affected the photo but I'm sure you can tell that it matches the quilt and is made up of lots of scraps and snippets of the fabrics I had left over from making the quilt.

For this reason I am linking it over at Pixie's Playground.

In the lining of the bag I have put a pocket and it looks like there is a little friend peeping out wanting to say hello.

I've made a little matching teddy to go with the quilt so I hope the little girl this quilt goes to will love her as much as I loved making her.

I will probably hang onto this quilt til I've two to send together so you may be kept waiting for this one Jo[zart].....of course you can shout if you want it sooner.  :-)

WOYWW....

Happy Wednesday to all my wonderful blogging friends who call in every week and leave me such lovely comments.  I really do appreciate all the encouragement, love and support you leave.

My table is full of yumminess this week....

On one side you can see some of the yummy fabrics and threads I've sorted out ready to go with me on a day of crafting and fun with friends.  We have a day being taught by Maryke from Batiks n Beads.  She makes the most wonderful felt books with embroidery stitches, buttons, beads and other embellishments....I can't wait.  :-)

The other side of my table is covered with yummy fabrics I've bought to use for the little LillyBo quilts that I'm making.  I am really loving filling my spare time creating quilts, bags and little friends to go in the pockets of the bags.

My first two have already arrived with Jo[zart] and will be going to little children needing a bit of extra love very soon.  :-)

My ironing board is draped with LillyBo quilt number three...this one is all pink and girly and I'm really enjoying patching together all the pretty colours.  :-)

I need to pull out my table to pin the quilt layers now so I can stitch them together.  I have already made the front and backs of the bag ready to put it in so need to finish that too.  :-)

Now all I need to do is to decide what little friend will go in the pocket of the bag....that I've yet to make  :-)

[Yes Jo I do plan to make the pocket and stitch it in before putting the bag together....easier that way.  :-) ].

Well folks that's it from me for today.  Before I can play I have a coat to shorten the sleeves on for a customer so will pop over to say hello to you in between my jobs.

Don't forget to link up your smiley posts each week on my Friday post so we can make the world a happier place to live.

Go on...join in the fun.

Don't forget you can add you smiley pics any time during the week ......Here

Share what makes you smile and let's make the world a happier place to be.

Smiles are contagious.

 

LillyBo Quilt number two....

As most of you will know Jo and I are supporting a wonderful cause at the mo that Jozart has set up.  We are making little LillyBo quilts for children that are having treatment in hospital. Each quilt has a bag to keep it in that can double up as a cushion to snuggle up to when needed.  If you would like to support the cause then pop over the the LillyBo quilt blog to check out the details.

I am sharing the second quilt that I have now completed and this will be posted to Jozart with the first one I made this week so that they can be taken to the group that is organising distributing the quilts...CHICKS

The finished quilt...it used up scraps of fabric but I'm thrilled to bits with it.

The finished bag....with a little pocket on the front waiting for a little friend to go in.

I've made a little teddy to go in the pocket....Isn't he cute?

Here we are all put together waiting to be sent to Jozart.

I hope you like it....I do.  :-)

HmmmmmI wonder what number three will look like?



I've joined in the fun over at Pixie's playground with this quilt  because it's made of lots of snippets  :-)

This week's smiles....week 3

What fab pics you shared with us this week....

• Twiglet shared her fishy tail....and yes it was her modelling it for us!!
• Maggie shared a wonderful snowy creation.
• Jozart made me giggle with her fab pics of blogging friends having fun.
• BumbleVee shared some of her pics of some donkeys...what characters they are.
• Caro shared some pics of her son having fun in the snow [thankfully it's all gone from here now  :-)
• Shaxsilverwolf shared a pic of a cheeky little squirrel
• The comment I have for Julia's post is...you either love it or hate it and ......I love it  :-)

I have to say I had a good giggle at all of those but my favourite this week just has to be the expression on the face of the chicken that Gill from stamping lemons put on her blog....talk about stealing the limelight!!!!  Do grab a minute to pop over cos I just know you will come away giggling.

So what have I got to make you smile this week?

Here is a snap of the twins just home from their first session at a local twin group.....they made their mummy so proud of them whilst there and came home very proudly clutching their new book bags and books  :-)

I just love this snap.....I well remember the fun I had at bath times when my 3 were little and there is just pleasure written all over the faces of this cheeky pair in this pic.

The last two pics are from this weeks Twinnie sleep over with Nanny and Granddad.

Bedtime story with Granddad.....happy memories in the making.

Two happy little munchkins enjoying their milk at the end of a fun filled happy day.
Lexi lay here drinking her milk and playing with Sam's right ear [he loved it].  They are so close as siblings and have so many wonderful giggly times together.





I hope you have enjoyed my pics today and will join in the fun by sharing your pics this week.  Please link them below so we can make the world a happier place.