This week's smiles.....week 33

Happy Friday to you all.  

What a fab week it's been here at Sewing by Annie's  

If you don't know why I am saying this please scroll down to read my last post.....all I will say is friendship is worth everything.....and I still have the feel good factor from having such a fab day on Wednesday.  Life should be filled with special days like that.

This week I am featuring Elizabeth's post with her cute little kitty pic.  I loved the pic but really why I am featuring her post is because she had fallen down the stairs earlier in the week while rushing to deal with a fire that someone had set alight in her garden.  A lot of damage was done but neighbours had all come to her aid thankfully.  Even at such a traumatic time Elizabeth had made the effort to join in making others smile with her blog so I want to say a huge thank you for making such an effort and I really hope your bruises have settled down now.

I was hoping to upload a video this week to share with you but having spent the last 3/4 hour trying and fighting with blogger I have given up.  I will say though that is was one to prepare me for Monday with my first day back with the twins after their 6 week holiday with Mummy.  The twins can now climb in/out of their cots and Shell had managed to catch it on video!!  I have a feeling my little munchkins have changed a lot during the last 6 weeks and are going to come with many new challenges for their Nanny Annie  :-)

So I am sharing this pic of Nurse Shell administering treatment to two little munchkins and enjoying their special time together during the school holidays.

I have so many happy memories of playing the same games with our three when they were little and really hope this pic makes you smile as much as it did me.

Please post your happy pics on your blog and link them up here any time before next Friday so we can share a few smiles and make the world a happier place.
Hugs,
Annie x

What happened on our WOYWW :-)

As most of you guessed yesterday my big sister Jo and I were taken on an adventure yesterday by my darling hubby.  He took the day off work to take us to see Jozart at Abakhan in Liverpool.  He put the post code into the sat nav and drove us right up to the door to drop us off :-)

We went armed with many bags full of goodies to surprise Jozart with and what a surprise it was.  :-)

She knew we were planning to get to see her at some point if we could but had no idea when.  When we arrived we sussed out the floor she was doing her LillyBo quilt making demo on and snook in to find her.  As we arrived she was showing her patchwork samples and chatting to a customer so we lurked behind the fabric shelves til she had finished....it seemed like hours cos we were both feeling pretty excited at finding her.

Eventually we made ourselves known and what a greeting we got....think she was just as excited as us.  We all said that we felt we had known each other for a life time and I promise you we weren't disappointed....Jozart is just as lovely as we imagined.

Here she is sat at her demo area surrounded by her quilted items.  She had displayed some of the LillyBo quilts and it was so lovely to see one each of mine and Jo's and many others that we had previously only seen on the LillyBo blog.  She had also made several smaller quilted items she had made to give people an insight into quilting.

What a fab demo she did and passed on several brilliant tips to us.

She had gone prepared with two gorgeous quilted hearts to give Jo and I as gifts just in case we turned up.....aren't they stunning?

We both love them Jo so thank you so much for all the time and love you put into making them for us.

As you can imagine a lot of chatting, laughing and fun went on throughout the day and am certain we all felt it came to an end far too quickly.

We have been on line friends for several years but there really is nothing quite meeting in real life so I do hope we will meet up again before too long.

From left to right....Jo, Jozart and me

 

There were two whole floors full of shelves covered with fabric, lace, ribbons, beads, buttons, threads etc etc etc so you can imagine we were like kids in a sweet shop.  :-)  You wouldn't expect us to go to such a well stocked fabric shop without buying a few bits [ would you???] but that wasn't the main focus of my day  :-)  Friendship is priceless.  :-)

Huge thanks must go to my darling hubby for making it a very special day for us all....love you to bits xxxx

WOYWW....

Good morning fellow WOYWWers.  So much happens between our Wednesday visits.  There is always something going on here  :-)

My pics to share today are.....

This is my  latest finished LillyBo quilt...Number 9

Do pop over here to find out more and hopefully you will make a quilt to join in the fun for this well worth while cause.

It has little zoo animals on the printed fabric so I have made a........

....little stripey Zebra sock puppet to go in the pocket of the bag [that I've yet to make!].  We are hoping to take our latest quilts up to Liverpool to meet Jo[zart] in person while she is in the Abakhan store doing her quilt making demo.  I'm so excited at the thought cos I've spoken to Jo many times on the phone and we have shared years of emails and blogging but as yet never actually met in real life.

The other fun thing I've been working on lately is my "Nanny Annie's Fun Book".  I have plans to make several activity pages for my little Grandees to play with and this is the first one well on it's way to being finished.  I found the idea over at Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows and have lots of different pages in the planning.  I will be including all sorts of fastenings and covering topics like colours, shapes, numbers etc.  I will make at least 5 pages before I let them loose on the little ones so there's no falling out

....well that's the idea  :-) :-) :-)

The other quich pic I'm sharing today is one of a little visitor pinching my bird food.  Cheeky little monkey sat there for ages and didn't mind me getting up close to snap him through the window....in fact I think he even smiled!!!

Thanks for calling by today and leaving me such lovely comments....I will be doing my return visits later today as I have a busy day planned.....more about that another time ;-)

Hugs,

Annie xxx

T for Tuesday....

Hi all.  This will probably be the last time I will be able to join in with the T for Tuesday link up as this is the last Tuesday in the school holidays.  Next week I will be up bright and early to spend my day with my little twinnie munchkins so there really wont be a spare minute to be spent on the computer.  They have altered lots in the last 6 weeks so it will be interesting to see just how my day will be spent....one thing for sure is I will sleep well at night  :-)

So here is my T for Tuesday snap today....

 'Can you see what it is yet?'

I've taken my breakfast through into my sewing room today so you can see what I was up to yesterday.  I've been playing with fabric....it's what I do!  I've been looking for crafty ideas to make to amuse my grandchildren and have decided to make a "Nanny Annie's Fun Book".  The plan is to make several pages that will all go together into a file but can be taken out to be played with.

I have lots of ideas in my head and found this idea over at Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows.  If you'd like to see more then please pop back tomorrow.  I shall be making extra pages as and when I get some creative play time and have ones planned to use zips, poppers, velcro, buttons and buttonholes to teach shapes, colours, numbers etc etc etc  I have a feeling I'd best make 5 pages before I let them loose on the little ones so they each have a page to play with  :-) :-)

As they say.......Watch this space.  :-)

Thanks for popping by and leaving such lovely comments.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles......week 32

I've had a fab week and hope you have too.

• I'm back refreshed after a week away on holiday with my darling hubby
• Wonderful happy family times have been spent with my grandchildren
• I had special quality time with my daughter-in-law to be making wedding stationery and planning ahead for their special day
• I've had sewing challenges and acheived good results

My list could go on and the happy times way outweigh the not so happy....although like everyone else there are always a few of those in my week.

This week I am featuring the post Elizabeth linked to share with us .  I think this could teach us a lot in that we really don't have to go far or spend a lot to have a fun time and I think I would have fitted in very nicely in a Nut house  :-)  ....maybe we should all have a go?

My smiley pics this week are....

Have a feeling Sam is wondering how he is going to weigh down his side of the seesaw with his two cousins on the other end.  :-)

"No mummy I really wont be touching Nanny's bees!"

Just how many stickers can you fit on the faces of twins?










I hope you are smiling now....I know I am  :-)
Thanks for popping over to share my smiles.  Please snap something that's made you smile and link it up below to make the world a happier face.
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW....

Good morning to all my blogging friends.  Last week was rather hectic for me as many of you will already know.  We had headed down to a gorgeous B and B near Trowbridge for the week and while we were down there my darling hubby and I met up with some very special friends.

You will have seen  this pic on the other blogs but it is such a happy pic I just have to share it too.  I'm the beached whale on the left [the weight is going!!!!], next is the love of my life, then Jan, Di and last but by no means least Julia of course.  I feel like I've known them for ever and it was really special to meet them all for real....Thank you girls for making me feel so very welcome.

Di came with a bag full of goodies.  Just look at the gorgeous candle and magnetic book mark with my fav poppies on and she gave me two advent calendars to make for my grandchildren.    Thanks so much Di.  You really are a gem.

When we got back from our hols this gorgeous parcel full of goodies was waiting for me all the way from Egypt.  I won it over at Roudi's blog and will have lots of fun playing with it....I have already put some of the ribbon to good use in the photo below.  Thanks Roudi for pulling my name out.

The other thing I want to share today is a pic of my oldest granddaughter Phoebe on Sunday night....she had to try on her new school uniform for Nanny Annie to see what a big girl she is now....where has that time gone?

My first job on being back at work on Monday was to sew labels on all of Phoebe's school uniform....Oh happy memories of doing the very same job for her mummy, what seems like only weeks ago!

As you can see her uniform is grey with purple cardigans and Amy has really struggled to find hair accessories in purple so of course I spent Sunday morning making her some.....

Here are her newly made hair pretties and of course she needed somewhere to keep them all so I popped over to Louise's blog at Sew Scrumptious for inspiration and I made her a hanger to keep them all safe.  Thanks Louise for the inspiration.....and of course thank you to Roudi for just the perfect pink ribbon the make it with.  :-) :-)

I had one very happy little girl when she saw it all.  :-) :-) :-)

 Last but by no means least.....what was on my desk yesterday.  It was a full day of planning, printing and cutting of all the components to make the wedding stationery for Mark and Gina's wedding next August.

• 3 guilotines [2 for cutting and 1 for scoring]
• Martha Stewart deep edged lace punch
• 3 fold cards for the invites
• white pearlised paper
• lots of pink card

This finished invite has 4 printed inserts and we even managed to get them with their headings perfectly stepped to fit in the lace edged pocket.  :-)

We started 9.30 and finished after 5 with only a half hour lunch break but we had a lovely girly day full of laughter and tears [Gina shared with me their chosen first dance....it's just perfect].

Life should be full of days like that  :-)

Thank you to you all for calling by and leaving such lovely comments.  I'm sorry if it's rather a long post but I did have rather a lot I wanted to share  :-)

I wasn't able to leave you all comments last week while we were away but I did get to read most of your blogs.....I promise to do better this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

T for Tuesday...

My cuppa this morning is a quick one but I have cut some fresh flowers to share with you out of the garden this morning.

• My usual morning coffee in one of my fav mugs
• my morning tablets....that hopefully are going to get less now my diabetes is under control
• a bowl of nutty muesli this morning
• and of course my fav little yellow jug full of garden flowers....hope you can smell them from there  :-)

Would you like to know why it's a quick one from me today?

Well I'm going to tell you....I'm helping my daughter-in-law to be, Gina, cut and prepare the card etc for the wedding invites this morning.  :-)  There will be lots of pink going on today and I'm looking to a fun morning together.

That's all from me for now.  If you want to see more then please pop back tomorrow to see the state of my desk.  Pop over to join in today's fun at Elizabeth's blog and to see what others have been up to too.

Thanks for calling by.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 31

Another week of really fab pics full of smiles being shared and I'd really like to say thank you to all that made the effort to share a little happiness with others.  There seemed to be many appreciating our smiles so please keep up the good work....it really does cheer up our friends.

This week I'm featuring Janet's blog ....Fairy Thoughts.  She had been playing with a new clay product and had made a really gorgeous new friend called Chilly.  He looked just the way I was feeling and certainly made me smile  :-) :-) :-)  Thanks for sharing Janet.

My happy snaps for this week show the joys of a little boy having a couple of older sisters.  There really is never a dull moment with Amy's little family.  They are always crafting and creating, baking, laughing, and playing happily together [most of the time of course...after all they are normal!]  Amy sent me a couple of pics to share with you all.....

Steve loves to dress up and pretend play  :-)   Having fun in the baby bath....or is it a bed now?  :-)

As you can see here he is also very happy to play the roll of the baby for his big sister Phoebe to push round in her dolls push chair.....oh the joys of being the youngest in the family ......I remember it well!!!

Hope my snaps made you smile and you will share the happy things in your life and link them below.  Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

I have an exciting day planned for today .....but more of that later  :-)

What have I got to share with your today then?....

Two weeks ago I shared with you the gorgeous fabric I had cut out ready to take with me on the bag making workshop that Jo and I were playing guinea pigs for our friend to practise on.  She is starting up crafty workshops and if last Tuesday was anything to go on they should be really successful.  We had a wonderful time learning new techniques [drinking coffee, giggling and chatting] and came away bursting with excitement at the gorgeous bags we had made....plus the desperate need for lots of new equipment for our craft rooms.

Isn't it just stunning?  I love the design and the fun fabric has really turned into a gorgeous unique bag.  I'm sure Jo is showing hers off today too so pop over to see the one she made.

The whole bag is wadded and there are loads of fab pockets inside to put all those shopping essentials.  I love how the grommets make it look so professional...they are a really great design and are fitted so simply too.

The other thing I'm sharing with you today is how I like a challenge...

A new customer to me brought me a really well loved treasure of his wife's while she was away on holiday so I could take the pattern off it and make her a new one as a surprise gift.  When his wife retired from running a local choir about 25 years ago one of the ladies had made her a choir boy peg bag as a leaving gift.  As you can see it has been really well used and was falling apart so taking the pattern wasn't quite so easy but I managed to make a reasonable copy and needless to say when he collected it he was thrilled to bits with what I'd done.....and so was I too :-)

Cute eh?

Well that's all from me today....would you like to know why?

I'm off to meet 3 very special people today that you all know really well....Julia [our WOYWW queen], Jan [of Lunch lady fame] and Di [of Snippets Playground fame].  I feel like I've known them for ever so am really excited at eventually meeting them in real life.  I'm sure there will be photographic evidence and we will be sharing it all with you very soon but for now have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

T for Tuesday....

I'm starting my day off with scrambled eggs and wholemeal toast today with my usual cup of coffee of course.....I can't drink tea [it makes me sick :-( ] .  My tablets have already been taken and I thought you'd like to share my gorgeous orchid too....what you can't see is that is has a second flower stem now growing at a pace of 1cm a day  :-) :-)

Today I am also sharing this with you.  it's worth reading carefully and thinking about each point.  We really can learn so much from the elderly.  Remember they are the lucky ones who have lived to tell the tale and share their wise words.


Written by a 90 year old

This is something we should all read at least once a week!!!!! Make sure you read to the end!!!!!!

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 42 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it..

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

11. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it...

14 Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

15. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

16. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

17. It's never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

20. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

21. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

22. The most important sex organ is the brain.

23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

25. Always choose life.

26. Forgive but don’t forget.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does..

31. Believe in miracles.

32. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

33. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

34. Your children get only one childhood.

35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

38. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

39. The best is yet to come...

40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

41. Yield.

42. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."



I think we all have lots to learn from these wise words don't you?  


If you'd like to catch up with lots more blogs who join in the T for Tuesday post then pop over to Elizabeth's and link up.

Thanks for calling by and for your lovely comments.
Hugs,
Annie x

This weeks smiles....week 30

Many thanks to all who joined in the fun this week.  There really is a lot of happiness out there and how lovely it is to share it.  Many call by each week just to share our smiles now folks so please keep linking them up to cheer the lives of those needing that little extra boost in their lives.

I am featuring Di's blog this week from over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.  She painted such a fab picture in my mind of her dressed ready for some intense cleaning....it really caused some giggles.  I am hoping to meet Di this next week in real life and I would like to put a request in that she doesn't come in her cleaning gear  :-)  Thanks for joining in the fun Di.....see you soon wahooooo

I am sharing my two little munchkins this week to show off what a clever Great Aunty Jo they have.  They are such tiny little poppets and are so into dressing up at the mo.  Shell has tried to buy them a few dressing up clothes but they are all for children aged 3-5 so are much too big for them.  Jo set to and made them a few [she put them on her blog on Wednesday] and you can see just how much they love them here....

Lexi just loves her princess skirt but in her haste to put it on she failed to cover her top half...I've blocked out the important bits cos I'm sure in years to come she might rather it that way  :-)

Here is Nurse Lexi and Dr Sam....they have a fab set of Dr toys and are happy to check you over any time but be warned...they are a bit vicious with their instruments as yet!!  :-)

And if you're not already smiling then this one is sure to raise a smile.  Sam insisted on putting Lexi's fairy dress on...what a cute little angelic face eh?  :-)

















Thanks for calling by for your 'make me happy' visit.  If you have something in your life that is making you smile please snap a pic and link it up any time before next Friday when I will be uploading my next pic and I will feature the one that made me smile the most.

WOYWW....

There is always something different here at Sewing by Annie's to share with you.  This week is no exception.  

I have been picking the brains of several of my blogging card making experts....you know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I am helping to make the wedding stationery for my son's wedding next August.  The design they want was rather more complicated than the invitations I made for my two daughter's weddings so it's been a bit of a challenge.  My daughter- in - law to be Gina is a bit of a perfectionist [of course she is cos she is marrying my son and he's the best!!  :-)  ] so it is important to me to get things just how she wants them.

Thought you might like to see what we have come up with so far.  They might get a bit of tweaking between now and then but we are all very happy with how they look.

This is the front.  It's a 3 fold card with a punched edge, pink ribbon trim and little punched glittery flower over the join.

Opened out you can see the floral edged perlised paper that will have the invitation details printed on it in the middle section.

On the lower section we have made a little pocketed panel for the other printed sheets to go with details of accommodation, menu etc

I say I'm not a paper crafter but even I'm rather chuffed at how they are looking so far.  What do you think?

The other thing I've been working on this week is a selection of hair clippies for little Lexi.  She needs fairly long clippies to hold back her curls but the larger ones usually come with rather large decorations on and she is just too little for a lot of them so I've made her a few more her size.  :-)

Well folks that's all I've got to share with you this week.  Hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a little hello comment before popping over to Julia's to link up and join in the fun for this week if you haven't already.  I will do my best to pay you a return visit as soon as I can.

There were several blogs last week that I visited but were unable to leave comments on because of google+ so I'm sorry about that.

Hugs,

Annie x

T for Tuesday....

I'm joining in today quickly before I head out the door for a fun day.

 One of my good buddies is starting up doing crafty workshops and today that, much older, sister of mine and I are playing guinea pigs for her.  We are making a bag following her instructions and helping her to tweak it all before she takes her first proper class.  I've managed to get some real fun fabric off ebay and have all my pieces cut out ready.  As they say....watch this space.....I will surely do a show and tell when the bag's finished.

So here you go this is my T for Tuesday for this morning....

• My essential morning medication
• Wholemeal toast with diabetic marmalade
• My morning coffee in one of Mum's pretty fine bone china mugs today...it would have been her birthday this week 
• My beautiful sunflowers that Jo brought me to celebrate Mum's birthday with...thought you'd like to share them too.

That's it from me this morning.  I must now go and make my lunch to take with me and make sure I've got everything with me for my day's fun.  Hope you all have a good one too.

For more T for Tuesday posts just follow this link to Elizabeth's and have fun.

Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles....week 29

Oh how you all made me laugh last week with the fab slogans for the photo I shared.  Thank you to each and every one of you for joining in.  Of course there had to be a winner and I have to say this one really made me chuckle because of the events that had gone on earlier in the week.

My good friend Annette had sent me the instructions to make a little folding book like the one she had sent me all the way from Australia.  The instructions came by email first so, me being me, thought I'd have a go to follow them.  I can honestly say I've not laughed so much for a long time.  I really couldn't make what I was making look anything like a book....or even a part of it.  It took a session on facebook, in what little time two friends can have during one day when they live on opposite sides of the world, carefully following Annette's stage by stage instructions for the penny to eventually drop and I got it right.  So much laughter was shared that day.

This was Annette's slogan for my Friday's smile photo....

....and trust me when I say Annette really didn't know just how near to the truth that was :-)

There will be a little surprise heading Annette's way for making me chuckle....of course it may take a little while to get there with her being so far away!!!

This week my funny comes with a little tale too.......

Shell said she had noticed someone had been taking photos with their ipad.  We are thinking of contacting crime watch for the culprits......

Does anyone know of two little fair haired people....one with curly hair and the other with straight hair?

Modern technology really doesn't phase little ones does it?  They choose what they want to do on the ipad and know how to enlarge etc at such a little age but I have to say they really have caused so many giggles at this photo.

Thanks for dropping by this week.  Please snap something that has made you smile this week and share it by linking it below.

Hugs,

Annie x