This week's smiles....week 95

Happy Friday folk. It's been another busy week here at Sewing by Annie's and as always I have enjoyed lots of smiles.  Lots of you joined in last weeks smiles and I would like to thank you all for making the effort....it really does make the world a happier place.

I am featuring a blog this week that hit the spot with me.  You can imagine how many threads I have here to run my business but it never fails to make me smile when I see the gorgeous rainbow colours of a drawer of threads.  I'm sure if you pop over to Elizabeth's blog her neatly organised drawer will make you smile too.....thanks for sharing it Elizabeth.

My smiles include this pair this week...

Our two little cairn terriers Wispa and Rocky are sat keeping us company while my hubby fits boarding on our new shed floor...they are sitting close together on the first fitted board and I think they know where it's safest while the hammer and other tools are being swung around.  :-)

As you know these two always feature in my smiles because they give me so many reasons to be happy.

They are playing for the first time with our lego.  It's the big box of lego my children had when they were little so it gave me so much to smile about watching the twins learn what they could make with it.

This photo needs a little explanation....

The twins were watching a Father Christmas dvd where he goes away on his holidays before the big day.  He goes to France first but eats the French food and ends up with tummy ache so his next stop was Scotland.

Lexi was watching this very carefully and straight away said.." Scotland?  Oh Nanny that's where Meredith lives".

I asked who Meredith was and she searched her toy box and showed me this dolly....it's one of her Disney dolls but not one I knew so I googled it.  Meredith features in the film called Brave but she has never seen this film and it is set in the Scottish Highlands!!!  It's very easy to forget Lexi is only 3 and I have a feeling she has been here before.  :-)

My last smile I am sharing with you for this week is something Sam said at pre-school this week.  When I collected them the teacher called me in with a smile on her face.  She said she had been chatting to Sam while he was eating his lunch and mentioned that I would be along later to pick him up.  His reply was...."I love my Nanny,  she's a bit crazy you know!!!".....out of the mouths of babes as they say.  :-)

That's my smiles for this week.....I'm sure something here will have made you smile too so please share your smiles by linking them up below and I will pop over to yours when I get a minute.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.......

Happy Wednesday to you all.  I've been a busy bee since we had our last snooping day.  We spent the weekend finishing off the new front garden by planting lots of plants I took from cuttings from our old house.  They are fairly small plants as yet but they will grow, cost us nothing and how lovely to have brought some of our family home to our new little bungalow.  

This didn't leave a lot of time for crafting/sewing over the weekend and as Mondays I take and fetch the twinnie munchkins from pre-school and then have them all day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays it will be Thursday before I get much done but I do have a progression to show you on what I'm busy with on my work desk.  

Do you remember the cord, wooden beads and chop sticks from last week?.....

Well, some of the beads have been paired up and strung together on some of the cord.

Some more of the beads have been linked using more cord and attached to crosses made from the chop sticks.

Do you know what it is going to be yet?

One set has progressed rather further and looking  more like I'm getting there....I bet these will give you a better idea what I'm making.....if you haven't guessed already then by next week things will hopefully be more recognisable but I will keep you waiting til then.

The other good news I'm sharing today is that another of my customers from our old house has now found me with sewing and I have yet another coming tomorrow too.....it's coming slowly but business will pick up in the New Year when I hope to get an advert in a local church magazine that reaches 3500 houses!! :-)

So that's it from me for this week.  Please leave me a comment with your Linky number and I will pop over to pay you a return visit as soon as I'm able.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 94

Hi folks.  Here we are at another Friday catch up of the week's smiles.  I really loved all the smiles you shared with us this last week so I must say a huge thank you to all that take the time out to join in the fun.  I would like to feature the funny word definitions that Sam shared with us last week....they really got me chuckling so are worth popping over to check them out if you haven't already.  Thanks Sam.

My smiles more than often focus on my wonderful family.  I treasure each and every family member and can guarantee that they will give me something to smile about every day.  Most of you will know that my, much older, sister Jo has given us a few anxious times lately with her gall bladder problems and as you can imagine our quality together time has been limited while she has been recovering from her surgery but Tuesday night she felt able to join me for the evening while our men went to watch Shrewsbury Town win at footy.  We had a wonderful chill out evening catching up and it really made me realise what a very special relationship we have....we are blessed.

Here she is thankfully looking much better than she did when I'd seen her the time before [a few hours after her surgery!].

I'm married to a man who can turn his hand to anything and everything from cooking, cleaning, ironing and normal day to day chores to just about anything in the way of DIY.  He has mastered building work, electrics, painting and decorating and plumbing to name but a few.....I'm blessed having such a wonderful man in my life.

Our son got married last year and, with his wife, is setting up their first home.  It's wonderful watching them making it theirs plus I am really enjoying watching his Dad passing on his skills.  Mark really does follow in his Dad's footsteps in that he is very able to turn his hand to anything.  In this pic he is fitting a new bathroom in their home with a little bit of help and guidance.....always makes me smile. :-)

This week's developments with the K'nex has seen Lexi building a boat with a wind turbine! to power it.  :-)

And Sam has built his own ladder.....he's obviously aiming to reach the top isn't he?  :-)

The last pic I'm sharing today is this one of my little munchkins having bubbly bath time fun with their Nanny Annie.....I'm so very blessed to have such a lot of very special family together time. :-)

So there you go.  I've had so much to make me smile this week.  Please snap away and share your happy moments with us by linking them below and I will be over to check them out as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hi friends. Here we are at another of our fun days of the week when we all link up for snooping fun and games.  Please pop over to Julia's to check out the details and to link up to join in the fun.

So here's my desk today...

So there you go....feel free to click on the picture to have a closer look or just have a glance at the snaps below for a bit closer detail.

I've played with the dolly pegs you saw on my desk last week.  Put them together with some paint, a bit of felt, a length of shiny ribbon and rather a lot of....

......glue.....yes some of it did go where it was meant to!!

 And I've managed to make 5 little Christmas tree hangers for 5 special little people in my life.....hope they like them. I always make each of them a little something to go on their trees every year...memories in the making for them.

My next project is to use these gorgeous wooden beads.......

....plus some of this bag of cord scraps [I knew there was a reason I saved this].......

5 sets of wooden chop sticks and........

Well ?!!, I'm still playing so watch this space to see what develops.

Thanks for dropping by again this week.  Hope you will leave me a comment to say you've called by so I can pay you a return visit and do call back next week if you want to see what develops from my fun and games here at Sewing by Annie's.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 93

Hi folks.  Thanks so much to each and every one of you who joined in last week.  I'm featuring two little ones snapped on Elizabeth's blog from last week. What a cute Minnie Mouse and Little Mermaid they made.  Thanks for sharing your smiles Elizabeth

It's been another eventful week for me and another one full of things to smile about.

• Big sister Jo's [Twiglet] surgery eventually went well last week and she was allowed home at the weekend.  She would really like rather more 'get up and go' than she's got but she is making a good recovery and she has to be patient, listen to her body and allow it to heal.
• We [my darling hubby and I] had a wonderful couple of wonderful days away in London at the weekend.  We went to see the poppies at the Tower of London [pics below] and while down there we also went to see Matilda at the theatre [an amazing show with some really talented children performing].
• Our eldest daughter has now recovered from her surgery and managed to go back to work on Wednesday so I managed some fun time with the twinnie munchkins.....that is until Sam decided to be very sick all over the floor!.....he's bounced back since thankfully.

So here's a few snaps of what's made me smile this week...

Sam and Lexi really love building with the K'nex and are learning their shapes this week.

Sam made this and said..."Look Nanny it's a rectangle just like the telly"

Here's Lexi with her circle, square and triangle. :-)

We then had a fun art session :-)

This is Lexi's butterfly and

...her duck.....obviously a rare long legged breed :-)

And this is Sam's drawing of his sister, Lexi.

I just love watching how they are developing and seeing their enjoyment with their drawings.

So there you are.  That's just a few of the things that have been making me smile this week.  Please snap and share yours with us by linking them below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Hello folks.  Here we are on another Wednesday when a load of us link up over at Julia's at the Stamping Ground to expose and share our creative spaces....whether they be tables, desks, floor spaces or kitchen spaces.  We are a really friendly bunch, joining in is free and there are very few rules so why not pop over to Julia's to check out the details.

I hope you will check out my previous post if you'd like to see my poppy pics taken while my dearest darling hubby and I were on a 'have it away' weekend in London.  The poppies really were mind blowing and it was a weekend that will stay in my memory for ever.

Of course what you're really here to see today is my desk so I've stood back a little to snap you a quick pic of what's going on here.....

• As you can see I've mounted my machine embroidered Christmas card designs and been playing with the designs.  I've scanned each one and printed a page of each of them off to work out what I'm going to do with them.....as they say....watch this space :-)
• I've just had a packet of 1" wooden beads arrive with my postman.....I've got a few ideas in the pipeline as to what I'm going to go with these so keep your eyes open for results.
• In the bottom left of the pic you can see some of my many boxes/bags of fabric and wools....trust me when I say this really is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fabric stash
• Middle top of the pic you can see my little temporary rail where you can see some of my customers sewing waiting to be collected....yes I'm getting a few callers each week now thankfully.
• at the back of the table, under the cupboard you can see a couple of boxes of overlocking threads and my button box....I can't wait to set up my new sewing room when it's built....the plans have now been sent to the planning office and, all being well, we should be able to start building etc in the new year :-)

I hope you've enjoyed your visit this week.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called by and I will pop over to yours as soon as I can.

Hugs,
Annie x

A need to share...T stands for Tower

We had such a wonderful time in London over the weekend and were both totally blown away by the amazing poppies at the Tower of London that I felt the need to share.  I know many of you have already been to see them but I also know many who are unable to go so here's my pics specially for you.

Please feel free to click on the pics to enlarge them....they are well worth a closer look.

We had tickets to the Tower too and here's a few pics of inside for you.

This was my favourite photo that I took....the sky was blue, the numbers of poppies are mind blowing and these ones seem to be reaching out to us.

We will remember them.

We will remember them...

I am hoping that today I will be visiting the poppies at the Tower of London with that very special hubby of mine so am uploading this to show you what we will be proudly wearing while we are there.  We have bought the usual poppies but I wanted something special to pin on my coat for our special visit.  Most of you will know that I have lots of stash that I am unable to use and spend time stroking the special bits, well these buttons are two of those special items.  They are antique black jet buttons and have been saved for a special make....aren't they gorgeous? I crochet the poppies to my own design too....hope you like them.

This week's smiles....week 92

Hello fellow happy bloggers.  Thank you to all of you who joined in last week.  I'm featuring someone who posted twice at a time that most folk wouldn't have posted even once.  Sam had had a really nasty fall last week and has two legs that have gone through most of the colours of the rainbow since but she still took the time out to share her smiles.  The second post with a really cute little bunny on it's back really made me chuckle....I just can't imagine any of us looking that cute whilst floundering on our backs having just fallen over.  I really hope Sam is healing well and making a good recovery and would like to send her lots of special hugs from us all.

My big sister Jo [Twiglet] was taken to hospital in pain with her gall stones early hours of yesterday and I'm sorry to say that although she was kept starved all day yesterday in preparation for surgery she has had to wait til this morning before she has her op [the NHS has a lot to answer for!]....  Really hope all goes well and she gets well soon xxxx

My smiles for this week have to be a couple of photos of our eldest granddaughter Phoebe who celebrated her 6th Birthday yesterday.  She is such a lovely girl and makes us all very proud every day.

She is a big lover of Frozen so her mummy and daddy chose that for her birthday banner....I think she likes it don't you? :-)

Here she is proudly showing off her new bike....I bet she can't wait for the weekend to come so she can get out to play on it.

This last funny is a pic I found on Pinterest while searching for ideas for Christmas crafts.  I thought there would be lots of cat lovers out there that would have a chuckle at this one.

That's it from me for today.  Please snap something that has made you smile this week and share it with us by linking below and I will pop over to check out happy posts.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Another week has passed and we are getting closer to Christmas so there has been a bit of making going on here at Sewing by Annie's

I've made 50 little triangular bean bags [yes 50!! I have 5 little grandchildren and of course to play a game they need 10 each!] and two floor target mats [two families].  I plan other games for them to use their bean bags to play with too.

I've had a bit of customer's sewing too...these are 3 square table cloths to be used for coffee mornings at the church opposite where we used to live....it's nice to see some of my customers have hunted me down and found me at the new bungalow. :-)

But mostly over the weekend there has been lots of this going on at ours.  This is my hubby playing with a hired digger to move the tree roots and a lot of earth to change our front garden.

Back at the beginning of September I share this photo of what the front of our new bungalow looked like before we took down the huge dying hedge on the right hand side.

This is what it looks like now....two very full skips of roots and earth and a lot of hard work thanks to my hubby and just look how much space we have gained.....I love it.

We plan to put weed preventing membrane and gravel down and new shrubs around the boundary garden.....we will get there but what I will say is we are really enjoying making it ours.

Thanks so much for calling by again this week.  Please leave me a little comment to say you've called in and I will do my best to pay you a return visit [I'm sorry but if your blog uses google+ I am unable to leave a comment but I do call by and read what you've been up to].

Hugs,

Annie x