This week's smiles....week 134

So, here we are at another Friday when I share my smiles and many of you link up your smiles to make the world a happier place.  Smiles really are contagious :-)

Thank you to those that joined in last week.....it's really appreciated.  I am featuring something that made me smile....mostly because I didn't see exactly what was in the photo to start with.  Barb shared a photo of two Oxford taxis with scientific charts on the sides....that in itself made me smile but even more so because initially I saw tape measures along their sides....can you see it or is it just me?  Thanks for joining in the fun Barb....keep those smiles coming please.

My smiles today are of course many.  I'm surrounded by bricks, building supplies, mess and dust....and yes, I'm still smiling.  :-)  I am constantly snapping pics of the developments and here's a couple that have made me chuckle...

Ready for surgery?  Afraid not.  It's just my darling hubby dressed up ready to go in the attic with the fibreglass insulation .  The kids said he looked like something out of a horror movie :-)

This was my new sewing room first thing yesterday morning.  Do you like my new assault course?  Not sure what my customers will think of it  :-)

Our builder was all set up to skim the ceiling with plaster.  Walls to plaster next then new floor will go down and [dare I say it?] it will be nearly ready for completion  :-) :-) :-)

Wednesday saw delivery of more building supplies...bricks, sand, floor boarding etc etc

I'm just like a child when cranes are being used.  I stood out there, camera in hand, watching it all.  Yes we now look like we are living on a builders yard but who cares.....I just want to watch all these piles reducing as they use it all now. :-)

Of course I have had lots of smiles from my grandees lately and these were some pics Amy sent me of a fun day all five of them had together while Shell and Brent were at a wedding.  I get such a thrill seeing them all playing together and there really is nowhere better than Amy's for children to grow up.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing my smiles and will now link yours up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

As I know you are here to see my desk that's where I am starting...

As you can see my little space is crammed full of furniture being stored while the building work is going on so my desk has not been used this week.  I've not felt creative which is just as well as you can see and my time is being well used playing chief organiser on the building site.  The builders have had a very productive week.  Our son has been here helping his dad put in the first fix of electrics and yesterday I also had the plumbers here putting in the pipes for the heating in the new rooms.......it's all taking shape and looking very different now.....and it's sooooooo exciting :-)

I am constantly snapping pics to record the building work so I've put together a collage if the latest progress so you can share my mess :-)

I know my pics wont mean a lot to you but I do hope you share in my excitement of getting it all done  :-)

Thanks for calling by this week.  If you leave me a little hello message to let me know you've called in I will do my best to pay you a return visit when I'm able.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 133

I know, I know  I'm late this morning.  If you could see the world I'm living in at the mo you would see why......but I'm still smiling :-)

If you don't mind I won't feature one of last week's posts today ....I really don't have time to go back over them all this morning but I will say a huge Thank you to each and every one of you for joining in the fun.  It's so lovely to see what's making you all smile so please keep up the good work and link all you can.

My smiles today are....

 I've snapped a couple of pics of the latest update of my new sewing room  :-)  Both doors are blocked up now and today the new studded wall should be going up with a door in it.

 The new studded wall has gone the inside of the end wall of the garage and today the studded walls should be going in the divide it into a bedroom and bathroom.  :-)

So as you can see these two spaces really are taking shape now but had to be emptied of all we had stored in there and now all this is tucked in very spare corner of the bungalow.....I can just about breathe in the space left hehehe......but I'm still smiling.  :-)  :-)  It's all sooooo exciting.

And last smile was this one Amy sent me of her three having fun...

Now that's what you call a snakes and ladder game :-)  Isn't it fun?

That's it from me for today.  Sorry again for being late to set Mr Linky up today.  Please link your smiles up below and I will be over to check them out in between making cups of tea for my builders  :-)

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

It was with great sadness yesterday that I heard of the loss of our friend Janet Fairythoughts.  It's never easy to put into words what is felt after the loss of a friend but I must say that although I never met Janet she certainly touched my heart through the blogging world and she will be sadly missed.  Over a year ago Janet sent me some of her poppy seeds that I had admired on her blog and she will now be thought of fondly every time they bloom in my new garden.  I hope her family and friends are comforted by all the lovely words that are being spoken about Janet and this helps to ease this sad time.

So in her memory we must all try to live a little harder and I hope we will all raise a glass to a very special lady.  Of course what brought us together was our sharing of our creative spaces thanks to Julia linking us up each and every week and this week is no different.....except that there is very little desk-wise to share with you today...

I've been doing a bit more sorting and organising my sewing room for ease of moving it all at the appropriate time during the building work.

These are the machine embroidery threads now sorted and put together in one of my new drawers.

Of course they wouldn't all fit in together so I have another little box for the shiny ones I tend to use only at Christmas time.

The rest of my show and tell are just a quick few snaps of the building changes since Friday.....

We have a new doorway built between what will be a new front hall and the new bathroom.

The internal skin of blocks have been built to the walls of the new extension and the door and window you can see in this pic.....

...was taken out yesterday and......

......blocked up.  So you can see why there is little being done in the sewing room....I'm far too busy making cups of tea for my builders :-)

They will be back again today to hopefully block up the other side of this wall and knock out another door and block that up too.....oooooer it's so exciting cos this is the start of my new sewing room.  :-)

Please leave me a little comment to say you've called by and I will do my best to get over to yours as soon as I can.  Please join me in raising a glass to Janet and lets be thankful to have had her in our lives.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 132

It was another week of wonderful smiles last week with lots of you joining in the fun again so thank you to you all for taking time out of your busy lives.

I am featuring Kay's post from last week.  She has had a long break from joining in with the Friday smiles because she has had a knee replacement [something I had done in 2005 so she has my full sympathy].  It's so good to see you back Kay and I really hope your knee continues to improve.  Little Muffin did look as though she didn't want to be disturbed to have her photo taken too :-)

My smiles this week are of my gorgeous grandchildren.....I know I'm rather biased but they never fail to make me smile.

Here's all five of them having fun on their bikes together [twins do usually wear helmets too but had forgotten to take them].  I do have a video too but our super slow Internet here just wont let me upload it to show you!

Amy's three are having fun out in the sun with their paints.....what fun eh?

And last but by no means least here's the twins showing off the van they had just found with Sam's on the front of it  :-)  They are on holiday and found a club called Sam's and sent me a video of Sam doing a little dance outside when he knew the club had his name [but alas I can't share that with you either thanks to our lack of speedy Internet].

As you can see I have lots to smile about this week and our builders are hoping to make a start at the main build today so I have a feeling I will have even more to smile about by next week  :-)

Please share your smiles by linking up below and don't forget to leave me a little comment to say hello.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hi all.  I know you're all here to see my desk so here is a little of what's on it today...

This is a fabric panel that I plan to use as a pocket on the front of a machine cover for one of my sewing machines when my new sewing room is set up......I've appliqued the sewing machine on the front and then machine embroidered the details on....hope you like it :-)

I will make you smile when I tell you that I used a vanishing pen to write the I love sewing on the fabric.....I then started stitching but by the time I'd sewn the 'I love' the 'sewing' part had disappeared!!  I wrote it on again and started sewing again, I got half way down the S and my bobbin ran out!! By the time I'd wound the bobbin with new thread the rest had disappeared again!!.........third time lucky eh?  :-)

I will be playing catch up with customer's sewing today because yesterday hubby and I went to Aberdaron in North Wales for a day out and....

....I did a bit of paddling in the sea :-)

And to make you smile I'm sharing the notice we saw on the door of the cafe we stopped at for a coffee.....

I'm thinking of having this on the door of my new sewing room.....what do you think?  :-)

Thanks for calling by today....please leave me a little message to let me know you've called in and I will pay you a return visit in between my many sewing jobs today.
Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles....week 131

Happy Friday to you all.  What a lovely lot of you joined in last week....we had so much to smile about :-)  Thank you to each and every one of you for helping to make the world a happier place to be.

I'm featuring Kate's post from last week.  Kate joins in almost every week and has so much to smile about her life over in Spain.  Last week she added a cartoon that really made me chuckle because since we had to have our one little dog put to sleep her brother has followed me from room to room and if I sit down he likes to sit as close to me as he can.....the cartoon could have been written/drawn with him in mind :-)  Thanks Kate for sharing it.

My smiles this week have been many and the first pic proves my point......

I had gone out into the garden to snap a few pics and the moment I sat down Rocky was sat at my side.....He's an old man now and sleeps a lot of the time.....that is until he hears me get up to move :-)

I thought you might like to share the flowers in our back garden at the mo so I've put them together as a collage for you.....so many of them have self-seeded and come free with our new home and each and every one of them makes me smile.

Here's a quick snap of the latest progress with the building....the footings have now been built and have been back filled.  Next week they are coming back to start the walls and will soon be coming to make a start on my sewing room 

 :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

My last pic is for all you gardening experts out there.  This is one of the plants we inherited and have waited to see what it might turn out to be when it came into bloom.....but now it has we have no idea what it is.

Do any of you know what it might be? [You should be able click on the pic if you want a closer look].

Thanks for popping over to share my smiles.  Please link yours up below and I will be over to see what has been making you smile as soon as I'm able.  Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

So?  You've come here to see my desk?  Well, as you know we are having building work and many of you will know that my little make-do sewing room, that I've been using in the last year since we have been here, will become part of our kitchen / dining room.  My mojo has gone on holiday so I have been using my energy planning and designing my new sewing room.

I have snapped a few pics of all my clutter in it's glory to show you what I have to pack up and move so that a wall can be knocked through into the new extension. You really wouldn't believe how much I can fit in such a small space......

This is where I sit to sew using a 'push to one side' method to use the particular machine I'm needing at the time.  The wall you are looking at with the window in it is the one that is to be removed!!

This a pic of what is right behind me when I sew....two crammed full wall cupboards, a hanging rail for customers items, a small table and lots of boxes and clutter!!

This is a 'bare all' set of pics of my three wall cupboards full of clutter

....and you thought I was such a tidy worker didn't you?....I just hide a lot behind cupboard doors. :-)

In the first pic you will see my new set of Ikea drawers well this is what I have sorted into the top 4 drawers......top one has the bobbins for two of my machines [.....there are more somewhere in a box for my other sewing machine!]

The next three drawers hold my sewing threads.....hmmm I do have rather a lot but, whether you believe it or not, there are times when I still don't have thread the right colour!!.....like Saturday when I wanted to shorten the sleeves on a jacket for me [isn't it always the way?].

I'm still running my sewing business but it really isn't easy when all around you is clutter and it's never easy to find what I need to do the job.  So I've been planning and thought you might like to see the floor plan for my new room....

This is just a rough plan and of course there will be wall cupboards and shelves too.  I intend my room to be a pretty, light, airy space for all my crafty friends to come to play with all my fabric and stash and machines to hand so I can create just when the mood takes me.....Oh I can't wait.

If you follow me on Pinterest you will see that I've been pinning lots of lovely ideas and hopefully at least some of them will take shape fairly soon  :-)

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today and will leave me a little message to let me know you've called by so I can pay you a return visit.

Hugs,

Annie x