This week's smiles....week 155

Here we are at the end of yet another week and as always I have found lots to smile about....and really hope you have too.

I would like to say a big thank you to those who linked up their smiles again last week....it really does make a big difference.  The world is a better place to be when smiles are shared.....Smile and the world smiles with you.  :-)  I would like to feature Angela's post from last week.....she shared the most amazing desserts from where she was away on her skiing holiday.....they almost looked too good to eat [who am I kidding? :-) ]........and thanks to her share this is one of my shares for this week....

My darling hubby treated us to a meal out on Wednesday night this week .....the food was amazing throughout the whole meal but I snapped this pic of my dessert just to make you smile.  It was an apple pie creme caramel and this was how it arrived.  We both had a chuckle at the presentation of it and I even shared a little of it with the love of my life [he did eat the sugar decorations on the top because I felt that did push my diabetic diet to the limits....and when you don't eat sweet things it did taste rather too sweet for me].  I will say that it really did taste as good as it looked.

This is my other share for today.  Our good friend Neet [of Hickydorums fame] shared the instructions with Jo and I to make microwave bowl holders and as we love porridge here it is something I've intended to make for a long time so being sent the instructions was the encouragement I needed.  Thanks Neet....I really hope you like the two I made yesterday.....hopefully no more burnt fingers now on our morning porridge.  :-)

That's my share for this week....what's yours?  Please link them up below and I will be over to check them out as soon as I can.  Thanks again for all your efforts.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

I know you will be here to see my desk today so here you go....

I fact having emptied all 10+ boxes of my material out to sort there is material in piles on every surface in my sewing room....to be honest this was first thing yesterday morning and after many happy hours oooing and awwwing it's now looking more like this.....

And...

 

I spent quite a while trying to decide just how I was going to store it but it's now been sorted into...

•  Cottons and poly cottons patterned
•  Cottons and poly cottons plain
• Warm checks and woolen fabrics
• Linings
• Shiny fabrics
• Linens
• Furnishing fabrics
• Utility fabrics for patching/darning and pocket linings
• Stockinette fabrics for dolly faces
• Smaller scrap box

.......and of course there are random pieces tucked in where there is room for them.  Maybe, just maybe I will be able to find any piece I need now?  I guess there is rather more chance now at the least. :-)

Just in case you think I've been wasting any time I have also, at long last, managed to finish the top I started for myself months ago and I have been working on my new Facebook page uploading some of my rag dolls.  Thanks to all who have 'liked' and 'shared'.....there has been a lot of interest in them.....and little Micky has been sold already.

That's all from me for today.  If you'd like to leave me a little hello comment I will call by at yours as soon as I'm able.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 154

Hello to all you happy visitors today.  It's so lovely to see so many of you joining in by sharing your smiles each week.  I really do appreciate your efforts because we all have such busy lives these days.

I am featuring our dear friend Sam's post from last week.  It was so lovely to see her joining in and letting us all know she was on the mend.....slow but sure Sam.  Big hugs to you from us all.

I've had another fab week full of smiles and my pic I'm sharing with your really had me giggling...

I've had another visit from Miss Picklelily the children's entertainer.  She's such a lovely lady and I have a feeling she will be dropping in often to give me challenges.  This time she brought me a parachute to repair.....now that's not something I get asked to do every day and def something I will be adding to my 'can do' job list  :-)  As you can see it filled my sewing room....and has certainly made me smile.  

Thanks to all who's shared my Sewing by Annie facebook page and has helped to get me up to 74 followers now.....please pop over to like my page and share it with your friends if you haven't already.

That's all from me for this week.  Please just link your smiles below and I will be over to check them out ASAP.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

I'm sure many of you are here to see my desk so I'd best show you what's been going on in my sewing room this week.....[sorry but it is a bit picture heavy today]

That much older sister of mine came over Saturday for some dumfing fun [embellishing for those that don't know what I mean....and if you want to know more please click on the link in the right side bar].

I wanted to use my new hall blind as my inspiration to dumf a picture to go on the hall wall....pretty isn't it?

I found some linen in just the right colour for the background in my fabric stash and made a start with dumfing some green wool rovings as a background.

Next I found some threads/yarns and some dumfable fabrics to add some details for leaves and flowers.

Since then I have had a couple of sessions on it to machine embroider some finer details for the stems/flowers.

Here's a closer look to show you a bit of the machine embroidered details.

It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed some dumfing fun and to be honest I'd forgotten just how much I really enjoyed it.  I have lots more detail to work onto the pic before it's finished and may even do some hand embroidery and add some beading.

The other thing I'm quickly sharing with your today is my now finished dust cover I made for one of my sewing machines.....after all I do have 6 machines and can't use them all at the same time and we do have rather a lot of dust here lol.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today and will leave me a little hello comment to let me know you've called in and I will do my best to pop over to yours so see what you've been up to this week as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 153

Well, what can I say?  I have had so much to smile about this week so am quickly going to write a list of some of the main things....

• I was simply blown away by the numbers of blogging friends who joined in the Weekly smiles post by linking up last week.  Thank you to each and every one of you.  I don't have time to feature one of you this week but hope every one of you will come back often throughout the year to share your smiles.
• Having had a wonderful Sewing by Annie Facebook page launched for me by our daughter Amy I have had so many family, friends and blogging friends linking up by liking the page and sharing it.  This has given me a warm fuzzy feeling so thank you to all who have given me their love and support.
• On Wednesday I had two sewing buddies to join me for the day to trial a sewing workshop to make a dust cover for a sewing machine.  It was a really successful day, the three of us laughed, sewed, lunched and had the odd cup of coffee or three :-)  A great time was had by all.
• I am thankfully back in the driving seat with being well enough to do the normal school runs for the twins....oh how I've missed them and they both hugged, loved me and told me they had missed me too.  Huge smiles all round.
• Last night we babysat for Amy's three.....they are such good little munchkins and any time together with them is really special......more smiles.

The last two things that have made me smile have come out of not so good situations but I can always see good in any situation....even if only 'things could have been worse' and thankfully both are now on the road to recovery.

• Our dear blogging friend Sam and her hubby were involved in a car accident at the weekend and although Sam had to be cut out of the vehicle and the vehicle was written off she didn't brake any bones or have any serious injuries.  She does have lots of soft tissue damage and has had a rough week but thankfully they are both alive and given time they will both recover well I hope.  Please send her lots of love for a good recovery.
• The other little person in our lives that is needing a bit of extra love this week is my big sister's little grandson Ben who has his leg in plaster with a green stick fracture.  These things happen so easily when they are toddling and thankfully they usually heal very quickly and cause very little distress.  Sending you big hugs Ben for a speedy recovery.

My smiley pic for this week is this one...

Shell had put the twins lunch boxes ready to fill for the next day and had been distracted.  When she came back into the kitchen this is what she found.....little Monty had decided Sam's lunchbox was his new bed :-)

As one of Shell's friends commented... 

There have been times I was hungry enough to eat a horse but never a cat.  :-)

That's all from me for today.  Thank you for calling by.  Please link your smiles below and I will call by yours asap to see what you've got to smile about this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello folks.  Welcome to all the Wednesday desk visitors.  I'm back in the driving seat today and will be doing my desk visiting inbetween school runs with the munchkins so please be patient with me.

On my desk this morning is....

• my new ipad
• a top I cut out and did the pin tucks on for me ages ago that is still waiting for me to complete [it may be waiting a while yet]
• a little pinafore I gave new life to for my little Granddaughter Phoebe......see below for more details :-)

This is a card I made for Shell's birthday last week 

[ she was born 32 years ago .....where have those years gone?].

I've made a new ironing board cover from some sheeting.

 I have typed up instructions for a workshop that a friend and I will be making today between my school runs.....I may show you the results next week if you're interested.

I really hope Julia doesn't mind me adding this.........

For those interested in what I did to Phoebe's pinafore you can pop over to my new Facebook page that my daughter Amy set up for Sewing by Annie.  I advertised my business when we moved here for twelve months in the local church magazine and managed to get a few new customers but alas the last copy that was delivered to my door just before Christmas was the last one they are printing so I am needing to get the word out there that our building work is now completed and that I am all set up and ready to need a boost to the business.  I would really appreciate it if as many as possible could like my page and share it with your friends and as a thank you I am offering £1 per person for a sewing job before the end of the month.  Please note that as long as I get clear instructions I am happy for sewing jobs to be posted to me so don't feel you are too far away to benefit......Thank you in advance to any willing to share my page.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 152

Wahoo....I'm back.  A very happy New Year to you all.  I was missing in action last week [the first of 152 weeks that I missed to post any smiles].  I didn't feel much like smiling last week, I couldn't stop coughing and I felt washed out and weary.  Those b**** bugs had got the better of me.  It really took it's tole of me and has taken me longer than I planned to get back in the driving seat but I've listened to my body, rested lots and done all the right things and slowly but surely I'm on the road to recovery now......thankfully.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are now back to share lots of happy smiles with us......please link them below.

Here's a few of my smiles from over the last few weeks...

Little Steve is such a lovable little boy and such a character.  He loves to pose and pull faces if he sees a camera and I thought you'd like to see a few of his Christmas pics :-)

Don't you just have to smile at him?

All the family got together for our Christmas party at Amy's and of course we had to snap a few pics of all 5 of the little ones.

We really are blessed.

This is a pic we took of them 4 years ago and each year we have aimed to take the same pic so here's this year's pic.....

Boy how they've all grown.  There is always lots of giggles to get this pic and we are wondering if they will still let us snap one when they are in their 20s.  :-) :-) :-)

And this pic was taken in one of those brief moments when it wasn't raining of my gorgeous rose that is still blooming on out front garden.  It's such a pretty colour and it has the most beautiful perfume too.

There you go....those are my smiles.  Now please link your smiley posts below and share them with us.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Some of you that visited me last week didn't get a return visit and for that I must apologise.....I was a poorly girl so I hope you will forgive me.  In fact I was so poorly that I didn't manage to do a Happy Friday post at all. :-(  It's really not like me but sometimes life has other ideas and rest was the order of the day....thankfully, although I'm not fully recovered I am now on the road to recovery.....these things take a little longer as you get older don't they?

So, you have come here to see what's on my work desk haven't you?

My cutting station was piled high and the whole room was a mess because my darling hubby had to sort out a little problem I was having with my new shelves....

Because of the weight of the little storage boxes that I keep on these shelves he has had to put some supporting brackets underneath for me....where would I be without him? [one thing is for sure all that I expected this shelf to support would have ended up on the floor lol ].

I have found a couple of little jobs that I could do while resting.  I needed storage for my collection of bobbins for my new sewing machine so.....a plastic sandwich box, my glue gun and some lolly sticks and job done :-)  I'm rather chuffed with the result too.

The other little job I've done this week too is to make two little tooth fairy pillows for my eldest two granddaughters.....rather pretty don't you think?

That's all from me for today.  I will do my best to get round a few more of you this week....promise.

Hugs,

Annie x