This week's smiles....week 167

Hello folks. Here we are at our happy catch up of the week when we share the things that have made us smile.  I  would like to thank all who joined in last week and to say that I am featuring Lisca's post this week....her flat in Spain is developing very nicely and last week she shared her gorgeous new wash basin.....isn't it just beautiful? Thank you for sharing it with us Lisca.

As always, I have had many smiles during the last week.  It was our youngest daughter Amy's 31st birthday on Tuesday and to celebrate we had a family gathering at ours a couple of days earlier on Sunday [our first real family party since we finished the building work so it was very special].

Here is Amy with all our little grandees sat at her feet waiting for me to bring the birthday cake in so they could sing her 'Happy Birthday'.

Monday saw Steve going to his first session at their local forest school and here he is all togged up ready.....he really enjoyed his morning and is looking forward to going again next week.

Here's my little boy, Mark [yep he will always be my little boy even when he has a little one of his own] having just bought a baby carrier in readiness for their new baby in September.  The message that came with it was.....'I've got the carrier, now all I need is the baby to go in it'.  :-)

And last but by no means least here is a collage of the latest photos we have of little Milly our puppy.  Her eyes should be opening soon and she should take her first steps some time this week but as you can see she has spent her first week and a half drinking lots of milk, sleeping and becoming a real little chunky monkey......I am fast falling in love with this little pup :-)

That's all from me for this week.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called in and link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW

Yes here we are at another Wednesday exposure of our crafty spaces.  I've had a busy week with customers sewing this week and in between I have been making toys in readiness for the new puppy Milly.  Shop bought ones can prove rather expensive and don't always last very long so I did some searching for toys that could be made safely for puppies.  Aparantly fleece is a safe material and I found a few ideas on Pinterest using fleece so I found the fleece I had in store and made a start...

As you can see I do have rather a lot of fleece in store but it's either green or black and white....I'm sure Milly wont mind.  :-)

I've used the fleece double so it takes a little longer to demolish and she now has her first cuddly toy.....I plan to make a little frog one too after all what else would I make with the green? :-)

I found a link to make fleece tug of war toys using knots.....they looked simple enough to make but you should have seen the knots I got into before I worked out how to do it. :-)  I'm sure she will have many happy hours pulling me around the kitchen with these.

The other thing I am sharing today is something I found a link to on Facebook.  I always rip the ball bands off yarn when I use them so if there is any left it just goes into my yarn stash.  At a later date I then struggle to remember what ply the yarn is to use again.  Here is a link to a useful page to show us how to tell what ply it is.  I wanted it stored on my blog for me but thought it might come in handy for others too.  :-)

That's all from me for today folks.  There are still some blogs I haven't manage to leave messages on and for that I'm sorry but I will keep trying my best.  

If you are wanting to swap ATCs with me for the WOYWW anniversary don't forget to please send me your details to wipso@toucansurf.com and I will add your name to my ATC swap post.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 166

Guess I'd best start with this....

 When I got into bed last night I realised I'd not written my post for today so here's my excuse :-)

Because of my lateness this morning I will just say a huge thank you for all of you who joined in last week, add a few pics of my smiles this week and then add Mr Linky so you can all link up.

This is Jacquie who joins me for a sewing workshop every Thursday.  I call her my little ray of sunshine because my week just wouldn't be the same without her.  We chat, we drink coffee/tea, we take it in turns to provide lunch and....oh yes we do sometimes sew :-)

This week she came armed with two large scarves that she wanted converting into infinity scarves so we did a bit of cutting, some careful hemming and hey presto we made two out of each one and here we are modelling them for you.

I did wonder whether this was a better look for me though.  :-)

The other smile I'm sharing with you today is this gorgeous miniature red rose Jo bought us for our 34th Wedding anniversary this week......I know I know I'd have been let out for murder by now with good behaviour :-)

Our special day was spent in the sunshine drinking coffee in Ludlow, having a Sunday lunch in Ledbury and riding up over the Malvern hills....it was a beautiful day spent with the man I love so what more could a girl ask for?

That's all from me for today.  Sorry again for my lateness.  Please link up your smiles below and I will pop over to see what has been making your smile this week.

WOYWW....

Good morning to all on this exciting Wednesday.....Exciting?  I hear you say.  Why?

Since we had to have our old furry friend, Rocky, put to sleep on March 1st we have been searching for a new puppy but wanted one 8 weeks old around the beginning of June because we have a holiday booked in May [the first proper holiday in about 6 years :-) ].  We have been waiting patiently to hear if an expected litter we had found would include any little girls and Monday we heard that the mummy had had a litter of three puppies and one of them was a little girl.....

Meet Milly.  She is a little cairn terrier [the same as our last three dogs] and she was born at nearly midnight on 16th April.  She is just 2 days old here and isn't she a cutie?  We will go to visit her when she is about 4 weeks old then she will come to live with is when she's 8 weeks old....and I can't wait  :-)

So this is what's on my desk today....3 new little fleece blankets, two new bed pads and 4 new bed pad covers all made ready for the arrival for our new little friend Milly.

You might think I'm totally mad but the fleece blankets were just £6 for the piece so they worked out at just £2 each and the bed pads and covers were completely made out of my stash...bargain eh?

The other thing that is going on at the sewing machine this week is ATC making ready for the swap in May.  Alas I will be missing in action on the actual day but would really love anyone who would like to swap ATCs this year with me to email me your name and addresses ASAP so I can put them ready to be posted in my absence.

My email address is wipso@toucansurf.com and I plan to write a list of names in a post as you contact me so you know I've put your name on one of my ATCs....do it now so I know how many more ATCs are needed please.

The other thing I wanted to say was there were a few blogs I was unable to leave messages on last week....my Ipad has been playing up.  I did manage to read all that called on me and really love seeing what you've all been up to....there really are a lot of talent out there.  Sorry if I didn't manage to leave you a message.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 165

Hello all.  It's so good to see you here again this week.  I hope you've called in to share your smiles but if you have only called in for something to make you smile then that's OK too.  All are welcome and you are more than welcome to link up your smiles anytime in the week so please don't feel pressured to have to link up only on the Friday.  Thank you to all who joined in last week.  My featured post from last week was one of those late comers....Michelle.  She shared some gorgeous pics of her little grandchildren [and you will all know just how much I love my grandchildren].  Thanks for sharing your pics Michelle....please come back any time.

My pics are of my grandchildren this week.....several of you miss them when I don't :-)

Lexi, Sam and Steve will all be starting school in September and as you can see all three are dab hands on their computers already :-)

It was Lulu's 6th birthday last Sunday.  We all enjoyed her disco birthday party and as you can see she was just a little excited when opening her presents :-)

These three went back to school / pre-school on Monday and pulled funny faces to show me how they were feeling to be back at school after the holidays....don't you just love them to bits?  :-)

There you go....I bet you're smiling now :-)  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called in and if you can please link up your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Phew....it's been another of those weeks when there's been lots of change and not a lot on my desk that I can really share with you except this....

I've finished the little hoody and made a start with a little cardigan in a cream wool with pretty flecks of colour.....looking good so far :-)

My other 'work desk' for this week has been the living room.  We have put a plain wallpaper on three walls and the fire place wall is now a feature wall with the poppy wallpaper on it....you all know how much I love poppies don't you?

We have new matching red curtains now too and we both really love how our new home is taking shape.

I have other really exciting news to share with you too.  Yesterday I went for an interview at a Wedding dress shop that is opening a few miles from us.  They were looking for a seamstress to alter their preloved top designer dresses and they are happy for me to join the team.  The brides will be bringing their dresses to me, I will be doing the fittings in my sewing room and will be able to take on as much work as suits me so I'm thrilled to bits......so I may well be sharing some really posh frocks with you some time soon.....I'm doing a happy dance here and hope you will all feel excited for me.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.......week 164

Here we are again at our Friday happy post when we all look at the things that has made us smile in the last week.  Lots of you shared your smiles last week and I thank you all for your effort to join in the fun.  

I am featuring Elizabeth's post from last week because I just loved the poem she shared with us....Oh so right wasn't it?

I've been doing a lot of searching on Pinterest this last week looking for ideas for the new baby that is expected in September....my knitting needles are giving off sparks.  Whilst on Pinterest I saw a few things that made me chuckle so thought I'd share a few with you this week....

You should be able to click on the pic to enlarge it if you want a closer look :-)

Jo pointed out that Picasa has cropped one of the funnies so here it is in all it's glory....all I can say is 'Let them frown!'

I'm sure that some of you at least will relate to some of those....I certainly do.

That's all from me for this week.  Please leave me a little comment so I know you've called in [even if you don't link to your own smiles].  I will follow your links to see what has been making you smile this week and I hope you will join in when you can.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Here we are again at our Wednesday 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' blog post for the week.  If you still don't know what it's all about then please pop over to our Queen of snoop's blog where you will find the details and maybe you will join us.....it's a lot of fun and there really are some wonderfully talented folk out in this world we live in.

So?  You're here to see my desk aren't you?

It's that time of year when I have to get my books up to date ready to fill in my tax forms so in between my sewing jobs I've been busy with my records....not my fav job but needs must.

I have b****** curtains to shorten.  You know just how much I love curtains don't you?  As I said about book work....needs must lol

My knitting has been taking shape....just got the hood to finish knitting now.

I went with Mark and Gina on Sunday to see the latest scan on the expected little family member.....lots of oooohs and awwwws.  It's so lovely to see the little one moving, kicking and waving before it's born.

As I've nearly finished the little hoodie I'm knitting I needed to be sure I didn't run out of wool so this is the batch of yarns I've bought to get knitting with....all unisex colours cos we don't know what this one will be.....nice though aren't they?

That's all from me for today....we are busy wallpapering the living room now so I don't get a lot of spare time for crafting.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to yours when I can....if you have google+ I do read your posts but am unable to leave you a comment....sorry.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 163

Hello all.  

Firstly I must say a big sorry for being AWOL last week.  

My excuses?... 

• Hubby had the day off on Thursday which threw us all out and none of us knew what day of the week it was
• Our visitors arrived Thursday.....so from being full on with carpet fitting, preparing every room etc for their arrival to sitting chilling and enjoying their company we flagged and sleep seemed to take over us all.
• Of course no one wants to sit on the computer when you have special company

Well there you go but of course most of you didn't really expect me to be here cos you knew just what I'd be doing so all I really have to say is I hope you had loads to smile about over the Easter weekend.....you will guess that we did an awful lot of smiling, laughing, chatting and generally enjoying every minute of the last week .

My collage of pics this week is full of smiles ......

So many reasons to smile and all I am going to add is thank you for calling in.  Please leave me a little hello comment and link your smiles below so we can all see what's been making your smile this week.

Hugs,

Annie x