This week's smiles....week 231

Happy Friday everyone.  I really hope you've had a week full of smiles and would like to share a few with us. Many thank to the 5 of you that shared their smiles last week....I do love to read happy posts so please keep up the good work my friends.

I've found a few pics that have made me smile this week and hope they make you smile too....

On Tuesday I had a fun day with little Theo and what a lovely time we had too.  He is such a happy and contented little man and is so like his daddy was as a baby.....happy memories.

Steve was invited to a Knights birthday party and as you can see he was having a lovely time with his friends all dress up as knights.

Lexi and Sam sent me this pic of them playing together on their Gerald giraffe in the pool on their holidays....they are such good little friends.

Little Milly insists on climbing into my fabric boxes every time I get them out so I have made up a spare Ikea box for her and as you can see she's settled in nicely....why did we buy her a new dog's bed a couple of weeks ago I ask myself.  :-)

She's happy anywhere as long as she's close to me....and the feeling is mutual of course.

My last pic I'm going to share with you today is one my son, Mark, sent me yesterday morning at 5 o'clock in the morning as he left for work....one of the joys of having to leave so early in the morning eh?

If that doesn't make you smile then I don't know what will....even if its just the fact that you can share it without having to get up at such an early hour.

I hope I've brightened your day and you can find a pic or two to share with us this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Well, that lacking Mojo last week hasn't stopped me being productive thankfully.  The work flooded in last week because it was the last week of the school term here and a lot of folk had left things to the last minute so it was Annie to the rescue most of the week. 

But even that didn't stop me finishing my three eye spy quilts....

The exciting thing is that I have now sold two of my quilts and have had really lovely feedback about them including this photo of a little Grandson enjoying his quilt...

How special is that?

These are the three School memory bears I made last week to give as leaving gifts to three teachers....and apparently they really loved them.

I love my job.

And here's my desk for this week....I'm in the middle of making three memory cushions from three jumpers.  They were favourite jumpers worn by a much loved Dad / Grandad and are to hold special memories for three family members.

I always keep my tissues to hand when discussing the needs for special items like these and my motto is that 'my hugs come free' as a bit of comforting is usually required when remembering these much loved people.....my nursing training is never wasted is it?

That's it for me today.  As you can see I will be head down busy sewing all day today....I had a day of fun yesterday with little Theo so that his mummy could go into school and prepare her classroom ready to start back teaching after the summer holidays.

Hugs,

Annie x

Friday's smiles....week 230

Before I start to tell you about my week I want to say a big thank you to all who joined in the fun last week by sharing their smiles.  I really do love to see what's making you all happy so thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to link up.

So onto what's been making me smile this week? 

What a week it's been here for me....it started off with my Mojo going on holiday and I really was struggling to get creative.  I mentioned this on my Wednesday post and the comments that came back really made me smile.  What a truly wonderful lot of friends I've got.....many I've never met [hopefully I will meet many more at the crop at Llandudno in September though] but even from a distance you were able to really make my day. You lifted my creative spirits my friends so thank you soooooo much.

From having a couple of quieter weeks this week turned manic.  Everyone had left much wanted sewing to the last minute so I've been chasing my tail all week to not disappoint anyone. 

I've...

• Shortened two dresses for my daughter, taken one of them in on the side seams and lifted it on the shoulders ready for her holidays
• Shortened two hems on an evening dress ready for a posh event
• Shortened the sleeves on a young man's jacket ready for his school prom
• Made 3 school memory bears to give as end of year gifts
• Altered a Kindle cover/stand for one of my customers to take away with him on his holidays

.....and yes it all makes me smile because I love my job and work best when under pressure. I was rewarded for my efforts by selling another of my eye spy quilts yesterday too so that really made me smile.

My photos for this week are of my orchids because they are really stunning at the mo and two of my plants that flowered last year have thrown out new flower shoots and yesterday when I snapped the pics the first of these new flower shoots had a bloom opening.  

I hope these have made you smile today.  You should be able to click on the pics to enlarge them if you want a closer look.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called in and then link up to your own smiles below.  I will be along as soon as I can to check them out.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Here we are at another weekly catch up with all those exposed desks.  Mine seems to be much of the same each week at the mo.  I am getting a steady flow of sewing jobs for my customers but when it comes to my creative time in between I'm struggling.....Mr Mojo has gone on holiday and I really can't wait for him to come back.  I've really tried to make a start on a new project but it just won't come so I fall back onto some fairly mindless creating to fill my spare time....I can't sit idle.  My moto for life is to make every day count so even if they don't sell I will donate them to make money for charity.

So this is my desk for today...

It's three more eye spy quilts in the making.  I just need to cut wadding and backings now for them so I can get them quilted and finished.  I've sold one so far and if you zoom in you will see there is the two completed ones folded on the top of the boxes behind by my blind hemmer and overlocker. My creativity will go as far as choosing fabrics and spacing the squares evenly over the quilt but that's about it.  I plan to get these finished then pull out fabrics, threads and maybe even wool rovings to see if I can summon up some enthusiasm to make something.

Short and sweet for today.  I hope very soon I will have something a little more creative to share with you.  Thanks for calling in each week and leaving me such lovely comments [especially Sarah Brennan who I visit each week but am unable to leave comments....google+!!!].

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 229

What a lovely week it's been.  Many thanks to all who joined in the fun last week.  It's so lovely to share all your happy moments captured in your photos.

It's been another week of smiles here for us mostly around our gorgeous grandchildren so here's a few pics I can share....

Little Theo just loves water and here he is having the time of his life at the local splash play park.

He popped to see me on Wednesday to show me how fast he can crawl now and what a clever boy he is pulling himself up on Nanny's table....they grow up just too quickly!

On Sunday Lexi had a day of competitions with the Gymnastics club she belongs to so we had Sam for the day.  This first thing he did was to climb into Milly's cage to tease his mummy that that was where we were going to put him for the day.

We actually had a few surprises planned for him.  We had booked tickets to go for a ride on the Welshpool to Llanfair steam train and his other surprise was that Amy, her hubby and their three had booked to come with us.  They all love spending time together and we all enjoyed the train ride and picnic lunch we had taken with us.

When we got back home neither of Sam's parents had got back so Grandad got down on the floor and enjoy special play time with Sam and the technic lego.....I'm not sure who enjoyed it most.

When Lexi returned with her mummy she very proudly showed us her medals....she had been awarded a 2nd in her tumble routine and 3rd in the group floor routine.....so proud of you Lexi.

The last pics I've got to show you today is this one of Milly.  As you can see we are watching the tennis on the telly but Milly is much more interested in her bird watching on the bird feeders just outside the window.  I'd like to think she just loved birds but I have a feeling her love is more of the 'catch them and eat them' variety.

Just look at my orchids on the windowsill too....they are just gorgeous and so far are really thriving for me.

There you go.  I've lots of smiles to share today as you can see.  We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful family all living so close to us and really love sharing every stage in their lives and little Milly never fails to make us chuckle.  Hope you're smiling too now.

Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and, if you can, then link up to your smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Here we are again, catching up with our creative friends from all around the world.  I love my Wednesday catch ups. So? What have you all been up to this week?  If you want to join in the fun then pop over to Julia our head WOYWWer at The Stamping Ground. 

I showed you the eye spy quilt I'd made last week.  I loved making it and when I shared it in my Sewing by Annie Facebook page I had a lot of interest so this week this is what I've been up to...

I cut out another 112 4" [56 for each quilt] squares and sewed them together ready to make two more quilts.

Here they are finished.  They each have 7 x 8 squares in the middle to talk about / play eye spy with but each one is backed / edged differently......and one of my quilts has already sold. 

So.....

Whilst watching the tennis I've now cut out enough squares to make three more quilts....I'm on a roll as you can see.

Any that I don't sell will be used to make money for local charities and I'm really loving making them.

I think someone else is enjoying me making the quilts too cos every time I pull out a box of fabrics she climbs in.....I think she thinks this is her new bed.

That's my show and tell for this week.  Hope you have enjoyed seeing what I've been up to.  As you can see I'm happily quilt making at the mo but who knows what next week will bring for me.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 228

Happy Friday to you all.  It's nearly the weekend so that's def something to smile about isn't it?  Many thanks to those who joined in the fun last week.  I do love seeing what makes you all smile so please keep up the good work folks.

My smiles this week focus on our younger family members mainly.....

Here's Phoebe, Lulu and Steve enjoying some fun in the sun in a swimming pool.  They can all swim now and really love playing together in the pool.

Lexi and Sam are posing proudly wearing the stickers they were given at their school sports day.  Sam had a first and a third in his races and Lexi had a special gold award for being a best friend and looking after one of her little friends who fell over in her race.

Little Theo is really enjoying his tea as you can see.....don't you just love it when they wear almost as much as they eat?  I have some fab photos of my three with blueberry pie, beetroot, chocolate etc all round their faces when they were little.  I love this age....they learn something new every day.

And the last pic I'm sharing today is this one.  It's of my hubby's can of shaving foam that came alive on it's shelf when we weren't looking this week.  I'm not sure what had happened.  It could have been the heat I suppose but the full can had completely emptied itself while our backs were turned.

There you go that's my smiles for this week.  Please leave me a little message and if you can then please link up to your own smiles for this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Happy Wednesday everyone.  I decided after the last craft sale [having not sold a single item] to have a break from making items just to fill my really useful boxes as they are already full with items waiting for customers to buy and decided to make something to raise some money for a local charity so that's what I'm sharing with you today.....

You may remember the eye spy quilt I made last year for my 5 [now 6] grandchildren to play with when they come to Nanny Annie's.  They have really loved it and it has been well played with by all...the smallest are happy just to lie on it but there is so much that can be learnt when playing eye spy with it.....colours, numbers, shapes, etc etc so I decided to make another one.

Here are some of the 4" squares of fabric being cut out.  I decided that 7 x 8 would be a good size so 42 squares later.....

I mixed up the colours etc and stitched them into 7 rows of 8 squares then arranged them on my table so that no two adjoining squares matched and then stitched the rows together.

I then cut and attached a border around the sides and found wadding and backing to fit.  I used what was left in a spray can of temporary fabric adhesive to hold the layers together and pinned the layers well before quilting it all together. I used a stitch in the ditch method to quilt it so that each square stands out.

I like to make the backing fabric big enough so it can be turned over to make a binding all round the edges.  I've folded this over twice and pinned in place mitering the corners before stitching in place with a decorative stitch.

Ta da!  It's finished now so I've just got to find a charity to give it to.

I plan to take orders if anyone would like one making but thought I would make a 10 x 10 grid on a large sheet of paper for people to pay £1 per square and this one would then raise £100 for a worthy cause.

I've loved making this one so may make another as I'm not short of suitable fabric. 😁😁😁😁

Thanks for calling by today.  I will do my best to pay you a return visit....there were a few I didn't get to last week and I'm sorry for that but will try hard to visit as many as I can.
Hugs,
Annie x