This week's smiles....week 314

Wahoooo Spring is here so what's not to smile about?  I think this has to be my favourite season by far.  I'm surrounded by sprouting garden flowers and every field round about appears to be full of little lambs and new life.

We had a ride out in the motor home at the weekend and there really did seem to be new lambs everywhere I looked....and of course from the front seat in a motor home you can see over the hedges so I could see so many more than from a car.....I love the Motor home life.

I have a few pics to share with you but none of the lambs sorry.

Tuesday was a fun filled day spent with my hubby and little Theo.  I really love this photo because they were deep in conversation about what they were making and it was all the more special because the K'nex they were playing with belonged to Theo's daddy, Mark and I have very happy memories of him playing with it too.

Lexi and Sam came for an hour after school on Wednesday while their mummy was at their parents evening....the Lego is always something they all love playing with and some of that was mine when I was little....it very long lasting isn't it?  :-) 

These little violets are just outside my sewing room door and they make me smile every time I look at them.  As a child I always picked a few of the first primroses and violets for my Nan so these hold very special memories for me.

Last week I included a pic of the very first tulip in the garden but now they are opening our everywhere and there are red, yellow and cream ones too....just gorgeous.

This is a tree we planted in our back garden just a couple of years ago and I couldn't resist snapping this pic yesterday when I noticed it was all coming out into bloom....just look at that blue sky behind it!!!  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

There you go.  Maybe you can see why I love Spring?  I hope I've made you smile too.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Several of you have been asking about details about this years WOYWW crop.  Julia put a post up earlier in the week but for those that missed it I have copied it here for you.....Please leave numbers over at Julia's to avoid confusion.....and soon as possible so we can get organised at this end please.

Our event will take place on June 1st 2019    10am – 4pm

It will be held at:

Radbrook Community Centre, Calverton Way, Radbrook Green, Shrewsbury SY3 6DZ

This is the link if you want to find out more    https://www.radbrook.org.uk/

The venue is about 1 mile east of the A5 junction with the A488.

It is easy to find by road and about 10 minutes from the centre of town by bus.

The bus station is a 5 minute walk from the rail station.

Bus Number 20 Radbrook Green.

There is a Premier Inn next door to the bus station but also lots of other accommodation in town, should you want it.

Lunch will be a finger food cold buffet. Cake and tea/coffee will be available all day. 

The cost will be £10 per person to cover food, hall fees etc.

In the past some of our lovely menfolk have also joined us so please let us know that too so we can count them in the numbers.

** We need to know numbers as soon as possible so please let Julia know by commenting on her blog. **

There will be the usual activities plus some celebratory frivolity!!

So…

• Bring any crafty activity you might wish to do on the day

• There will be a raffle table and, in the past most folk have donated a little raffle prize. All proceeds will go to the chosen charity for the day.

• We will also set a table aside for any items you may wish to swap/pass on to others. (If they are still there at the end of the day, please take them home with you)

I hope that helps and I really hope as it's also to celebrate 10 years of fun and friendship you will all make the extra effort to join us....the more the merrier.

Now to what is on my desk today.  The answer is not a lot but for those that haven't seen my latest little bear here's a pic...

 He's made using tiny babygros to remember just how small the little boy was who used to wear them.  I've manages to applique the boat on the one front....I have to use the back panel of the babygro to get a big enough piece to make a bear front out of so if I can I like to take the detail off the front of the babygro and applique it on the front of the bear...cute eh?

Sorry I've not got more to share with you today but I had a full day's fun with little Theo yesterday so had little time for sewing ;-)

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 313

Another week has passed and all around me have been things to make me smile so here's my shares for this week....

It's been Red Nose Day here this week and to raise money for the charities our Grandchildren were allowed to go to school like his on Friday...and of course pay for the pleasure :-)

Sam proudly collected his latest batch of badges he'd earned at Beavers and his mummy had the fun of sewing them on his jumper.....well done Sammy.

I well remember the lack of privacy when you have children but this is priceless... when she turned around to use the toilet before the school run this is what Amy saw!

As you can see little Molly puppy is growing fast and has well settled in to her new home now.

Just sometimes when I'm on Facebook I see something that makes me chuckle and as an ex nurse this one amused me so I thought I'd share it with you.

Plus finally just in case nothing has made you smile yet here's a few snaps I've taken of the treasures around our garden at the mo....Spring certainly is bursting out all over here in Shrewsbusy.

I really hope you've enjoyed my smiles this week and will leave me a little comment before linking up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

It's been a busy desk here at Sewing by Annie's this week so I will share a few pics of what's been going on...

We were babysitting for Amy's three on Friday night and after picking the children up from school they requested crafty fun so we made pom-poms....Phoebe made the unicorn at the front and the two to the right are the two 'dogs' like their two at home that Lulu made from joining two together so they had heads and bodies.

This is the Arsenal pom-pom that Steve made.

The pom pom makers are brilliant for quickly making pom-poms so they get a result before boredom sets in for the younger children.

Phoebe wanted to make a heart to give to her mummy so we made a heart shape from card and stuck lots of pom-poms on the front and attached a ribbon so Amy could hang it up....I think we were all rather pleased with the results.

Making one pom-pom was as much as Steve wanted to make so he played with the Lego with his Grandad while I had a sewing session with the girls.

Phoebe is 10 now and Lulu will be 9 next month so I suggested they had a first lesson on the sewing machine....of course they jumped at the chance.

Here they are carefully cutting out some hair bows.  I don't have photos of them on the sewing machine because, of course, my hands were being used to guide them but ......

Here's the results....5 hair bows on bands and 7 hair scrunchies [one of the bows was already in Lulu's hair at this point :-)

It was a brilliant first lesson. They learnt how to..

• pin a pattern on two layers of different materials with the right sides together.
• carefully cut out the fabric around the pattern in the corner of the fabric so it's not wasting any
• Stitch the two layers together on the sewing machine on the seam allowance and leaving a gap to turn right sides out
• Turn right sides out of the bows and pushing edges out to the row of stitching to get a point and proper shape before pressing.
• Turn a tube right sides out and threading the elastic through for the scrunches.
• and of course which scissors are allowed for cutting paper/fabrics ;-)

They were really proud of the finished results and went to school Monday morning wearing one each so they could tell their teachers how they made them....and of course you can see just how much I love my grandchildren that I allowed them free choice of my fabrics :-) :-)

On my desk today is another little Memory bear being made from babygros so you can see my desk sure has had some action this week.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit this week....sorry it's a rather longer post this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 312

Another week has passed and I've yet more smiles to share with you.

As the twins celebrated World Book Day on Friday last week instead of the Thursday I didn't have their pics to share with you when I wrote my blog so here's their outfits....Lexi is Veruca Salt and Sam is Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  A fun time was had by all as you can see.

Sam didn't find learning to swim easy but is now going from strength to strength and has now gained the next swim certificate.....well done young man, so proud of you.

When I was a little girl one of my party pieces was to touch the back of my head with both feet at the same time and Lexi is determined to be able to do the same as her Nanny....she's getting there and is now just an inch off.

I struggle to believe I was ever so flexible now because there are days when I can't even put my socks on!!....old age!!

Amy sent me this pic of Molly puppy with the slogan...

"She's no lady!!"

My comment was that she's obviously very relaxed and at home there now and at least she does have her legs crossed!  :-)  What a cutie she is now.

I found this on Facebook and thought I'd share it with all you Grandmothers out there....this certainly applies to me, how about you?

That's all my shares for today.  Please leave me a little comment and, if you can, then link to your own smiles below.

Hope you all have a great week filled with smiles.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello all.  I'm after brownie points from Julia this week cos it's a quickie from me today.  I've nothing much on my desk I can share today so thought you'd like to see the Memory bear and Memory dog I've made this week....

This little Memory bear is for an up and coming celebration but I can't share the details on his label with you yet....he's a real party bear don't you think?

I've not made a Memory dog for ages so it was really lovely to make one for a change and this one is made from a special fleece blanket so is rather cuddly.  I loved making him and his new owner really loves him so it was a job well done.

That's my lot for this week....short and sweet just how Julia likes it.

If you leave me a message to let me know you've called by then I will do my best to return the favour.  Hope you all have a wonderfully creative week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 311

I have just been looking back at some of my Smiley posts and was amazed that I first started writing them way back on 18th Jan 2013!! What a lot of happy posts eh?  Many more joined in back then and it was really lovely to see what was making everyone smile.  If you'd like to see what was making me smile back then here's a link.... My First Friday Smiles post.  It wont surprise you that my Grandchildren featured in that one because they never fail to make me smile....and this week is no exception.

Lots of you have come to see Theo in his Stick Man outfit....I'm sorry to say that it's just not going to happen....but I'm still laughing about it.  I only have the one photo of it and at this point it's not quite finished....

 ....the top has had slits cut in the bottoms of the sleeves and around the bottom of the top.  The headband has had black centres drawn in the eyes.

It fit and looked really lovely.... to us that is! Theo was fine until he saw himself wearing it in the mirror and he went into meltdown saying..."I'm not Stick Man I'm just Theo".  He insisted it was taken off and refused to wear it.

Gina was so sorry that I'd spent time making his outfit and ended up buying him some Peter rabbit pyjamas to wear instead.  She put the outfit in a bag to take to Nursery with him, just in case, and was greeted by two other mums at the Nursery door with outfits in bags too.  It must be something to do with the age of the beasts but it has certainly caused lots of giggles.  

Here's Amy's three dressed up.  Lulu and Steve were two little puppies from 101 Dalmatians and Phoebe is Hermione from the Harry Potter books.

You will all be used to Poppy Dog sitting in on their photos but it really make us smile to see little Molly has joined in too....she really has made herself at home now.

The twins school is celebrating World Book Day today so I don't have any pics of them as yet.

My other smiles this week are of these two.  They are getting used to each other now as you can see.  Poppy is such a placid tempered dog that when Molly wants to play and nips at her legs she just walks away and wont tell her off but when it comes to nap time they are happy to snuggle up together.

The bottom pic came with the slogan....a cuddle or strangle?  :-) :-)

That's all my smiles for this week so please leave me a comment and then share your smiles with us too by linking below.

WOYWW....

It's a quick post from me today because I will be busy using this little lot.....

Tomorrow is WORLD book day and Theo wants to go to Nursery dressed as Stick Man.  His mummy [who would normally sort out his dressing up outfits] is very busy at school with Ofsted so I have offered to help out by making his outfit.  It can only be a tunic top and head gear because he is potty training so will need quick access to his trousers so I plan to get making today so it can be collected later ready for morning.....I imagine I will post a pic of little Stick Man on my Friday post.

For those that don't know who Stick Man is here is a pic....

He's a little stick that comes alive and goes on adventures while looking for his way to get home.....it's a book written by Julia Donaldson who wrote the Gruffalo and is a firm favourite of Theo's

That's all from me for this week....short and sweet just the way Julia likes it [and not my norm :-)].  If you'd like to leave me a little message so I know you've called by I will do my best to pop over to yours when I can.
Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles....week 310

Oh what a week filled with smiles it's been for me this week.  It's been half term holidays for my grandchildren so there's been busy, fun filled days for them and of course they share them all with me so here's a few collages of what they've been up to this week...

Lexi and Sam had a few days taking in the sights of London with their mum and dad and were so excited at all they saw....

• London eye
• Science museum
• National History museum
• Madame Tussauds

...to name but a few. 

Steve had been encouraged to attend a goalkeeper training day because the trainers at his after school sessions had seen real potential in his playing. So on Friday he attended a day of goalkeeper training ....and at the end of the day he was given yet another award for player of the day....he really loves his football and we are all so proud of his achievements.

On Tuesday night Steve went for his matchday experience at the Shrewsbury Town ground for the Shrewsbury v Doncaster match.  He was one of the flag bearers when the players came out onto the pitch and then, during half time interval, the children played a game on the pitch...Steve in goals of course.

He not only made several really good saves but the crowd cheered him when he did....trust me when I say there was a very proud Daddy and Grandad watching him play....he's a star.

Not only that but Shrewsbury Town went on to win their game too so a very happy hubby came home Tuesday night.

Lulu was really chuffed Tuesday night when she gained her Golden badge at Brownies....more sewing for Nanny now I guess.  :-)

We have a new family member this week too....meet Molly puppy.  Amy and family have been searching for a while now for another puppy, a friend for Poppy dog.  They searched and chose very carefully and managed to find the perfect litter bred with children in the house and fetched little Molly home on Sunday morning.

We popped over to see her on Sunday afternoon and she is simply adorable and as you can see has settled in very well at her new home.

On top of all that excitement we also went with Mark and Gina for a second viewing at a 4 bedroomed house they fancied and I'm really pleased to say they have now put in an offer and it's been accepted....please keep everything crossed for them.

So, as you can see it's been a really busy week for me and the family...and it doesn't stop there because  Sunday is 3rd March and my darling hubby will be 65....he will be retiring in July so there will be lots of smiles and celebrations up and coming.  Happy Birthday gorgeous man....love you to the moon and back.

Hugs,

Annie x