WOYWW....

 Hello all.  It's been a very special week for me but the only thing on my desk today is the latest selection of painting I've been doing.

I'm finding it very relaxing and am really enjoying experimenting.....and I've no sewing to share with you.

Why? I hear you ask :-)

We went on our first adventure in our motor home that we bought before Christmas.  We had a long weekend down in Chippenham and look who we bumped into at the Rowdey Cow Ice Cream farm shop. We had a really lovely day together.....Ice cream was eaten too :-)

The other thing I have to share with you is my latest collage of my ATCs.  I love each and every one.  Thanks so much. 

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 291

Oh what a week it's been!  I still have a little tenderness of the nose from catching a ladder on it on Monday and my sciatica is still lingering but I've not stopped smiling all week because last Friday we collected.....

....our new motor home. When our family was little we had several caravans over the years and even had a trailer tent at one point so we are really excited to be setting up our new motor home ready to enjoy the freedom on the roads as we near retirement.....so watch out, we may come knocking on your door :-)

Wednesday I had someone very special knocking on my door.....

....yes it's our very own Lisca who was visiting family with her lovely hubby over here in England. She told me that she had only ever met one Blogger before [Kate out in Spain] so I felt very honoured that she felt they could call in for coffee and cake....and what a lovely couple they are.

A Dutch lady who lives in a cave house in Spain, that I've 'known' for years, should call in on little old me!  Who would have thought it?  This blogging lark really does have a lot to be thankful for.

The other thing that has really made me smile this week is this.  It's the hedge down the one side of the road leading to our little bungalow.  It's maintained by the council but it was well overdue for it's hairdo so I'm thrilled to bits that they came Wednesday afternoon to cut it.....doesn't it look lovely?.....or is it just me?  :-) :-)

That's all the smiles I'm sharing for this week.  Please leave me a little message so I know you've called by and if you can then please link up to your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

I know it's not what's on my desk but I'm starting off with this photo today...

From left to right at back...me, Shaz, Doug and 

on the front [my much older sister] Jo and her daughter Maxine.

Not on my desk, no but if we didn't link up each Wednesday this group of friends would never have met. [So, many thanks Julia for hosting the group each week].  I feel like I've know Doug and Shaz for years but this was our first meet in real life.  They came to support Maxine at her craft fair in Shrewsbury on Saturday so it was by far too good an opportunity to miss so my hubby and I arranged to meet them there [my hubby is taking the photo but I'm guessing he will be in a similar photo on Shaz's post that Doug took].  I must say that both Shaz and Doug were just as lovely as I imagined they would be and we are now looking forward to meeting them again at the crop in September.

This is the little Memory bear I've made this week and he has now arrived in Wales.... so that's another country conquered.

He was made for a Grandma to give to her Grandson and at a later date she is wanting me to make 5 more bears out of her wedding dress to give to her 5 Granddaughters......happy days.

The demand for sewing has eased a little so far this week so....

On my desk today is a production line of bag making to give to Margaret for her charity.

There's a pile of orange straps completed on the right of the pic waiting for the pile of bags on the left of the pic to be made for them to be stitched on before lining.

On my cutting table is a pile of bags waiting to be lined and a pile of linings cut out ready to me made up and fitted into the bags.

 There's even a pile of 7 bags completed and waiting to be pressed before packing them up in a box with others I've made....I plan to take them all with me to the crop in September so by then there may be a few more to take with me.

That's all from me for today so just leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pay you a return visit as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 276

I know you all missed my Friday post but it was really lovely to see several of you still sharing your smiles and even linking up on the previous week's Mr Linky so thank you all so much.

I was away up in Scotland making memories and sharing many smiles with these lovely people...

 I know many of you will have seen the photo over on Elizabeth's Wednesday post but it was the only one we both have of all 4 of us together and I love it.

I'm sure you can imagine the smiles we had all week.  We went to see a castle, a seaside and Ellie even directed me to a fabric shop while we were in Glasgow....we had booked tickets to see Sarah Milligan the one night so had to had to find something to look at during the day there.  :-) :-)

When we left home our strawberries were all green so to find these beauties waiting for our return really put smiles on our faces....and these are just a few of them!!!

On last Saturday we rose early to go to watch three of our grandchildren running in the Shropshire Primary School's half marathon.  They had run the race in mile stages after school several nights and they then joined over 800 other children to run the last mile in on of the town parks....proud Nanny moments.....and little Steve even came 5th in his group which had lots of much bigger children in.

Of course I just have to finish off with the latest colours in our garden.....if they don't make you smile then I don't know what would.  Aren't they gorgeous?

I hope your week is filled with many smiles and you will share your smiles with us by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

As you will all know the 9th WOYWW blog Anniversary will be celebrated next week.  I will be joining in by sending an ATC to the next in the Mr Linky list but Jo and I like to spread the love and send out a few more to anyone who would like to join in a swap.  We have already sorted out all that's on our list below but do have a few spares if anyone else would like to swap so if so please email me on wipso2310@gmail.com and send me your details ASAP.  We do our swap together to save on postage costs so if you are sending to us both feel free to put both our ATCs in one envelope and post them to either of us....we promise to have a coffee together and share them out.

Our list so far is...

1. Julia [the boss]
2. Jan [second in command]
3. Jo [big sister]
4. Neet Hickson
5. Shaz Brooks
6. Sarah Brennan
7. Angela Radford
8. Cindy Ashplant
9. Sylvia Hildman
10. Christine Brown
11. Elizabeth Worthington
12. Nikki Carpenter  
13. Margaret Wright
14. Helen Lindfield 
15. Heather Marshall 

Now onto my desk for this week...

 Meet my new best friend.  You may have seen Jo had bought herself a new sewing machine and shared it last week.  After seeing the demo in the shop and having a play on Jo's I could see it had many functions that would make my job easier so I've taken the plunge and bought one for me too.....and having already put it to good use she has become my new best friend.....you can see I've had a little time to play with it's new stitches too.

My new friend needs a name, she's def a girl cos she thinks of everything I need to do and does it to perfection....answers in the comments please. :-)

Here's the first job I did on my new machine.  It's a little Memory bear using tiny babygros.  Isn't she cute?

Of course my new machine has already had a good workout with shortening trousers etc but it has also made these three more Memory bears mad from a much loved Husband's / Dad's dressing gown......oh what a difference my new machine makes to my teddy making.

This is the other photo I'm sharing today.  On Monday Jo came to join me in the afternoon so she could meet Margaret who called by to pick up the bags, knitted squares and Jo's knitted dollies that we made to go out to Uganda.

It's so lovely that from the little seed Julia planted all those 9 years ago that so many friendships have grown....thanks Julia x

That's all from me for this week so please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

 

WOYWW....

Hello all.  I'm sure you will have noticed I was missing from my desk last week and here's why.....

We went for a few days to South Wales to celebrate my darling hubby's birthday and to visit this lovely gal and her hubby in their new home.  They both made us feel very welcome and are such lovely people.  They took us to see the gorgeous beach they are often seen walking on and Jan and I enjoyed sitting on a huge tree that had come in with the tide while our men walked the length of the beach....as you can imagine we had a good catch up and lots of giggles.

Thanks both for making our little holiday so very special.

Of course when I came home I had been missed and have spent a few days catching up on my customers sewing.

My desk this morning is full of my items I've been busy making lately.  I've been spending time bagging items up and labelling them ready for a craft sale.....I will be having a table at Baschurch Village Hall on Sunday 2nd April 10 - 1pm....so if you're free why not pop along to say hello.

I'm just pondering now what I make next....any ideas as to what sells well folks?

That's all from me for today.  I didn't manage to visit anyone last week but promise I will do better today.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 192

Hello all.  Here we are at our catch up with the things that have made us smile in the last week.  Firstly I must thank those who took time out of their busy lives to share their smiles.....I do love seeing what makes you all happy.

I am featuring Kate's post from last week....I just love that tiny little gecko she rescued from her cat, Arwen. So tiny and yet so perfect....I just hope he survived the ordeal.  Thanks for sharing your smiles each week Kate.

I have many smiles each week.  Here's a few I thought you might like to share.....

For those who missed me on Wednesday it was cos we had taken the day off and took Milly for her first visit to the beach.  We went to Tywyn in Wales and had many smiles at Milly's reaction to the miles of sand and 'all that moving water'!

A lovely day was had by all.  :-)

We babysat this happy bunch on Saturday....as you can see when the camera comes out Poppy dog poses too  :-)

As you can see little Theo gives us all lots to smile about and here he is finding smiles for his daddy before he left for work on Sunday.  When you have to work away from home all week these special moments must help you survive.

My last pic is one that was taken last week but I hadn't managed to get on my blog til now.  It was so lovely to have a visit from Neet and that big sister of mine managed to join us too.  I really hope Neet's health improves soon.....sending you lots of love and hugs from us all Neet.

Those are a few of my happy moments from my week.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called by and if you have smiles to share then link them up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 185

Happy Friday to one and all.  Thank you to all who joined in the fun last week.  It's so lovely that you take the time out of your busy lives to share some of your smiles with us.  I'm featuring the gorgeous photo Lisca shared with us of her little Grandson....what a smiler he is.  Thanks Lisca for sharing it.

 I'm pleased to say it's been another week of smiles for me this week but the photos I'm sharing are of the customer I had yesterday.......

Yes it's Neet from the WOYWW fame and she was brought to me by her lovely hubby all the way from Bolton with some sewing jobs :-)

For those that have never met Neet she is just as lovely as you imagine and she will be coming back to see me when I've finished her sewing. :-)

She came bearing this most gorgeous gift too.....I love it and it will be found a home on the wall in my sewing room.  Thank you so much Neet. :-)

The other thing I'm smiling at is the row of yellow hangers on my to do rail with all the sewing jobs Need brought to me.  They will keep me out of mischief for a while and I'm really thrilled to be sewing for her.....bet you can imagine what I will be doing today...and every job will find me smiling.  :-)

So, those are my smiles for this week.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called by and link up your smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

I'm sharing a different desk with you this week.  Yesterday we had a very special visitor join us for a day of fun and crafting.....and what a wonderful day we had too.  It was yet another friendship that we have WOYWW wednesday fun to thank for.

So here are just a few snaps of our day yesterday...

Yes folks our special visitor was none other than our very own

LUNCH LADY JAN  

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)  

I'd met Jan before but it was the first time Jo and Jan had met and we all got on like we'd know each other for years....I suppose we have really :-)

Of course we do have a desk to share with you...it was Jo's sewing table and here is Jan learning how to machine embroider with Jo and I.

That's my machine on the far side of the table but I have to be honest and say it didn't even get plugged in....far too much to chat about of course  :-) [of course I do have the excuse that I had been up since 6am and done the school run before :-) ].

A wonderful lunch was put on by that much older sister of mine....thanks Jo it was really yummy.

Oh how blessed we are to have made such wonderful friends thanks to our Wednesday fun....Thanks Julia xxxx

That's all from me for today so just leave me a message so I know you've called and I will pop over to see what you've been up to.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Hi folks.  There's not a lot going on on my desk today see...

There is my next top all ready for sewing waiting but it's been cut out and ready for weeks and as yet I've not even done the pin tucks.

But I do have something else to share with you.  

Look who drove up to meet Jo and I on Monday....it's our very own Sam [Hetticraft].  I feel like I've known her for years but until Monday we had never met in real life......It's yet another friendship made because of our wonderful WOYWW and she's just as lovely as I imagined.  We chatted, ate cake, visited our local fabric shop, chatted, lunched, ate more cake, chatted, drank coffee/tea ....oh and did I mention ate cake? [thanks for making such yummy cakes Jo].  Our time flew by so quickly but we parted with the promise we will do it again....as soon as...

Thanks for coming Sam xxxx

Of course with Sam comes Fergus and as you can see he made himself at home reading the latest book Jo had made for little Ben while us ladies chatted....and ate cake!

The only other thing I've got to share with you is the latest before pic of the end of my new sewing room [in the making].  The doors on the right and left of this pic will eventually be blocked up but, this week, we hope to have a builder coming to put in a new door and two new windows in the end wall.....keep everything crossed for us please and I will try to keep you up to date with developments.  :-)

Thanks for calling by.  Please leave me a little hello message to let me know you've called by and I will pay you a return visit as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

What happened on our WOYWW :-)

As most of you guessed yesterday my big sister Jo and I were taken on an adventure yesterday by my darling hubby.  He took the day off work to take us to see Jozart at Abakhan in Liverpool.  He put the post code into the sat nav and drove us right up to the door to drop us off :-)

We went armed with many bags full of goodies to surprise Jozart with and what a surprise it was.  :-)

She knew we were planning to get to see her at some point if we could but had no idea when.  When we arrived we sussed out the floor she was doing her LillyBo quilt making demo on and snook in to find her.  As we arrived she was showing her patchwork samples and chatting to a customer so we lurked behind the fabric shelves til she had finished....it seemed like hours cos we were both feeling pretty excited at finding her.

Eventually we made ourselves known and what a greeting we got....think she was just as excited as us.  We all said that we felt we had known each other for a life time and I promise you we weren't disappointed....Jozart is just as lovely as we imagined.

Here she is sat at her demo area surrounded by her quilted items.  She had displayed some of the LillyBo quilts and it was so lovely to see one each of mine and Jo's and many others that we had previously only seen on the LillyBo blog.  She had also made several smaller quilted items she had made to give people an insight into quilting.

What a fab demo she did and passed on several brilliant tips to us.

She had gone prepared with two gorgeous quilted hearts to give Jo and I as gifts just in case we turned up.....aren't they stunning?

We both love them Jo so thank you so much for all the time and love you put into making them for us.

As you can imagine a lot of chatting, laughing and fun went on throughout the day and am certain we all felt it came to an end far too quickly.

We have been on line friends for several years but there really is nothing quite meeting in real life so I do hope we will meet up again before too long.

From left to right....Jo, Jozart and me

 

There were two whole floors full of shelves covered with fabric, lace, ribbons, beads, buttons, threads etc etc etc so you can imagine we were like kids in a sweet shop.  :-)  You wouldn't expect us to go to such a well stocked fabric shop without buying a few bits [ would you???] but that wasn't the main focus of my day  :-)  Friendship is priceless.  :-)

Huge thanks must go to my darling hubby for making it a very special day for us all....love you to bits xxxx

WOYWW....

Good morning to all my blogging friends.  Last week was rather hectic for me as many of you will already know.  We had headed down to a gorgeous B and B near Trowbridge for the week and while we were down there my darling hubby and I met up with some very special friends.

You will have seen  this pic on the other blogs but it is such a happy pic I just have to share it too.  I'm the beached whale on the left [the weight is going!!!!], next is the love of my life, then Jan, Di and last but by no means least Julia of course.  I feel like I've known them for ever and it was really special to meet them all for real....Thank you girls for making me feel so very welcome.

Di came with a bag full of goodies.  Just look at the gorgeous candle and magnetic book mark with my fav poppies on and she gave me two advent calendars to make for my grandchildren.    Thanks so much Di.  You really are a gem.

When we got back from our hols this gorgeous parcel full of goodies was waiting for me all the way from Egypt.  I won it over at Roudi's blog and will have lots of fun playing with it....I have already put some of the ribbon to good use in the photo below.  Thanks Roudi for pulling my name out.

The other thing I want to share today is a pic of my oldest granddaughter Phoebe on Sunday night....she had to try on her new school uniform for Nanny Annie to see what a big girl she is now....where has that time gone?

My first job on being back at work on Monday was to sew labels on all of Phoebe's school uniform....Oh happy memories of doing the very same job for her mummy, what seems like only weeks ago!

As you can see her uniform is grey with purple cardigans and Amy has really struggled to find hair accessories in purple so of course I spent Sunday morning making her some.....

Here are her newly made hair pretties and of course she needed somewhere to keep them all so I popped over to Louise's blog at Sew Scrumptious for inspiration and I made her a hanger to keep them all safe.  Thanks Louise for the inspiration.....and of course thank you to Roudi for just the perfect pink ribbon the make it with.  :-) :-)

I had one very happy little girl when she saw it all.  :-) :-) :-)

 Last but by no means least.....what was on my desk yesterday.  It was a full day of planning, printing and cutting of all the components to make the wedding stationery for Mark and Gina's wedding next August.

• 3 guilotines [2 for cutting and 1 for scoring]
• Martha Stewart deep edged lace punch
• 3 fold cards for the invites
• white pearlised paper
• lots of pink card

This finished invite has 4 printed inserts and we even managed to get them with their headings perfectly stepped to fit in the lace edged pocket.  :-)

We started 9.30 and finished after 5 with only a half hour lunch break but we had a lovely girly day full of laughter and tears [Gina shared with me their chosen first dance....it's just perfect].

Life should be full of days like that  :-)

Thank you to you all for calling by and leaving such lovely comments.  I'm sorry if it's rather a long post but I did have rather a lot I wanted to share  :-)

I wasn't able to leave you all comments last week while we were away but I did get to read most of your blogs.....I promise to do better this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Hello to all my wonderful visitors this week.  Another Wednesday means another day of showing and telling and sharing our spaces with blogging friends all over the world.....and yes I do mean all over the world.  I have so far had 19 requests to swap ATC with me for the 4th year celebrations of this wonderful group and at least 8 of those are from over sea friends [and yes I do consider you as friends....just ones I haven't met as yet].  If your name isn't on my list to swap and you'd like it to be please email me at wipso@toucansurf.com with your details.

This week saw the situation changed for one of my WOYWW friends.  On Thursday my darling hubby took me to a local pub to stalk Neet who was in the area [ I had warned her first of course :-)  ] and wahooooooo I can now say I have met her....... trust me when I say she is just as lovely as I though she was.  We sat and chatted as though we had known each other for years [which of course we had!].  Life should be filled with days like that.

And here's the proof  :-)

I haven't had a lot of time for crafting this week but will show you what I have been up to...

My work rail has filled and emptied several times.  

 

Here there is...

• 9 pair of shortened trousers
• 2 altered dresses
• a jacket that I've shortened the sleeves on

and that's not all.

I had to redesign a couple of chair pads to make a fitted seat pad for an elderly gentleman to use in his can to aid with comfort after hip surgery.  This all had to be hand sewn!

A trip to Ikea resulted in a new Expedit storage unit....alas not for crafting storage though!

This was needed to house toys for the grandchildren.  We had bags and boxes full of toys everywhere and needed to tidy things up for all the house viewing we are hoping to get now we have reduced the sale price  :-)

Keep your fingers crossed for us please.

On top of all that...

• You might have seen on Jo's blog that we have also fitted in a theatre night out to see 'Made in Brum'....a brilliant night out.  
• We have visited our good friend in her care home...she is always thrilled to see us on our fortnightly visits.
• Caught up with the family
• Oh and I've done a bit of dusting, cleaning, tidying, ironing etc etc....you know, all those little things that need keeping up to date when your house is on the market  :-)

So....it's been just a normal sort of week over here.....how about you?
If you leave me a little hello comment I will do my best to pay you a return visit in between this weeks activities  :-)

Hugs,
Annie x