WOYWW....

 Hello all.  My name is Annie and I'm an OAP

It was my birthday Monday and at last I have reached 66 which means I can recieve my state pension.....but for those thinking I will be stopping sewing I wont.  I love my job so will be continuing to sew.  I may a little more selective on the jobs I take on and will def be enjoying my time with the grandchildren and the time we spend on adventures in our caravan but I do plan to carry on working, at least for a while yet.

I've had some beautiful flowers and even had a Happy Retirement balloon plus I have been spoilt rotton with a lovely meal out and a trip to the theatre to see Vincent Simone [of Strictly come dancing fame] in his Argentine Tango dance show....it was amazing.

We are back to the theatre tonight to see Sarah Milligan and I am really looking forward to that.

I completed the first 'gifted' Advent calendar and when I went to cut the second one out I discovered it was actually two folded up together so I have now made 3 and will be selling them for the Harry Johnson trust.

Now this is def a coincidence.  On my desk today is two piles of clothing to make bears from.  

The turquoise set on the right hand side is to have a school bear made for a little girl who has just left school in Australia.

The white/grey set is to make 3 memory bears for a lady who lives in Australia and they will be flying out to their new home when finished.

I'm conquering the world folks :-)

That's all from this OAP for today.  I will do my best to pop over to yours as soon as I can but it's a fun day with Louie today so please be patient with me.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 393

 Firstly....Today is my birthday so please raise a glass and help me celebrate.

It's my 21st [3rd time round but who's counting?]

These are strange times we are living in but let's not let that stop us celebrating.

I always write my Friday post on a Thursday so I'm sharing a few early birthday presents with you.  Shell and family bought me the top left set...I will enjoy the jigsaw over Christmas probably, the new Luna Lapin and friends book is gorgeous and the Monopoly game will be put to good use I'm sure.

My big sister gave me the top right lavender bags [the one in the middle was made from her Wedding Dress] so those are very special plus of course a few pennies to go with them.

The flowers came from our special friends, Ellie and Alan from Scotland.  They came in a flat packed box all wrapped up individually 'sleeping'....aren't they gorgeous?

Last Saturday we went with Shell and the twins to watch the Salmon jumping up the weir in Shrewsbury.  This happens at this time every year, of course, but it was the first time I had ever been to see it.  The power of the water was amazing so you have to really feel for the fish having to jump over to weir to reach their spawning grounds.  As you can see in the photos a few actually jumped so high they jumped out on the side but very quickly got themselves back in the water.

Nature is truly amazing.

Pre-lockdown we usually went for a walk at Attingham Park on a Sunday but to go now you have to book a slot to visit and as you never know what the weather is going to be like so we haven't been for probably 7 months.  Sunday this week we decided to book up and go and oh how I have missed it.  The grounds are all in their Autumn colours now and it was so lovely there.  These are a few pics I took to share with you.....we hope to go again soon...weather allowing.

So, that's my shares for you today.  Don't forget to raise a glass with me and share a few smiles by linking up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 295

It's been my birthday week so there's been lots to smile about.  When your birthday is mid week you just have to catch up with family members at the weekend so it spreads the celebrations over a week....and I've been well and truly spoilt.

There's been...

• Flowers
• Parcels to open
• Envelopes to open [with the help of little Theo of course]
• Hugs and kisses and of course
• Cake....a chocolate cake too :-)

Here's just a few of my smiles...

I was treated out to brunch by Theo and his mummy, Gina, on my birthday morning and then Theo and I enjoyed lots of fun and giggles for the rest of the day....here we are playing and singing 'Wheels on the bus'.

Cant you have a lot of fun with a cardboard box, some paper plates and some double sided sticky tape?

The box was what my next smile came in.....

On Wednesday my hubby took the day off to run me to the Dr's for my annual blood tests and then took Milly to be clipped.

During the morning he had an erection on the front drive....this is a new clip on awning for our motor home and will allow us to put up table and chairs etc and then unclip it to drive away whilst we are camping.....exciting times eh?

When these two get together they are inseparable.  Lulu is such a loving big cousin to little Theo.....and I rather think the feeling is mutual.

Here's Steve trying on his new Shrewsbury Town football hat and scarf....a late birthday present and he's rather pleased with it as you can see.

 This is my last smile to share with you today...it was sent to me from our Dutch friends and as you can imagine it's caused lots of giggles.....if only eh?

There you go.  That's a few of my smiles for this week.  I've showed you mine now show me yours by linking them up below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Did you miss me last week?.....hehehe  I doubt it but if you were wondering where I was then I will tell you....we took the day off and went to Tywyn for the day.....Milly's first trip to a beach  :-)

Well, as you can see I'm back now and I'm another year older so on my desk are some of my many birthday pressies....

I was well and truly spoilt and as you can see I have friends and family that know how to make me smile.....of course it's all at the stroking stage as yet but one day I will find something special enough to make using some of it.  I just love new fabrics.

I have lots of projects on the go at the mo but most of them are for presents so I'm sorry but I can't share the pics as yet.  I have, of course made more Memory bears since the last time I joined in so thought I'd add a pic here too...

These are two little Christmas bears using babygros....aren't they cute?

I have rather a lot of orders for Memory bears pending now [think it's 13 at last count!] so guess I could get pretty busy between now and Christmas.....plus all the other things I plan to make that I have buzzing round in my head in the middle of the night.  :-)

That's all from me for today....short and sweet just the way Julia likes it.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called by and I will pop over to yours to see what you're up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 41

Oh how these weeks fly by and this week has been no exception.  It was my birthday on Wednesday and it is our gorgeous son's birthday today....yes folks I went into labour in the night of my 30th birthday!!!!....a very aging experience :-)

Happy 26th Birthday Mark xxxx love you to bits xxxx

I had lots of giggles at your posts last week girls so thank you so much for sharing them all with us.  I have to say that I am featuring Sam's post this week though hoping that the advertisment for her plumber will encourage him to call on me in the near future....it would be so handy for party times.  :-)  Thanks for sharing Sam.

I have so many fab pics to share with you this week as you can imagine and will add them at the end but I just want to challenge you to all to turn up your sound to play this video and not be chuckling at the end of it...

Isn't laughter contagious?

Dressing up for Halloween.  :-)

Our little Pumpkin.  :-)

Our little artist.....he loves drawing and this is one of his Daddy. :-)

I really hope you have enjoyed my shares this week and you will go from here with a smile on your face.  Please have a look around you and share your smiles this week and link them up below some time before next Friday.  I will visit each and every one of you and will feature my favourite in my next happy post.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Here we are with another week flown by and joining up with our crafty friends all round the world to share a little of our creative spaces.  It's a quick post from me for today cos it's my birthday and I have lots of catching up with my sewing cos I've had my usual two little munchkins Monday and Tuesday.  I will do my best to find time to drop in on all that call by here...and a few more probably but it may take me a day or two to get there this week.

On my desk today is.....

....a few more quilt squares in the making for the Children in Need appeal.  Please folow the link to check out the details.

If anyone has promised me squares I hope to get a few more finished myself and plan to take them all to Jacquie's next Tuesday before the closing date so please do you best to get them to me by then....Thanks to all who have said they will join to help to raise funds with us.

I must say a big thank you to Tilly who has already made us 6 quilt squares for the appeal as they arrived yesterday morning....they are really gorgeous Tilly....you're a gem xxxx

The other completed thing I'm sharing with you today is the little knitted hoodie I've made for our neices new little boy Noah. Cute isn't it?

Finally I'd just like to share a glass of bubbly with you to celebrate my birthday.....lets hope before this time next year I have lost even more weight [weigh in this week confirmed I have now lost 2 1/2 stone :-) ] and I hope we will be will be sold up here and moved into a nice bungalow closer to the family.....keeping everything crossed.

Cheers.
Hugs,
Annie x

Flat Susan is all partied out...

Flat Susan will be setting off very soon on another journey, this time to LaCretia in USA.  It will be a long flight but to be honest I think she is shattered from all the Birthday celebrations we have had over the last week and will be glad of the rest.  I took a few pics of some of the things she got up to to share with you....

She enjoyed all the new birthday presents that the twins had.

"I can see a long way from up here.  This castle made me feel like a princess."

"Wahooooooo!  I loved riding this gorgeous little pony"

 " This was pretty scary!  I just took hold of the end and up it flew!  It was just as well it had a good heavy weight on the bottom or I could have been in USA before I'd planned."

" When Annie lifted me safely down off that balloon I took a nice warm bath in the new dolls house and....

....went for a lie down to recover!"

After all the excitement I think she has really enjoyed her stay here in Shropshire.  I will be tucking her up in her suitcase soon with all she travels with and have made this tag to go with her as a gift for LaCretia.  

Safe journey Flat Susan.  I've loved having you.

Hugs,

Annie x

Our Celebration weekend....

I just wanted to add a few pics to my blog to record the weekend of my Darling Hubby's birthday.  We always try to get all the family together to celebrate but alas this time our son Mark and his girlfriend were away on holiday skiing and Amy's husband Dave was away for another birthday celebration with his mates so couldn't join us but here is the rest of our happy family.....

This is how you get 5 little people around a table for a party  :-)  Having so many little ones  never stops us going out and they were all really well behaved.  A fun time was had by all and Granddad really loved his chocolate Hugo Hedgehog cake  :-)

Phoebe and Louise will be the two other little flower girls at Michelle's wedding in July so had to try on their dresses for fit at the weekend.

Don't they look fab in their dresses?

I just had to include this fab pic Amy sent us as a Thank you from the children for such a lovely party tea.....Aren't they just gorgeous?....I know, I know....I am a little biased  :-)