WOYWW.....

I know you've come to see my desk today so I will show it to you but will also show you a few pics as to why it's looking like it is.....sorry if it's a bit picture heavy today but at least There's not much to read lol....

Yes, this is my sewing room!! Note there is no work desk available!! [and, yes, that is a tumble drier just through the door!].

This is our kitchen!!  In fact every usable space is full of the furniture from all the other rooms because we have carpet/flooring fitters in.....In fact these were all taken yesterday because I will be up at silly o'clock today to be on twin duty and I wont have time to upload more pics.

By now I hope....

...there will be carpet on the living room floor.

.....carpet on the spare bedroom floor.

...vinyl flooring in the hall.

....vinyl flooring on the utility floor and....

.....vinyl flooring on the floor of our newly fitted shower room floor.

Two men arrived at 8.30 yesterday so I'm hoping by the time you read this it's all been done :-)

We have visitors coming from Holland for the Easter weekend so at least it should all look rather better by then.  :-)

Thanks for calling by today.  Sorry my work desk isn't filled with creative fun but I hope you have enjoyed seeing a little of what we have been up to here this week.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called by and I will do my best to call by at yours ASAP to see what you've been up to this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 162

Hello all.  Lots of you joined in the fun again last week and I thank you all for making the world a happier place to be.

I am featuring Jo's blog from last week with her gorgeous quilt and all her fab pics of Spring flowers .....they really made me smile Jo so thanks for sharing them.  Spring really is my fav time of the year.

As ever life has been pretty hectic here but it's given us lots to smile about.  I shared the exciting news about the increasing numbers of our little family members, God willing, in September and I'm knitting in every spare minute [as Nannies do when they hear this sort of news].  Our Grandchildren never fail to give us reasons to smile so the thought of having another one is simply wonderful.  I have a couple of pics to share with you all this week and I'm sure you will understand why...

Here's Phoebe and Lulu with their new swimming certificates. Phoebe has just swam 10m and Lulu has swam her 5m and can't you just see how proud and excited they are to show me?  I am so thrilled to share their achievements and love them to bits.

Their little brother Steve is such a loving little boy and yesterday he asked his mummy if he could go outside because he said he 'needed to do something'......a few minutes later he came back in and presented his mummy with the flowers he'd picked for her.  Doesn't he just melt your heart?

One of the other things that's made us smile is this......I know it's awful isn't it?  

The reason it's making us smile is because yesterday it was taken out and replaced with this.......

Now doesn't that look better?  And wouldn't you be smiling too if it was yours?

....and what is making us smile even more is that awful green carpet is being replaced next Tuesday too and eventually the walls will be stripped and replaced with something rather more modern....probably wallpaper but we won't know for sure until we strip off that awful blown vinyl wall paper.

So there you do.....I've shown you what's been making us smile this week now please link up below and show us yours.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

What a lot has happened since you came here last.....

• The last three old doors have been replaced with three new ones in our bungalow [still needing painting of course].
• Hubby has grouted two walls in the newly tiled shower room and fitted the new shower....still to finish the other walls and plumb in the washbasin.
• Plumbers organised for this Thursday to fit our new gas fire and surround in the living room.
• Carpet fitters are booked in for next Tuesday to fit carpets in our spare bedroom and living room and flooring in the new shower room, utility and old hall.

Oh and of course I had a table at a craft fair on Saturday afternoon.  Here's the proof...

 

The fair was a money raiser for the twins Pre-school so I only filled my table with child friendly goods.  I didn't expect to sell a lot but was more than happy to support the cause and to let folk know who I was and where they could find me if they needed sewing doing.  Lots of my fliers were handed out and I made enough to cover my costs so I was thrilled to bits.....plus of course I was surrounded by my wonderful family members who came to help and support so all in all a wonderful afternoon was had by all.

Now to what is on my work desk this week.  I've been quietly been working on this for a little while but can now share my latest baby blanket with you and some very exciting news.......God willing I am going to have another little grandchild arriving in September.  Our son, Mark and his wife Gina are expecting their first baby so it's all very exciting.

 

Of course I know you will all want to see the photo of the 12 week scan that I have been allowed to share with you .....

 Meet a very chilled out little baby......looks like he's sunbathing to me. :-).....and at just over 2" from it's head to it's bottom it never fails to amaze me just how perfect they look......can you tell I'm doing a happy dance here? :-)

So folks that's it from me for today.  I have more smiles that I will share on Friday so please pop back then to check them out and share your smiles with us too while you're here.
Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles....week 161

It was another week with lots of you joining in the fun by sharing your smiles and for that I thank you all.  There are some weeks that we need smiles more than others and this week has been one of those weeks for me so please keep up the good work girls....It really does make the world seem a better place when you have lots to smile about.

I am featuring Angela's post from last week because it had been taken over by BP mini me and really made me chuckle.....thanks BP.  Just sometimes we all need a little 'person' in our lives that make us smile don't we?   You really did the job BP.....I really hope Angela is having a fun week skiing and comes home safely and in one piece to you BP.

My week has been full of challenges but there is always plenty to make me smile so I'm sharing a couple of pics with you...

I have had flowers from one of my friends [to cheer me up when Rocky had to be put to sleep] and for Mother's Day had tulips from my daughter Shell, coloured flowers from Sam and Lexi, a basket of flowers and plants from my daughter Amy and a beautiful orchid from my son Mark.....aren't they simply gorgeous?  

The other pic I'm sharing is of the lovely new window my clever hubby fitted last week and the new light airy hall we now have because he then took down the old brick porch that was the other side [you can still see the concrete pad that it sat on through the window].

Yesterday we had a builder here to fill in the gaps where the bricks were missing and the concrete pad has now been broken up so we can soon have the drive resurfaced on the front of the bungalow.  :-) :-) :-)

So much to smile about eh?  I think so. :-)

Now please leave me a little message to say you've called by and link up your smiles below.  Hope you have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

On Friday our builders fitted our new kitchen french windows/doors and I have to be honest and say I don't think I stopped grinning all day....there are just two internal doors the builders have to hang and their work is done.  Not only have they finished the work to a very high standard but they have worked with us throughout and all our dreams have come true with the finished result.....what more could we ask for? For those that haven't seen my post from last Friday you might like to scroll down to see the layout of all the changes.

Our son, Mark has been working hard to do the second fix on the electrics and my darling hubby has nearly completed fitting the new bathroom....he's not a plumber and I have learnt new words at times when pipes have sprung leaks but it's all looking pretty good now.  We have painted all the bare plastered walls with the base coat now so even the dust is slowly reducing......wahooooooo

Enough about our building work because I know you have really come here to see what's on my work desk today.....

Whilst sorting my fabric stash I found a small bag full of ready cut 1" x 1 1/2" Christmas fabrics so I decided to use it for my Christmas cards this year....and now I not only have a completed sewing room but it is now a warm cosy completed sewing room.....I had no excuse to not enjoy some crafty fun. I  decided to patchwork them all together.

I then cut my strips of patchwork into 72 little Christmas trees....and every one is different :-)

I plan to mount them onto fabric and to embellish each one so watch this space.....

That's it from me for today....I've really enjoyed getting into my new sewing room and have even had several customers bring me work this week.  :-)

Please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will pop over to yours as soon as I'm able.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 144

Hello to all who drop in to share smiles....either to share mine or to link up their own at the bottom of the page.  You are all very welcome and a big thank you goes to all those who join in each week by sharing their own happy moments.

I am featuring something that really made me chuckle last week...Jo's chicken feet over at JoZart.  Only Jo could make such a fab pair....I'm sure it's a talent we could all make use of ;-)  Thanks for sharing them Jo. 

My smiles this week were triggered off by a request to show the layout of our bungalow by several of you and now we are nearing the finished line with the building work I have snapped the before and after LOs.

The bungalow as we moved into it...

The parts you will have seen pics of are...

• the snug...that was the little room that I used as my make-do sewing room.
• The dining space...that was that awful black and white Tudor room.

The bungalow layout now [nearly!]....

• The old garage is now a bedroom and new bathroom [when the bathroom is fitted and the bedroom ceases to be a store room for all the building materials and gets a lick of paint, curtains and carpets]
• Proposed bedroom 2 is my new sewing room.....wahoooooo all finished.
• Proposed kitchen/dining room....just needs its new doors/side window panels fitting.  The kitchen has been ordered and should arrive on Friday 13th....just hope this isn't a bad omen!
• The old bathroom is still in use until the new bathroom is complete and that will then be stripped out and new shower/toilet/washbasin fitted.
• The old kitchen [tiny and intimate that it is] is still in use as a kitchen until the new kitchen is fitted but that will become our utility...one day :-)
• Old porch/front door is still there but we now have the new front door and that is what has had me giggling this week......

Yesterday we had the delivery of our local free Admag.  Last week they had put one through both front doors so I put a laminated notice over the letter box on the old door to say please use new door. This week the gentleman who delivers the Admag rang the door bell [on the old door].  I open the new door and he asked if the new build was a granny flat and did we need two Admags.  My reply was....we are a married couple living here and that it was all one bungalow but we had thought of living in separate parts but that we only needed one thank you.  I did smile when I said it but I don't think he quite knew whether I was joking or not.  :-)

If you look at the LO you will see that there is a door between the hall [by the wet room] and the new kitchen and Hubby and I were having a giggle saying that we could block up that door and have a kitchen, bedroom and living room each but Hubby said there would have to be a hatch for me to pass his meals through and a dog door so Rocky could make his own mind up as to where he wanted to sleep....so we decided not to bother :-) :-) :-)

I hope my post has made you smile today....it's been a long road but we can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now.....quite literally as we have had a sun tunnel fitted in the ceiling in the end of the new kitchen... 

The back of the bungalow is south facing so we decided to make the best of what nature provides.....there are no lights on in this pic at all and as yet we haven't had many sunny days but to have the daylight beaming in like this is really wonderful....we love it.

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

So there you go....that's all from me for this week.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called in and if you have a smile you can share with us please link them below.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 143

Here we are at yet another Friday's gathering up of as many smiles as we can for the week.  It's not been the easiest of weeks for us but Friday is the day when I like to focus on the happy times and to see how many things has made us smile for the week....I hope you can all find something that has made you smile too and will link it up at the bottom using Mr Linky.

There were many of you joining in the fun last week and for that I thank you all for helping to make the world a happier place to be.  I am featuring that very talented, much older sister of mine this week for the gorgeous monster suit that she made for her little grandson Ben out of one of his mummy's dresses.  Recycling at it's best eh? and doesn't he just look so cute in it?.....he's not feeling at his best at the mo so I am sending him lots of get well soon wishes too.  Thanks for sharing the pics Jo.

My biggest smile this week was at 3 o'clock yesterday when our builders finished for the day.....but the truth is that the only job they have to do now is to fit our new kitchen french doors and glass side panels.  These are due to arrive today and the builders plan to come back at the end of next week to fit them.  Our plumbers plan to come today to put our new radiators in the rooms and when finished we should have heating and then this means the rest is down to us.....just a little matter of installing a bathroom and a kitchen [when we get it] and decorating through the new part before starting on the old part..............  :-) :-) :-) :-)

My smiley photos this week revolve around my grandchildren and the Autumn/Halloween fun they have been having during their half term holidays...

They've gathered leaves, made dens in the woods, been to a pumpkin farm to choose their pumpkins and have carved them, they have made scary buns, done some paper crafting and even made their own witches brews.....oh to be a child again eh?

Little Lulu is proudly showing off her new football kit ready for the new club she is joining after school.

                            :-) :-) :-)

For those wondering how the twin's new little friend, Monty is settling in, here he is sitting on the laptop to make sure he gets attention....so you can see he one very happy little kitten and is getting lots of spoiling.

That's about it from me for today so please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called in and link up your smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

So?  You want to know what's on my desk today do you?  Well, there is pretty much nothing but that is really good news because what it actually means is I have managed to get in there to clean the 6" of dust covering every surface in my sewing room......now all I need is a steady flow of customers :-)

I still have dust sheets on the floor to protect the new flooring from the builders dirty boots but the good news is they wont be around for very much longer.  They are doing the second fix with all the skirting boards, door surrounds etc and finishing off the last of the little jobs today and tomorrow and then just plan to come back one day next week to fit our new kitchen french doors and side window panels that should arrive this Friday..........and that really should be the end of all the building work. :-) :-) -) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) 

This little sign has been very patiently for the new door to be hung on and this will be fitted either today or tomorrow.  

So it's short and sweet from me today [just the way Julia likes it].  It's a busy week for me and my darling hubby has taken a few days off to make a start on the very many jobs we have to do once the builders leave....painting, stripping wall paper, fitting new bathrooms and a kitchen to name but a few.  If you leave me a little message to let me know you've called in then I will do my best to return the visit when I can....I must say sorry to those I failed to get to last week but life just got in the way.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 142

So here we are at another Happy Friday's post.  Thanks to all who joined in last week.  I am featuring Zoe's post from last week.  She filled in a questionnaire....it made me smile and it was really lovely to learn a little more about her.  I promised her that I would have a go too [why don't a few of you join in the fun?....It's always lovely to learn a little about our blogging friends].

So here I go.....

TIME:  11.10 am [yes, I am writing this post on Thursday morning and will schedule it automatically].

LOCATION:  I'm sat on the laptop in the sitting room....it's one room I can keep warm in and is fairly dust and noise free :-)

FEELING:  Blessed with all the wonderful things in my life....but just a little worn out with all the mess, dust, noise and chaos of the building work that's going on here.

LOVING:  My wonderful family and watching my new home taking shape.

READING:  Nothing at the mo....If I started a new book at the mo I'd be asleep before completing page one :-)

DRINKING:  Just coffee for me....tea makes me sick and I rarely drink alcohol because of my diabetes.

ANTICIPATING:  The end of all the building work....It will be a while yet but I do feel we can see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel now  :-)

LISTENING TO:  Radio 2

WATCHING:  The birds feed just outside my window  :-)

PLANNING:  New kitchen and bathroom plus floor coverings.....this week  :-)

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  No more dust  :-)

CREATING:  A huge list of things to make and do when I can get into my sewing room....I am so thankful for Pinterest  :-)

NEED TO FINISH:  Sorting the fabrics and emptying the many boxes of stored stash in my sewing room.

WISHING:  For sunny days and lots of fun times ahead in our new home

MAIN GOAL THIS WEEK:  Keep smiling through the dust cloud  :-) 

That's the list and here's a few pics that have made me smile this week...

Our new front door and window......still need to take the old porch down and block up the old front door.  :-)

It always makes me smile to see my hubby and son working together on any project....especially when it's putting the first fix electrics into our new kitchen before the builders board and plaster it out.  I'm such a proud mummy.  :-)

Thanks Mark for all your willing help....it's his birthday on Sunday.....my baby will be 28  :-)

Beautiful skies at silly o'clock when I'm on Nanny Annie duty with the twins.  And speaking of twins.....

......here they are with the latest family member who has also been making me smile this week.

Meet Monty the kitten....isn't he cute?

So there you go folks.  I have so much making me smile this week....and today is my birthday so lift a glass with me today please and link up your smiles below.

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW......

What's on my work desk today?......Nothing at all because.....

Between the sitting room and my sewing room is where our new kitchen is going to be and those of you who call in on a Friday will see that my builders knocked the wall through last week so to get to my sewing room I have to climb over all the building materials and get in the builders way.  Plus this morning when I popped through, before the builders arrived,  this is what I have leaning up against the door and window outside making my sewing room dark and gloomy.

Also the builders use my sewing room to access the rest of the bungalow so there are dust sheets on the floor.....and a lot of dust on my work desk!!

Before I can get in there to sew I will now need to dust and clean it from top to bottom so for now I'm......

Back to knitting squares on my lap in the sitting room  :-)  It will be a baby blanket when I have made enough squares....not that I have a baby in mind just yet  :-)

It's what I do to keep me awake in the evenings :-)

So that's it from me for today.  Short and sweet just how Julia likes it.  Please leave me a little hello message to let me know you've called in and I will pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.  I'm certain it will be more interesting than mine.  :-)

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 141

Here we are once again at my Friday catch up of smiles.  Please feel free to enjoy everyone elses smiles by clicking on the links below but also please try to join in when you're able by linking your own smiles to Mr Linky.  It's such good therapy to smile and sharing what makes others smile too does us all good I'm sure so a huge thank you to those that join in the fun each week....please keep up the good work folks.

This week I'm featuring Lynn's post with a photo of Sir Tom Jones in it....firstly because at first glance I thought it was Lynn that he was kissing and secondly because he once bought my hubby a pint in a pub in Wales....that my hubby's claim to fame [what we don't tell everyone is that he actually bought everyone in the bar at the time a pint too :-) ].  Thanks for making me smile Lynn.

My smiles for this week are of something that wouldn't make everyone smile but it really had me grinning from ear to ear....

Yesterday my builders put up dust sheets and sealed two doors up to help stop the mess going further than necessary and they knocked out the window and wall through into the new extension  :-)

The size of the room that resulted was much bigger than I'd imagined and I love it....mess, dust and all.

From the outside it looks like this...and that had me chuckling too cos that certainly wasn't how I'd imagined it :-)  The hole where the french doors and side windows will go has had to be boarded up until the doors are made so instead of beautiful white UPVC it looks like this. :-)....and inside is like the black hole of Calcutta :-) :-)

I'm not sure you can see this photo clearly but my builder has a good sense of humour and he's written Annie's Sewing room on the make do door in pencil  :-)

I did reassure him that there won't be any sewing done in my new kitchen and in fact probably rather less of anything done in there than there will be in my new sewing room.  :-)

I hope my pics have made you smile today and you will leave me a little hello comment to say you've called by even if you aren't able to link your own smiles this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 140

Happy Friday to one and all.  Thanks to all who joined in last week and shared their smiles.  It's always so lovely to see what's making you all happy in your lives.  When you smile the world smiles with you so keep up the good work folks.

The blog I'm featuring from last week is from Tilly.  It has been a while since she managed to join in the fun but wow hasn't she been using her time well!  What a lot of wonderful crafty makes she shared with us....Thanks for joining in Tilly, please come back again soon.

My smiles have been many as always.  Since last week....

• Our new bedroom has had it's first coat of paint on the ceiling and walls.
• The garage doors have been removed and been bricked up with the new bathroom wall being fitted in the middle'
• Our new bathroom has been boarded out and plastered.
• The new hall has also been boarded and is now also nearly all plastered
• Our new bedroom window has arrived and will be going in today.
• The drains have been dug out ready to intall our new bath washbasin and toilet.
• And of course [ if you saw Wednesday's post you will have seen the pics] I have been busy making my new sewing room pretty.

I am also sharing a couple of things Amy put on Facebook this week that made me smile...

That's it from me for this week.  Please link your smiles below and help me make the world a happier place.....it really does make a difference.
Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles....week 134

So, here we are at another Friday when I share my smiles and many of you link up your smiles to make the world a happier place.  Smiles really are contagious :-)

Thank you to those that joined in last week.....it's really appreciated.  I am featuring something that made me smile....mostly because I didn't see exactly what was in the photo to start with.  Barb shared a photo of two Oxford taxis with scientific charts on the sides....that in itself made me smile but even more so because initially I saw tape measures along their sides....can you see it or is it just me?  Thanks for joining in the fun Barb....keep those smiles coming please.

My smiles today are of course many.  I'm surrounded by bricks, building supplies, mess and dust....and yes, I'm still smiling.  :-)  I am constantly snapping pics of the developments and here's a couple that have made me chuckle...

Ready for surgery?  Afraid not.  It's just my darling hubby dressed up ready to go in the attic with the fibreglass insulation .  The kids said he looked like something out of a horror movie :-)

This was my new sewing room first thing yesterday morning.  Do you like my new assault course?  Not sure what my customers will think of it  :-)

Our builder was all set up to skim the ceiling with plaster.  Walls to plaster next then new floor will go down and [dare I say it?] it will be nearly ready for completion  :-) :-) :-)

Wednesday saw delivery of more building supplies...bricks, sand, floor boarding etc etc

I'm just like a child when cranes are being used.  I stood out there, camera in hand, watching it all.  Yes we now look like we are living on a builders yard but who cares.....I just want to watch all these piles reducing as they use it all now. :-)

Of course I have had lots of smiles from my grandees lately and these were some pics Amy sent me of a fun day all five of them had together while Shell and Brent were at a wedding.  I get such a thrill seeing them all playing together and there really is nowhere better than Amy's for children to grow up.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing my smiles and will now link yours up below.

Hugs,

Annie x