We will remember them...

I am hoping that today I will be visiting the poppies at the Tower of London with that very special hubby of mine so am uploading this to show you what we will be proudly wearing while we are there.  We have bought the usual poppies but I wanted something special to pin on my coat for our special visit.  Most of you will know that I have lots of stash that I am unable to use and spend time stroking the special bits, well these buttons are two of those special items.  They are antique black jet buttons and have been saved for a special make....aren't they gorgeous? I crochet the poppies to my own design too....hope you like them.

This week's smiles....week 92

Hello fellow happy bloggers.  Thank you to all of you who joined in last week.  I'm featuring someone who posted twice at a time that most folk wouldn't have posted even once.  Sam had had a really nasty fall last week and has two legs that have gone through most of the colours of the rainbow since but she still took the time out to share her smiles.  The second post with a really cute little bunny on it's back really made me chuckle....I just can't imagine any of us looking that cute whilst floundering on our backs having just fallen over.  I really hope Sam is healing well and making a good recovery and would like to send her lots of special hugs from us all.

My big sister Jo [Twiglet] was taken to hospital in pain with her gall stones early hours of yesterday and I'm sorry to say that although she was kept starved all day yesterday in preparation for surgery she has had to wait til this morning before she has her op [the NHS has a lot to answer for!]....  Really hope all goes well and she gets well soon xxxx

My smiles for this week have to be a couple of photos of our eldest granddaughter Phoebe who celebrated her 6th Birthday yesterday.  She is such a lovely girl and makes us all very proud every day.

She is a big lover of Frozen so her mummy and daddy chose that for her birthday banner....I think she likes it don't you? :-)

Here she is proudly showing off her new bike....I bet she can't wait for the weekend to come so she can get out to play on it.

This last funny is a pic I found on Pinterest while searching for ideas for Christmas crafts.  I thought there would be lots of cat lovers out there that would have a chuckle at this one.

That's it from me for today.  Please snap something that has made you smile this week and share it with us by linking below and I will pop over to check out happy posts.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Another week has passed and we are getting closer to Christmas so there has been a bit of making going on here at Sewing by Annie's

I've made 50 little triangular bean bags [yes 50!! I have 5 little grandchildren and of course to play a game they need 10 each!] and two floor target mats [two families].  I plan other games for them to use their bean bags to play with too.

I've had a bit of customer's sewing too...these are 3 square table cloths to be used for coffee mornings at the church opposite where we used to live....it's nice to see some of my customers have hunted me down and found me at the new bungalow. :-)

But mostly over the weekend there has been lots of this going on at ours.  This is my hubby playing with a hired digger to move the tree roots and a lot of earth to change our front garden.

Back at the beginning of September I share this photo of what the front of our new bungalow looked like before we took down the huge dying hedge on the right hand side.

This is what it looks like now....two very full skips of roots and earth and a lot of hard work thanks to my hubby and just look how much space we have gained.....I love it.

We plan to put weed preventing membrane and gravel down and new shrubs around the boundary garden.....we will get there but what I will say is we are really enjoying making it ours.

Thanks so much for calling by again this week.  Please leave me a little comment to say you've called in and I will do my best to pay you a return visit [I'm sorry but if your blog uses google+ I am unable to leave a comment but I do call by and read what you've been up to].

Hugs,

Annie x

Happy Halloween smiles....

You can never have too many smiles so here's another late in the day one from me...

These little trick or treaters will be coming to scare Nanny and Grandad later :-)

Please scroll down to link up your smiles for this week.

Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 91

Thanks to those who joined in last week with their happy smiles.  I am featuring someone who hasn't joined in for a while with a post that really made me smile....and I know it made many others smile too.  If you haven't seen the video of the cute little snoring dormouse then please take a minute to pop over to Laura's blog at Beads Buttons and Birds.  It's well worth a visit.  Thanks Laura for sharing it with us.

I have loads of smiles every week and the pic I'm sharing this week isn't the best quality but I thought it would make you chuckle...

This is Lexi being my protector....there were spiders on the telly so she was 'keeping me safe til they had gone off the telly.  :-)

Sam was doing the same to his mummy and the pair of them were giggling their hearts out.

Even though neither Shell or I would have chosen for her to have been poorly the time we have spent together during her recovery has been priceless.  Think it is known as making the best of a raw deal.  :-)

So there you go folks....that's my smile for this week.  What's yours?  Please try to snap a pic to share one of your happy smiles with us and link them below....smiles are contagious and it really does make the world a better place.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

It's been another week of smiles for me since last time we had Wednesday fun.  Shell is still needing help with the twinnies as her tummy is still pretty sore if she does too much so I've enjoyed lots of this...

We popped to the local library yesterday and picked up 10 books :-)  They love their books so these will keep them busy for a day or two :-)

Of course what you've come here to see today is my desk.  Well I make no apologies for the state of it today as I've not had a lot of time sat at it but here it is...

Both of my sewing machines have been pushed back for another little project I'm working on....what you can see is all you're getting as it's a special little project for Christmas time for 5 special little people in my life so I'm not giving too much away just yet......tease that I am :-)

I have also rooted out my Christmas box and had a good rummage through it for ideas and fabrics for a few projects I'm hoping to have a go at when I get a few spare minutes....more of that some other time. :-)

So there you go for this week....not a lot of anything other than hints and glimpses :-)

If you'd like to leave me a little comment to let me know you've called by I will do my best to call by at yours when I get a minute.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 90

This week I have many of you to thank for joining in last week, It's so lovely to think that you all had something that had made you smile and you wanted to share it with us all.....keep up the good work girls.

I really struggled to decide which one of you I would feature this week cos each and every one of them made me smile but I eventually decided that I would choose Robyn's post over at Waterlily Cards for her gorgeous photos of her flowers. It's so lovely, when all around us here in England is taking on it's Autumn/Winter coat that, from in my sitting room, I can share the gorgeous flowers from the other side of the world. Thanks Robyn for sharing your gorgeous flowers.

I have had so many things to smile about this week because yesterday was my birthday and I have been really spoilt.  My gorgeous family have clubbed together to treat me [and hubby too of course] to tickets to go to the Tower of London to see the poppies....I'm sooooo excited.  Plus while we are down there hubby is treating me to go to see Matilda at the theatre.  Wahooooooo I can't wait.

So today I am sharing a couple of pics of what the twinnies drew in my birthday card....

Lexi drew me a ballerina.....I've never seen myself as someone who did ballet but had a chuckle at the thought she thought I might :-)

Now Sam is into drawing random pictures at the mo.  Don't you just love his snail?  Quite why he is trapped or what he is trapped in we don't know but Sam was determined that was what it was.  Oh what fab imaginations little ones have.  They never fail to make me smile.

And finally for those that have only seen their smiley faces here they are pulling scary faces.....think they are practising for Halloween cos they have promised to walk round with their three cousins to scare Nanny and Grandad next week.  :-)

So there you go....just a few of my smiles from this week.  I hope you're all having a great week too and will snap a pic or two to share with us by linking them below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

Happy Wednesday to you all.  Here we are at yet another fun day of the week when we can all go snooping round the world at each others creative spaces.  If you want to find out more or would like to join in the fun then pop over to the Stamping Ground where Julia will have the links with all the details.

I have had some free time this week because Shell is now thankfully well enough to be able to do more herself  and hasn't needed me at hers every day. I'm certain all your kind wishes have aided her speedy recovery so thank you all for caring so very much....you really are such a lovely bunch.

In my spare time this week I've been making a start on a few ideas for Christmas.....some of which of course I can't share with you just yet but I am happy to show you my start to my Christmas cards for this year....

I spent a while searching for ideas on Pinterest and decided to have a go at some free machining with red on white fabric using a few designs that I rather liked.

Here are the eight that I've decided on so far.

After free machining the designs I trimmed each of them and rather liked them mounted on the red fabric so..

I mounted them each on a piece of red fabric and have machine embroidered each of them in place.

 A closer view of a couple of them so you can see the machine embroidery detail.  I then trimmed the red fabric to leave a border and have now mounted them on white cards.

I plan to make prints of my 8 designs to use for the rest of my Christmas cards.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing my making process.

Thanks for calling by today.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called and I will pop over to yours to say hello.

Hugs,

Annie x