WOYWW....

Oh what a busy week it's been since I saw you last so I will post the pics and do my best to keep it brief....

I've managed to make all the little lined Christmas stockings and now they are lined up waiting for their name labels :-)

I made these three bears from a much loved Husband, Father and Grandfather's shirts.

This little bear was made from tiny babygros to remember happy early days with a new baby.

These two bears were another first for me.  They were made from the fleecy horse blanket that belonged to a much loved horse and my customer share the photos with me of the horse wearing his blanket.....it's so very special when I get to hear who the bears are being made to remember.  wasn't he a beautiful horse?

These two are now heading to their new home down in Essex...another new area of the country I've spread my love to. :-)

On top of all that I have a rail full of sewing I have to do today.  There's...

• 3 pair of trousers to shorten
• a Jacket to put a new 26" zip into and
• a lined dress I have to shorten

...So if you leave me a little message I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to this week.  Hope it's been a good one for you too.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 345

These weeks sure are flying by and I'm doing my best to fill mine with smiles....life is far too short for anything else don't you agree?

So here's a few snaps of what's been making me smile this week....

My darling hubby, our little dog Milly and I headed off for another adventure last weekend in our motor home.  We found a lovely campsite in Cirencester and on Sunday we enjoyed a day at the Arboretum at Westonbirt nearby.  The Autumn colours of the trees were stunning.

The walkway/bridge you can see in some of the photos was a tree top walk and for someone who really isn't good at heights I can proudly say I managed it and it was really wonderful to see the trees at a whole new level.

The top right photo is one of three dogs carved out of wood...very special too.

I really love mushrooms, toadstools and fungus of any kind and, with there being so much rain this Autumn, many of these have done really well this year so I've just had to snap a few photos of some of the ones I've seen.

For Halloween our grandchildren have all been round a few of their local houses trick or treating and they really loved dressing up to go....

...here's Phoebe, Lulu and Steve and.....

....little Theo joined Lexi and Sam before they went out.  Doesn't he make a cute little pumpkin ?

I hope my pics have made you smile today and you will now leave me a little comment before linking up your own smiles below.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW.....

Another week has whizzed by and after a weekend of adventures in the Motor home and not getting back to Monday afternoon [ pics will follow on Friday as we made memories and had lots to smile about while we were away] I had customers leaving me messages everywhere and now probably have a very busy end of the week with sewing to come through my door.

On my desk today is....

...yes it's in full on Christmas mode today while I'm waiting for my customers to arrive.  As most of you will know each year I make our Grandchildren [plus a few extras] a little something to hang on their Christmas trees so I have got out all my Christmas fabrics and made a start..

...this year I've decided to make each one of them a little lined Christmas stocking with their names on to put a little treat inside so I've cut out lots in different fabrics so that the outsides are different to the linings.....watch this space as they say :-)

That's all from me for today....I'm expecting lots of Memory bears, cushions to make cushion covers for and other sewing jobs through my door soon so, if you leave me a little comment so I know you've called by then I will do my best to pop over to yours to see what you've been up to between customers.  Hope you all have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 344

Another lovely week and I've more smiles to share with you all.  

I was treated to lunch out on Saturday as part of my birthday treat from Amy, Dave and family then Amy had booked for me, her and the two girls to enjoy a couple of hours of crafty fun at Splat and Splodge in Shrewsbury...

What a lovely afternoon we had painting our chosen ceramics.  I painted a little Father Christmas to hang on our Christmas tree....can't wait for it to be fired so we can collect them....the girls are growing up so quickly now and are really lovely company to spend time with.

The schools around here have been on half term holidays this week so they have been having Halloween fun....

The twins have been decorating the house, carving their pumpkins and enjoying time with their friends.

Amy's three have been to choose their pumpkin and have been making scary face masks.

On Wednesday Steve went with his Mum and Grandad to Walsall to play in a football tournament with Shrewsbury Football Academy.  There were 13 teams taking part and Steve's team came fourth.  He plays in goals and they said he had made some really good saves.....so proud of him.

Of course rather than standing on the side of the football pitches in the cold the two girls asked if they could come and spend the day with me.

I know I was working but they are now so independent and love playing with Nanny's crafty stash so of course I said yes.

I did have customers and had sewing to do but it was really lovely to have their company here and we had a lovely time crafting and creating together....they managed to finish knitting their squares and then made their little bunnies with them.  They then moved onto making pom poms and creating different characters out of them.....it's so lovely watching them dipping into my craft supplies.

Little Milly often makes us smile and here she is sitting on one of the plants in the garden....I have a feeling she thinks I am growing cushions for her to sit on!!!

Those are my smiles for this week.  Please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and if you can please link up below and share your smiles with us too.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW....

Another week has passed and it's been such a lovely week of celebrations [apart from the early morning call on Thursday and the trip to hospital with Shell of course....I will add that she is feeling a little better now thankfully].

On my desk today are more bears....

These are for a lady I've made bears before for [repeat orders are always special to me].  These are for other family members in memory of a much loved Dad and Grandfather....and I believe she wants me to make more yet :-)  Along with this request came this photo...

This customer actually lives out in Australia and, as you can see, some of the last bears I made for her have now found their way back to Australia with her.....I'm conquering the world slowly :-)

It really thrills me to think of the comfort that my bears give so many people all round the world.

As you know, I'm often asked to do jobs at the last minute and this cartoon really made me chuckle so thought I'd share it with you all.

I hope you are all well and enjoying life.  If you leave me a little message I will do my best to pay you a return visit but I will be having a busy day today [I may share pics on Friday if you want to see what I'm doing today] so it will be a little late this week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 343

Oh what a week it's been.  My birthday was on Wednesday and I'm still enjoying a week of celebrations.  

Tuesday morning was an early start for us with our little man coming for breakfast and, as always, it was filled with smiles including this one....

Guess what he had for lunch?.........yes tomato soup and he says it's his favourite.  I've never known a little boy to enjoy his meals so much....filled with every fruit and veg you can imagine :-)

Jo took me to the theatre on Tuesday night to see Cabaret and within 5 mins of sitting down there was a totally naked man walking across the stage....I did wonder what we had come to see but I have to say it was brilliant if rather dark by the end and nights out like together are something Jo and I decided that we need more of ....but naked men aren't compulsory Jo :-)

Wednesday was 'the day' and I was spoilt rotten.  My day ended with a meal out with my gorgeous hubby at Cote Brasserie.....just perfect.

Amy and family bought me flowers and they are so gorgeous I just had to share them with you.

Amy also sent me this photo and it made me chuckle.  Their oldest dog Poppy just loves the sheep in their field and everywhere she goes the sheep follow....I'm not sure whether they think she is one of them.  :-)

Yesterday was eventful day, starting a 6 am when Shell woke us, by phone, not feeling well at all and she was feeling very faint, giddy headed and panicky.  She was alone in the house with the twins as her hubby was working away and thought she was going to pass out.  After ringing the emergency care number it was decided that, with her medical history after she had the twins, she should be seen at the hospital.  I took her in and Grandad stayed on school duties with the twins. Then followed several hours being passed from one medical professional to another and she had every test available.....I was very impressed on her treatment [and mine when I got the shakes having not eaten or taken my diabetic tablets with having such and early start!]  Thankfully by the end of it they decided it was very probably vertigo and she was discharged with meds into the care of her loving Mum and Dad.  She isn't allowed to work or drive until she's feeling better so she spent the day with us and the twins joined us after school....hence the photo of the two little monkeys playing with the play house.

I'm hoping that by this morning Shell is now feeling a lot better.  It's our son Mark's birthday today so we will be partying it tonight.....happy days.

Hugs,

Annie x

WOYWW...

You will all know that I love a challenge and this week I've been asked to get designing. [Sorry if you've already seen them].

On Sunday night I was asked if I could make a Memory Elephant....of course I could was my reply and Monday morning I got my roll of brown paper out and made a pattern for an Elephant and then of course went on to test it out and hey presto.....

....meet my new Memory Elephant.  At lunchtime I uploaded his picture on my Sewing by Annie Facebook page to introduce him with the other characters I make and was then asked if I made a Memory Monkey so I then had challenge number two.....

.....more brown paper cutting and hey presto by the end of the day I had made.....

....Memory Monkey....and he has been shared on my Facebook page yesterday to much excitement.  I have a feeling he's going to be very popular.  So now along side my Memory Bears I now offer a Memory Dog, a Memory Cat, a Memory Rabbit, a Memory Elephant and a Memory Monkey....and I love them all :-)

The other little share I have today is this one...

Here's the girls sat crossed legged on the floor on Saturday enjoying their knitting.  They can almost knit unaided now and are slowly progressing with their first knitted square that we are going to make into a little bunny....it gives me so much pleasure passing on my skills to the next generation and they really love spending time with me so it's def a win win situation.
Hugs,
Annie x

This week's smiles.....week 342

The weeks are flying by aren't they?  There is definitely a nip in the air today and our garden is looking very Autumnal....

The fuchsias are really gorgeous at the mo but this morning there was a frost so I'm guessing their time is very limited now.  The leaves on the trees are changing colours and dropping and the two crab apple trees are heavy with beautiful rosy red fruit.....but sadly the birds don't eat them and as they drop off the tree Milly likes to nibble them and make herself poorly so I'm guessing that soon we will have to pick them off  [if anyone wants them then please shout].

I've had lots to smile about this week....

• A weekend at Adam Henson's Farm campsite [he's the rather handsome farmer on Countryfile] in our motorhome gave us lots to smile about.  It's a really lovely site with a farm shop, restaurant and live entertainment on a Saturday night and you can go around the farm to see the rare breed animals [if you don't have a dog with you].  The only down side was the weather....it was wet wet wet....but of course there is nothing you can do about that and we go well prepared.  Sadly Adam didn't pop along to say hello.
• My laptop had slowed so much it was really painful to use so our daughter Amy, using team viewer from her house, did a full service on it and wow it's now super speedy so I'm def smiling now as I type this [thanks Amy you're a gem...I'm so impressed and proud of you].

The last photo I'm sharing today is this one...

Yes the Lego is out and, as you can see, my darling hubby is busy making a boat using the instruction book so it really made me smile because...

• He's really enjoying building the boat for little Theo but note Theo is nowhere to be seen in the photo [he's off to the left busy playing with one of the cars his Grandad made for him]
• but mainly because I have evidence that a man can actually read instructions!!  It's not often you'd see this so I'm glad I captured in on film  :-) :-) 

That's all from me for this week.  I hope you're all staying warm and cosy and enjoying life.  Please share your smiles by linking up below and let's all do our bit to make the world a happier place to be.
Hugs,
Annie x