WOYWW....

It was with great sadness yesterday that I heard of the loss of our friend Janet Fairythoughts.  It's never easy to put into words what is felt after the loss of a friend but I must say that although I never met Janet she certainly touched my heart through the blogging world and she will be sadly missed.  Over a year ago Janet sent me some of her poppy seeds that I had admired on her blog and she will now be thought of fondly every time they bloom in my new garden.  I hope her family and friends are comforted by all the lovely words that are being spoken about Janet and this helps to ease this sad time.

So in her memory we must all try to live a little harder and I hope we will all raise a glass to a very special lady.  Of course what brought us together was our sharing of our creative spaces thanks to Julia linking us up each and every week and this week is no different.....except that there is very little desk-wise to share with you today...

I've been doing a bit more sorting and organising my sewing room for ease of moving it all at the appropriate time during the building work.

These are the machine embroidery threads now sorted and put together in one of my new drawers.

Of course they wouldn't all fit in together so I have another little box for the shiny ones I tend to use only at Christmas time.

The rest of my show and tell are just a quick few snaps of the building changes since Friday.....

We have a new doorway built between what will be a new front hall and the new bathroom.

The internal skin of blocks have been built to the walls of the new extension and the door and window you can see in this pic.....

...was taken out yesterday and......

......blocked up.  So you can see why there is little being done in the sewing room....I'm far too busy making cups of tea for my builders :-)

They will be back again today to hopefully block up the other side of this wall and knock out another door and block that up too.....oooooer it's so exciting cos this is the start of my new sewing room.  :-)

Please leave me a little comment to say you've called by and I will do my best to get over to yours as soon as I can.  Please join me in raising a glass to Janet and lets be thankful to have had her in our lives.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 131

Happy Friday to you all.  What a lovely lot of you joined in last week....we had so much to smile about :-)  Thank you to each and every one of you for helping to make the world a happier place to be.

I'm featuring Kate's post from last week.  Kate joins in almost every week and has so much to smile about her life over in Spain.  Last week she added a cartoon that really made me chuckle because since we had to have our one little dog put to sleep her brother has followed me from room to room and if I sit down he likes to sit as close to me as he can.....the cartoon could have been written/drawn with him in mind :-)  Thanks Kate for sharing it.

My smiles this week have been many and the first pic proves my point......

I had gone out into the garden to snap a few pics and the moment I sat down Rocky was sat at my side.....He's an old man now and sleeps a lot of the time.....that is until he hears me get up to move :-)

I thought you might like to share the flowers in our back garden at the mo so I've put them together as a collage for you.....so many of them have self-seeded and come free with our new home and each and every one of them makes me smile.

Here's a quick snap of the latest progress with the building....the footings have now been built and have been back filled.  Next week they are coming back to start the walls and will soon be coming to make a start on my sewing room 

 :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

My last pic is for all you gardening experts out there.  This is one of the plants we inherited and have waited to see what it might turn out to be when it came into bloom.....but now it has we have no idea what it is.

Do any of you know what it might be? [You should be able click on the pic if you want a closer look].

Thanks for popping over to share my smiles.  Please link yours up below and I will be over to see what has been making you smile as soon as I'm able.  Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 130

Happy Friday to one and all.  Really hope you've all had a good week and have lots of smiles to share with us all today.  Thanks to those who joined in last week by linking their smiles here so others could share them....please join in as often as you are able cos the world can never have too many smiles.

I'm featuring Michelle's blog over in Ontario.  It never fails to make me smile that we can link up to so many places around the world just at the click of a button.  Michelle shared a pic of a little visitor she'd had at work....a little groundhog had joined her to eat the bread she had put out.....Isn't he cute?  Thanks Michelle for linking up and sharing your smiles.

My smiles this week have been many so here's a few pics to share with you...

This is a collage of pics that I snapped during a fun day looking after Amy's three last Saturday [you should be able to click on the pic if you want a closer look].  What a fun day we had too.  We popped to the Ironworks near Oswestry in the morning and the kids loved all the huge animals on display as you can see.  In the afternoon we went to Attingham Park for a walk to the wonderful play park there.....lots of fun and laughter was had by all......needless to say Sunday was spent mainly sleeping hehehehe....it's easy to forget how much energy you need to look after three active children.  :-)

 Building update...

The concrete has been put in the footings and all the building materials have arrived this week ready to make a start but we were rained off this week so hopefully the builders will get back next week to start building.

As you can see the rain didn't stop outdoor play at Amy's.  The girls are all togged up in their wellies and waterproofs and are having a great time.  :-)

The last pic is of yet another little treasure that's popped up in our back garden.  There are lots of these that have sprung up but this is the first to bloom.  Isn't it pretty.....Love in a Mist I think?

There you go....I've shown you mine now please show us yours and join in the fun by linking up your smiles of the week.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles....week 129

Happy Friday to you all.  It's been another busy and eventful week here for me and although a rather messy one it's been exciting.....more of that later.

Last week saw more of you joining in sharing your smiles.  I would like to thank those that regularly take the time to link up and to welcome those joining in for the first time....please come back cos we can never have too many smiles.  :-)  :-)  :-)  :-)

I would like to feature Jo[Zart]'s blog this week with her short sighted lion....it made me chuckle and I guess the moral to the story is....be careful where you put your glasses down.  :-)  Thanks for joining in last week Jo.

My smiles this week have been many.  As you will have noticed my back garden is springing up with real treasures and I changed my header picture so you could all share them....aren't my self-seeded poppies just stunning?

I have also snapped a photo of this beauty to share with you...

Isn't it stunning?  I really love poppies and these are some that have grown from some seeds that Janet [Fairythoughts] sent me last year so are rather special.  As many will know Janet has been rather poorly lately so I hope we can all send her our special love so she knows we are thinking of her.

My other photos revolve around the mess that's going on in my life at the mo....

This is what was delivered to my front drive on Wednesday morning....I love the way the builders have used the slope up the side of our bungalow and some rather long planks to barrow the rubbish into the skip.

By the end of Wednesday our two builders had dug out the metre deep footings by hand....and it was heavy clay soil [rather them than me!].

When I got up yesterday morning I went out with my camera to snap a few pics to record the building developments and look what had found it's way into the bottom of the footings....and bless him he couldn't get out so my good deed of the day was to put my washing line prop in so he could use it as a ladder to get out :-)

I couldn't have left him in there because the wooden peg you can see in the pic is marking out for the 9" of concrete that had been ordered for later in the day. [And I didn't want him buried alive!!].

.......and here's the proof.....

Two builders putting the concrete into the footings after we had had the visit of approval from the building inspector.  :-)

I've had soooooooo much to smile about this week as you can see.  I now hope you will snap your smiles and link them up below.  Have a great week.
Hugs,
Annie x

WOYWW......

Happy Wednesday to one and all....hope you like my new header picture.  It's a quick snap of one of the poppies that's sprung up in our back garden.....they could have been pulled out as weeds but my motto this year is leave anything other than recognised weeds in to see what grows and aren't I thrilled these have survived?

On my desk today is a little project I'm working on......

I went into our local fabric shop, Watson and Thornton's in Shrewsbury  [you know the one Sam and Jan ;-)]  looking for some stiff cotton fabric for a few projects I have in mind and as you would expect Brian, [the man who can put his hand on anything], found me some Permastiff Cotton......has anyone ever used it before?  If so what did you think?

I carefully made a paper pattern using some brown paper and pinned it onto the Permastiff. [I've only pinned it at the edges as the Permastiff does seem to mark with the pin holes ].

I cut out the fabric carefully so as to not cut into my newly made ironing board cover :-)

As you can see I'm using a push back method with my machines today....I've got no other room at the mo!!

I've clipped into the corners as you might be able to see.

I don't often pin but I've pinned the basic shape together to see if it fits....can you tell what it is yet?

Ta da.  It fits a treat and I think it will do the job nicely.  I am planning to use the Permastiff as a lining for my tissue box cover for my new sewing room.....I am planning to make a cover with pockets and attach a pin cushion to it to it will be useful and pretty.

As they say....watch this space for further developments.  :-)

Today there should be a skip on my drive and builders in the back garden digging out the footings for our extension so its mess and excitement all round for me.  Please leave me a little comment so I know you've called by and I will be over to yours to see what you're up to this week as soon as I can.

Hugs,

Annie x

This week's smiles...week 127

I know I know....I'm running late today so for you early birds here's Mr Linky and if you'd like to find out why I'm running late please pop back later when I do an update....but for now here's a clue.....

Update

Sorry for the delay today.  I usually write my Friday post on Thursday evening but last night was spent in the company of that gorgeous hunk in the photo above. Alfie Boe.....yes it's Alfie Boe!!!!!! We went to Pangolin Llangollen [obviously the spell check on my computer doesn't understand/speak Welsh!  :-)]  to see him in the Thursday night's concert with Sophie Evans, Amy Dickson and Jonathan Antione and wow it was amazing.  I don't think I stopped grinning all night.

And all that happened after a really exciting day because work started in my new sewing room.....

Sorry about the glare of the sunlight through the door on the first pick but it was a really sunny day here yesterday. 

Lots of dust, brick ends and cups of tea later and wahooooo my new sewing room has a door and two new windows in the end.....and I can't stop grinning.

I'm not sure where my machines will go between the acros that were put to hold the roof up while the work was being done but I'm hoping when they come back today to clear the rubble that they will take those too.  :-)

There you go folks....I've not had time to feature anyone from last week but I will say a huge thank you for joining in and I hope you will be back to play today....now I've managed to write my post  :-)

Have a great week.

Hugs,

Annie x