Friday 30 October 2015

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

Wednesday 28 October 2015

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

Friday 23 October 2015

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

Wednesday 21 October 2015

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

Friday 16 October 2015

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

Wednesday 14 October 2015

WOYWW......

I've spent the week sorting and folding fabric.....and even had that big sister here to help on Saturday while the men were at the footy [thanks Jo].  There's still loads to do and it's not easy getting in there while my builders are here but we will get there.  The builders are putting a roof on the extension at the mo so it's bang bang bang and drill drill drill and they hope to knock the wall out on Thursday knocking the kitchen / diner into one so it will be mess mess and yet more mess and will probably put a real stop to the access to the sewing room until it's done but......they are hoping to have all the building work finished by the end of this month so it really shouldn't be much longer now  :-)

So here's what I've been up to in my sewing room this week....

Having spent weeks waiting to set up my sewing room I had plenty of time to check out ideas on Pinterest and couldn't wait to have a go at one of them.
I found all the bits I needed, did some measuring and cutting and got everything ready.......



.....a bit of sewing and hand stitching and hey presto. 

 Do you know what it is yet?

My foot pedals like to slide on the new laminate flooring so I've made the first I intend to make of these....
....grippy mats to hold my foot pedals in place   :-)

What do you think?

That's all I have to share with you today.  Please leave me a little message to let me know you've called in and I will return the visit as soon as I can.
Hugs,
Annie x


Friday 9 October 2015

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

Wednesday 7 October 2015

WOYWW...

Hello all. I know you've come to see my work desk so I will get straight to the point and show you what I've been up to since you were here last....



I had an idea in mind so...
  • I filled my new cutting station with lots of yummy fabrics.  
  • I did some measuring
  • I made a pattern and then I.....
I cut out a lot of fabric ovals in the yummy colours to match my new sewing room.
  • I backed them all with some permastiff
  • I cut them all in half
  • I snipped all the curves and
  • turned them all right sides out then
  • I attached them to long strips of permastiff and........

Hey presto I decorated my new shelves  with it all.  Pretty eh?


More shelves have been put up on the other side of the room to hold all my little Ikea sets of drawers that have now been sorted, tidied and labelled so I can find everything....and of course those new shelves have been decorated too.  :-)  As you can see I really am enjoying making my new sewing room look pretty.....hope you like it too.

Thanks for popping by.  Please leave me a little comment to let me know you've called in and I will drop by at yours as soon as I can.
I also want to say a big sorry to the google+ bloggers that visit me because I am able to read their posts but am unable to leave them a comment.....I do try honest.
Have a great week,
Hugs,
Annie x

Friday 2 October 2015

This week's smiles....week 139

Hello all.  As you know Friday is the day of the week when I share my week's smiles and set up the new Mr Linky at the bottom for all of you to link up your smiles.  Please feel free to link yours up at any point in the week and to even call back to link more later in the week if you want to.....there are no limits to smiles.  We can never have too many so please keep them coming.

Thank you to all who joined in last week.  There were so many wonderful things to smile about and this week I'm featuring Elizabeth's post with all her fab photos of the yarn bombing in Selkirk.  What a fun thing to do....I'm certain many smiles were caused by the colourful results.  Thanks for sharing your pics Elizabeth.

We had a funeral to attend in Lincolnshire last Thursday so chose to travel over there on the Wednesday evening after work and to stay in a hotel until Saturday morning.....a couple of days away from the dust and mess was much appreciated.  On the Friday we went to Lincoln and in the castle grounds we saw these.....







These Barons had been around the city but had recently been moved and were displayed in the castle grounds.  They were all different and each one represented something relevant to Lincolnshire [if you click on the pics you should be able to enlarge them].



I think I snapped most of them....aren't they gorgeous?  Wonderful designs. Amazing works of art and fab colours.






Sunday afternoon we babysat for Amy and took Phoebe, Lulu and Steve to a brilliant play park in Wrexham.  There was a lot of fun had by all....and ice creams too  :-)


Those are my smiles for this week....well some of them :-)

I hope you've enjoyed mine and will link yours up below.
Hugs,
Annie x