Tag Archive: Bunting

Chilling out on Planet Penny

Brrrr, it’s sooo cold!  I’m ensconced in my little Planet Penny office wearing my Boneyard scarf

Boneyard scarf

wrapped several times round my neck, the pink version of the wrist warmers and with a cup of hot lemon and ginger tea to hand.  Apart from the miserable weather a lot of it is to do with sitting still too much, needlefelting, crocheting and winding wool, or tapping on a keyboard does not generate enough heat!  Tim’s on dog walking duty while I finalise the craft fair bits and pieces, so at least he and Higgins are getting proper exercise.

The needlefelting?  Well it’s robins as usual!  I think I’ve got enough now to be going on with.  My latest version, and I think my favourite, is attached to a wool covered crocodile clip which means it can be clipped on the branches of a Christmas tree, or a pot plant…

needlefelt robin on clip - Planet Penny

…he’s got a little button heart in his beak…

The crocheting, well I’ve made some tiny bunting, it’s great for using up left over Planet Penny cotton and would look lovely strung on shelves or a dresser.  For the moment I’ve just added it to my bunting and garland collection in the studio add a little colourfulness against the gloom…

crochet bunting in Planet Penny rainbow colours

crochet bunting and hearts in Planet Penny rainbow cotton

The winding has been for more rainbow mouse kits (this can be done in front of the fire watching Strictly Come Dancing so I did manage to thaw out a bit!)

cotton yarn in Planet Penny rainbow colours

And the tapping away on the computer was for my first proper book review which, if you missed it, is here.  It’s worth a look, it’s a fabulous book.

Finally, with Halloween around the corner, Higgins had a go at pumpkin carving yesterday.  When I came in with one to turn into pumpkin soup, Higgins when wild with excitement, convinced it was a football, just for him.

miniature dachshund and pumpkin

When I put down for him to check it out he made a huge effort to get his teeth in it…

miniature dachshund and pumpkin

But the disaster came when he finally managed to get it to roll.  It rumbled across the floor, hit a small table on which Tim had just placed a fresh cup of tea and knocked it flying, soaking poor Henry who was just passing.  What a good thing Henry has thick fur, just his dignity was hurt!

He managed to make quite an impression on the pumpkin before being bribed away with a doggy treat so I could hide it in the pantry!  (I now have a lot of soup, a lot of frozen pumpkin, and I still have half left.  I wonder if I can chop it up with dog food? And this was a small one!)

So for now I’ll leave you with the usual link to Handmade Monday and get back to work.  If you’re in Norfolk on Wednesday it would be lovely to see you at How Hill for the Craft Fair but if not, I’ll be back soon…x

 

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Silent Sunday

A dresser full of flowers and pretty crochet pieces
Silent Sunday

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New Crochet Bunting for Handmade Monday

There’s been a lot of weather about this week!  Anyway, moments like this when you’re out for a walk make it worthwhile, even when it’s below freezing point.  And no apologies for sharing another snowdrop picture, I’m getting a little obsessed by seeing things from a miniature dachshund’s viewpoint!

I’ve been happy and relieved that this week at our monthly Knit and Stitch meeting  the little heart pattern was tested out by a relatively new crochet-er, and it worked !  (Bearing in mind I might have been crocheting for a while, but I’m a novice pattern writer!) Not only that, but having cracked the pattern, Carol went on to reinterpret the heart with crochet wire and beads, which is so pretty…

They look huge here, but they’re not much bigger than a 10p piece, delicate crochet jewellery.

My latest rainbow creation from my gorgeous cotton yarn basket is a new version of  crochet bunting.  I know the white Christmas Bunting is very popular but there’s been a lot of white around just lately, and I needed an antidote!

I’ll be posting the pattern in Tutorials very soon.

Which brings me to the fireplace.  And the hearth rug.  the scene of many a power struggle amongst the four legged members of the family.  On the one side is Henry, who has been here for getting on for 17 years, who isn’t in the best of health, but who know exactly what is due to a senior citizen  and is quite prepared to use all his ‘Grumpy Old Man ‘ tactics to make sure he gets his way.  And on the other side is Higgins, who is absolutely sure that everything is all about him…

Today my sister arrived with a special present just for Henry, and I rather knew it was going to cause trouble…

A beautiful rag rug, exactly what a old and bony pussy cat needs…

um…hang on…

…that’s better…

But when a little chat about ‘sharing’ fell on deaf ears…

Higgins retired to the sofa…

Hang on, can’t you see him?

It’s a dog’s life…

But enough of all that.  It’s Handmade Monday again, and it’s time to visit the lovely Wendy over on 1st Unique Gifts and find out what everyone else has been creating this week.

Next week I’m hoping to share a new idea with you, one you might just want to join in with…

In the meantime, see you soon! xx

 

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More Hearts…More Pompoms…

Hello!!! Is it Thursday already? This week is galloping by.  Firstly, because I know you’ll want to know, Henry is still doing nicely.  The medication has been finished, and as I write he is snoring contentedly, in his bed.  This is a relief, as when he first came back the only place he wanted to be if he couldn’t have a warm lap was a warm keyboard.

The only little cloud on the horizon is the visit to vet next Monday for the removal of the stitches.  This will probably require the entire squad of nurses and maybe one or two brave volunteers from the waiting room as he will NOT be a happy bunny!

Oh, and some hair restorer…

His tummy was shaved for the ultrasound, his head was shaved for the spinal tap, patches were shaved on his legs for the drips, and his throat was shaved for the operation.  Thank goodness it’s summer, I don’t think he’s be happy in a jumper, however beautifully knitted!

But pompoms, I hear you cry, you said there were pompoms!

There are SO many pompoms!  I found this wonderful gadget…

Do you remember the Heart and Pompom bunting…

…which I made in January?

I still love it, but I made the pompoms with a little gadget which my mum had given me because she wasn’t very happy with her results.  Well, I tried really hard with it, and made so many pompoms using up my leftovers

but they were never as firm and fluffy as I wanted them to be.

Now I have found this gadget…

…and it is wonderful! The smallest sized one makes a beautifully firm pompom in just few minutes and it is so compulsive I had to pack the gadgets up and put them away as  there was a danger that my entire stash would be used up!

The solution was to make a larger version of the Heart and Pompom Bunting – the tutorial for that is here.  I just worked the last row in the pattern in the main colour and added an extra row in the contrast colour to make the hearts bigger and made the joining chain slightly longer between the hearts so I could use slightly bigger pompoms.

Would you like to see?

It was hard to find the best way to show you.  When I hung it up inside I realised how much my house needs redecorating, and the light wasn’t right so here it is outside the studio…

There’s actually a bit too much light here, it rather bleaches the colours, but I’m not going to complain about sunshine! (If you can’t find the pompom maker locally I got mine from Clothkits thank you, Kaye!)

Now we have another sunshiny day I’d better get out into the garden. All the strong wind over the last couple of days has blown my little plastic greenhouse and flowerpots all over the garden. (Higgins has done his best  to round things up but the toothmarks are a problem…)

Talking of Higgins, he’s rather had the spotlight taken off him with recent events but if you were wondering…he’s fine…

You see…?

 

 

 
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Happy Friday

How lovely it’s been today to have nothing but happy smiling faces on the television!  It’s been a miserable year in the world so far, with earthquakes, the tsunami, uprisings and war and sadness, so the happiness of William and Catherine and all the people in London celebrating with them has been so uplifting.  I said I was just going to switch on to see the dress, but I watched the lot, and cried and still managed to carry on needle felting… there was only a little blood!

I hope you had a lovely Easter. We did, and Higgins had boys to stay and he loved that.  I’ve had to eat rather a lot of hard boiled eggs over the last few days as the boys forgot to take them home, but they’ve all gone now.  (I think I would have enjoyed the chocolate ones more, but strangely they remembered those!) 

Higgins discovered the joys of a hammock…

…but I found it a little disconcerting to be hit by a low flying dachshund landing on my stomach when I was lying in it myself, quietly reading.

Now it’s time to get organised and think ahead.

So much is happening in the next few weeks that I need to get to grips with it all, make a list and tell you all about it…then it must be true!

Watch this space …

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Lifting the Gloom….

We really need something a little cheerful at the moment don’t we?  January is such a gloomy month.  Higgins and I went for a ‘squelch’ this afternoon and although it quite mild, it was what my Mother calls a Tupperware box day, and  no one’s taken the lid off.

But, the days are getting longer(by about one and a half minutes a day apparently)  and I have little daffodils bursting into bloom in front of me as I type.

I was really lucky to receive a lovely gift at Christmas, a beautiful jug which I have been coveting for about five years.  Do you remember this post when I was given a pretty little mug for my birthday?  Well my clever Daughter-in-law tracked down the very jug I have been hankering after all this time from the same designer, Gabriella Miller.

And I’ve  found the little notebook I mentioned in the other post, where i had espressed my desire to have some Arabella Miiler pieces as well as all sorts of usdeful notes and pictures.

However, I’ve been working on something to cheer up the gloom, and the bareness left now the Christmas decorations have been consigned to the attic for another year.  I’ve been playing around with a crochet hook and the yarns left from the cushion and blanket project which are a real splash of colour in themselves.  And with February round the corner, and Valentine’s Day there are hearts, and I still love the pompoms so I thought…


I’ve been fiddling  around with the pattern and written it down which I’m really proud of  because I got so excited about the whole process, and the prettiness of all the colours.  I’ll do a few photos as soon as possible to turn it into a tutorial if you think you’d like make your own version but in the meantime, want to see some more?

(By the way,  do you like the cup, saucer and plate on the top shelf?  Another Christmas present which I love!)

And finally, bringing all the cheeriness together…

A cheerful note on which to start the weekend!  Have a lovely one, I hope the sun shines for you.  See you soon x

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