Tag Archive: Needle Felting

The Merry Month of May….

Everything seems to be happening in the merry month of May 2012!   In the spirit of chasing along so as not to get left behind…

…and before I run out of time…

I know…sorry!

I’m squeezing in an extra post so I don’t get completely overwhelmed with things to say, photos to show and no time.

So, May….first of all, there are three birthdays.  Poor Tim drew the short straw having to go back to work on his birthday.  The Carrot Cake recipe must come out in time for his return home I feel!   Then of course there was the wedding… I do have some more photos to share, don’t worry, but they won’t be of the Mother-of-the-Groom.  A line must be drawn!   And, my own big news, Planet Penny is now officially a business.  Not perfect timing but things were running away from me, and I needed it all to be official.

The Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios event is fast approaching, in fact it’s the weekend after next.  There is still loads to do, but we’ll get there, and if anyone is in the Norfolk area it would be SO lovely to see you.  You can find out all about it here.

The next big exciting thing though is next week, and it’s the launch of my son Thomas’ debut novel in Heffer’s bookshop in Cambridge.  Obviously I’m a proud mum, but I’m not alone in thinking he’s pretty special and you can read a bit about the launch here.   And of course if you are in the Cambridge area you could join in too, and come and say hello, I’ll be the one with a proud grin from ear to ear!

Thomas is going to write the very first Guest Post for Planet Penny in the next few days, too, so do look out for that.

But back to the wedding, and the decorations.  We had Wedding Trees!  It had started in the back of my mind as painted branches on which to hang little pretties, but with the help of St Serendipity again, we found two beautifully shaped Japanese Maples in pots.  At the time they were completely bare, but just in time they put out the most beautiful red leaves which were still small enough for an overall lacy effect, and I draped them with little white lights, tiny white calico hearts and paper doves…

But the thing which occupied most of my time in the run up to the wedding was the cake topper.  I’d had a particular idea in mind from the moment  I heard it was going to be a cheese cake.  and I don’t mean a cheesecake, I mean a cake made of CHEESE!  Wallace and Gromit would be proud!

It had to be mice, didn’t it?  And I didn’t let the fact that there weren’t actually any bridesmaids, or even a pageboy put me off…

And the chef made an amazing job of putting the whole construction together…

Mouse Wedding Cake Toppers

I have to say it was delicious too, and very much appreciated by all the family, complete cheese fanatics every one!

Finally, a Planet Penny Cotton Club update.  I have just moved the yarn packs, Rainbow Mouse Kits and patterns on to the Folksy shop.  I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the administration involved selling them directly, I need time to be creative or I just don’t function!  It all seems to be working well but let me know if you have a problem.

See you soon…x

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Needlefelt Sheep for Handmade Monday

I don’t know what the weather is doing in your part of the world, but despite the bright sun, fluffy clouds and blue sky, the wind feels as if it’s just blown off a snow field in this corner of Norfolk!  It doesn’t help that we know we live in the windiest spot in the village, as you can see by our proximity to the village mill, now sadly defunct. That’s us, at the end of the arrow…

So even though I’m still finding plenty of newly emerging flowers…

The view is still decidedly wintery…

…and it would actually be really good to get some rain, and I don’t say that very often!

I’m going to share some other people’s handmade lovelies with you now, before making a very exciting announcement!  So first of all, have you come across a book called Best in Show – Knit Your Own Cat?

knit your own cat

One of the ladies at our Knit and Stitch group was given this for Christmas, and has been knitting her own cats ever since!

Aren’t they amazing?  Imagine knitting a tail, with 4 stitches, on 4 needles!

And, since I am running out of time in my life to make anything for me, I went off to Folksy to find myself a peg bag and found just what I wanted from Plum Pudding, and couldn’t resist these little heart fridge magnets as well…

There are so many pretty things in the shop, and the fabrics are right up my street.

And now for my big announcement…

This is my 300th Blog Post!

Added to which, I have just galloped past 100,000 visits on the Planet Penny stats, so as a thank you to all you lovely people who have loyally followed, and commented and generally joined in,  I’m going to have a prize draw.

This time, I’m offering a very special prize.  Do you remember my needlefelt sheep?

There haven’t been any sheep in the Folksy shop for a while, something I mean to address very soon, and they usually sell for £30.00. But, I have one very special sheep looking for a good home, and because this is an occasion worth celebrating, I am offering her as the prize.  Meet Goldie…

Goldie could be yours, all you have to do is to leave a comment on this post for a place in the draw.  If you ‘like’ me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter  you’ll go into the hat again!  It’s that simple… I’ll keep it open for a couple of weeks to give you all a chance to join in.

And can I make a plea for some healing vibes to be sent my way on Tuesday?  I dashing off after teaching the needlefelt course at The OutHouse Studio on Tuesday morning to have a tooth out in the afternoon, at two thirty would you believe…(tooth hurty!?…sorry..) So I may be a bit feeble for the rest of the week.

Anyway, off to 1st Unique Gifts now to link up for Handmade Monday again, do go and see what everyone  else has been up to.

See you soon x

 

 

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Needlefelt Birds for Handmade Monday

Happy Easter to all!  Are you full of chocolate yet?  We’re having a quiet time here as the family are away and so needlefelt birds have been in the forefront of my mind and the felting needle has been smoking…(which is what mustn’t happen to the lamb shanks I shall be putting in the oven shortly for a long slow cook for our dinner à deux tonight !)

We celebrated the start of the hosepipe ban last week with a really rainy day here…

Norfolk garden viewed through a rain spattered window

Some people found it most depressing…

A small dog being very grumpy about the rain

Of course, Murphy’s Law applied too, as after days and days of dry weather, this was the day the soil was delivered to fill my beautiful new raised beds from Home Grown Revolution

These are now looking absolutely splendid…

raised beds from Home Grown Revolution

…all ready for warmer weather and the time to get them planted.  I’m feeling very guilty about the garden as despite my best intentions things are slipping rather, but short of that elusive extra day in the week I would love to find, it can’t be helped.

As well as the smoking felting needle, the keyboard’s been pretty hot too, as I’ve been writing.  I haven’t mention it before (because I sort of didn’t believe it until I saw in black and white) but I am now a Features Writer for UK Handmade, and you’ll find my first offerings here and here if you are curious.  And if you haven’t found UK Handmade’s website before, there are lots and lots of really interesting articles by some amazingly creative people to keep you amused over the holiday weekend!

I was also asked to write a guest blog post by Sue, of SusanD1408Crochet Addict which you can find here if you’d like to know  how Planet Penny came into being.

Meanwhile, back at the felting needles…. You’ll remember last week I had got as far as this…

colourful needlefelt Merino wool balls

….but nobody guessed where I was going with it.

I started with the pale yellow on in the middle…

the woolly feet of a needlefelt chick

(those little feet are very important) …and turned into a special Easter chick…

a needlefelt bird on the letter P

However the real aim is a piece to exhibit at the Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios Taster Exhibition at the Forum in Norwich next month.  This has existed in my head for so long it was rather a shock to realise that I hadn’t actually made it yet, so I’ve been working on it all week.  This involved my Easter Chick having a few more friends, a whole flock of needlefelt birds…

pink, blue and yellow needlefelt birds on a branch

A wool branch of needlefelt birds

a lambswool branch of needlefelt birds

I’m now at the final stages, with leaves crocheted in Bluefaced Leicester wool….

 

 

…and with any luck I should finish it this evening in front of the fire.  The branch is made from the lambswool yarn I bought from High Fibre, and used with the needlefelt robins at Christmas and I’m really pleased with the way it works in with the whole concept.  One day, when I have time (!) I will knit myself the raspberry colour mug hug from the yarn I bought from Fiona at the Pick’n'Mix Market last year.

Needlefelting is getting a fresh burst of publicity this week with this month’s issue of Mollie Makes.  Aren’t these cute?

So I hope there will be lots of enthusiasm for the Needlefelting Course I’m teaching on 17th April at The OutHouse Studio in Aylsham, North Norfolk.  I think there’s a place or two left, so if you are near enough, it would be lovely to see you!

I’ll leave you with a link to Wendy, over on 1st Unique Crafts who hosts Handmade Monday, and there you will find plenty more interesting things have been going on over the past week!

See you soon x

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Needlefelt Brooches for Handmade Monday

It’s a little tricky when you get yourself into the blogging mindset of photographing everything and filling the little file in the back of your brain where you store interesting and useful stuff for a blog post and then running up against secrecy!  As in wedding plans!  All of a sudden I’m doing things I can’t show you for a while, and it’s very hard keeping it to myself!

My darling daughter came home last week and frog marched me off to do ‘Wedding Outfit Shopping’.  I’ve been failing miserably on this front.  I live in jeans, jumpers and boots in the winter and swap to jeans, shirts and sandals as the weather warms up and I’ve been totally intimidated by the whole ‘frock’ thing.  I like haberdashery and stationery shops, nothing which requires me to go into a changing room and remove my clothing in front of a full length mirror!

Thanks to Aimee, John Lewis and a pair of Spanx,  I now have an outfit suitable to be the ‘Mother of the Groom’ in, just the shoes, bag and hat to go!  I’ll give you three guesses what colour I’ve chosen!

Yesterday, Aimee and I lent our support to the Groom as we went off to sort out his wedding outfit.  I think we are going to be hopeless on the day as we both dissolved into tears when he came out of the changing room looking so handsome and dashing in the full regalia. And I can’t show you any of it!

I can tell you about the up coming Needlefelt course I’m going to teach at the OutHouse Studio, in Aylsham, Norfolk on 17th of this month.  This time we will be making little brooches and pins…

selection of Needlefelt brooches

And my other needlefelting project is underway…

…can you tell what it is yet? All will be revealed before too long, I promise!

On the Planet Penny Cotton Club front I am still getting emails from happy people who have received their rainbow packs.  The next delivery should be in by the middle of April, slightly delayed because one colour is out of stock.  I’m already taking names for the next batch so if you want to join in do email me with your details, you can find out all about it here...

Once again I’m linking up with Wendy over on 1st Unique Gifts for Handmade Monday.  Do visit all the other blogs taking part and find out what every one’s been creating for this latest Handmade Monday!

 

 

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