Author Archives: penny

About penny

I live in Norfolk, England in a cottage on the edge of the Norfolk Broads where it can be peaceful and beautiful, or wet and muddy, or occasionally wild and windswept. With me is husband Tim, Henry the elderly and opinionated tabby cat, and Higgins, the miniature dachshund with a massive personality. You’ll find me chattering on about wool and textiles, knitting and crochet, recipes, books and patterns, exhibitions and shopping and of course, the adventures of a small dog! Planet Penny has a Facebook Page, you can find me on UK Handmade and I am featured on Channel4/4Homes Favourite Craft Blog List.

The Little Vintage Lover Fair -Heydon

Real nostalgia came with a trip to the Little Vintage Lover Fair on Sunday. I found out about it from one of my favourite blogs, Kitschen Pink. ( This just goes to prove that the hours I spend on the laptop reading about other people’s lives are not entirely wasted)

It was a lovely way to spend a sunny sunday morning in August. A drive into the heart of the Norfolk countryside to the beautiful little village of Heydon, where the village hall was a early 20th century army hut, a perfect meeting place for a crowd of vintage lovers! Heydon Village Hall - Vintage Lover Fair

There were stalls both inside and outside the hall – thank goodness for a sunny day!

Little Vintage Lover Fair Little Vnitage Lover's Fair Little Vintage Lover Fair - Norfolk

It was here I met not only Kitschen Pink, but also Mrs Bobobun and Faded Splendour and saw all sorts of lovely things I would have bought if only I could throw out another wing on my little house! (Visit these blogs for lots more photos of all the tempting bits and pieces.)

Meeting them adds a whole new dimension to blog surfing! felt flowers

And I did buy this, it’s very small, but perfectly formed …!

A Colourful Weekend

colourful inspiration

I did try so hard to remain focused on the mammoth task of sorting my studio but I am very easily distracted. The enormous bag was sorted, yarns balled and stored, all the fabrics and textiles folded and ironed and things went into the black bag and stayed there. But then it all looked so lovely and tempting…

ribbons wool fabrics

patchwork fabrics. felt and scissors

So this Sunday my living area has been transformed into a textile workshop with a sewing machine on one side of the dining table, a felting machine on the other side and the laptop in the middle. The sofa is covered in hand sewing and the ironing board is set up in the kitchen. Henry the cat has retired to a sunny spot in the garden and my long suffering spouse will be relieved that he is currently in the middle of the North Sea! In the midst of all the textiles I found a bundle of vividly coloured cotton strips, elongated triangles, cut for a long forgotten project. Having stitched them together, primarily to enjoy the intensity of the saturated colours, inspiration suddenly struck. Diving into yet another fabric stash (this one’s under the bed) I found a length of royal blue cotton and a much loved Provencal print which used to be a curtain.

patchwork bag

I now have a bag guaranteed to brighten up the most boring supermarket shopping expedition. Then there was what I did with all those brightly coloured blanket pieces and the felting machine….but that is for another post!

Feeling a Little Blue

I’ve just awarded myself a little play with my toys after spending half an hour lurking in my studio trying to have a sort out. Well, once upon a time it was a studio, now it is a glorified cupboard, full of wonderful things with which to be creative if only I could find them. I have staggered in to the house with a huge bag of yarns and fleece and pretty fabrics and my task for the rest of the day is to sort and fold and pack and, whisper it, cull, until I have reduced the whole down to something manageable. If I do this every day for the rest of the year… no, no, don’t be so dramatic, Penny…for the next week or so, I may even have reclaimed a tiny bit of work space. The current Project G-J, still in the planning stage, is the building of a new studio. This will triple my work space with lots of storage for materials and books which will transform not only my creative life but free up all the places round the house currently housing little secret caches of fabric and wool and paper and threads and beads and paint…well, I’m sure you get the picture!

Sweet Temptation

It really shouldn’t be allowed. I have been confronted by this sweetie jar every day for a fortnight when collecting our daily papers from the village shop. How pretty, I kept thinking, what a lovely photo it would make, how nice to have it sitting on a shelf in the kitchen. So now it’s mine. It does make a lovely photo, and it does look good sitting on the shelf in the kitchen. But it doesn’t look nearly as attractive now the top two inches have disappeared and I have a sore mouth and toothache and sadly, very little willpower! Ho hum…

sweeties

What a grey day…!

pelagonium

The weather has finally broken and over the last two days we have been in and out of torrential downpours. At least I don’t have to keep watering the rocket!

Ann Folkard

I am cheering myself up with a few images from the garden which really glow, and keeping my fingers crossed for the second heat wave promised for next month when, no doubt, all the rocket will bolt!

eden rose2

Salthouse and a Printmaking Weekend

Salthouse Cottage

A forty minute drive along the coast road brought us to Salthouse, a tiny Norfolk village with a big annual Art Exhibition held in it’s beautiful flint church which stands on a mound above the village, over looking the sea. We were lucky enough to book onto one of the art event courses which run alongside the Exhibition, two days of Experimental Printmaking.

printmaking workshop

There were ten of us and, as is usual with these things, all female. It’s really strange, print making is hardly a girly thing! The main skill we were being taught was Collagraphy, a relatively new form of print making which is much more user friendly than etching etc which requires noxious acids and other things with Health and Safety issues. You’re pretty safe with PVA glue! The basic plate is a collage of different papers, textures and textiles, glued down firmly on to heavy board and varnished to create a plate which can be inked and run through a printing press, with amazing results if you are an expert like Laurie Rudling.

Laurie's printing plate - experimental printmaking

Laurie Rudling - print - experimental printmaking weekend

By the end of the weekend I felt I had learnt an enormous amount but was pretty underwhelmed with what I’d actually produced, especially as some of the other students had produced amazing stuff worthy of framing and putting in a gallery. I was green with envy! Laurie, bless him, had positive things to say to everyone at the final ‘Show and Tell’, even me. I felt so much better after he’d referred to my effort as ‘reminiscent of a piece of Roman Wall’, so I might not hide it under the bed after all!

Roman Wall

Having revealed my print, I must now show how high the standard of the rest of the group actually was, despite my embarrassment! Considering many in the group had no experience in printing it’s great when a good tutor like Laurie Rudling is able to draw out people’s hidden talents. I’ve taken note of the fact that Laurie has a course coming up at Broadland Art Centre at the end of September which could well be just what I need!

experimental printmaking Having fitted in a look round the Exhibition we wandered down to the little stream which runs alongside the road through the village. There we admired the cows and the view and enjoyed the icecream cornet and flake with which we rewarded ouselves after all the hard work of the weekend.

Salthouse Cows

Experimental Print Making

California Poppies

I’m leaving the garden to it’s own devices this weekend. I’m off to Salthouse on the North Norfolk coast for a two day printmaking course with a great tutor, Laurie Rudling. This is me stepping out of my woolly comfort zone and getting messy, hopefully with interesting results. With luck I should be able to share these with you, otherwise watch out for pretty pictures of the Norfolk countryside!