Author Archives: penny
FollowWinter Solstice – The Turn of the Year
We’ve been celebrating Winter Solstice for several years now, it seems a much more relevant date to remember, Mother Nature herself is swinging the New Year into action, rather than being dictated to by a man-made calendar. We get together with friends to eat and drink, it usually centres around a big game stew, and look ahead to the Spring and new beginnings. And when it’s over there is still Christmas to look forward to!
Things are just building up here. Our daughter is home from Uni, elder son and family arrive tomorrow and younger son will be with us on the big day. It’s a real and rare treat to have all the family under one roof. So as Planet Penny will be a little hectic for a while, I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry, happy and peaceful Christmas. Thanks to everyone who has left comments, or emailed me over the year. I may not have time to answer each and every one, but I read everything, and love to hear from you.
I’m looking forward to new things for 2012, I hope you’ll come along and join in the fun! And I do intend to share my recipe for the accidentally amazing Winter Solstice cake which I snatched from the jaws of disaster (but which has now succumbed to jaws of a different kind!)
HAPPY CHRISTMAS! see you soon xxx
Paper Chains on Handmade Monday
I’ve had a dis-AAA-ster! My camera’s packed up! It’s like having my left hand tied behind my back (and I am left handed) I think I’ve probably worn it out, I’ve used it nearly every day for 13 months. Anyway, it’s off to the repairers, but that won’t happen till after Christmas, and I’ve ended up trying to get stills off my little Flip video camera, and they’re not up to much. So I can’t show you a lot today, but in the spirit of Handmade Monday, I’ll do my best.
Do you remember this, which I brought home from the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally?
Wel,l when I had a sudden urge to make paper chains, Origami paper seemed to the answer. I bought a multicoloured pack in Hobbycraft, 5 7/8″ square, divided each square into 6 strips and set to work with the Pritt stick and Hey Presto! paper chains to match the Origami Ball!
We still haven’t got the Christmas tree up, every time we try it snows and sleets and makes it wet again! I think we’re going to bring it into the utility room tonight to dry off, or we’ll never get it decorated. Hopefully I can find a way of sharing it with you before the big day.
If you call over at 1st Unique Gifts you’ll find all the other crafty people, busy with their Christmas makes and linking up for Handmade Monday.
See you soonxx
Silent Sunday
Reasons to be Cheerful – Week 9
Hello, are you feeling cheerful? If so, I need all the help I can get this week, I’m in complete panic mode! If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you will remember I made a huge effort to take the stress out of Christmas last year and it worked, and this time I’ve failed miserably. For good reasons, because lots of exciting things have been going on, and I’ve been really busy, but when I was in Marks and Spencer’s this afternoon hyperventilating over my Mother’s shopping list I was not a happy bunny.
So please, please…if you have something to share which will make me smile, I neeeed it…for medicinal purposes!
I’m off to our Knit and Stitch group this evening with the sausage rolls and mince pies, so this will be a short post, but I’m not completely without Reasons to be Cheerful of my own to pass on.
My dear husband, who is not terribly domesticated, offered me a cup of coffee this morning and I gratefully accepted. It was a bit milkier than I normally have it, but I put this down to not being able to get our usual semi-skimmed milk, only the full fat version. I sat at the computer, sipping the coffee and dunking my chocolate biscuit and thinking “This tastes odd, maybe cos it’s a bit creamy”…sip,sip, …dunk dunk… “no, it’s definitely strange…but familiar….hang on it tastes of….chicken…CHICKEN?” Leapt up, went to the kitchen and yes, Bisto Chicken Gravy granules….!!!
Well you’ve got laugh, really!
Higgins has been helping with the Christmas wine list…
We’re ordering a case of this apparently…
The fact that it tastes very good, as well as having a great label makes me very cheerful indeed!
And I was able to get the January edition of ‘Making‘ magazine while I was in the City, which is never available out in the sticks! Lots of good things in there, but no pictures yet alas because I’ve lost the light for today…
So, do join in with some cheerfulness, either via the Linky below, or in the comments column. And if you are looking for more crafty inspiration, pop over to Silverpebble and the ‘Making Winter’ bloghop, there’s loads to see!
This will be the last ‘Reasons to be Cheerful‘ post until the New Year. I think once January gets here we’ll need it more than ever!
See you soon xxx
Dolly Peg Angels for Handmade Monday
Hello, and welcome to another Handmade Monday. I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend as we all rev up towards the Christmas festivities. I was very excited to find that I was able to control the weather on Planet Penny and arrange for some seasonal snow to fall!
I’ve just about reached the point of RSI on the needlefelting front now, and I’m longing to spend an evening with the hexipuffs or some crochet. I can’t believe how popular the needlefelted robin baubles have been, I think it’s the Kirsty effect! I’ve just posted the very last ones for this year on Folksy, the result of an experiment, but I really like it.
One of my fellow stall holders at the Pick’n’Mix Makers Market is Fiona Henderson of High Fibre yarns and she makes the most unusual yarns, a bit like french knitting, from lambswool, and I bought a few skeins to try out. So this is what I’ve used to make a little creamy wreath on which two teeny tiny robins can perch….
…they’ve still got the little feet that make everyone go ‘aaaah!’…
Looking at then here they look huge and a bit hairy, but in fact they’re only 2″/5cm long from beak to tail.
I also have a rather gorgeous raspberry pink yarn from High Fibre destined to be a mug hug soon, another reason to get at the knitting needles!
By way of a change, I’ve revisited the Dolly Pegs, and made a little Choir of Angels who are also listed on Folksy…
…and then decided the Dolly Peg Dolls would make a great tutorial to share, and you can find it here! I hope you enjoy it, I’d love to see your versions.
I’m off to do some baking now. We have the Christmas meeting of our Knit and Stitch group this week, and I’m using that as an excuse to get out the Frangipane Mince Pie recipe. I’ll have to get them into the freezer the minute they’ve cooled down though, they are SO more-ish I doubt there would be any left if I don’t!
Finally, thank you so much for the congratulations and nice comments about Planet Penny being on the Ch4 Favourite Craft Blogs list. I hadn’t realised before how many links there on the 4Homes website for makers and crafters, well worth a look. And of course the other place to visit today for handmade inspiration is Wendy’s Handmade Monday Linky over on 1st Unique Gifts.
I’ll leave you browse…
Have a lovely week! x
