Author Archives: penny
FollowReasons to be Cheerful – Week 8
Hello! I hope you are all feeling as cheerful as I am at the moment. but if not I hope that somewhere along the way between this blog and the others taking part we can bring a you a smile or two.
It’s jolly cold and windy here today, but at least we haven’t got the ice and snow that is making life miserable further north. Norfolk always manages to fit in a lot of sky over it’s landscape and I never tire of photographing it.
(Home and a warm fire is tucked away behind the trees in the middle!)
I’ve every reason to be cheerful today because Tim is home, and home for Christmas too. It doesn’t always happen, and he does have to go back offshore the day after Boxing Day for two weeks, but it’s lovely to have him about for the run up to Christmas.
Higgins is happy too. Watch the remake here of ‘The Railway Children’….Higgins in the Jenny Agutter role…”Daddy, my Daddy!”
I have a small gem from the grandsons to share too… Max and Benjy won a Christmas card competition. “Daddy, Daddy! We’ve won a vulture, a £20 vulture!”
So that’s Christmas dinner taken care of then.
I’ve had a BIG challenge on the needlefelting front, and I think I’ve cracked it. I had to create a hamster, and not just any hamster, a particular hamster. It wasn’t till I started that I realised just how tricky hamsters are because they can be very round and fat, or all stretched out and lithe. I cracked it on the third attempt, and gave him an apple to play with for good measure. I can’t tell you how happy I was when it all started falling into place! Phew!
Finally, I’m very happy to be able to share the exciting news I mentioned last week. I’m on a list! And not just any list, but the Channel4/4Homes Favourite Craft Blogs list!
I suppose I should be very cool about it, but I’m not. I just can’t believe when I look back at my tentative beginnings here on Planet Penny, that I’ve come this far. So I shall say it again…Phew!
And at the risk of sounding as if I’ve just been presented with an Oscar, it wouldn’t have happened without all you out there. I was reading a blog a few days ago where the writer was justifying her decision to disable comments, because she said she was writing for herself and not for other people to express opinions. But it doesn’t work like that in the crafting blog world. I need your opinions and feedback, and don’t know where I’d be without it!
I’m sure you all have lots of Reasons to be Cheerful you could share just at the moment in the run up to Christmas. If you put them in your Blog, add it to the Linky below so people can visit, and if you don’t have a blog, please feel free to tell us what is making you happy this week in the ‘Comments’.
See you soon….x
Needlefelt Cup Cakes for Handmade Monday
Hello, and welcome to another Handmade Monday. It’s hard to believe that three weeks today we will be wondering what to do to make the turkey leftovers exciting! I’ve been reading through last December’s posts , and realising how great the whole blog thing is. If I wasn’t writing this, how would I remember last year’s early snow? Those photos are making me envious of the snow I hear has fallen in the North of England and Scotland over the last couple of days. Can it really be a year since the Mad French Cat came to stay at my Mum’s, to keep us entertained with his funny little ways? And I was SO organised last year! Making Christmas cards and Mincemeat, wrapping presents… At the moment my sole piece of preparation is a Christmas Cake in a bag…
Never mind, the time has not been wasted, and I’ve always liked a challenge!
My latest piece of news is the opening of a new shop in a Market town not too far away from where I live which is starting craft courses in the New Year. I’ll be there with my felting needles among other craft tutors, and you can find out more here. I’m off there on Thursday to promote the beginners’ class, a Needlefelt Cup Cake Pincushion, which you may have read about here before, but it’s always a good introduction.
And it’s surprising how yummy they look!
So it’s a short post this Handmade Monday, I need to be consulting the gospel according to St Delia for a bit of seasonal advice, and catching up. Do pay a call over on 1st Unique Gifts where Wendy has made a gathering place for all the Handmade Monday-ers!
Silent Sunday
Reasons to be Cheerful – Week 7
Hello again, what do you think of my happy jingly heart? I’m always on the look out for heart shaped pretties and this was irresistible. One day I will have to go round the house with the camera and make a heart mosaic. One day…when I have nothing to do!
I’ve been busily sorting out orders after the weekend, and I just have one left…a hamster. And not just any hamster, I have photos of a dearly departed much loved pet to guide me so this has got to be right. Quite a responsibility, I’ll let you know later how I get on!
I’ve also been catching up on correspondence, which is why I bought some cards last weekend at the Pick and Mix Market. The trouble is, I’m finding it really difficult to spoil the beautiful presentation! I mean, look how lovely this looks…
…and I couldn’t resist buying these jolly Christmas cards from Moobaacluck…
(although I should probably have kept them a secret, I hope no one is looking!)
I must bring in Higgins as a Reason to be Cheerful this week, although he manages to be that anyway (99% of the time!) I had to chuckle this morning as I watched him carefully dragging the throw off the sofa, across the floor to the patch of sunlight streaming in through the french doors. Having arranged it carefully into a Higgy shaped nest, he selected his current favourite toy from the toy box and settled down to warm his tummy! But he’s come into his own getting me out of the house on days when without him I would NOT have ventured into the great outdoors, what with the wind, the rain, and the mud.
It hasn’t been like that every day, and today we had a lovely walk.
Finally I have a Reason to be Cheerful up my sleeve that I can’t tell you about just yet, but which me made me very happy this afternoon! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can share it, if it come off.
So what are your Reasons to be Cheerful this week? Please join in, just click on the Linky at the end of the post. It’s lovely to be able to read all the things, both big and small which have raised a smile over the past few days. And if you don’t have a blog just share your thought in the comments column.
See you soon! x
A Pick’n’Mix Handmade Monday…
Hello, Good Morning and Happy Monday! I hope the sun is shining where you are. It’s a perfect Autumnal morning here, bright low sun, and frostiness. The weekend’s strong winds have subsided, and now the last few leaves have been whipped off the cherry trees, the sun can stream in through the french doors unhindered.
I must admit to being very, very tired! There are times when the only way to have a bit of fun and life is to ignore all the ‘management’ advice about M.E., go for it, and pick up the pieces afterwards, which may take a while…
However, enough of all that…
Would you like to see some pictures? I’ve got lots, but I’ll try not to go over the top! If you want to find out more about any of the lovelies that you see, click on Pick ‘n’ Mix Makers Market in the side bar for the details.
My stall will look very familiar since I’ve featured most of my makes on here at some time…
But here are some of the rest…
We were next door to a lady selling beautiful glass pieces, but can you see who is modelling in the background?
…and I discovered she too was a member of the Dachshund fan club, and I met Monty!
Always a popular theme!
I suffered some serious yarn love looking at these…
…aren’t they gorgeous? I wish I suited a hat!
I did buy some lovely raspberry yarn from High Fibre, which I will show you when I have knitted it up, and some jolly Christmas cards from Gabriella, whose whole stall was an explosion of Jolliness!
(and where you will also find dachshunds!)
If you want to see the whole thing from another angle, pop over to Purple Podded Peas where Celia Hart has posted the day from her perspective…
The only new make I have to show you is the Robin brooch. I made one for Kit and one for me to show where we belonged…
but if I’d made lots I think I would have sold them! I sold all the robin baubles very quickly, I think that thanks to the Kirsty Allsop effect, everyone wants a needlefelted robin this Christmas!
(and that gorgeous necklace is a Silver Pebble creation, created for Kit from the contents of her granny’s button box!)
I had enquiries about the robin baubles before the weekend and will be making more for Folksy but if you’d like some you’d better let me know…
I must stop chatting, I have two men in the garden erecting scaffolding and I’m on tea duty. Do visit Wendy over on 1st Unique Gifts to find the Linky to all the other participants of Handmade Monday.
See you soon…x
