Author Archives: pennygj

An Easter Present…

Firstly I would like to say thank you SO much for the good wishes that have been sent for my Mum. One of the pleasures of the blogging community is precisely that, community. It’s easy to feel very isolated when these things happen, especially when you are in a rural area and you have to be on hand when someone’s ill. I can’t tell you how it’s helped to have your kind thoughts to read. Nan (yes, that’s her name, it’s not short for Nanny!) is gradually improving and getting stronger, although not nearly fast enough for her liking. I’ve ben asured by a nurse tho’ that the Noro virus takes ages to get over when you are generally in good health, so it will take while yet for someone like her. (And I’m sorry Alice, that the name of your favourite wool obsession has been hijacked for something so nasty!)

It’s been tricky fitting in as much making as I would like with all the to-ing and fro-ing going on, but with Easter in mind I’ve produced these for the Easter Tree.

Do you have an Easter Tree? We first saw them in the Netherlands nearly 20 years ago and I have had one ever since, it’s such a lovely herald of Spring. These decorations are the size of a hens egg, and being needle felt are light enough to hang from a twiggy branch of twisted willow. They will be in the Folksy Shop very soon.

And I though it would be nice to have an Easter giveaway, especially as I have found the perfect thing for your morning cuppa on a bright spring morning!

So if you like cows…

or hens…

or even sheep…

…it doesn’t matter because they are all here together on this one sunshine yellow cup and saucer!

All you need to do is to leave a comment here, and if you put a link to your blog, Facebook page or Tweet about it be sure to let me know and I’ll put you in the hat twice! I’ll keep it running until the 15th April and get Higgins to help me with the draw. (I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it eventually!)

Alpacas and Piglets

Blogland is meant to be a jolly place so I don’t like to bring along any trials and tribulations but I just want to briefly say things have been a little tricky over the last week or so if I’m not about so much, or fail to sparkle conversationally, please bear with me. My mum was whisked off to hospital ten days ago with heart problems and contracted the Noro virus and so has been very poorly. She’s home now and recovering, but her weak state of health means quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between houses, and I’m spreading myself a little thinly at the moment.

However, I do want to keep on top of things on Planet Penny and Higgins and I have our little trip out last week to meet the Alpacas down the road to tell you about. I wanted to get some more fleece for felting, and it’s nice to meet the four legged suppliers in person. Higgins was also very interested to meet the resident pussy cat, who was beautiful, white with apricot ears and apricot stripes on her tail…

Higgins still hasn’t mastered the social niceties of meeting cats. His bounce and squeak technique just doesn’t work…

He wasn’t fazed by the Alpacas either…

…and was happy to be introduced…

I’ve just got to make sure he doesn’t discover the bags of nice soft fleece I’ve brought home or I think he’ll be lining a little Higgy nest with it!.

I haven’t processed this yet, but I had just enough left of the last bag for this little bunny to come into being…

and also this one…

and they will be on Folksy as soon as possible.

And finally, if you haven’t had enough of cute animals, I’ve got to show you these, spotted next to the the little stall at the end of the road where I buy my eggs…

Altogether now… Aaaaah!…

It’s SPRING!

Hooray, it’s official, today is the first day of Spring and Higgins and I have been in the garden in shirtsleeves! (Well I have, Higgins is still stuck in that hairy vest he wears) Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Tim and I went off to look for daffodils yesterday, and found some! Isn’t it ridiculous how you go off on holiday and hunt out nice places to go, but never get round to visiting places right on your doorstep at home?

We have the lovely Hoveton Hall Gardens literally next door to us and as we’d already missed the Snowdrop Walk for various reasons I was determined we’d get along to the Daffodil Walk. Unfortunately we didn’t have quite the glorious weather on Sunday which we enjoyed on Saturday so the photos aren’t quite at sparkly as I had hoped, but never mind. What is nice is that you can really see the bare bones of the garden as it comes to life and I’m now quite determined to go back at regular intervals and watch it grow, I think the rhodedendrons and azaleas will be glorious!

If I lived here I think I could spend quite a bit of time just drifting round this little lake in a rowing boat listening to the birds singing and the wind in the trees…

…with permission from Mr Swan of course!

I’ve never seen daffodils like this before…

Not entire sure what I make of these, there’s some thing a bit Bart Simpson-ish about them don’t you think?

I can’t wait to visit the Spider Garden when everything is in bloom, despite the scary guardian of the gate!

if you can’t quite make him (or her) out, this is what I mean!

After a nice walk and a cup of tea I got back to my latest needlefelting project. I was sorting through all my dyed yarns the other day and found a gorgeous little bag of something soft and very cuddly, and a completely natural colour.

It’s Alpaca fleece, and the herd live two fields away, here! And although it’s alpaca, doesn’t it just make you think of bunnies? Easter Bunnies? so here is my own Easter Bunny…

right down to his fluffy bunny tail!

Mr Bunny is now for sale in the Planet Penny shop on Folksy, so I think I’d better go and size up those Alpacas to see if they can spare any more fleece so I can make him some little friends!

Hope Spring is springing where you are xxx

Home Again…

Hello, I’m back…and in one piece although at times it was touch and go! We had a wonderful few days, the sky was blue…

the snow was deep…

the company great fun and the food, oh dear the food….!!! And the drink! Still, lots of time now to get back to the diet.. eventually. Slightly tricky when I sent the dear husband out to buy salad when we got home and he came back with pork pies, extra creamy potato salad and two sorts of icecream. Oh, for some ‘Won’t Power’!

Skiing was a little tricky, the brain was willing but the body said ‘Who Me?’ and my knees said ‘No Way!’ And I had to wear these boots…

I mean…Orange?

But a few days in brilliant sunshine was exactly what the spirit needed, especially reflected off snow covered mountains.

and I must share the joys of Austrian bedmaking…

I never knew a duvet could be so much fun!

At home, we found that in less than a week the daffodils and forsythia had come into the bloom and although it’s still cold, Spring is really beginning to ‘bust out all over’.

And Higgins came home. He had a lovely time with his friend Ellie and he was SO fed up to be back with just boring old humans to entertain him. A massive sulk resulted…

He’s just about forgiven us now though, and was very happy this morning as Tim had a 5am start so Higgins was able to take over the warm bit in the bed, a rare treat.

And now the fun is over I have to get to work with the dye and the felting needle. I must step away from the computer and get going… Back soon xxx

Feeling Sheepish!

I’m sorry, it’s been ages hasn’t it? There seems to have been quite a flurry of activity here and every time I’ve sat down to write, another distraction has taken me away again. And now I’m off on holiday for a week, and I didn’t want to go without saying ‘Byeee!’

I did manage a rush round the garden yesterday with the camera and my little assistant. The sun popped out for the day, I have to say he’s popped backed in again today!

The crocuses are still going strong…

even though they have to take a bit of a battering…

It’s really hard to get a good picture of a low-down dog in full sniffer mode…

Higgins went off on his hols this morning. He was collected by the lovely Sharon of Barking Mad and it took quite a while to check off all his luggage for the week, and to pass on all special instructions so his routine carries on as usual. Talk about a surrogate child, only another besotted dog owner will hear how I held out the toy box so he could choose the ones he wants to take with him and not think I am completely POTTY! He’s off to stay with two whippets, I don’t know who will be more tired at the end of the week!

I too, will be tired as I am attempting to ski for the first time for years! It might be that I spend the week reading with a hot chocolate or glass of Gluhwein in hand, I’ll let you know!

In between the packing Ihave done a spot more needlefelting. I had some suggestions after my last post, so may I introduce the sheep?

These three hang on the wall in the bedroom, waiting to lull you off to sleep.

And this one, well I tried her on the lawn to keep the grass down…

…but she was more interestd in eating the flowers!

Oh dear, is that the time? I really must dash off and finish the packing. I’m sure I have more thermals somewhere. Think of me next week, looking for my snow legs, and all being well I’ll be back very soon! I’ll leave you with a picture of my Mum’s birthday flowers, just because they are gorgeous! Byeeeee! x

P.S. For the cat lovers. Just to reassure you Henry has his own staff to keep him happy for the week too, no favouritism round here, and he get to stay at home with his!

Flying Pigs…

Thursday was a mild and springlike day, a relief after days of icyness and gloom. The door was open so Higgins could rush in and out of the garden and boss the birds about, and the sun retired in a blaze of glory.

Things are getting a bit busy here on Planet Penny as I get my head around the Open Studios in a few months time. The brochure entry has been proof read, and the form filled in for a place in the Open Studios Exhibition in the Forum in Norwich. It’s quite a feat getting back into the habit of sorting paper work and being organised after being out of the workplace for so long.

Now I can share an exciting secret with you that I have been sitting on for a couple of weeks! Those of you who have been following Planet Penny for a while will know that I have been popping off the Holt twice a year to the Pick’n’Mix Makers’ Market (and spending far too much money!). The very first time I went I was so impressed with the whole ethos of the thing. The organisers, Lisa of Bobobun, and Teena of Kitschen Pink had managed to go beyond the ‘Craft Market’ which has become so devalued over the years and had got together a really broad mix of artists and makers of beautiful things and put them into a charming Church Hall with a great retro feel. One day, I thought when I went to the first one, one day I’ll get myself organised enough to apply to take part in this.

So can you imagine my great surprise and excitement when, a couple of weeks ago , I had an email out of the blue from the lovely Lisa inviting me to take part in the next Market on June 11th!!!!! WOW! So, no more knitting and crocheting for a while, I shall be needlefelting like fury, watch out for sparks! I’m gradually building up sketches and ideas for the little woolly creatures who live on Planet Penny so I thought I’d ask, what do you think? If you were wandering through the fluffy undergrowth on PP, what would you expect to see? I’ll be gradually adding my creations to the Folksy Shop and obviously showing them to you here first so it would be lovely if you were to join in. I’ll have a think about how I could award a prize or something.

Where do the Flying Pigs come in? Well when the children were young, and they would promise to do something as asked, something monumental, like tidying their bedrooms, or sorting their laundry, Tim would mutter under his breath, ‘Hmm, and Pigs might fly!’ And I like the idea of a Flying Pig! Also, it’s also a really good analogy for realising the seemingly impossible dream…

…and they are flying in from all directions!

And finally, I will be taking part in this Exhibition, Little Bird at the Dukes Theatre Gallery, Lancaster. 22 March-17 April 2011 which is for a really good cause which you can read about here. And this is the little bird who will be flying up to Lancaster very soon…

Oh dear…as I have been sitting here typing away, the little burst of spring-like weather has become grey and overcast, and the Weatherman on ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ has just assured me that ‘Winter hasn’t done with us yet’ . I’d better wake Higgins up and suggest a little walk, he won’t be pleased. He’s such a ‘fair weather’ dog!

I’m looking forward to reading your suggestions!

Back soon….x