Author Archives: pennygj

All of a Twitter!

Is anyone else Tweeting? I was a very reluctant tweeter and stood by bleating instead as another member of the family set me up in order to follow Higgins on Twitter (I know, it’s mad, and now you know that madness runs in the family! And Higgins is hopeless at Tweeting, he’s too busy barking…)

And now I’m still in two minds. For all its good points – the networking, the information, it’s SUCH a distraction. I keep wandering off at a tangent, looking at other blogs, recipes, photographs and websites. I know it’s a really good way of finding a network of other people doing what I do, and as I tentatively start to offer my wares for sale I know that it’s a good thing but there’s just TOO MUCH INFORMATION! That’s the trouble with a butterfly brain, I keep fluttering off to the next pretty flower!

But I have been doing some actual, as opposed to virtual, fluttering in the garden. It’s been one of those days when you know that even if Spring hasn’t actually sprung yet, it’s going to do it very soon. I planted some pots to put by the studio door a couple of weeks ago and they are looking good…

…if a little windswept! As Higgins will tell you!

And in the front garden there are all sorts of little patches of loveliness…

Woops, there’s my little shadow again…

…probably worrying I’m about to find his secret bones stash. (He has this unfortunate habit which I’ve only just found out about. He sometimes has a little hide bone which always seemed to disappear remarkable quickly. I found out why when I cleared out the raised vegetable beds. As I was heaving out the old dead stuff Higgins leapt in to rescue…uurgh..what’s THAT…? Have you ever seen one of those dried hide bones when they’ve been rehydrated by a few weeks in the mud? They turn into a long, unravelled jellyish wobbly bit of blubber and look especially revolting when being dragged away by a frantic little dog who is convinced I’m going to snatch it away to eat myself. I don’t think so!)

But mostly, I’ve been needlefelting. My little Bluebirds have flown away, two of them all the way to Sweden. But another little creature has turned up on Planet Penny. It’s the Gardening Mouse! He scuttles around under the trees on Planet Penny arranging the wild flowers. would you like to meet him?

Although I’m very fond of him I must be business like, so if you need a little Gardening Mouse to help you, he can be found here.

So I’d better get back to work. Thank you for all the encouraging comments you’ve been leaving, it’s so lovely when you take time to stop by and say hello. I couldn’t do this without you!

A Little Flock of Happiness

I was SO excited the other day when I switched on my computer and PING! there was an email from Folksy to tell me that my little Bluebird was SOLD! I suppose it’s a symptom of working at home, mostly alone, that it’s easy to get into the wrong mindset , and have very little faith that someone, somewhere will like what you make. So PING! I was very happy, and packed my little Bluebird up…

…and sent him winging his way to his new home, where I hear he is singing cheerfully! And now I have an order for another one, so I am singing cheerfully too!

In the meantime I started on a slightly different Bluebird idea, and ran headlong into design difficulties. This time I wanted to have two birds and a little garland of hearts held in their beaks, which can hang on the wall. I made the birds, I made the hearts…but I was quite sure that I couldn’t use wool to join them together. So I tried this idea…then that idea..then I had to go out. Then it was too late and it was time to go to bed. And then – I joined them all together with a wool cord and it was perfect!!!

So here they are. The left hand bird…

…and the right hand bird…

..and all the little hearts.

It’s in the Folksy shop right now, verging on the almost-too-late for Valentine’s Day but actually I think it would look lovely over the cot in a nursery or little girls room. (Hmmm…or even in my sitting room…! )

Talking about sittingrooms, this is what Higgins likes to to do when offered a bit of carpet to lie on…

He’s not invited often!

(ETA. They sold the very next day!!!)

The Bluebird of Happiness

Sometimes its awfully tempting to be a complete slob, and NOT do the healthy dog walking thing but just to stay in out of the blustery weather and snuggle up with a book. Especially as the dog in question is equally unenthusiastic and dives under the covers at the sight of the little fleecy coat. But we’ve both got waistlines to worry about and perk up once we’re actually out there…

We were rather hoping to find snowdrops the other day and went off to Sheringham Park on the North Norfolk coast, which is a lovely place for walking, with added bracing sea breezes. There’s a woody area…

…and the spot where I know there will be bluebells in a few months time…

…there is the pasture around the house…

and the promise of masses of rhododendrons before very long.

In fact, a couple of brave and hardy ones were already showing what to expect later in the year…

But it was only at the very end of the walk I spotted what I had been looking for. A lone clump…

So if I can’t find drifts of snowdrops, can I find the mythic Bluebird of Happiness?

Oh yes, it’s at the bottom of my bag of coloured fleece, just waiting for the magic felting needle to conjure him up…

…and here he is, with his little pink felted heart…

just in time for Valentines day!

He’s destined for the Planet Penny Folksy shop so he could be yours!

And finally, the Pink Pooch has departed to be a star on the stage. Higgins found him to be far too much competition and barked long and hard every time he put in an appearance so he had to find theatrical digs elsewhere. He was happy to go though…

So with the competition safely out of the way, (and Henry the Cat safely ensconced in a chair) it’s safe to comandeer the prime spot in front of the fire…

Aaaah, that’s better…

Splash of Colour – February

I’m joining in with Silver Pebble’s Splash of Colour again, this is the last one. Hopefully by the time we get to March there’ll be lots of spring colour to enjoy outside Blogland.

I’ve made a montage of Planet Penny images which brought some colour during January. I hope you will enjoy seeing them again.

Don’t forget to pop over to Silver Pebble to see Emma’s colourful offering!

Primroses and a Pink Pooch!

I’ve had a complete change of gear over the last week, making a prop for our village Pantomime. We’re very fortunate not only to have a shiny new Eco-built hall but a lot of home grown talent so we have an original script, scenery painted by a professional artist and wonderfiul costumes designed by my friend Kit. I’ve been involved over the years, and have made all sorts of weird and wonderful things… A Humpty Dumpty costume which reduced gradually all the way through the panto as he went on a diet, Daddy, Mummy and Baby bear suits, an egg laying goose are just some of the bigger things.

This time it’s Sleeping Beauty, with a Queen who wants everything to be pink including her dog, so the request was for a custom made glove puppet style dog for the page to carry. Kit came round with the fur fabric which in the shop had looked to be a candyfloss pink; in the cold light of day it is scarily fluorescent! The logistics of making chuntered round in my head for quite few days. It’s a strange process, like hunting through a tangle of wool trying to find an end and then, Ping! a lightbulb moment, there’s the thread and everything starts to wind into a neat ball of resolution.

Needle felting was the answer, and what I used to form the face of the puppet. I then stitched the fur fabric on to make the rest of the head and the body and blended the wool and fur fabric together. And here he is…

He’s not quite completed yet, needing front paws and a wavy tail, but I’m pretty happy with the way he’s shaping up so far…

(Edited to add: I’m being asked what Higgins thinks about Pink Pooch; he is desperate to tear it to shreds. Vigilance is necessary!)

Remember I mentioned a knitting project which I was playing around with, the one which didn’t need a lapful of pets? I finally finished it, a little fairisle heart…

It’s sweet, but soooooooo time consuming. I knitted up two squares (the back one is striped) put them in with a load of washing, felted them and then stitched the pieces into a heart shape and stuffed it with wadding and lavender. It’s just waiting for a ribbon hanging loop which will happen once the Pink Pooch is all sewn up.

It’s still really quite cold here, but I managed to fit in an afternoon of cheering up the courtyard area by my studio door. A tray of primroses is always a treat…

and inside I’ve had hyacinths to fill the air with scent. White…

…and blue.

I can’t believe it’s the last day of January…See you next month!

All Wound Up with Sunset Colours!

Hooray! I’ve wound all those lovely colours into nice neat balls with my trusty wool winder. I do like using it, it makes such nice soft balls which mean that there is no tension on the yarn to stretch it. I’m working on an idea at the moment, which I hope to show very soon, although I have had very little help from the four legged members of the family.

Apparently the only reason I ever sit down is so that my legs form a lap, and the only thing in the world that a lap can be used for is not to support a book or some knitting, or, heaven forbid, a pattern and knitting, it needs a cat, no, a dog or both, or a jealous punch up between cat and dog.

So keep your fingers crossed that tonight the fire is hot enough to keep them squabbling over the warm spot on the hearth rug instead of the warm spot on my lap so I can get to grips with my woolly project.

I have made some really cute little baby shoes though. there’s something about tiny baby shoes, isn’t there? My three babies were born with enormous feet and were really slow at learning to walk so by the time I came to buy them shoes they were practically into adult sizes! (I’m going to get into trouble for this!)

However, I was really keen to find out how well the wool I have just dyed would felt so I knitted this…

…and then I just popped them in the washing machine with a normal wash and they came out looking like this…

Aren’t they sweet? I’m so excited about them! (and yes, they are nearly small enough for Higgins to wear before you suggest it, and no, because he would eat them!)

And today the sun shone and Higgins and I went for a walk and there was NO MUD! (well, it was sort of fudgy, but it didn’t stick) and I’ve just realised where I got my colour scheme from..

See that shadow? It’s me!

After so many grey days it’s just magical watching the pink splashes spreading across the purply violet clouds and that golden glow before it vanishes as if someone has flipped a switch. Then it’s a quick trot home to get back in the warm.

And finally, I have been working on the Hearts and Pompoms tutorial and if you want to make your own version it’s on the Tutorials page at the top. Please let me know if you do, I’d love to see.

Right, ok, I’m going to tiptoe off to the sofa now and try and do a bit of knitting befor someone spots….THE LAP!

See you soon x

P.S. Siobhan, I tried to email you but it didn’t work, but I just wanted to say Yes! my cat is Henry and the ‘My Fair Lady’ connection IS why we named Higgins as we did. By George, you got it!