Author Archives: pennygj

All Bobbled out!

Last night saw the monthly meeting of the Knit and Stitch group that I started in our village. There was quite a debate at its inception as to whether we could advertise a ‘Stitch and Bitch‘ group in the parish magazine. In the end it was decided that it might, just possibly, cause a fit of the vapours amongst those of a nervous disposition. We are very delicate here in Norfolk! Still, it hasn’t stopped us all having a very jolly evening once a month with wine, tea, coffee, gossip and laughter and even the odd stitch or two. Although the basis for the group is that we use stitches of all persuasions – knitting, crochet, needlepoint, cross-stitch et al., we are currently working on a joint project making squares for a comfort blanket ahead of the Macmillan Coffee Morning at the end of September. There are a variety of patterns from well known knitwear designers to be downloaded from the website and I happily started on the first of those, a rather lovely Debbie Bliss cabled square.

Debbie Bliss Macmillan blanket square

I have to report it’s completely unsuitable for knitting in company, especially with a nice glass of wine in the mix! It is impossible to sit there muttering “Purl seven knit fifteen cable three back knit four make bobble knit two…. OH, *?!^$!*!!!? where was I?…” while every one else is chatting and having fun. Carol sensibly opted for a straight moss stitch which looked great, and she didn’t rip it out once! I got up this morning, made a cuppa and finished it in an hour. I’ve now passed the pattern on to my mother, it may be the only Debbie Bliss one I make, the Martin Storey square looks quite relaxing!

Martin Storey Square

Although this colour really doesn’t do it for me! To be continued…

Sunny Sunday Afternoon…

With the press accusing the Met Office of causing disasterous holiday weather I must say here in Norfolk we’ve got off fairly lightly. That’s not to say we haven’t had our moments, but in the spirit of ‘making hay while the sun shines’, son William and I took our selves off the The Old Vicarage at East Ruston. This is a wonderfully inspiring place for gardeners, formed as it is from a fairly unpromising plot on the Norfolk coast around an old empty Vicarage bought in the 1970s. The owners have transformed and added to the area, surrounding it with a belt of trees and creating a microclimate wherein a fabulous garden flourishes, with a plant sales area full of unusual treasures, and a tea room, and CAKE! what more could you ask for a sunday afternoon?

I love the jungly feeling to the beginning of the walk…

From the cool of the trees we walked through the dry garden. The orange Californian Poppies look beautiful against the rocks and stones…

Then past the pond…

You can just see the amazing water snails under the lily pad.

I can never make up my mind if these are beautiful, or just a little bit spooky.

These too!

I wish I had room to grow espalier style apples…

Then I was brought down to earth when I saw this, because it’s from Home Grown Revolution, and I have TWO and I was their first customer and I really have been rubbish in the vegetable garden this year! Must try harder…

But then it was time for tea, Early Grey and lemon drizzle cake for me, coffee and something mapley and nutty for Will. Oh dear, no photo, far too greedy, but we did leave a few crumbs, which were much appreciated.

We left via the plant shop with two Salvias, and a lot of inspiration. That is the nice thing with gardens, there’s always next year!

The Finished Article

Before I can make further inroads into the textile mountain I have to finish what I started last week, the baby quilt. I braved the temptations of Sew Creative at Wroxham Barns for the wadding and despite my best intentions bought some backing fabric even though I had plenty at home. It was just SO right! back

This is always the more fiddly bit of quilt making, where I usually put it away for another day, but now there is a baby waiting! Once the quilt is finished, doing the edging is a nice peaceful hand sewing job in front of the television.

And it’s all finished and ready to wrap.

Quite a performance, I hope it’s worthy of an Oscar…

I do hope Oscar likes it!

A nice cup of tea…

A few years ago I carried about a little book in which I made notes about all the lovely things I had seen that I would really, really like to own. ( They were mostly culled from the Emporium pages of Country Living if I remember rightly!) Although the book has taken itself off to the ‘safe place’ where most of my things go, never to see the light of day again – it really is a VERY safe place – I do remember that one of my aspirations was to own a piece of Gabriella Miller pottery.and now I do…!

Lunch with Jen today, who knowing me so well, had cleverly chosen the perfect present. Which can be a vase…

..or revive me with a nice cup of mint tea.

Mint tea

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!

Planet Penny

Crafts, Crochet, Patterns & Tutorials