Category Archives: Craft Fairs

The Penguins Party!

I’m a bit obsessed with penguins at the moment!

I saw the John Lewis advert last week (the beginning of November for heaven’s sake, far too early…but adorable all the same!)

http://youtu.be/iccscUFY860

…and in a parallel universe I would definitely have a pet penguin, Higgins would love a little friend.

However, it got me thinking about making something a bit different this year for my stall at the Two Rivers Trail Festive Fair. With that in mind I’ve made some needlefelt penguins and I thought I’d drop in here for some opinions…

So here’s my little Penguin Party…

And the question is, do I or don’t I add little knitted scarves, and would they be better with or without a hanger for the tree? I’ve thought about too much and need a second opinion! What you think?

And finally thank you you for the lovely comments after my last post. It’s so good to know you enjoy calling in to Planet Penny. Higgins, as always, is basking in the admiration of his fans (and really doesn’t want to play second fiddle to some silly penguins!) Back soon…x

Midsummer! and a Festival…

It’s hard to believe we’re now halfway through the year and in this little patch of Norfolk we were blessed with a warm sunny weekend in which to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

We are just back from a Midsummer Festival which took place just down the road from us at How Hill, a beautiful spot on the Norfolk Broads. You might just remember me taking part in a craft fair there a couple of years ago.

The aim of the Festival was to celebrate the success of the Truly Local shop in the small town nearby, so of course all the stalls, producers and businesses were truly local too.

There was such a lovely atmosphere, we bumped into family and friends, and a great time was had by all, including Higgins!

He was particularly helpful when it came to testing the deliciousness of the beefburgers…

What a look of sheer bliss…

Then of course he had to sort out the washing up after icecream…

Vanilla…

Mint Choc Chip…

…and that icecream cornet, surely the pointy bit would go to waste otherwise…?

There were more stalls than I can mention individually, but these are the ones I know you would like to hear about…

It was great to meet Rachael of Foxglove and Gingersnap with her snazzy stitching. I only knew her through Facebook, I love meeting up with my cyber friends in reality!

… and Sue Maton of The Mercerie. We only ever meet when we haven’t got time to talk properly! She has so many gorgeous things to tempt knitters and crocheters alike…

Paul Williams, one of our Two Rivers Trail-ers was there with his wonderful wooden creations…

Woods World Wide (I now have a dinky little board made from a local fallen tree, exclusively for me to slice lemons on! G & T, anyone?)

And a brilliant, serendipitous find, Ros Arrowsmith who makes beautiful ceramics with which I have completely fallen in love…

I particularly love her quirky lettering style and giant handles. It’s good to find something so fresh and different.

We finished with a walk round the Secret Garden, where my camera started complaining about it’s dying battery. You can get a little flavour of it here… so peaceful and calm.

The visit concluded with tea and cake, what could be better?

Back home I’ve a new project on the go, a spin off from last week’s Needlefelt Workshop, and a commission to complete, so I’ll be back soon with photos.

I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend too, see you soon…x

(now where’s that gin and tonic…?)

Norfolk November Skies and a Rosy Glow…

Hello! I can’t believe it’s taken so long to get back here for a catch up. I must say the new look for the blog is really growing on me now, and it seems to sit much better on a phone or tablet.

Last weekend Two Rivers Trail Christmas Fair was AMAZING! We couldn’t believe how many people came, there were cars parked all over the village, with people having to walk for half a mile to get to us! The Planet Penny Stall looked like this…

..although I don’t think many people managed to stand back to have a look at anything! If you would like to see more, all the photos I took of the day are over on the Two Rivers Trail website where you can see some of the beautiful things from other members of the Trail.

I actually thought I would have a quiet week catching up with things, but it’s been anything but, and so busy I’ve struggled to find time to even get out for a walk with poor little Higgins…

He’s not impressed!

So in the spirit of a breath of fresh air, here’s yesterday’s walk which took place when the sun came out after a miserable gloomy start, and the wonderful Norfolk November skies came into their own.

You don’t get long after lunch for walk at this time of the year, do you? It does mean being treated to a wonderful view of the sunset as we head back home. Note the mud! Glorious isn’t it?

Ending just after we arrived back in a wonderful rosy glow.

And talking of a ‘Rosy Glow’ I’m going into boastful mother mode again, Last night elder son Thomas won a second award for one of his children’s books, The Pets you Get at the Brilliant Book Awards! Proud? You bet I am!

Adrian Reynolds, the illustrator, you may well have met before with the Harry and the Dinosaurs stories, which have been made into a popular TV series.

Since I often turn up here with a book review I have no compunction at all in recommending ‘The Pets you Get’ as an excellent buy for Christmas!

And now, I have a ‘cunning plan’ for December on the blog so I’m off to see if I can make it work! And it’s December tomorrow so I better get going…

see you then…x

Come to the Christmas Fair!

There’s a lot scurrying around going on in this part of the world this week, and it’s not just the mice! We have our very first Christmas Fair this coming weekend, which is exciting and scary in equal measures.

So who is this ‘we’ I hear you ask…

Well, if you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you will know that for the last few years I, along with my print maker pal, Kit, have taken part of Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios. It turned out to be a wonderful way of meeting up with kindred spirits living very close by, so this year we got together as the Two Rivers Trail to create an Art Trail for Open Studios in May of this year.

It all worked so well we decided a year was too long to wait to get together again and so the idea of a Christmas Fair and Exhibition was born. It’s been a great excuse for meeting up over coffee and/or wine for planning meetings!

For various reasons this year the Planet Penny Etsy shop has been my only selling point so it’s going to be fun to step out of cyberspace and into reality and meet real people. I hope that any Planet Penny readers who live in the area will come to say hello. My fellow ‘Trailers’ are varied and very talented, so we’ve got a great mix of things to see, and to buy. If you call over to the Two Rivers Trail website you can find out more about us all.

It’s hard to decide what to sell alongside the pieces I will be exhibiting, as needlefelting is such a time consuming craft and it’s hard to fit it in alongside the pattern writing, crochet, yarn processing, blog writing, knitting and everything else. This is why it makes more sense to teach it so that others have the fun of making their own creations. Nevertheless, I decided to make a collection of ‘One Off’ creations, totally exclusive, no two the same. Collectors items for the Christmas tree!

I started with a basket of hearts, needlefelted with fleece from my massive bag of colours, another rainbow collection…

I was quite tempted just to leave them just as they are, and heap them up on my dresser but no, that is not the plan.

I sat in the corner of my studio with the hearts and gradually disappeared beneath a heap of ribbons and trimmings, buttons, beads and threads while I had a happy few hours making tree decorations…

And they do look really pretty on the Christmas tree…

Now I’ve just got to persuade myself to part with them!

I’ll be back soon with more pretty things, but for now I’d better get back to the preparations. I have a red tablecloth to hem!

If you are in the area, put the date in the diary and come and see us, we’d love to meet you, and there will be CAKE!

See you soon…x

Crochet Balls of all Sizes!

Oh my goodness it’s been difficult not using my sore elbow! I’ve got so excited about the crochet balls I’ve been making. They started off as Christmas baubles but they are so pretty I think I want to have them on display all year round! I’ve been doing a little bit here and a little bit there and ended up with a bowlful…

and then had a happy time with needle, thread and beads giving them hanging loops.

Having discovered a little dish of small crochet balls lurking on the back of a shelf I had a brainwave and threaded them in random sequence onto white cotton yarn…

…and then made a long crochet chain, working the crochet balls and beads in as I went.

Add the original bigger crochet balls and you can see why I am now having to rest my poor elbow yet again!

This pattern really suits the Planet Penny Cotton colours. There are so many combinations to put together, it’s great fun. Would you be interested in a pattern? I’m currently working on it and it’s always time consuming but hopefully it will be available by next weekend.

(Ed to add: The pattern is available here!)

It’s been a busy week in other ways. There’s been a lot of weather about, hasn’t there? I do hope you haven’t been caught up with any of the aftermath of the strong winds blowing us about for the past few days. I’m currently waiting by the phone to see if my dear OH is going to have a helicopter to fly him home today which will only happen if the wind drops sufficiently.

The middle of the week was glorious in Norfolk and I called in at the Craft Fair at the How Hill Open Day. My Open Studios partner and all round best buddy Kit was there with her prints and cards, and several other members of our Two Rivers Trail group. We’ll be getting together later this month for our own Craft Fair and Exhibition so if you are in the area do come along to say hello. You can find out all about the event and the artists taking part on the Two Rivers Trail website.

I also met the lovely Sue of The Mercerie who had a stall at How Hill and drooled over her beautiful wool and colours…

And had a word with the alpacas from Burnt Fen…

..before heading back to the car via this amazing view over the Broads…

Before I go I’ve just time to tell you that I have a fabulous giveaway coming up in the next post, an early Christmas present! So don’t forget to call back or hit the ‘Follow’ button to make sure you don’t miss it.

I’ll be back in the next few days, so see you soon …x

The Great Escape!

Hello… It seems AGES since I was here! I keep thinking I’ve got things sussed and then it all goes pear shaped again. I’m still getting kind messages hoping I’m feeling better, and I am, thank you so much. But it’s always the way, just as you think you ought to escape and lift your foot off the pedal several things happen all at once. So much for pacing myself!

Firstly, we’ve been decorating.

I’ve still got most of the contents of downstairs, upstairs but at least the dust sheets have gone. Fortunately it was while the weather was still warm so we could have the doors open and Higgins was happy to have his bed out in the garden during the day. Henry, however, was determined to sleep where he always sleeps come what may… Did you spot him?

I now find I am on the committee of our Village Community shop (not quite sure how that happened but there are some smooth talkers in our village!) doing window display, website and social media stuff. We got off to a good start with a recipe card scheme for the shop. I devised a Croissant Bread and Butter Pudding recipe which is delicious (though I say it myself!) nothing like those dreadful B & B puds we used to be served at school. I’ve put this on the shop website so if you click here you can try it for yourself…

It’s not exactly helping my healthy eating regime though…

Our Open Studios Two Rivers Trail group has decided to get together for a Christmas Fair and Art Exhibition next month so organisation is gathering pace. You can find out all about it on the Two Rivers Trail website. Do go and look at the artists work on the website, there are some beautiful things and a real variety.

This will be the only fair I go to as Planet Penny for the forseeable future, so if you are in the area it would be lovely to see you. I’ve started making a few things but I’m afraid creativity time has been limited lately. I’m quite excited about my crochet Christmas baubles though…

… and look forward to adding new colour combinations. No two alike as usual!

Tomorrow I’m off with my chum Kit for a day out. We’re off to Alexander Palace and the Knitting and Stitching Show which I’m really looking forward to. It’s a long day but it will be worth it.

And then, I’m running away! Look,I even have a running away App on my phone!

escape app

I’m leaving Tim to look after Higgins and Henry – or possibly the other way round? packing my bag and and heading off to spend some time with two of my favourite little boys. I’m not taking the laptop, and although I shall have my phone I am determined not to look at it more than twice a day. What I thought would be fun though would be to make use of Instagram to keep a picture diary of my holiday, so if you want to keep up to date you can follow my escapades right here!

Obviously the Etsy shop will be closed until 18th October when I get back, but I hope to be bright eyed and bushy tailed after my little break.

I’m off now, see you later…x