Category Archives: Folksy Shop

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

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…

A Splash of Colour

The Christmas decorations have all gone and it’s a grey, dull, wet January day so a Splash of Colour is sorely needed. After I had cleared away the last of the festivities I found, at the back of a shelf, a glass jar in which I have collected felt beads which I have been embroidering at odd moments over the last few weeks. I’ve been meaning to get them out to show you, and to do something with them for ages, and now seems the perfect moment!

So, what to make? I unearthed my box of beading bits and found some little fasteners and cord and all the bits I needed and found I had just the right number of beads to make two bracelets and a necklace.

And here they are. Bracelet 1…

…and bracelet 2…

…and shall we say, a slightly less exuberant colour scheme for a rather elegant necklace.

The temptation is to look in my wardrobe and see what they go with, but no, I’m going to be sensible and put them in the Folksy shop in the hope that someone will love them as much as I do! No more procrastination!

Thank you for all the get well messages following my last post about the uninvited swinish visitor over Christmas and the New Year. T and I had the flu vaccine just before Christmas so we are still keeping our fingers crossed. It was the younger generation who were afflicted, especially the four year old. Just to update you, they are back home now on the South Coast and recovering well, even the small one who had an ear infection and a perforated eardrum. It’s a dreadful thing, and a reminder to us all to get the jab if at all possible every year.

Also Higgins is being very big headed about all the compliments he has been receiving from you. He can’t understand why I keep putting all this woolly stuff on the blog when you would obviously like more pictures of him. Next time I will show you evidence of some very naughty goings on with Mr Higgins and those lovely shiny teeth!

P.S. Don’t forget, there is still time to enter the draw for the needlefelted Christmas ornament in my last post.