Category Archives: Giveaway

The Hand-Stitched Home – Book Review

I promised you a lovely book to coo over and The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob ticks all the boxes.

I’ve had very little time to exercise my sewing muscles lately and had rather forgotten how much I enjoy it so leafing through Caroline Arber’s beautiful photographs discovering the projects within was a real pleasure.

Do you hand sew? Is it something you love or do out of necessity? Sometimes it’s so easy just to get the sewing machine out and wizz around a few seams, or as I did over half term to piece together a spectacular tear on some nearly new tracksuit bottoms which had come off worse in a tree climbing related incident!

I had a very mixed introduction to the craft of stitching. Being left handed my school experience was almost entirely negative. Whole lessons miserably stitching a ‘blind’ hem with a length of thread grubby and grey from countless pulling out. And, being made to wear a thimble on my right hand because that was where they were worn! (I was nearly an adult before I found out what they were actually for!) However, during the school holidays I stayed with my left-handed grandmother, Bam-mum (who never used a thimble) and she introduced me to a love of stitching which has never gone away despite school’s best efforts.

Caroline Zoob’s book is all for pleasure, little hand-stitched treasures giving a new lease of life to vintage fabrics which then become part of the fabric of the home. From tiny projects such as this Heart Key Fob…

…delicately stitched shelf edging…

..and pretty egg-cosy made from felted wool blanket fabric…

..to larger pieces such as cushions, curtains and table runners there are plenty of ideas which you can use to inspire you to use and recycle pretty fabrics, trimmings, buttons and precious scraps of fabric.

Be aware that the instructions for some of the more complicated pieces do presume a fairly sound knowledge of basic sewing skills. However, this is book about hand stitching and embroidery and there is a lot of help and inspiration for even a novice at decorative stitching. And of course the joy of a book like this is that it is positive encouragement to go off and brush up on or learn new skills!

And what was my inspiration? Well, it was daisies. I’m planning to feature daisies in the next blog post for reasons which will be explained, but this was the image in the book which inspired me…

It’s so pretty and simple. I had a frame which I bought months ago in a closing down sale, and a remnant of linen so I spent a happy evening with my box of embroidery threads and this was the result…

So, I’m sure you would love to get your hands on a copy of this book. And you can because the lovely people at the Aurum Publishing Group have a copy to send to one lucky person. It could be you! I’d love to hear your sewing story, what got you stitching? Was it love at first stitch, or a gradual blossoming? Simply share your story in the comments, and next weekend you could be the winner!

This week I’m linking up again with Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour so follow the links there to discover lots more creative people and ideas.

I’m off to the studio now to get ready for the last day of Open Studios. If you are in the area we’d love to see you, but if not I’ll be back here soon…x

MOO Giveaway – Lucky Winners

MOO! Ermintrude the Cow makes a guest appearance to announce the lucky winners of the Moo Business Card Giveaway…
And the winners are…

Jo, at Pickle-Lily

Pip, at The Sock Yarn Shop

and Melissa at Story Book Felts

it was really hard to pick winners from all the great comments you made and I’m sorry I couldn’t pick you all. I hope Jo, Pip and Melissa will share what they did with their Business cards or Mini cards, I’d love to see. If you are intrigued about MOO and want to know more, you’ll find them here, just click the link…

Back soon…x

MOO Giveaway at Planet Penny!

As you may have gathered, I’m in the run up to taking part in the Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios again at the end of May and there are quite a few little extras which I need to get in place so it all goes smoothly. One of the essentials are eye catching business cards, the sort that people keep because they are pretty! I discovered MOO a year or so ago, and took advantage of their introductory offer of 10 free business cards. I was so pleased when they arrived that I immediately order a boxful and have used them ever since. It’s nice to have a card which when you offer one to someone it becomes a talking point. Designing on line is really easy, and you can download a PDF to see exactly how your designs look before you finalise your order. Theoretically you can have a different image on every card, which is a great idea but I never have time to take advantage it. Also, I found on occasions that people have actually wanted to look through the selection so they can choose one, and if I had 100 individual designs that would be a bit of a pain! This is my current selection… Not long after I received this order I was contacted by MOO to see if I would like to promote their cards with a giveaway for Planet Penny readers, and I’m always really happy to share good stuff with you all. There’s not just one, but THREE prizes!

This then is what it’s all about… “Who are MOO? They make business cards and just love to print – whether it’s creative business card design, MiniCards, Postcards, Stickers, Holiday Cards and much more! Born a desire to create beautiful, high-quality print and design, they make it super easy for anyone to make your own unique business cards. MOO are proud to be business card printingspecialists – either upload your own images or graphics to create truly creative cards, or you can opt for a designer template and customise with your own details. Competition Prizes: THREE winners receive either a set of 50 Classic business cards or 100 MiniCards. How to Enter The Giveaway…

To be in with a chance of winning one of the MOO prizes, simply post a comment on this post and tell us why your designs will stand out from the rest! We’re looking for fun, creative and quirky answers, the best will win! Winners will be selected from the comments! Please enter a valid email address so we are able to contact you.” I’ve since ordered postcards which look stunning ..so that’s bit of preparation for next month out of the way. The Giveaway will be open until next Sunday and the MOO team and I are looking forward to reading your comments.

I’m linking up again with Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour so don’t forget to pay a visit to see what everyone’s been making over the week.

I’ll be back soon, have a great week…x

The Knitted Home – Ruth Cross … The Winner!

Two weeks ago I reviewed this great new book by Ruth Cross, The Knitted Home and offered a copy as the prize in a draw. There was a fantastic response: sixty comments in all, with some great knitting stories. It’s amazing how long some people have been knitting, so many people being taught by mums, and grannies. One person taught herself from a Ladybird book, and another learnt over the phone!

The one that made me laugh out loud was this… “My Grandpa taught me to knit, with his method that no child forgets! ”stab it, strangle it and pull its head off” not for the weak and feeble…” Thanks to Penelope Brown for that one, I shall use it myself!

I’m glad I made it a draw rather than saying it would be the best story which won because I wouldn’t have been able to decide. I allocated numbers to each entrant and use the online Random Number Generator which is a quick and fair way to select a winner (although it immediately makes me feel bad about everyone who didn’t win!)

Anyway, enough rambling on, the lucky winner is…number 16….Natalie, of Free Spirit Designs. Congratulations!

Now Natalie doesn’t actually knit yet, so I really hope this is the start of her knitting career. The Free Spirit Designs blog is here, and the Facebook Page is here so we’ll have to call in regularly to check up on Natalie’s progress!

(Don’t forget you can still buy the book at a special price, see the original post for details)

I will be back very soon with another fantastic and generous giveaway from the lovely chaps at MOO! I’m sure you need some business cards, postcards or similar…?

Challenges, and the Easter Bunny

I think we’ve all been a bit challenged in the UK this week, by the weather! What’s it been like with you? We haven’t had huge amounts of snow here in Norfolk, but we are very exposed to the biting wind heading our way across the North Sea: it seems to have been howling down the chimney for days. It’s hard to believe it’s Easter next weekend, the poor old Easter Bunny is going to have to wear his thermals to do his chocolate egg deliveries!

My main challenge over the week was a talk I had promised to give, months ago. You know how you agree to these things and they seem so far away in the distance and then suddenly, it’s here and you are wondering why on earth you agreed to it! I headed off to Beccles, which is just over the border into Suffolk to give a talk to the Spinners and Weavers Guild about Needlefelting. I sort of had a feeling I might be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, as the saying goes. Then I found out there might well be over 30 people there and…ooo-er…!

As it was, it was fine. After I got over my initial dry mouthed panic as I was introduced and stood there with no notes, no script but lots of props it went very well.

They were a lovely audience and very keen to set to with needles and fleece to have a go themselves after I’d finished the talk.

As they were all textile practitioners they were happy to be experimental rather than being given a project and although there wasn’t a huge amount of time – and needlefelt is very time consuming – they came up with some jolly pieces and all seemed to have fun.

However, I also had another challenge, and that was definitely down to the Easter Bunny! I’ve been feeling so bad because I have been promising to write up the pattern for the bunny I made last Easter and my goodness, haven’t I got myself in a pickle with it! And all of a sudden, there’s only a week to go! I am sorry, aren’t I rubbish? I think I’ve just been over thinking what I was doing, and seemed to spend ages ripping out and redoing the same piece. Then suddenly, it all fell into place and the pattern is finished.

I’m on the way to having a complete Bunny Brigade…

As you can see, they each have their own personality, right down to a challenger for Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer’s title! (Percy, the Pink Nosed Bunny?)

So I’m thinking of an Easter present for you. From now until after Easter the pattern will be available FREE as a downloadable PDF right HERE! (This offer has expired, but the bunny will be available soon via the Etsy Shop) There is a Planet Penny Bunny Brigade group board on Pinterest so if you would like to add your version of the bunny just let me know and I can invite you. You obviously have to be on Pinterest yourself and I have to be following at least one of your boards (but that can easily be arranged!) Although I’ve made the Bunnies using the Planet Penny Cotton, they can be made using any yarn oddments, just match your hook to the yarn. You can find out more about that in this post.

This is a limited offer, but I’d like to give my followers and customers a head start. Although there’s only a week till Easter, they only take an hour or two to make so I’m sure we could have a wonderful board full of bunnies on Pinterest very soon, let me know what you think.

Finally, for those of you who read last week’s post about delivering Clovis, the Mad French Cat to his home by the sea you might be interested in a follow up tale (tail?) from his new home. Visit Thomas’s blog to find out how he’s settling in, and have a chortle. Tom seems to think there’s not a lot of call for cat stories, so if you disagree do leave a comment with him. I need more pictures like that!

I’m joining in again with Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour so do pay a visit to see what’s going on…

Back soon…x

Prize Draw Reminder

Hellooo….! It feels like ages since I’ve been here…did you have a lovely Christmas? I’m not running away, but things will be a little quieter for a short while on Planet Penny. After the mad run up to the big day I need to take stock, make plans for the New Year and be ready for lots more jollity for us all!

I just wanted to give you one more reminder about the Prize Draw, as I shall be drawing out the name of the lucky winner tomorrow afternoon. I know I have some lovely new followers, and I wanted to make sure you all had a chance (or even two!) of winning. Everything you need to know about the draw is here in THIS POST, and it’s here you need to leave a comment to make sure you are in the draw when I allocate the numbers to give to the random number generator. Here’s a quick reminder of the prizes. There is a set of little cotton balls with knitting needles in the Planet Penny Rainbow Cotton…

Too pretty to only have out at Christmas time, they would look great decorating your craft corner!

There is also Mr Mouse… needlefelted in soft Merino wool.

And finally you have the choice of one of three books… The sock book…

the sewing book…

or the Young Adult fiction book…

…signed for you or the person of your choice by the author, Thomas Taylor.

ed to add…

Congratulations to Heather Melton of My Granny Squares who won the draw and has chosen the book Zakka Style to go along with the needlefelt Mousie and the yarn ball decorations. Why don’t you call over to say hello?

Many, many thanks to everyone who entered, and for following me in so many different ways. I don’t always have time to respond to all the comments, but I read and appreciate every one, and Planet Penny wouldn’t be the same without you!

Here’s to more fun in 2013!….x