Tag Archives: Handmade Monday

Hearts and Flowers and a Nurses Hat for Handmade Monday

It’s been touch and go whether I would actually get this post written today. Wearing TWO nurses hats has been rather time consuming, so this post is going to be light on text, but I hope the pretty, colourful photos of hearts and flowers make up for it.

Thank you all so much for your good wishes sent in Clovis the cat’s direction. It’s been a little dicey over the last couple of days, but I’ll leave an update until I have concrete news to report. Please keep up the positive vibes for our trip to the vet on Monday morning!

I’ve been working on a new pattern and although I said I wasn’t going to post pictures until the pattern was ready to publish, well, what the heck! Just bear with me, and it will be ready in a week or two.

I can think of lots of pretty ways of using this pattern of hearts and flowers. Strung across a dresser, used as curtain tie backs, interwoven with fairy lights (thank you, (Marigold the Goat!) and individually as a key ring, bag or phone charm.

Anyone with any other ideas? I love to know what you think!

I’m leaving you with the usual link to Handmade Harbour and all the creative people who take part in Handmade Monday. My message to them is to send apologies if I don’t have a chance to visit anyone this week, but I hope all my other lovely readers will make up for my absence!

See you soon…x

Crochet Mini Mice for Handmade Monday

When I introduced the Mini Mice on a Handmade Monday Post a month ago I had just finished making them, hadn’t written the pattern and was in the run up to Open Studios etc. Definitely the last time I introduce something that isn’t in the final stages of going ‘live’! Since then I have been asked over and over about the pattern, the kits and when I would have them available. The thing is, I really want to get it right. I don’t want to disappoint anyone with a pattern that doesn’t work or a kit which doesn’t look like fun, which is why I’ve been beavering away all week to get things ready for this post.

As you can imagine, the Crochet Mini Mice kits take a little while to build, and I had to find a way to supply the yarn so it’s tidy, but also looks attractive.

I now have a new little windy gadget and some cards. Here’s the yarn in all it’s rainbow gorgeousness…

The Mini Mice kits will also contain the magnets, the stuffing, the eyes and noses and the all important pattern, enough to make 14 mouse magnets. All you will need is a 3mm hook and a needle and black thread. I think my next quest will be to source a supplier for 3mm hooks as I’d love to be able to add those to the kits.

The pattern will be for sale on my new Etsy shop. I’m sort of teetering in the middle at the moment between Etsy and Folksy. Because I have so many visitors from the US, Etsy seems to be more geared toward that market, while being very user-friendly for the UK and other places. Does anyone else have any thoughts or experiences about this? I’d love to hear from you if you do.

If you have previously bought a full pack of the Planet Penny Cotton Club yarns from me and would like a copy of the pattern, do let me know and I will send you a copy free of charge.

I will be putting the kits on Etsy this week at £17.50, but as an introductory offer I have 5 to sell at the special price of £15.00 on a strictly first come, first served basis. If you would like to buy one, please contact me through the Planet Penny Contact Form.

I was all set to leave you with the links to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour where you will find all sorts of crafty goings on, but I embarked on a mini project today inspired by the lovely Penelope by the Sea on her blog L is for Love.

She has been Noticing Yellow this weekend so I popped out for half an hour to see what ‘yellow’ I too could notice. Quite a lot as it happens…

What a lovely sunshiney end to the week!

See you soon…x

Open Studios for Handmade Monday

I’m sitting in the garden outside the studio typing and listening to the birds singing whilst we wait for our visitors for the Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios.

Kit is working on a lino cut at the other end of the table…

and in the middle is a little furry helper…

It’s been fairly quiet so far today but the visitors we have had have been lovely and we’ve both made sales. Open Studios isn’t just about selling, but it would be nice to cover the entry costs and then anything else is a bonus.

My studio is looking great, so tidy! You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve got stashed away in boxes and hidden…

And it’s so lovely to be able to sit out in the garden and just enjoy the fresh air after all the wet and miserable weather which has gone on, and on, and on…

As you can imagine, I haven’t got any thing new in the way of textile creativity to show this week after all the preparations have been taken care of, but I’m still linking up to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour so you can follow what’s going on on all the other creative blogs which take part.

If you only visit once a week, you may have missed the guest blog post from the Young Adult Fiction writer Thomas Taylor. There’s a chance to win a signed copy of the book and still time to enter so please don’t miss out.

Open Studios continues for another two weekends, so if you are in North Norfolk over the long Bank Holiday or the weekend after, it would be lovely to see you…

A Prize Draw for Handmade Monday

I can’t quite believe how quickly the weeks are whizzing by, and it’s time for Handmade Monday again! It’s been busy, busy, busy here on Planet Penny. The felting needle’s been red hot, the sewing machine has been whirring away, and it’s all stuff I can’t show you at the moment! We are now on the final countdown. Never mind about Will and Kate… that wedding is so last year… it’s just thirteen more sleeps till Will and Louise’s big day!

The weather is still appalling, I’m hoping it will get all this rain out of it’s system so we can have just one sunny day on the 12th. Surely that’s not too much to ask?

I’ve been in and out of Norwich getting the last few bits and pieces so I don’t let the side down, and now have proper Mother-of-the-Groom shoes, no boots or Fitflops for now, and a trip to Get Ahead Hats for a smart titfer. I probably ought to get a very large brolly too!

I fitted in coffee and a ‘team talk’ with the Mother-of-the-Bride which was lovely, and a satisfactory plan was hatched involving a champagne bucket and two straws! Well, we can dream, can’t we?

Kit and I went to the Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios Exhibition private view last Monday in the Forum in Norwich and there were lots of beautiful pieces of work. There is certainly going to be masses to see over the three weekends that it’s running, with studios open all over Norfolk and Norwich. I really hope that if you are in the area you call in to see us in our little corner.

I’ve also been beavering away with the Planet Penny Cotton Club yarn putting the packs together…

and the Rainbow Mouse packs have also been very popular…

And in my spare moments in the evening I’ve been wielding the crochet hook, using up all the oddments of cotton left over from all the other projects. I’ve been making little flowers…

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with them yet. To be honest, by that time of the evening I haven’t many functioning brain cells but it’s a simple little pattern I can do on auto pilot and I’m sure a cunning plan will present itself eventually.

But, I hear you cry, what about the draw? Who is going to giving a good home to Goldie the sheep?

I’ve been all through the comments, and I firstly have to thank you all for all your good wishes for my trip to the dentist. It was worth all the trauma of the visit to know that the problem tooth has gone and all is well, and I’m sure all the positive thoughts you sent my way helped, so thanks again.

However, back to the comments… I added up all the entries, with the extras for Facebook and Twitter, and there were 68! Then allocated every entry a number, and used the Random Number Generator to choose the winner…

and….

it was…

Natalie, of Free Spirit Design!

Congratulations, Natalie. I’ll be in touch to get your address very soon!

Thank you to every one else who entered, and commiserations. Not to worry, I’m sure there will be another excuse for another draw before long! But now it’s time to link up again with Handmade Monday over on 1st Unique Gifts, where you’ll find plenty of places to visit, and lots of lovely crafty things to see.

I’ll be back soon….x

Carrot Cake! – for Handmade Monday

I’m sitting at the computer in the gloom, listening to the rain hammering down. This is certainly the wettest drought I’ve ever experienced!

In fact now it’s hailing, so that’s going to do for the blossom on the cherry trees, what a crazy mixed up spring!

I’m just praying that Mother Nature will get it all out of her system before the 12th May, and the wedding.

This morning Kit and I went off to the Forum in Norwich to deliver our pieces for the Norfolk and Norwich Open Studio Taster Exhibition, which starts tomorrow, so I no longer have my branch of woolly birds hanging on the wall. I’m rather missing their colourfulness!

Once again my creativity this week has been of the secret kind, with the wedding in mind, but I do have a completely scrummy cake recipe to share. Hands up who likes carrot cake!

Unfortunately I didn’t get to it quickly enough with the camera, but you can get the impression of yumminess from this last remaining slice I’m sure! I’ve put the recipe in the Planet Penny recipe folder, or you can find it here.

It’s been a little quiet on the Planet Penny Cotton Club front of late because I have been awaiting an elusive out of stock colour, but it’s now on it’s way, so if you are on the waiting list, please bear with me, it’ll be here very soon. ( If you are a new visitor you can find out all about it if you follow the link.)

However, I have been plotting, yet another ‘cunning plan’! I’ve had a huge amount of traffic on the Crochet Rainbow Mouse Pattern page and it’s been pinned on lots of Pinterest boards and ‘liked’ on Facebook hundreds of times, and people have asked to buy the finished articles.

It occurred to me that if you really wanted to make the whole set of mice in all the rainbow colours, but didn’t want to end up with lots of unused balls of yarn left over then it could be good to buy a Rainbow Mouse Pack, with the required amount of yarn to make one mouse in each colour, which would make it much more economical.

So, that’s what I am offering, and at the moment I have just three packs, on a first come first served basis. The pack contains 14 balls of yarn, each ball enough to make one crochet Mouse…

…with the pattern and instructions on how to make it into a mouse wreath, plus the beads for the eyes and noses. All you will need to add would be a 3mm crochet hook, toy stuffing and some black sewing thread, and if you want to make a wreath, I used a florists wire base which cost 75p.

I’m offering the packs at £15.00 each, plus £3.50 P&P (UK)

If you would like to purchase a Rainbow Mouse pack, please contact me here and let me know your address, and the email address linked to your Paypal account and I will send you a Paypal invoice to pay. It’s as simple as that!

Don’t forget, if you haven’t already entered, the draw to win Goldie, the needlefelt sheep is still running. I will be taking the winning name out of the hat next Sunday in time for next week’s Handmade Monday, so there is still time to leave a comment on the post, and for extra entries, ‘like’ Planet Penny on Facebook, follow @woollyplanet on Twitter, or become a Planet Penny blog follower and let me know about it.

In the meantime, I shall leave you with the usual link to 1st Unique Gifts and the Linky to all the other creative bloggers taking part, do go and have a look, and I’ve just joined the High Tea Linky Party at Black Cat Originals where you’ll find some more yummy recipes.

I’ll be back soon….x

Needlefelt Sheep for Handmade Monday

I don’t know what the weather is doing in your part of the world, but despite the bright sun, fluffy clouds and blue sky, the wind feels as if it’s just blown off a snow field in this corner of Norfolk! It doesn’t help that we know we live in the windiest spot in the village, as you can see by our proximity to the village mill, now sadly defunct. That’s us, at the end of the arrow…

So even though I’m still finding plenty of newly emerging flowers…

The view is still decidedly wintery…

…and it would actually be really good to get some rain, and I don’t say that very often!

I’m going to share some other people’s handmade lovelies with you now, before making a very exciting announcement! So first of all, have you come across a book called Best in Show – Knit Your Own Cat?

One of the ladies at our Knit and Stitch group was given this for Christmas, and has been knitting her own cats ever since!

Aren’t they amazing? Imagine knitting a tail, with 4 stitches, on 4 needles!

And, since I am running out of time in my life to make anything for me, I went off to Folksy to find myself a peg bag and found just what I wanted from Plum Pudding, and couldn’t resist these little heart fridge magnets as well…

There are so many pretty things in the shop, and the fabrics are right up my street.

And now for my big announcement…

This is my 300th Blog Post!

Added to which, I have just galloped past 100,000 visits on the Planet Penny stats, so as a thank you to all you lovely people who have loyally followed, and commented and generally joined in, I’m going to have a prize draw.

This time, I’m offering a very special prize. Do you remember my needlefelt sheep?

There haven’t been any sheep in the Folksy shop for a while, something I mean to address very soon, and they usually sell for £30.00. But, I have one very special sheep looking for a good home, and because this is an occasion worth celebrating, I am offering her as the prize. Meet Goldie…

Goldie could be yours, all you have to do is to leave a comment on this post for a place in the draw. If you ‘like’ me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter you’ll go into the hat again! It’s that simple… I’ll keep it open for a couple of weeks to give you all a chance to join in.

And can I make a plea for some healing vibes to be sent my way on Tuesday? I dashing off after teaching the needlefelt course at The OutHouse Studio on Tuesday morning to have a tooth out in the afternoon, at two thirty would you believe…(tooth hurty!?…sorry..) So I may be a bit feeble for the rest of the week.

Anyway, off to 1st Unique Gifts now to link up for Handmade Monday again, do go and see what everyone else has been up to.

See you soon x