Tag Archives: Needle Felting

Christmas Crochet for Handmade Monday

I sincerely apologise to those of you who find it hard to think about Christmas in September, but I’m afraid those of us who hand craft seasonal bits and pieces have to start early or we run out of time! I could really do with an extra pair of hands, as I haven’t yet worked out a way of crocheting whilst needlefelting! I’m back with the crochet hook at the moment because I have just had a new delivery of Planet Penny Cotton Club yarn, and this time I have just a few packs with Christmas crochet in mind, lovely Snowdrop.

It’s perfect for the Crochet Christmas Bunting in the tutorial here, which is featured in a magazine published in a few days time, Simply Crochet.

I’ve been experimenting with my own ball of ‘Snowdrop’ to come up with a couple more patterns to use this lovely yarn. Would you like to see? There are crochet snow flakes…

…and crochet Hearts…

and Snowflakes and Hearts…

Christmas Crochet Packs of yarn, crochet hook, buttons and patterns will be available in the next few days in the Etsy shop…

Re-assuming my needlefelting hat, I discovered a fragment of old lace in a box the other day (you see how I’ve benefited from all that boring tidying up I’ve been doing?) and combined it with a new twig heart. I had been a little wary of it, because the wire shaping was so noticeable, (I presume it was made with florists in mind) but I’d raided my Mother-of-Pearl button box and it made all the difference…

And there was still that last dyed top to transform…Remember this?

A rather uninspiring blue/grey… But then I remembered some beautiful binding I bought in France over two years ago…

(… it was lovely to revisit the occasion on Planet Penny via this post – blogging is a wonderful thing!) and with some matching buttons came up with something which I am very happy to have in my wardrobe…

(The camera is lying about the blueness of the dye, BTW!)

There will be a short ‘break in transmission’ over the next week or so as I’m going to be away. Excitingly, I’ve been invited to a book launch in London on Wednesday for Buttonbag’s new craft book, closely followed by a trip to the South Coast to visit the family so there will be lots to tell you about when I’m here again (note to self: charge the camera battery!)

I’ll leave you now with the usual link to Handmade Monday over on Wendy’s Handmade Harbour. Have a lovely week and I’ll be back before long…

Dolly Peg Dolls for Handmade Monday Revisited

If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you may remember that last year I had some fun with Dolly Peg Dolls and Dolly Peg Angels, and there is a ‘how-to’ in pictures in the Tutorial section of Planet Penny. Well now it’s all in print, as I made this little lady…

for a tutorial in the October issue of The Dolls’ House Magazine! And it’s out now!

Please excuse the fact that I’m very excited…

I think I’m going to have to make some more. In fact we are having and Angels and Light Festival in our local church in the run up to Christmas, so I anticipate making several little Dolly Peg Doll Angels for that occasion. There also some little ladies for sale over on Etsy!

The robins have been breeding well over the last week, it must be the weather…

…and some more little robin wreaths are available on Etsy now…

I’m gradually getting into the swing of things after all my sorting out. I’m so tidy and organised now it makes all the difference being able to find the bits and pieces I want, long may it last! Anyway, for now I’m going to leave you with a link to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour, and take my poor neglected little dog out for a walk now the sun has come out at last. I’m getting that ‘look’!

See you soon….x

Rain, Rain…

…go away.

As you can guess from this photo, I’m not in the studio this afternoon. I can’t hear myself think for the rain hammering on the roof, and I’m having to be inside to make soothing noises to a little dog who does not like thunder. It’s been the pattern for days, glorious sunshine in the morning and torrential rain and thunder in the afternoon. Unfortunately the mornings are when I’m busiest, and as I come to a breathing space, the thunder and lightening sets in.

Not to worry, I’m still managing to potter along creatively, if a trifle damply. If you remember last week, I was planning to make more of the Lovebirds in hearts. I tried trying out a slightly different style using a little wicker heart rather than the wool ones and I was very pleased with the effect…

I was pleasantly surprised to find it sold within hours of putting it in the Etsy shop, but rather annoyed that when I found these hearts to buy I only bought one as a sample, so it’s back to Norwich next week to for some more!

The Planet Penny Cotton selection has been selling well, and I’ve had to make a slight change in the range as the ‘Buttercup’ yellow was out of stock. I’ve replaced it for now with a really pretty ‘Sunshine’ (always pays to be optimistic!) yellow which is almost the same cheerful colour with a slight variegated effect…

I also spent some time rephotographing the Christmas Crochet Bunting from this tutorial. I have never been happy with the white on black image as although it show the Bunting off well, it looks stark, and not very Christmassy. So when I was contacted by Future Publishing Craft Division with a view to featuring it in a forthcoming magazine I knew I had to make it look more festive in the photos. I finally tracked down the perfect background for it in our local sewing store…

I’ll let you know more about it nearer the time, so watch this space!

Are you wondering how the Mad French Cat is faring after his recent disaster? Well, after the last check up with our lovely vet, he was given permission to come out of the crate, something Clovis has been working on for weeks…

He’s still on twice daily antibiotics for the next few weeks, and we don’t have a date for the pins to come out so we’re not out of the woods yet, but he’s able to prowl around my mum’s bungalow…loudly…ker-plunk….ker-plunk..

Ironically, his favourite place to sleep? In the crate! Ho-hum…

I’ve been meaning to share some shopping I’ve indulged in over the past few weeks, I don’t wan’t to be the only one led astray! The first was bought as birthday present for a close friend, but I’m soo tempted to go back and get one for me. Can you guess why?

You’ll find lots of other pretty things in their Etsy shop, Farrell & Holmes. My other impulse buy was by the power of Twitter! I was intending to do a little Twittering myself, but clicked on a photo and couldn’t resist this…

..could you? You’ll find more in the Etsy shop Miss Winnie Makes.

Well I’d better leave the laptop now and do something far more important, consoling Higgins. The thunder is still rumbling around, and he’s in a little shivery heap. He’s doesn’t want to be held, I suppose he feels out of control, so all I can do is make soothing noises. I hope it won’t be long before he’s back on form, working on the cuteness factor…

I’ll leave you with the usual link to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour.

Hope you’re keeping dry, see you soon…x

A Brief Pause…

I hope everyone has been able to enjoy the belated summer sunshine over the last week. It’s been lovely in Norfolk which has been quite a relief with two little boys to entertain! As you can imagine, not a lot of Planet Penny business has been undertaken over the past few days, we’ve had a brief pause for some fun and picnics on the beach…

…with sausages on the menu of course! And eating in the garden late in the evening has been lovely.

So with no real brain power free to think about crochet and patterns, I’ve been needlefelting some bases to be worked on when it all goes quiet in a couple of days, with no little boys to entertain. I’m very aware my new Etsy shop hasn’t yet featured any needlefelted pieces, and I have had several requests for my little lovebirds…

…so these are next on the agenda.

So I hope you’ll understand why this post is just a short one, as I’m snatching a few minutes on the last day of the visit to link up with Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour.

I’ll be back soon though!

The Merry Month of May….

Everything seems to be happening in the merry month of May 2012! In the spirit of chasing along so as not to get left behind…

…and before I run out of time…

I know…sorry!

I’m squeezing in an extra post so I don’t get completely overwhelmed with things to say, photos to show and no time.

So, May….first of all, there are three birthdays. Poor Tim drew the short straw having to go back to work on his birthday. The Carrot Cake recipe must come out in time for his return home I feel! Then of course there was the wedding… I do have some more photos to share, don’t worry, but they won’t be of the Mother-of-the-Groom. A line must be drawn! And, my own big news, Planet Penny is now officially a business. Not perfect timing but things were running away from me, and I needed it all to be official.

The Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios event is fast approaching, in fact it’s the weekend after next. There is still loads to do, but we’ll get there, and if anyone is in the Norfolk area it would be SO lovely to see you. You can find out all about it here.

The next big exciting thing though is next week, and it’s the launch of my son Thomas’ debut novel in Heffer’s bookshop in Cambridge. Obviously I’m a proud mum, but I’m not alone in thinking he’s pretty special and you can read a bit about the launch here. And of course if you are in the Cambridge area you could join in too, and come and say hello, I’ll be the one with a proud grin from ear to ear!

Thomas is going to write the very first Guest Post for Planet Penny in the next few days, too, so do look out for that.

But back to the wedding, and the decorations. We had Wedding Trees! It had started in the back of my mind as painted branches on which to hang little pretties, but with the help of St Serendipity again, we found two beautifully shaped Japanese Maples in pots. At the time they were completely bare, but just in time they put out the most beautiful red leaves which were still small enough for an overall lacy effect, and I draped them with little white lights, tiny white calico hearts and paper doves…

But the thing which occupied most of my time in the run up to the wedding was the cake topper. I’d had a particular idea in mind from the moment I heard it was going to be a cheese cake. and I don’t mean a cheesecake, I mean a cake made of CHEESE! Wallace and Gromit would be proud!

It had to be mice, didn’t it? And I didn’t let the fact that there weren’t actually any bridesmaids, or even a pageboy put me off…

And the chef made an amazing job of putting the whole construction together…

I have to say it was delicious too, and very much appreciated by all the family, complete cheese fanatics every one!

Finally, a Planet Penny Cotton Club update. I have just moved the yarn packs, Rainbow Mouse Kits and patterns on to the Folksy shop. I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the administration involved selling them directly, I need time to be creative or I just don’t function! It all seems to be working well but let me know if you have a problem.

See you 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