Tag Archives: needlefelt

Dolly Peg Dolls for Handmade Monday

It’s Handmade Monday again, isn’t it scary how the weeks fly by? Even though I’ve spent time having fun with two small boys last week, I still have a few handmade things to share with you, as I’m still beavering away making for the Pick’n’Mix Makers Market in just over 3 weeks time.

I really, really don’t like it when the clocks go back. I’m sitting here looking at the gloom outside, and it isn’t half past four yet! a few people suggested that the extra hour in bed is a compensation, but it only happens the once and not in a house where the body clocks of children and animals are still running on the old time. So it was out of bed at 6.30 for CeeBeebies and Henry/Higgins breakfast!

Added to which the boys went home this morning so it’s very quiet as well as gloomy so I have been SO appreciative of all the lovely links for Reasons to be Cheerful, thank you very much. And if you are feeling a bit like me, pay a few bloggy visits and say hello!

Anyway, this week we went to a windswept beach to do a bit of charging about…

To a mini funfair to do a bit of flying around…

To the cinema for some 3D magic…

… to Bewilderwood for some Halloween spookiness…

Topped off with a trip to Norwich Castle for some more half term fun.

And I bet you’re wondering where the dolly pegs come in!

Well they’re here…

Happy little ladies decorated with needlefelt and yarn, crochet fleece and buttons.

I’ve had such fun making them, and although they’re perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree, they could keep you company all year round, hanging on a door knob, a pin board, or the dressing table mirror.

So they might be hanging around, but I haven’t been!

As usual there is a link to Wendy of 1st Unique Gifts, who kindly hosts Handmade Monday each week, and there you can visit all the other makers to see what they’ve been up to! Have fun, and see you soon x

Name the Cow – The Results

Well first I’ve got to say I’ve been really let down. I know it’s a bit of a gloomy day, but honestly, I just can’t get my staff to get up these days…

So the draw with the hat just didn’t happen, I’ve had to resort to the Random Number Generator.

Still, I only had to do counting for the name vote, and ended up with a short list of seven, which were, in no particular order, Flora, Ermintrude, Petunia, Pamela, Miss Marple, Lucy and Gertrude. After an early lead, Ermintrude finally lost out to Petunia, which I think suits her very well.

Petunia the Cow

Thanks so much for your help, I now have a selection of names for the rest of the herd, and Petunia will be heading off to Folksy very soon to find a new home.

And now for the draw. Having given everyone a number, I set the RNG going and the winner was No. 14, who is….drumroll…..pregnant pause…. Tilly Mint Boutique!!! So congratulations, I shall put the Julie Arkell book and tiny sheep in the post very soon.

Thanks so much to everyone who took part, I shall look out for another occasion to celebrate in the near future.
See you soon x

Handmade Monday…again!

Happy Monday! I hope that wherever you are you are not being washed or swept away. Not too awful in Norfolk, but soggy enough for Higgins to decide a lie-in is the best option!

A shortish post today, I’m getting ready for a Needlefelting class this evening, for a local group. They are known as WISE, which I believe stands for Women In Search of Entertainment, so I hope I can keep them entertained. They meet in the pub, which is nice, although I think the drinks ought to be fairly weak while the felting needles are flying around! (I’m taking the monkey plasters, as insurance.) We’ll be making cupcakes again…

I seem to have scored a hit with the last project I was working on. Do you remember this?…

…which showed you in this post.

I decided it was a bit half-hearted and so put it back on the needles and used the remaining wool to make it longer, and more versatile, more of a statement. I needed a model…

…and it seemed to suit…

Can you see the look in her eye?

It never came off, and went out of the door that evening on a very happy daughter!

So I’m trying again, as I went shopping at the weekend and came back with more beautiful yarn…

which I now have it on the needles to pick up in odd quiet moments…. (I’ll be modelling this one myself, I think!)

While I was in Norwich I paid a visit to the Norwich Print Fair which is always very inspiring and is in a very interesting and pretty part of the city…

(click on the photos if you want to find out more…)

And was also able to meet two fellowTweeters! One of the upsides of spending time (too much time!) in cyberspace is linking up with people from all over the world, so you don’t often get an opportunity to meet up in person. I am @woollyplanet on Twitter, and introduced myself to Mandy Walden by waving my sheep pendant and going Baaaa! (Tim reckons I’m probably certifiable) but Mandy knew who I was! And I also found Sarah Bays, whose print of the ‘Chicken of Doom’ reminds me a lot of my last bird, Attila the Hen. If you can’t get along to the print fair, which is on ’till the 17th of this month, do look at all the beautiful prints on the website. I always come away wishing I had more wallspace.

Did I say this would be a short post? How I rabbit on…

I’m linking up again with Wendy on 1st Unique Gifts for Handmade Monday where you can browse though the list of other crafty bloggers. Do go and have a look.

Have a lovely week, see you soon x

P.S. I’ve just found out it’s National Cupcake Week, very appropriately, although I don’t think those cupcakes will be as ‘high fibre’ as mine!

A Push in the Right Direction…

…sometimes you need a little shove. I’ve got rather off track over the last few weeks with highs – birthday celebrations, and lows – the poorly pussy cat, so I’ve been really grateful for a bit of focus. So I’m saying a big thank you to two blogging lovelies who have put in a lot of work to come up with a ‘Big Idea’ which not only concentrates the mind, but introduces a whole new section of the blogging fraternity.

Firstly, there’s Silent Sunday. It’s a wonderful idea, which you can find out all about here, because if, like me, you always have your camera with you, even when the week is such that you just have no words… there is always a photo which will say it for you. Thank you Jay, photographer extraordinaire!

And then there’s Handmade Monday, curated by Wendy of Ist Unique Gifts who has concentrated my mind wonderfully over the last couple of weeks so I’m getting back on track. Thank you ladies!

So what have you been up to, I hear you wondering… Well, I’ve been tinkering around with the idea of making framed pieces using needlefelting, to give more of a context to them, and I’m just beginning to feel happy going in that direction. My first piece was this, which is in the folksy shop now…

And with my Handmade Monday hat on today I put the finishing touches to this…

…a framed flying pig….I’m very fond of the flying pig!

I’ve painted and distressed the frames I bought to experiment with, they are a soft Swedish grey with a beeswax sheen which is a favourite of mine. Quite a few pieces of nondescript furniture in our cottage have had that treatment! I wan’t sure what to put in the smallest of the frames but today I devised this….

…the ribbon along the bottom has been hand printed to say…

And just to add the little extra to the whole ‘handmade’ aspect of this evening, as I’ve been typing this, the room, no the whole house, has been filled with the smell of Banana Bread cooking! I feel SO virtuous!

Which reminds me, thank you so much for all the lovely comments about the Welsh Cakes. They really seemed to strike a chord, especially with expat Welsh ladies! I hope the recipe worked for you, and brought back a little taste of home…

If you want to meet all the other Handmade Monday Bloggers, you’ll find them here. And if you decide to join in, with this or Silent Sunday, do let me know, I’ll be paying you a visit!

See you soon! x

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!…