Category Archives: Textiles

This category groups posts around my interest in textiles and textile design

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.

A New Year Gift…

….to celebrate my 150 Blog Post! I can’t believe it’s come round so quickly…

Anyway, a belated Happy New Year to you all, thank you for visiting. I’m sorry to have been away so long but there have been guests, invited and uninvited. No-one invited flu of the Swinish persuasion, but he came anyway and laid several of our party low, and as I write the smallest one is still very poorly. We’re all sending get well wishes southwards as hard as we can, here in Norfolk.

So, not many photos at the moment, and not enough to join in with Emma’s Splash of Colour today, maybe tomorrow.

Higgins had a lovely time with all the people to cuddle him, he makes an excellent hot water bottle! He wore his hat…

….for at least 20 seconds. Ate his Father Christmas toy so fast I didn’t get a chance to photograph it, called a Christmas truce with Henry…

…and then dragged a cushion under the dining table to sleep off his own Christmas dinner while we ate ours.

Anyway, the giveaway. Are you all decorationed out, or would you like something towards Christmas 2011 to hang on your tree? I have been needlefelting again, this time Christmas baubles and I have made a very special one to share with you, and for one lucky person to win.

The bauble is 5″ from the top wooden bead to the bottom bead,that’s just under 13cm, is made from my hand dyed Merino and Blue-Face Leicester fleece and is completely unique. (‘cos I hate to repeat myself!)

To win it, just leave a comment on this post, all the names will go into the hat and Higgins will decide the lucky winner by eating drawing the winning name. the plan had been to draw it on Twelth Night but because I’m so late, I will let it run until next Monday, the 10th.

Even if you’ve never commented before, please do, it would be lovely to hear from you x

Christmas Smells

We’re really getting into the swing of Christmas here on Planet Penny, are you keeping up? My main problem has been that if I’m being creative I can’t squeeze in the blogging, sorry, I will try harder!

Delia’s’ Happy Christmas’ is sitting up on the kitchen bar and I have in progress Christmas cake, Christmas pudding AND mincemeat. All of it has to sit over night for the flavours to blend so the kitchen will be a frenzy of activity tomorrow too. But the smell is already tantalising, mixed spice, cinnamon and my favourite, freshly grated nutmeg, the zesty tang of oranges and lemons and heady aroma of the dried fruit for the cake, steeping in brandy. (note to self – I must not pick and nibble…no, no, NO!)

This morning I popped out to the shop where the sun was shining on the snow and a brass band was playing carols which made me feel really festive so when I heard what a depressing play was on the radio I abandoned it for my ‘free from the Daily Mail’ carols CD….

Higgins, under protest, has gone for walk so I have been able to quickly clear up the carnage left after he disemboweled his festive reindeer soft toy, new today, little terror. He seems to think his mission in life is to remove the squeaks from all his toys, leaving a trail of stuffing all through the house.

So what have I been up to? Well next Saturday we have a Christmas Fair at our village hall and the Knit and Stitch Group have a table to fill. I have been stitching and stuffing in ever available spare moment, producing little hearts…

and birds…

The next project is to find a twiggy branch which I can turn into a tree for them to perch on at the fair, my cherry blossom branches don’t look Christmassy enough…

As usual I am battling with the light for photographs, flash does weird things with the colour. I find I don’t have one photo which shows that each little bird is made with two different but complementing colours with little silver stars for eyes, and every bird is different.

If you would like to buy the hearts or birds without a trip to Norfolk please get in touch!

Higgins is home now, and very tired. He can’t think who could have done the naughty thing to his toy and made all that mess, because he is, of course, a very good dog. Look, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, now would it?

Buying! and SELLING!

Despite the foggy weather it’s been pretty jolly here on Planet Penny this weekend. I hope yours is being just as much fun.
Yesterday morning we set off to Holt in North Norfolk to the third Pick n’Mix Makers Market organised by Teena of Kitschen Pink, and Lisa of Bobo Bun. The Church Hall was filled with not only beautiful things but with lovely people I have been gradually getting to know through the blogging world.

It was funny to be greeted by cries of ‘Planet Penny? You must be Higgins’ Mummy!’ There were a lot of people disappointed he didn’t put in an appearance, but I think he would have cramped our style a little. Emma from Silver Pebble was there, with a gorgeous display of her jewelry, and since she had asked me take along one of my Robins to buy, a little bargaining and bartering meant that she could go home with the Robin of her choice, and I had these wonderful earings.

I had gone with Christmas shopping in mind, but it’s going to be hard to part with this set of little notebooks from The Lapwing Printworks

– I actually need to write down my Cunning Plans – and this soap from Perfect Scents is heavenly.

Later on in the town we visited Verandah, a shop run by a co-operative of artists ( where I always want to spend too much money), and where I found these pottery Christmas decorations.

See how focused I am? Well there are only 34 days to go!

But I didn’t just spend money yesterday, I MADE some! How amazing is that? I actually sold FIVE Robins! Why I have so little confidence in what I do that I have taken so long to get to grips with marketing it I don’t know. I think it’s the curse of working alone, in a vacuum. And although I’ve been gaining confidence thanks to all you lovely people and your positive feedback, I really needed to be shoved off that diving board so I could start swimming. Special mention must go to Emma, and to Celia of Purple Podded Peas, and my fellow procrastinators!

And that wasn’t the end of it. I got home to a request to buy one of my cushions!!

Kerching!

For the first time in a long time I ended the day richer than when I started!

So here I am, thinking positive. I hope I can spread it around, there are lots of talented people in blogland hiding their lights under the proverbial bushel, you can do it too!

P.S. This post took a little longer than intended. Half way through, Higgins’ magic nose detected the sweetie Tim dropped down the side of the reclining armchair. Have you ever tried to remove a dachshund from the inside of an armchair? In another life, I’d have Truffle Hound… In reality, a Jelly Bean Hound. Probably just right for Planet Penny…

Cup Cakes – or Fairy Cakes?

I’ve had a rebellion about the whole cup cake thing. When I was child, we had fairy cakes, and butterfly buns and that was just what I made for birthday parties when my children were small. I think it was Nigella Lawson in her Domestic Goddess role who started the whole American cup cake thing in Britain. Now, I’ve nothing against having a cultural mix on the culinary front, in fact I think the national dish of Great Britain is actually Tikka Masala. But I don’t see the point in renaming an English teatime classic in order to making it appear, I don’t know, more fashionable? if I went to New York I would be so happy to seek out a cup cake (or two?) but I like the whole English Vicarage tea party idea of the fairy cake or the butterfly bun.

But I was happy to enter a cup cake competition which was in aid of Children in Need which was what my friend Emmeline at the Cherryleaf Coffee House in Norwich was running this Sunday. We paid to enter four cakes, one was tasted by the judges and then the rest were sold to raise money for this amazing good cause.

You know, I haven’t done the butter icing thing for ages. These days I tend towards a more grown-up icing sugar/lemony thing on my little cakes but I decided that I would fly the flag on the whole fairy/cup cake thing and make butterfly buns and you have to have butter icing for those. Now, Nigella appears to waft about the kitchen in her dressing gown whipping up tasty morsels. Me, in the kitchen with butter and icing sugar probably needed industrial protective clothing.

And it probably wasn’t a good idea to pop the icing sugar and butter (and it was chopped and softened, I’m not completely stupid) into a bowl and switch on the food mixer. Once I’d cleared the fog of icing sugar ( and removed the sneezing pets) I could see that the icing was actually blending together nicely, and was ready to be piped. I could only get the syringe type of icing equipment when I dashed to the local supermarket, just the same design as the one I threw out in disgust years ago. And it had all the same design faults. The collar which attached the nozzle didn’t quite fit and the thread kept crossing so it popped off. The syringe part didn’t quite screw in tightly so it fell off at crucial moments. By the time I had created four buns out of the twelve I had made which were worthy of public scrutiny I had butter icing over everything. The work top, the floor, Higgins, (Henry ran off at the icing sugar cloud stage) my clothes, hair….

Oh, and some buns…

…butterfly buns… They taste fine, I put lemon juice and zest in the cake mix and orange juice and zest in the icing.

We got the buns to the Cherryleaf this morning. There were lots of entries, and I know that to date £90 has been raised for Children in Need which is fantastic.

Back home, I can now reveal my sixth and final cushion. This time I went for zigzags, and I’m really happy I did. It took a little time to make the colour sequence flow, but I think this is my favourite of all. I like it even more than the fair isle ones, there is something really zingy about it. What do you think?

I’m feeling bad because I have been promising for ages to post a zigzag tutorial, but it is under way and will be here hopefully this week.

I have been overwhelmed by the lovely comments I have have had over the last months, thank you all so much. It’s wonderful to feel I have made so many new friends in Blogging Land, both in cyber space and in reality. I’m also SO excited to see something I have devised and written a pattern for being made by someone else. Do go over to Penelope by the Sea’s blog to see her version of the Christmas Bunting. I’d love to see other versions if you have made them.

I must away now, I have a date with some robins…

Curious?

Come back again and find out!

In the meantime, there is also a little bit of butter icing to chip off the kitchen door!

P.S. I’ve just found out I won the prize for the best looking cupcake. Wow!! First time I’ve ever won a beauty contest!

Splash of Colour – November

Better late than never, they say, but I can’t believe it’s Friday and I haven’t managed to post all week. Higgins and I have just got back from our walk, and the rain has started so I can sit down without guilt while he sleeps off the exercise (and the obligatory bath, well he is very low slung!)Emma over at Silver Pebble feels just like me about winter, but has come up with a ‘cunning plan’ to keep the Winter Blues away. She has invited fellow bloggers to post a blast of colour at the beginning of each month between now and Spring to keep our spirits up which is right up my street (although anyone who has been visiting Planet Penny for a while now will know I don’t really need an excuse to get colourful !)

I need a bit of cheering up now though. We’ve had a tiring, noisy but ultimately great weekend with family and now they’ve all gone home. The little boys, one four, one nearly five and one six year old very nearly ran Higgins’ legs off and he had so much fun. Although he was puzzled, very puzzled about the blue stripy human puppy which every one wanted to cuddle. It made exciting squeaky noises and was, allegedly, very nearly as cute as Higgins but wasn’t allowed to play.

Tim has gone back to work for two weeks and it’s just me, Higgins and Henry. There’s been a lot of sleeping but lately he’s been looking at me saying, “I’m BORED!”

So, November colour…Well, there’s been a lot of orange about…

There’s been sunshine too…and pink… I found a strangely speckled dahlia…

What do you think? I like my flowers to be a true clear colour on the whole, but I don’t want to sneer at it’s brave attempt to carry on flowering.

But orange? I am generally heard to say,’I don’t like orange, but…’

I’d run a mile from any clothing in orange, it would make me extremely miserable. But a blue bowl full of clementines, now that would make me happy. Nasturtiums? I love them. Pot Marigolds. Pumpkins. Autumn leaves. Terracotta tiles. I’m sure you can add to the list. And the book that is making me happy at the moment, and adding an extra splash of colour is Kaffe Fassett’s Quilts en Provence. It’s full of orange, and I love it!

One day, I will make one!

So every time the mud outside gets too much I shall escape to the sun and Provence and dream…

Back in the studio, someone else is getting a colour fix, but he’d better not eat those cushions!

I'm not chewing...I'm not!

I shall be back next week with my latest colourful cushion, another fair isle which has been progressing rather slowly. Have a lovely weekend, I hope the sun shines where ever you are and if you are celebrating Guy Fawkes Night, enjoy the fireworks!