Piglets, posh frocks and posies!

 If you've visited Alder Carr Farm in the last week you may have noticed some activity around the pigsty (if I'm not at HH HQ you will most likely find me over there...) these two adorable piglets come from Baylham Rare Breeds Farm, they have been enjoying all the attention and apples!

It makes a change to be cleaning out pigs and not chickens, one of the piglets bit the OH on the toe meaning he WILL remember boots....

 Sarah AKA Scarlett Valentine has settled in nicely with some fantastic workshops featuring felty floral corsages, working with Sinemay and other millinary related delights! The rest of the time Sarah creates amazing headgear and accessories, we are often in awe of how she manages to keep coming up with new designs! 

We're teaming up with Sarah on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May when we will have a hat sale running alongside a mini fashion show of Colette dress patterns - there will be designs made up in some gorgeous fabrics and worn by some of the growing number of Colette 'fans' dressmaking questions and queries about these vintage style patterns are welcomed. Tea, coffee and cake will be available along with 10% off patterns and 10% off any fabric purchased that weekend!

 Still loving teaching people to love their sewing machines...

 ...and welcoming Melanie from Silverclay Workshop!

 Melanie ran her first workshop at HH HQ last week and did Jenny Tidman add her name to the list? 

 She did and above picture shows her finished pieces, lovely!

Chris couldn't stop burnishing her silver pendant even as she was wearing it, an email from her the following day said it all 'Melanie was an excellent tutor and the other gals on the course were great fun' we had rhubarb, apple and white chocolate cake...Melanie will be running some more classes at HH HQ so if you're at all interested in the alchemy of silver clay working then do let me know!

 Another first was Catherine Armitage's skirt workshop, Catherine AKA Lulumama is pretty amazing at making sense of dress patterns and the mystery around sizing! It was lovely to see the ladies getting the fit of their skirts absolutely right...

 ...a finished skirt! The group of ladies have promised to send over some glammed up piccies! Catherine is teaching a few classes over the next few months and places go quickly as we only have four spaces on each course, details in the list below!

 Workshop list, get to the end and there's more cute piglet pictures! Mostly £35 per person and run from 11-3 unless otherwise stated.

Saturday 2nd May - Drum carding batts with Jenny Tidman, whether you're a novice fleecer or a spinner!

Saturday 9th May - Crochet

Sunday 10th May - Natural dyeing with seasonal plants

Saturday 23rd May - Sinamay flowers with milliner Scarlett Valentine

Sunday 24th May - Fabric printing

Saturday 30th May - Needle felting

Sunday 31st May and Saturday 6th June - Dressmaking, an A line skirt £70 10am start and you will also need two metres of pre-washed fabric. Pattern, notions and sundries included

Sunday 7th June - Kansashi flowers, the kind Geisha girls wear!

Sunday 28th June - Rag rugs and weaving

Saturday 4th July - Needle felted sheep

Sunday 5th July - Get to know your sewing machine a little better!

Saturday 11th July - Bunting!

Sunday 12th July - Cushion making, zipped, piped or envelope, it's up to you!

Saturday 18th July - Advanced needle felting, The Green Man

Saturday 25th July - Dress making, a simple blouse. 10am start, £45 includes pattern for Sencha by Colette Patterns, you will need to bring along pre-washed fabric

Saturday 15th August - Polymer clay jewellery with Jackie Daly

Saturday 12th September - Wet felted bowl, moving forward with felting, not a beginners class £50

Saturday 19th September - Introduction to machined patchwork

Saturday 3rd October - Drum carder day, get your batts ready for some autumn spinning!

Goodbye from the piglets, hope to see you soon! Nx

2015....

 ...is Marching ahead!

It's March already and after a January rest from workshops at HH HQ we're back on it! Milliner Scarlett Valentine has managed to squeeze in TWO workshops already - bringing a touch of glamour to this retired windmill/dovecote. The first saw us making flowers from fabric using different techniques and the second one was a fabric collar or bib necklace made with felt, gems and precious vintage notions!

 During January I rediscovered a love of Colette patterns and decided that it was high time to stock these gorgeous dress patterns - each instruction booklet is a work of art in it's own right and with a couple of coats, some blouses and more than a few skirts now boosting my wardrobe I decided it was time to tackle a dress I've had a view to making for five years or so...

 I feel very lucky to have persuaded Catherine Armitage to come along to HH HQ to teach dressmaking, her first couple of sessions were really good fun and so interesting - we have more in the pipeline...

*watch this space*

 *inserts random gorgeous yarn photo just because.....*

 Joining us this year is Jackie Daly who has become a polymer clay whizz producing mini works of wearable art - I had one of Jackie's necklaces for Christmas from Mr HH and I LOVE it! The range of patterns and colours is right up our street, we love a bit of colour as you can see from the photo below...another glamorous hat from Scarlett Valentine, this one with the re-fashioned feathers we'll be learning about later this month!

My finished felty dahlia has found a home on my lovely new Lady Grey Jacket, I will get some good photos of it and it's monochrome lining for a blog post soon but for now here's the much promised and as up to date workshop list I can muster - enjoy and booking as usual either by telephone 01449 721123, email halfpennyhome@googlemail.com or calling in to the shop! Unless stated all workshops are £35 per person and run from 11-3 with a short break for lunch - all our cakes are gluten free!

March

Saturday 14th - Needle felting

Saturday 21st- Feather flowers

Sunday 22nd - rag rugs

Saturday 28th - Fleece prep

Sunday 29th - Free motion machine embroidery

Tuesday 31st - Children's needle felting 11-12.30 £15

Children's knitting 1.30-3 £15

April

Saturday 4th - Vintage style frame bag

Fridays 10th and 17th - Indigo batik teepee £70

Saturdays 11th and 12th - as above

Sunday 19th - beginners knitting

Friday 24th April - Silver clay £95 10-4

May

Saturday 2nd - Drum carder day

Sunday 3rd - Indigo batik

Saturday 9th - Beginners crochet

Sunday 10th - Natural dyeing with plants

Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th - Colette weekend - FREE, meet the makers and see the patterns brought to life!

Saturday 23rd - Wet felting £50

June

Saturday 6th - Spinning

Sunday 28th - Rag rugs

July

Saturday 4th - Needle felted sheep

Sunday 5th - Get the best from your sewing machine

Saturday 11th  - Bunting

Saturday 18th - Advanced needle felting, the green man

August

Saturday 1st - Screen printing

Saturday 15th - Polymer clay jewellery

Workshops at Halfpenny Home 2015

 HH HQ has had a little makeover recently and the website is next in line for a spruce up! Moving the shop and producing 30 beautiful projects for Indigo: dye it, make it has taken up a lot of 2014 and anyone who knows me will be aware that I will use any excuse to get into wellies and onto the allotment...deadlines suffer as a result!

 2014 has seen milliner Scarlett Valentine join us for some really exciting workshops including the 'Upcycle an old hat' workshop which was pretty amazing! We have her 'Paper Stars and Flowers' workshop this Friday (12th December) to look forward to! She's coming back in 2015 to share more of her millinery experience and knowledge with us, list is below...

 The rather lovely Kat Shave makes stuff with her crafty mate Dawn and they sell it to raise money for charities - Kat kindly made a load of textiley, felty, buttony Christmas cards for us to sell in aid of National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, the charity I fund raise for and also raise awareness of this invisible, chronic illness which can have devastating, life changing effects. The NRAS supports people going through diagnosis and treatment, the money raised helps to fund a free telephone advice and helpline. Thank you very much Kat I love the felty lights!

 Christmas is almost here and with the help of Pauline from The Sugarcraft Studio (my neighbor at Alder Carr Farm) the tree for the Christchurch Tree Festival in Needham market got it's bling on and looked lovely with a nice representation of all the things that go on at the farm, we even got the Alder Tree ice-cream and the Suffolk Cycle Breaks on!

 Luckily we chose a lovely day for the Christmas Fair and with Father Christmas waiting in his festive grotto, his little helper waiting outside and a bevy of creative types selling their rather gorgeous wares in the courtyard we were really getting in the Christmas spirit...or was that just the mulled wine?

 Ella's lovely linocut prints...

 Tracy Ranger's Gedgrave Flock's wooly lovelies!

 Jackie Daly's amazing jewellery...Jackie has been to many workshops at both HH HQs and I have fallen in love with her polymer clay work!

If you fancy getting to grips with a new craft in 2015 and being part of the messiness below then take a look through the workshop list as it stands so far, there will be more - booking in person at the shop, via phone 07887511081 or email halfpennyhome@googlemail.com - I will be listing some on our shop halfpennyhome2 at etsy.com so that you can book online.

A deposit of £15 holds your space but we need full payment two weeks before the workshop date - if you have to cancel we will try hard to fill your space (and we usually do!) in which case you will get a full refund - in some cases we can transfer deposits to another workshop. 

Unless stated you need bring nothing along, there are no unexpected extras as everything is included except for your lunch! Fortunately there is an excellent cafe here and a great farm shop with a deli...we stop at around 1pm for something to eat. Most workshops start at 11am and finish at 3pm, we always have cake and it's always gluten free, yummy and made with eggs from my happy chickens! Oh, and the cost per session is usually £35, in some instances material costs mean that it will be higher but this isn't too often :-)

2015

Saturday 31st and Sunday 1st January - Getting to know your sewing machine a little bit better, for beginners, improvers and and anyone who needs to get that dusty machine out of the cupboard under the stairs!

Thursday 5th and Thursday 12th February - Catherine is teaching beginners dressmaking and to start you off it's an A-line skirt! *please note this is a two day session so £35x2=£70* you will also need to buy/supply your own pre-washed dress fabric for this workshop, everything else is supplied.

Saturday 7th February - Milliner Scarlett Valentine fashioning flowers for hats, corsages and decoration!

Sunday 8th February - Needle Felted Garlands with Jenny Tidman and as it's nearly Valentine's Day it has to be hearts...

Saturday 14th February - It may be Valentine's Day but all one really needs in life is to be shown by a  professional how to make a decent box cushion with a zip and piping! Over two decades of experience to call on and we'll make a cushion to fit a small kitchen chair.

Sunday 15th February -Fabric Printing with rollers from The Painted House, we also print paper!

Saturday 21st February - Girls popover dress, a lovely beginners dressmaking including using an overlocker!

Friday 27th February - Vintage style collar with Scarlett Valentine. A gorgeous collar which will set off any dress and makes good use of all those vintage notions...

Saturday 28th February - Crochet for beginners with Jenny Tidman.

Sock Sundays! 1st, 8th, 15th March - there's homework in between and it's £60 for the whole course, you will have a pair of hand knitted socks at the end! Must be able to knit and purl.

Saturday 7th March - Indigo Batik, techniques from Indigo: dye it, make it. Messy workshop so wear old clothes...

Saturday 14th March - Needle Felted Flowers with Jenny Tidman, felty, floral FUN!

Saturday 21st March - Styling feathers with milliner Scarlett Valentine!

Sunday 22nd March - Weaving and Rag Rugs, learn to use a peg loom and some rag rugging techniques...

Saturday 28th March - Fleece prep, raw fleece to useable tops with Jenny Tidman, HH HQ's own Fleeceologist! A messy workshop with up to an hour of outside work so bring warm clothes!

Sunday 29th March - Free Motion Machine Embroidery with Nicola Gouldsmith, a lovely workshop full of fun, creativity and sometimes we remember to stop for lunch...

Saturday 4th April - Vintage Style Clasp Bag. Suitable for beginners and improvers using gorgeous vintage fabrics - eeek!

Fridays 10th and 17th April - Teepee featured in Indigo: dye it, make it *please not this is a two day workshop* £70

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th *as above*

Saturday 18th April - An introduction to wet felting with Jenny Tidman.

Sunday 19th April - Learn to knit! Struggling with your increases or your SSKs this is the day for you!

Friday 24th April - Silver Clay Jewellery with Melanie Blaikie. Alchemy before your very eyes! Clay turning to pure solid silver...10am -4pm, light lunch included as well as cake! £95- 10am -4pm

Saturday 2nd May - Drum Carding Day with Jenny Tidman. A whole day making batts with Jenny, ready for spinning up into beautiful yarns...you're welcome!

3rd May to 19th December to follow...

 Love Nic x

Freebies at the Fayre!

 Ever wondered what a workshop at HH HQ is like? Fancied a go at something but not quite sure if it will be something you would enjoy...if so the FREE taster sessions we're holding on Saturday 6th December are right up your street!

 It's the bumper Christmas Fayre at Alder Carr Farm and there's a rumour that a jolly gentleman clad in red will also be there...

All sessions must be pre-booked and the schedule of the day runs (approximately) like this!

10-12 Fabric printing with paint and patterned rollers, print some paper and a piece of fabric!

12-1 Fibre fun with our needle felter (and fleeceologist) Jenny Tidman if commitments allow! 

1-2 Open studios, bring along your hooking, knitting etc. there will be cake!

2-4 Natural Dyeing with an Indigo dip at around 3pm - bring along something to dye or we'll find you something to dunk in!

Should be a fun day and I look forward to hearing from you all - usual way, via email, shop or Facebook on the Halfpenny Home page...

Have a lovely autumnal day, the sun is absolutely beautiful!

Nic x

Hats off!

 There's been a burble of excitement here at HH HQ, not just because the workshops have been so successful since moving to Alder Carr Farm but because we have the talented Sarah Valentine joining us to teach us some of her amazing millinery skills!

 Sarah runs Scarlett Valentine Millinery, the hats and headpieces she produces are stunning with a contemporary feel along with the traditional hats she produces using a variety of different materials. Trained both in Suffolk, the London College of Fashion and Central St Martins London Sarah is now generously sharing some of her skills with us!

 Sarah is teaching us how to use sinamay to make flowers and abstract shapes which can be made into headpieces, corsages and brooches on Saturday 20th September, we currently have 5 spaces left. Call in or contact Nic for details and availability.

 With Christmas marching towards us, I feel guilty mentioning it on such a sunny day but we have Sarah teaching us how to use paper to make pointy stars and flowers which would be perfect for giftwrapping or decorating your home. There are only a couple of spaces left on this workshop so please don't leave it too late to book! Paper stars and flowers is running on Friday 12th December.

 Got an old favourite hat in need of a retrim?

An unloved hat in need of a complete makeover?

We also have hats here at HH HQ which can be bought on the day of the workshop, Saturday 15th November - using vintage trimmings, machine embroidery and the expertise of Sarah Valentine to make that unloved hat the star of the show once again! Chop and change for a fun new look and turn heads this winter...

 One of MY favourite workshops to teach is the indigo dyeing and batik is the fun way to add patterns to fabric - there are just two places left on the Batik workshop running on Sunday 26th October. It's magical to watch indigo work and even more so as you watch your designs appear!

Find us on  Etsy.com where there is now a HalfpennyHome2 - there you can also find some of our most popular notions as well as some of our workshops which you will be able to book online

Saturday 15th November Upcycling hats with Sarah Valentine £35 2 spaces

Saturday 22nd November Knitting Clinic £10

Sunday 29th November Appliqued Christmas Stocking £35 3 spaces

Sunday 30th November Crochet - beginners 10-1 and amigurumi Santa 1-4 with Jenny Tidman £35 FULL

Sunday 7th December Festive Needle Felting with Jenny Tidman £35

Friday 12th December Paper stars and flowers with Sarah Valentine £35

Saturday 13th December Needle Felted robins, snowmen and Christmas puddings £35

Sunday 14th December Mystery Make Christmas Tea Party in aid of NRAS 12-4 £35 all profits go to National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, includes a raffle and a slap up tea! £35

Phew...long list - book in the usual way by phoning 01449 721123 Tuesday-Sunday or email halfpennyhome@googlemail.com or alternatively keep an eye on Etsy.com

Hope that there is something here that gets your excitement levels climbing!

Nic x

Summer of FUN at HH HQ

 It's been a hectic six months at the shop, moving and keeping up with everything that's going on has been hard work but so much fun...we've had hen parties like the one Aimee threw for her friends and family to get to know each other - they had great fun sipping bubbly as personal and touching works of art were produced which Aimee is to make into a quilt for her home.

We then had our long planned charity tea party in aid of National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, a charity dear to our hearts - I will post more photos and details about it on my own blog soon.

 A massive thank you to all at Sweetpea and Vintage for allowing us to invade their home and lovely garden and making so many cakes! Loads of people crafted items for the raffle and we raised £430 on the day with even more donations still coming in! We also aimed to raise awareness of some of the difficulties faced by people with this painful and incurable condition.

 Thank you too to all who came along or donated raffle prizes, cake ingredients and money!

 Hot on the heels of the tea party we had the Strawberry Fair at Alder Carr Farm, a brilliant event with loads of new visitors to the farm and excited people stumbling across Halfpenny Home for the first time...we crocheted strawberries, made strawberry pom poms and pincushions!

 We're almost back to normal this week with workshops resuming and even though it's summer we're still knitting and LOVING the West Yorkshire Spinners yarns - excellent value British wool, reared, sheared and spun here!

 We're using them in the sock knitting workshops which start this Sunday, three Sundays of sock knitting and at the end of the three weeks you'll have a pair of socks! Sundays 6th, 13th and 20th July £60 and everything is included, theraputic cake is applied regularly...*two spaces are left*

 One of my favourite workshops is the Free Motion Machine Embroidery, we have two more planned at present - Sunday 3rd August and Saturday 30th August, unleash your inner artist!

 There are spaces on each of these dates but they are strictly limited to four spaces for each date!

 I know that you can buy nice knitting bags and rolls for your evergrowing collection of needles but surrounded by gorgeous fabrics and ribbons takes it's toll on the willpower and lo, a workshop is born!

Knitting Needle Roll, a stitchery workshop suitable for absolute beginners! Sunday 27th July £35 11-3 make one for yourself or the knitter in your life?

 Seasonal Dyeing with PLANTS...not the wishy washy colours you would expect! As well as indigo we love to dye with the reeds that grow here on the farm and if we time it right the colour we get is a rich pistachio green...two dyeing dates in August where the effect mordants have on the finished result and how to dye safely - Sundays 17th and 31st August 11-3 £35 and you can dye a skein of yarn and a piece of fabric or a silk scarf. Spaces go fast for this one each year so don't leave it too late to book!

Full List

Socks! Sundays 6th, 13th and 20th July

Fleece cleaning and preparation. Friday 11th July

Bunting! Saturday12th July

Advanced Needle Felting, The Green Man Friday 18th July

Quilted Patchwork Mat, learn to piece, quilt and bind! Saturday 26th July

Knitting Needle Roll. Sunday 27th July

Crochet an Amigurumi Gnome! Saturday 2nd August

Free Motion Machine Embroidery. Sunday 3rd August

Fleece cleaning and preparation. Sunday 3rd August

Vintage Style Clasp Frame Bag! Saturday 9th August

Natural Dyeing with Plants! Sundays 17th and 31st August

Print your own fabric make an apron! Saturday 23rd August

Print your own fabric make a cushion! Sunday 24th August

Free Motion Machine Embroidery! Saturday 30th August

Tunisian Crochet. Sunday 7th September

Indigo Batik! Sunday 14th September

Tablet/notebook cover Sunday 21st September

Ragdolls! Sunday 28th September

Needle Felting, squashes, pumpkins and acorns! Saturday 4th October

Carding and spinning with fleece! Saturday 25th October

Book as usual by either dropping by HH HQ, text 07887511081 or email halfpennyhome@googlemail.com

A deposit will hold your confirmed space with full payment due two weeks before the workshop commences. More dates to be added soon...Nic x