Let The People Choose - Penguins

Let The People Choose is a SAL organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, with a different theme each month. This month it's penguins! It can't have escaped your notice that I am fond of penguins. I have a lot of penguin related crafting to show.
Here we go:-

This New Year Penguin is a free design from Aliolka

I made this cuddly felt penguin from a kit from House of Zandra

Here is a silk scarf I block printed

and a little knitted penguin - pattern in 20 to Knit - Tiny Christmas Toys

bought the whole book for that pattern

A penguin Christmas Ornament (design by Cthulu Crochet)

A penguin in a Jayne Cobb hat!

Penguin walks down the street in that hat, you know he's not afraid of anything.

and this is a mixed stitch penguin sampler I designed for Stitch Magazine, many years ago.

And finally, not penguin related, but here is the February page from the subversive calendar the girls designed for me

Rounding Up 2018, A Winner, and a Tree Explained

Happy New Year!

Here is my annual round-up post. The official total for 2018 stands at:-

Finishes - 78
Including these two last minute ones.

The tattoo heart brooch cover kit from the January 2019 issue of Cross Stitcher, which I couldn't resist starting when the magazine popped through my door 3 or 4 days ago. It is now gracing Naomi's new laptop bag
And this little chap.

I bought a whole book to get this pattern (It was only a small book, but still)
As you can imagine the really tough part was eating the two choc-ices to get the sticks for his skis. I am a martyr to my crafting.

Books read - 46
A bit down on previous years, but in my defence some of them were pretty long books

Shoes bought - 8
Yes, I was very restrained this year wasn't I?

So, that makes a total of 132, and the closest with a guess of 73, 54 and 12, was, for the 2nd year running

Jo!

Well done Jo, a prize will be on it's way. 

Please comment  on this post with your guesses for 2019 if you want to be in the competition next year.

Finally a tree explained. In my last post I showed you my Geekmas Tree - I've got so many geeky decorations that we decided they merited a tree of their own and so the concept of the Geekmas Tree was born. (we also have a much more traditional tree in the living room). I challenged you to spot the fandoms and other geekiness represented. It would have been hard to get them all as they aren't all clearly visible in the photo, but here goes.

The angel on the top is Castiel from Supernatural and then reading from the top of the tree down we have:-

An ornament made from Scrabble tiles

A Golden Snitch (Harry Potter)

An ornament made from Lego bricks

A stitched penguin wearing a Jayne Cobb hat (Firefly)

Winnie the Pooh

Iron Man 

Batman

A Chemistry bauble with an organic molecule on it (the one that gives Christmas trees their smell)

Thor

Deadpool

Donald Duck

A bauble that says "Shiny" (Serenity/Firefly quote)

A glass Dalek (Doctor Who)

A stitched Hello Kitty

Ghostbusters

Tigger

A Winchester Brothers bauble (Supernatural)

Captain America

A stitched Lieutenant Worf (Star Trek TNG)

A glass TARDIS (Doctor Who) also a gingerbread TARDIS and a stitched TARDIS

A stitched Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek TNG)

The Incredible Hulk

and an undead fairy

Block-Printing and Bluebells

Penguins are not just for winter so I printed myself a silk penguin scarf for spring.

Penguin printing block and black and teal fabric paints from The Arty Crafty Place
And just because they are pretty, some bluebells in my garden.