Two Small Fabric Doilies ..

Hello my dear friends,

I am still taking it a somewhat easy with anything that has to do with heavy yard work or renovations these days but not when it comes to being creative ~ my fingers just like to be kept busy.

 On one of my recent outings in search of new treasures I found these two small round fabric 'doilies' all neat and pretty.

 They are embroidered by hand and so lovely but I really had no idea what I would use them for but that didn't stop me from buying them and taking them home. In the end I didn't even get a chance to place them in my chest of drawers where all my linen treasures are kept because an idea had pop into my mind on what I could maybe use them for. One thing I knew for sure is that I didn't want to cut these two lovely pieces up.

My idea was based on how much I just love to sew, quilt and embroider by hand, not by machine and therefore how many needles I have. So what else to create but needle books. After some trail and error and after taking my first finished design completely apart again to then start all over from scratch, things worked out perfectly the second time around.

And here are my newest creations ...

... my 'Vintage Pretties' needle books.

I made the two of them using different types of drop cloth (Lowes and Home Depot) and colors of seam binding and they both have turned out very nice in my eyes. What do you think?

 I thought that quilting the inner batting pages would add a nice little touch to this creation and it did!

Just like with my first needle book, I quilted the inner 'pages' of this needle book a little as well.

Both of my needle books are completely hand stitched by me and I am so happy with the way these two little pretties have turn out!

And since I unfortunately can't hold on to everything I make, you will be able to find these two pretties listed for sale in my Etsy shop next week some time if anyone should be interested in them.

As I am writing this post, I am already working on a few more needle books and a couple of other new ideas, so do stop by soon again and visit me here at Todolwen and see what I have been up too.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

My Grandma's Sweet Peas ..

Hello my dear friends,

 as a child I would spend my summers with my Ome in Saskatchewan. Every year the large trellis at the old garage, at the bottom of my Grandma's property would be covered with amazing smelling and beautiful looking sweet peas in so many colors ~ it was so lovely! The Saskatchewan summers were perfect for these blossoms and my childhood holidays.

Of course I wanted to try and create a sweet pea from fabric but I couldn't find a how-to  anywhere on the Internet or in books and you know my little motto ... 'if you can't find it ~ make it' and I did. I sat down and thought and thought, then tried and tried and after a little while it was done, my first take on  a little sweet pea flower.

It needed a little more work but I was happy with the overall design.

I made a few more and tried a few more different colors.  Even though all together they are a little too colorful for me, they all look very pretty and actually almost like real sweet peas too.

 I almost forgot a special little part of this lovely flower ...

I think the white blossoms are my favorite so far.

Silly me, I almost forgot a special little part of this lovely flower ...

... the little curly corkscrew things that sweet peas have.
(Sorry but I don't know the proper name for them but it any of you lovelies out there in blogland do, please let me know.)

I am going to tweak my design a little more until I am completely happy with it and then all I have to do is to figure out how I am going to use them in a creation to remember my Ome from Saskatchewan..

Thank you for taking the time to visit me here at Todolwen ~ it is always so nice when you do so and it would be nice if you would stop by some time again.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

I Call It ' My Golden Afternoon' ..

Hello my dear friends,

I am so happy to share my newest creation with all of you lovely bloggers today. It is the 'special' pincushion I wanted to make from my 'golden finding' a few weeks ago and now it is finished.

 It took me quit a lot of back and forth, trying to decide if I wanted to keep or change the color of it or not ...   

... and in the end I came to the decision to leave this piece as it was and not paint it and I am glad I did. It spent a little time in the middle of the table in my studio because I just couldn't figure out how I was going make things work and then one day it came to me.

One day I looked at my little mannequin that holds most of my brooches and stands right next to my work table. There sitting on it was a little golden brooch that was made with ...

... of two little golden butterflies. That was it! The idea on what to do jumped into my mind. First though I had to listen to a song from a wonderful old Disney movie and once I did, I knew that my idea was perfect for this creation.

The movie I am talking about is 'Alice in Wonderland' and the song is 'Golden Afternoon'.

 If you don't know this song, it is about all the flowers that grow and live in a garden, including Morning Glories and little butterflies (well, in the song it was bread and butterflies) and how all of them bathe in the golden afternoon sun. You see, perfect in each and every way at least in my eyes. I gathered everything I wanted to use in this creation, some drop cloth, pieces from a vintage doily and pearls all in closely matching colors and all of them are now a part of this making and of  course it just wouldn't be right without some seam binding, so that was a done deal too!

And this is my newest pincushion creation that I have named ...

... 'Golden Afternoon'.

It is my 'biggest' pincushion creation I have made so far ~ it's three pincushions all together look just so lovely. I am beyond happy with the theme and name I have given this piece.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest creation as much as I have enjoyed making it.
It is now available for sale in my Etsy shop if anyone of you might be interested in it.

(The pincushion is now sold ~ thank you!)

Last buy not least ...

I would like to thank all of you lovely bloggers for your kind words and well wishes.
You are all so sweet ~ thank you so much! Please, don't forget to enter my 'Grateful Giveaway'!

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A Grateful Giveaway ..

Hello my dear friends,

I had recently mentioned that I had to take a step back from any strenuous work this past week and there was a reason for this.

I hadn't been feeling well since a little while. I thought I had gotten a cough that didn't want to develop fully and therefore my chest was aching a little and I just felt not too well among a few other things but it got worse this past week. I actually had issues being able to breathe properly and at times I was scared because it seemed I could not get enough oxygen into my lungs. First thing on Wednesday morning I headed to my doctor and after he said that everything sounded OK and asked me if I had asthma (which I don't think I have) ~ prescribed me some steroids to help my lungs clear and he sent me to have a few x-rays taken. All that was done within the next hour and then the waiting started and I can tell you it was not a good time for me. I was very worried that I might be very ill, you see I was one of those silly teenagers that thought smoking was cool and in those days there were no health warnings about all the bad things that come with it. I had quit just over 10 years ago now and am so happy I did. I sat next to our phone for two and a half days waiting for it to ring and every time it did I thought ... this is it, here is the bad news now. It was awful, really awful to pick the receiver up every single time and wait to see who was on the other end. Most of them were wrong numbers or someone that wanted to sell me something I didn't need. I only left the house when I had to. This morning I was in such a state because I knew that today might be the day when the phone would ring and it would be my doctor... and it did. You have no idea what it felt like to hear the words ... 'Everything is OK! No cancer!'. I cried and was so happy and took a deep breath of relief and it felt so good. They are still not quite sure what caused my breathing problems, it could be that I have developed asthma or it was a chest infection that just got quietly worse over the weeks.

I am so grateful, I pray almost everyday but these past days I did so much more, asking God to stand by me. Asking that he would not let me be very ill and he must have heard my voice. I am so grateful beyond any words that I could say.  

Because I am so grateful and happy I would like to place a smile on one of your lovely faces with a little giveaway. I decided to giveaway one of my sari silk ribbon and hemp nests to one of you lovely bloggers instead of selling it.

It will be this one here ...

... one of my 'Woodland Blush' nests.

All you have to do is enter your name by leaving a comment on this post.

 I will draw the winner on June 2nd which is actually my birthday and which day better to gift someone than on your own birthday. I will share the winner here on Todolwen.

I hope you well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.
  

Happy Victoria Day ..

Hello my dear friends,

just a very short post today to wish all of you ...

... a Happy Victoria Day!

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A New Little Tarnished Get~Together ..

Hello my dear friends,

I have to take a few days off from doing any strenuous work and rest a little but that also means I am able to be creative which is so very nice.

I haven't even shared any of my findings of what I had purchased whilst treasure hunting two weeks ago even though I have taken all the photos. Time just wasn't on my side so far because I have been so incredibly busy. I did use one of these findings though in the creation I am sharing with all of you lovely bloggers today.

This is one of the pieces I found.
It was a little tarnished tray and as I saw it ...

... I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.

It has become such a lovely piece ... not too little and not too much but just right.

I turned it into this ...

... a small 'tarnished get~together' and I love it!

I named it ... 'Just Sew Lovely'.

For this little sewing tray I used a small tarnished egg cup for the pincushion base. The actual pincushion I made from linen that is covered in a piece from an old doily.The final touches were an old tatty broach and a box made from crinkled seam binding. All together they were perfect in my eyes.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest creation.

This neat little piece is now for sale and listed in my Etsy shop.

(This little creation is now sold ~ thank you.)

Thank you so much for stopping by today and visiting me here at Todolwen. It would be so nice if you came sometime again to see what I have been up too.

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.