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Saturday, April 29, 2017

The Doves Are Back ...

Hello my dear friends,

I have a special place in my heart for doves.
I love watching and listing to them and it makes me happy when they come to visit our garden.

For the past three years now a few of them have taken to building a nest in the blue spruce that lives close to our front door. So far every time they have laid their eggs, something unfortunately spooked the doves which lead to them abandoning the nest and eggs - Which is always sad. Doves are so gentle and at times the slightest thing can scare them away.

But the doves are back again.
You can see them in our garden in the early morning, at midday or just before the sun goes down. They sit in our maple tree or anywhere else they feel comfortable. I try to have my camera ready and at hand in the house these days because you never know what you might see, right? I have been able to capture these lovely feathered creatures several times which makes my little heart smile and that is what I am sharing with all of you today.

The doves in our garden ...








The little love birds like to sit on our fence in the sunshine ...


and be very affectionate with each other.


 About 2 or 3 weeks ago I noticed that one of the doves was doing a lot of flying to and from our front garden and was also sitting on our big rock that sits in the front flowerbed. Most of the times the dove or rather he was carrying something in his beak. Sometimes a twig, then a piece of dried grass or a piece of a plant.


It flew in and out of our blue spruce so many times ...


... which went on for four or five days.
It didn't matter if it was cold, raining or the sun was shining. The little dove was a busy bee and wouldn't stop until the sun went down. 

This could only mean one thing; a new nest was being built. This time a better place for a nest was chosen which was good thing. It was away from our front door and was in the most dense part of the tree. A week, or so ago, I thought that the doves were gone again, so I dared to peek into the tree. There deep down in the branches of the Evergreen, tucked away was the little girl dove, sitting on a nest. I was so worried that I might have scared her but it seems that I didn't. She didn't fly away and the little boy dove came to change places with her that evening. 

I am hoping that this time everything will go well. I saw the dove two days ago flying out of the tree again but since then nothing. I won't be foolish though and try to check up on them again. I am not going to take the chance of doing anything wrong this time. That is why I don't have any other photographs. I  will just have to wait and see what happens. It is nature and hopefully this time, Mother Nature will keep the doves and eggs safe. I am so hoping that this time we might have little baby doves. Please, keep your fingers crossed that all will be well with my feathered 'tenants'. 

Even our cat Lexi is keeping an eye out for the doves, from behind our living room window.


Maybe the little dove is keeping on eye on our cat?!

And last but not least ...

... I have decided to have another garage sale this morning. It is a last minute decision really,  I had forgotten how many old treasures that were hiding in my basement. Many of them have been there packed away in boxes and cupboards since a few years. My thoughts on that is; if it hasn't got sentimental value and you are not planning on displaying it in the very near future, it can go. A little harsh I know but sometimes it is needed. Fingers crossed again that the rain will hold off until the afternoon and that no rude people will turn up again.

Thank you for stopping by to visit me here again at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Pincushions For Pat ~ No.4 Is Now Finished As Well ...

Hello my dear friends,

I was able to work and finish another pincushion for Pat last week. This time is was the tarnished sugar bowl that I chose to work with.


This is such a lovely tarnished old piece and I knew, I wanted it to look it's best.
It made me think of it as a lovely flower pot for some reason. I just loved the shape of it and I liked the thought of using flowers. Without even thinking of anything else I could do with it, I started to work on this creation and by that evening it was done. Elegant and pretty but not overloaded is the look I was going for and I think that I have achieved that.

I had recently bought some beautiful vintage millinery flowers that in my eyes were perfect for this creation. I chose suitable subtle colors that complemented each other well to go with the flowers and the tarnished sugar bowl. I personally think that subtle colors just seem to add to something beautiful,  instead of taking anything away.

 And here is the newest pincushion for Pat.
I named it ...

... 'Pat's Blossoms'.











I used a small piece of a vintage hat net to make a little delicate bow ...


... which just added that little special thing.


I hope you have enjoyed my newest pincushion creation. 
I am very happy with it and I think it might be my favorite one of the four I have made so far. 

Now I have only one treasure left to work with and I am hoping to get it done very soon. 
It might possibly turn out to be the most challenging one for me out of all five.


It is such a beautiful candle holder with so much detail and again I do not want to take away from that at all but I am not sure how I am going to add to it right now. I think I will need to take a few days more to think about it and see what I can come up with. Hopefully it will be something nice.

And last but not least ...

... thank you all for keeping your fingers crossed that it wouldn't rain on the day of our garage sale because it didn't. Apart from one very rude man that showed up over an hour before we were 'open for sale', it went very, very well and I made much more than I thought I would. I feel so much better with the amount of stuff in my house getting less. So much better, that I might be doing another garage sale this coming weekend again. Are any of you thinking of 'decluttering' this Spring? You might not believe me but it can be so much fun! Why not try it?

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Pincushions For Pat ~ No. Three Is Now Done ...

Hello my dear friends,

pincushion no. 3 is now finished for the lovely Pat.

I so enjoyed working with the little tea strainer last time that I just had to chose the other one as my next project. It too is now done and that is what I am sharing with all of you today.

I made it a hanging pincushion just like first one, it was just the perfect for this tarnished tea utensil again. As the pincushion itself I used a felted piece from lambswool sweater. I embellished it then with a lovely little piece from a old crochet doily. It is so nice the way they both compliment each other even though they are so different from each other. One is chunky and thick and the other fine and delicate. Crinkled seam binding tied into a bow was as so often was a must for this pincushion and also a vintage piece of sparkle which gave this creation it's final touch. This little pincushion can be hang off the seam binding that is attached to it's handle.

I named it simply ...

... 'Tea Time'.

And this is pincushion no. 3 ...











And that was my latest pincushion creation. 

I think it turned out very sweet and neat and I hope you have enjoyed it. Hopefully I will be able to finish the last two over the weekend if things work out OK.

 I am busy having a garage sale tomorrow morning and I still have a lot to do before that. Items to price and maybe go through everything in the house that one last time before 8 am tomorrow morning. Please, keep your fingers crossed it will go well and the weather will be good to us.

It is so nice that you took the time to visit me here today at Todolwen and maybe you will pop by soon again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Pincushions For Pat ~ No.2 Is Now Finished ...

Hello my dear friends,

yesterday I was able to finish another pincushions for the lovely Pat.
This time I used one of the two little vintage tea strainers she had sent me.


Today I am sharing the pincushion that I made from the tarnished strainer that is on the right in this photograph. This lovely tea utensil has now become a darling pincushion, all dressed up in raw silk, a piece of an old crochet doily, seam binding and a vintage sparkle and all those in subtle colors. I added a seam binding frill to this creation to give it that little special touch again and it worked out perfectly. This little tarnished pincushion can either lie down somewhere or be hung by the seam binding that is attached to it's handle. Overall a versatile and pretty little creation.

And here it is ...

... I called it ...

... 'Just Hanging Around And Looking Pretty'. 
( I don't think, I could have chosen a better name for this pincushion!)













I just love this little tarnished piece! It couldn't have turned out any prettier in my eyes.
Again I sent Pat a photograph of it, to see if she liked it and she told me, that she had the same idea as I did of a hanging pincushion. Neat how some things are just meant to be!

I hope you have enjoyed my newest creation and it would nice if you visited me some time again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Pincushions For Pat ~ The First One Is Done ...

Hello my dear friends,

I have been busy these past few days and today I am sharing the first pincushion creations I have made for the lovely Pat using one of the treasures she sent me.

 I just love her little old and tatty baby boots so much and that is why I chose to work with them first. I didn't want to over embellish the little aged footwear because I didn't want to take away from any of their actual beauty. I just wanted to add that little tiny bit of sweetness and loveliness and I am hoping that I have just done that.

Oh, these sweet little boots ...


... just so tatty and precocious but also so very delicate due to their age.

I had to be very careful whilst I was working on them, not to cause any damage because  of  how brittle they were in some places. When I was thinking of what I could do with them, I thought of the little girl that might have worn them all those years ago and then what came to my mind was her getting all dressed up in her Sunday's best little white dress for church. Her little while lace socks that had a frill on the top, that would just peek out from her boots. I also pictured her walking to church and on her way picking some little flowers along the path. I could actually see her in my mind and I knew that this thought was just right for these old boots. I wanted people to remember the little girl that would have worn them a long time ago.

Delicate bits and piece like raw silk, an old knotted and tatted doily from fine cotton thread, seam binding and small pieces of sparkle were used to create these two lovely pincushions. The little rhinestone flowers were that little special touch, thinking of the flowers the girl might have picked on her way to church.

Now the little boots are done and I am very happy with the way the have turned out. 
This is what they look like now ...

... "Her Sunday's Best".


They are just so neat! 


Just a touch of lace ...


... over the raw silk pincushion, not more, not less but just right.

Tiny little pieces ...


... of sparkle, just enough to shine, embellish the aged boots.


See how ...


... delicate and brittle these little baby boots are?



A frill made from seam binding ...


... just peeking out a little.





Little rhinestone flowers ...


... now live ...


... where once little buttons used to.


I sent Pat a photograph of the little boots yesterday and told her the story of the little girl I was thinking of. She replied that she loved the little pincushions I had created for her and that she too could actually see the little girl in her mind. I now know that my thinking of the little girl was meant to be.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest creations as much as I did making them.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit me here today at Todolwen. It is always so nice when you do.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.