More Berries ...

Hello my dear friends,

I am "walking" down my path of making strawberry pincushions right now and it seems that I found my "happy place" for the time being when it comes to being creative. 

Last year I had a custom order to create a pincushion using a beautiful candle stand/holder and I decided to use a large strawberry made from drop cloth with it and created this!

I love the way it turned out ... just lovely! I was very happy and so was my customer.

I liked it so much, that now after several months I wanted to make something like it again.
I had a few candle stands/holders hiding away in one of my drawers since what seems forever and one of them was perfect for what I had in mind. Of course the berries had to again be made from my favorite drop cloth and this time I didn't use seam binding but instead beautiful sari silk ribbon in a pretty shade of green. Also instead of embroidering the large strawberry, I decided to embellish it with some vintage tatting. Little berries that are filled with crushed walnut shells were also a must for my newest piece.

 My pincushion is now completed and I am excited to share it with all of you today. I am so very pleased with the way it turned out, just like I had imagined it would.

And this is it ...

... my "Simply Berrylicious" pincushion.

And that is my newest pincushion. 

I feel that every individual part of it was meant to come together to become one lovely creation.

I already have another pincushion to share with you. I should have done so before I shared this one but I seem to have camera issues these days. The focus on my camera might not bet working properly because some of my pictures turn out slightly blurry. As soon as this is fixed, I will of course share it with all of you again. Right now I am busy working away on another pinkeep as I am writing this post and I am hoping to share it with you very soon.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest pincushion as much as I am enjoying making them. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit me today, 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.

It Just Gotta Be Pink ...

Hello my dear friends,

it is no secret that I love subtle colors very much, and especially the colors of drop cloth and natural fibers. They just appeal to me and that is why I tend to shy away from using colors a lot in my creations. This time is was different. From time to time I do step out of my little comfort box and that is what I did with my newest creation. My thoughts were "it just gotta be pink"!

I had dyed some seam binding last year sometime in a lovely shade of pink, almost like a salmon pink but never actually got to work with it until now. I recently saw a few photos on Instagram with beautiful strawberry pincushions and just had to make a few myself again. You see I have a thing for strawberry pincushions. I just love making small sweet berries and fill them with crushed walnut shells which makes them very useful for sharpening needles and pins.... So a lovely pink cotton velvet was combined with my pink seam binding. It was so neat because the velvet was almost the same shade as the seam binding I had dyed. It wasn't even intentionally done, it just happened by chance which turned out to be beyond perfect.

Two berries is all I needed, one a little larger than the other. Finding a right base for this pincushion wasn't too hard either. I had so many to pick from in my studio and I found the perfect one!

I chose this tarnished piece and I am happy I did. 

It was simple but had that loveliness too. I was buzzed to find a pair of  leather earrings that were the perfect match to the velvet and seam binding and exactly what I need to embellish my newest piece.

It is now finished, my newest pincushion creation and that is what I am sharing with all of you today.  I named it ...

... "A Touch Of Pink".

It turned out very neat I think and I am happy that I chose to use a some color.

I am already working on my next creation and this one too has some color to it. I am hoping to share it very soon here on Todolwen, so do come back soon and visit me again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A Neat Piece Called "Jill"...

Hello my dear friends,

several weeks ago whilst out "junking" with my younger daughter, Caylagh, found a very neat piece she thought I might like to work with and she was right. It was this nice tarnished tray that has a handle with two hooks - something perfect for me so of course it came home with me. Now I have finished my newest creation and that is what I would like to share with all of you today.

This is the piece my daughter found. I'm lovin' it so much without even touching it.

...and this is what I did with it...

I made a lovely pincushion using old linen, vintage lace and seam binding ...

... and I just had to add a little strawberry filled with crushed walnut shells.

All put together it looks lovely and I am very happy with the way it has turned out. 

Sort of simple but then again not  ... but just right! My newest creation, a pincushion, sewing helper,  scissor holder, pin and needle sharpener ... a "Jill of trades".

I have called her "Jill" and this is what it looks like now! ... 

 

What do you think?

I am already working on another new creation as I am writing this post and I have several others that I am planning and I hope to share them with you in the near future. 

Thank you for stopping by today and spending a little time here at Todolwen. I hope you have enjoyed your short stay.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A Girl Has Gotta Do, What She Gotta Do ...

Hello my dear friends,

in life not everything will go the way you would like it too as I am sure many of you know.

Little things, big things, important things and not so important things. When that happens, instead of being unhappy and annoyed about it these days, I am trying more and more to just work with it and/or change something to make it somewhat better. This can at times take a lot or a little effort to do so and it might not always work out after all but it is always worth a try. That is what I am working on myself right now with one of my past creations. I thought and thought about what to do and just  told myself basically "a girl gotta do, what she gotta do"!

You know when you are all excited about something and you get a little too carried away with it?!
In my case it was making my Alice in Wonderland nests.

 I loved the idea of a "themed" nest so much that I just got all wrapped up in it, making several of them which ended up being too many. I didn't realize then that it was sort of "mass producing" my nests which I now know wasn't and isn't the right thing for me. So there I was, I had all these nests and didn't know what to do with them. I sold a few, I had reserved one as my "Christmas To Come" giveaway gift but then I still had some left. Well, there was no point in "crying" about it right?! So instead I am trying to work with it. Make lemonade from lemons or at least try too and that is exactly what I doing.

I had been thinking about what to do for a while and I made the decision to disassemble my leftover "Alice in Wonderland' nests and start "fresh". Since I really like the little bunches of flowers, I am planning on reusing as many of them as I can and make new nests with them, just different. I was a little heavyhearted at first when I started to cut off the the little sweet rocking horse flies I had made, from the woolen nests but the idea of changing the look of my nest is something I am looking forward too.

 I am hoping to be able to share a few of my "new" nests with all of you soon and maybe few more other ones in the near future. I also have some Christmas creations that I still need to share belated with all of you. So if you have a few spare moments some time, do stop by some time again 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.

A Visitor Of The Feathered Kind ...

Hello my dear friends,

since several months now a beautiful bird of prey has been visiting our property from time to time and it is such a joy each and every time. As I have been told, it is a hawk or even hawks since I am not sure if it is the same bird all of the time or different ones.

It will sit and rest in our maple tree or ...

...  sit on the fence and keeping an watchful eye out for anything that might be moving around.

Just recently it was perched in our willow tree up high in the branches looking so majestic.

But yesterday something really neat happened!

I was in our dining room, working on my laptop when I by chance looked up at our living room window which is located straight ahead, about 30 feet or so away from the dining table and from where I was sitting. I almost couldn't believe what I saw because I wasn't sure at first what I actually was looking at. There was a beautiful bird of prey and it was sitting on top of our evergreen hedge right at our front porch. It was looking right into our house and seemed quite interested. I was very fortunate to have had my camera at arms length yet again. I quickly grabbed it and just started clicking away whilst very carefully moving towards the window in hope to get just one good photo of what I was seeing and I am delighted that I did! The photos are a little dark but never the less you are able to see what I saw. 

Isn't this amazing? ... I can believe that the hawk came so close to our house.

After a few moments the bird got spooked by something and flew up into the maple tree just outside our house and then away. I am so happy I could share this with all of you today. It's not ever day that you have a bird of prey looking into your living room right?! 

Little unexpected happenings like this are so special and that is something I am so grateful for in life. 

I wish you all a little unexpected happenings in your life.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.