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Saturday, February 24, 2018

My Vegetable Garden Gems ...


Hello my dear friends,

I LOVE making my strawberry pincushions but after finding the antique carrot pincushion recently, I thought it would be neat to make a vegetable pincushion instead of another fruit one. 

I can't tell you how happy I am even today, over 2 years after finding the large stack of cotton velvet samples. I can't believe that I even wasted a thought for a very short moment debating if I should buy it or not back then! I would have missed out on making some lovely pieces if I wouldn't have left the store without it but thankfully I didn't and I am still enjoying that buy today. 


Just look at all of those beautiful colors!

I don't have too much of it left anymore these days because I have made quite a few pincushions from it already but I was fortunate to have a dark orange/rusty colored piece of it left. Perfect to become a carrot in my eyes. Even though I was using velvet, I knew that my little streak of primitive would come out in this creation.

I also had this stunning sari silk ribbon in a nice shade of green. It is fuzzy sari silk ribbon because of all the threads that have been exposed when it was torn into strips.


Different ... isn't it?

The velvet and sari silk ribbon put together have now become my newest pincushion creation and I think that my newest creation worked out quite nicely. I just had to add something special as the finishing touch and I knew what that was going to be.


I had this large jar full of the most beautiful crystals from an antique chandelier and I am sure you know already where this is going!

And this is my newest creation, my first carrot pincushion.




I just love the little dimples I gave it!


But as you know, even carrots can become lonely after a while, so I just had to make a friend for it and this is that friend. It is a little smaller than my first one but just as neat.




It is a little smaller and this one is filled with crushed walnut shells so it is perfect to sharpen those needles and pins.



And last but not least ...

Before I end this post today, I would like to tell you a little story about myself when I was a child.
 It is a story about carrots and me. My Mom told it to me many years ago and I had to think about it whilst I was working on my vegetable garden gems.

... When I was little, about 3 or 4 years old, we visited my Grandma in Melville, Sask. for the summer as we did every summer. My Grandma had such an amazing garden filled with lots of beautiful flowers but also a vegetable garden, in which she grew many vegetables including carrots. Every afternoon she would go to her patch and pick some of her vegetables for dinner. One day she came back into the house looking puzzled. She said that she had wanted to get some carrots but found that several of them had been pulled out of the ground already and pushed back into the earth again. This went one for days until my Grandma decided to stand guard to find out what was going on. And this is what was happening ... apparently I would wake up at 6 am in the morning and being hungry, I would head out into the vegetable patch and pull a carrot out of the ground. If I didn't like it, I would push it back into the earth and pull another one out. Once I found the right carrot, I would sit down, eat it and then happily return to the house again.

Remembering this puts a smile in my heart. I was told that I didn't just stick to carrots though. Apparently I had a thing for peas too. I would open up the pods and take the peas out and eat them and leave the pods hanging on the pea bushes which puzzled my Grandma just as much until she again stood watch one early morning.

... Happy memories!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today and visit me here at Todolwen. Make sure you come back some time again because you never know what I might have to share.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

13 comments:

  1. What a cute story about your grandma and you! Priceless memories I'm sure. Your stack of velvet is something to envy. What beautiful colors and I love your darling carrot! How creative you are the color is perfect. Have a lovely Saturday, Karen...

    Tamara XOX

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  2. Such a cute story about you and your grandmother. I have fond memories of my grandparent's garden. I called it "the pea patch." Thanks for sharing your memory that sparked my memory! I love your carrot pen cushions! So simple yet so pretty.

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  3. Love the crystals with the silk ribbons! Hugs!

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  4. I like your story and your carrots! They both made me smile :)
    Regars,
    Szvetlana

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  5. Love your stack of cotton velvet.
    Nice carrots! I which mine, in my summer garden would look as perfect as yours..... nice work!
    Monika

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  6. The silk ribbon is perfect for the greenery & the dimples are very clever. What a wonderful story. You were definitely resourceful even as a child.

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  7. What a cute story about being at your grandma's and picking out just the right carrot to eat. Too cute. I love these carrots they are so pretty and unique. Your creative heart soared on these.
    Hugs and Happy Sunday.
    Kris

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  8. Oh Karen what a delightful story! <3 such a previous childhood 'memory' to share~
    Your carrot pin cushions are amazing too! The 'dimples you gave them really bring them to life~ They are beautiful little treasures.~ Thank you for sharing. Hugs to you, karen o

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  9. What a sweet and funny story about you and your Grandma's garden. That stack of velvet in all those colours made my heart beat a little faster. Gorgeous! The carrot pin cushions are darling!

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  10. Such a sweet childhood story Karen and your carrots are delightful.
    Ten marks for originality!

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