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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Don't Give Up ...


Hello my dear friends,

... when things don't go right the first time.

After finding those neat antique forks at the Aberfoyle Antique Market I was so buzzed to start working on my newest creation ... a black Halloween pumpkin. I found some beautiful fabric in my linen closet that I had since years now and  never used other than as a background for photographs and it was perfect for this project. I also pulled out some of the last of my vintage chenille bedspread with the thought of dying it too the color black.

 But things don't always turn out the way we want them too, do they?!

 I started to get everything ready to dye my fabrics and of course some seam binding as well, only to realize that I didn't have a lot of black dye left. Being a little lazy and not wanting to head out to  Michaels to buy some and since I didn't want to dye yards of fabric, I was sure that the amount of dye I had would be enough for the job. I would just let it sit a little longer than usual. That was my thought and at first it look like it had worked. I dyed some of the seam binding, knowing if I pulled it out early it would be a lovely purple color and that is what I was aiming for, for that particular piece of seam binding. Everything else was left for some time longer, bathing in the black liquid. Once I thought it was dark enough and even my daughters thought everything looked as black as possible, I drained the dye (silly idea) and rinsed my fabrics and seam binding out only to discover that EVERYTHING was very dark purple. A lovely color just not black. Not even a speck of black in sight. (Big sigh)


So with no dye left now all I could do now was hang everything outside to dry and see what it looked like once it was.


A makeshift clothes line in the "fairy bush" was perfect for the job. It was a warm day and the sun was shining and I had to be careful not to stain our new deck. (Something else I will share with you soon.)


A branch of the "fairy bush" turned out to be the best place to dry my seam binding.

When everything was dry, I took stock of what I had and that was a whole lot of purple fabric and seam binding but I was not going to be beat by a color. I was determent to make this Halloween pumpkin, just not in black.  

(Forward several weeks ... life came in between again of being creative ...)

Now I had the fabric, seam binding and pumpkin "stem" but in my eyes more was needed. After thinking a little, I decided to make some leaves from black velvet (the ones from my free tutorial and sorry, I didn't take any photos when I made them) but that still wasn't enough. It was "go all out" or nothing. So I went with "all out" thought but what to do?! Then it came to me ... I needed a spider! I am not keen on cheap plastic things and I couldn't find what I wanted in any store. It was too late to buy something online so I had to make one. I then remembered that years ago when I made a little black velvet pumpkin, I made a spider using two jingle bells. That was it! It took me a little time but I made my little spider and here he is ...


He is so neat but my eight legged critter still needed a little more work. 
He is now done and so is my newest creation but that will be what I am sharing in tonight's post when I will be sharing my one and only Halloween pumpkin for this year's Spook Night.

So if you do have a few spare moments in between feeding ghost, ghouls and witches, why not stop by and visit me again, here at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

1 comment:

  1. Your little spider is just so cute Karen and the dyed seam binding and chenille is gorgeous. I may have to try something similar painted black to put on my fabric pumpkins I've made to sit around the house.
    Hugs, Sandy

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