Crazy week and end

Hello my dear friends,

I can't even start telling you how crazy it has been here this last week and the weekend as well! A lot of work has been in our basement in the first four days and the work team I have is great! I still have to buy two new doors and new handles and some more items not sure what at the moment. Friday late afternoon came, the work crew left and I started washing floors and tidying up my house again, busy ... yes, but quiet!! Well that is until Monday morning then it is going to be really intense here again.

As I am writing this I am sitting guard (for the cats safety) because my oven is running on self-clean because in the morning my new stove is being installed on top of a new gas water heater too. My main floor powder room is going to have the sink torn out and there is still so much more going on here.

All weekend I am hoping to get a tiny bit of creating time, which I did ... after raking leaves with my daughters, cleaning the pool top up and fertilising the front and back lawn and working in the house. I was able to work on a Christmas project that I will share with you at a later date. Right now I am sure I know where every single bone is located in my body because I can feel it. I spent quite some time yesterday and today on my basement stairs. I had the work crew tear the old rug of the stairs and my job was to remove all the staples out of them over the weekend ...all 113 of them. Yes, I did count them, ha ha. I have also already filled in every single nick, ding or crack in with wood filler as well, since I am determined to repair and repaint my old stairs on my own and give them a smarter look!

I am not lazy but I am opting for take away junk food tonight for dinner which will be a Baconator and fries from Wendy's! (If  you want to bribe me ever ... that's the way to go.)  What am I looking forward to the most tonight? A very hot and long shower and a movie and then my bed.

Here are a few photos of our basement so you can see how much work has already been done including all the new lights and heating ducts are in already too.

 

My new powder room is going to be so nice!

 

I will share more with you when there has been more change.

 

And last but not least ...

 

... a few photos I took very early Saturday morning as the sun was melting the frost away.

 

 

Y'all come back soon now and visit me again!

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B. 

 

From Miles Away ..

Hello my dear friends,

I don't often browse on esty for myself ever but a few weeks ago I did, not looking for anything in particular really just looking but ... I fell in love with something as soon as I saw it and ... yes, I did buy it!

It arrived here in Canada a few days ago from ... Russia! Yes, you read right and I am so buzzed to share with you today what arrived here from so far away.

 

From thousands of miles away ...

 

... wrapped up all safe ...

 

... bedded in soft coverings ...

 

... arrived my newest little critter!

 

It is a hand-felted baby barn owl.

 A very talented lady named Vera from Russia made it.

 

It ... well, I would like it to be a little 'boy' owl and he has no name yet. I can't seem to come up with one for him. (I love to name all sorts of things ~ it must be my inner child I think.)

 

So, my dear friends ... what do you think?

Can you think of a name for him??

 

 

His new home will be one of my felted nests and he will sit near my worktable in my studio so I can see him all the time.

 

So if you like, please drop me a line with a name for my little barn owl and if you all don't mind, I will pick the one that I think suits him most.

 

And last but not least...

 

... if you would like to see more of Vera's creations ...

 

 

... her etsy name is 'HandmadeByNovember' and below is a link to her etsy store.

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HandmadeByNovember?ref=search_shop_redirect

 

She makes some very lovely felted creations so why not take a look ... you never know ... you might just see something and fall in love with it too.

 

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.  

 

Here We Go ...

Hello my dear friends,

the work on our basement has began a few days ago and will continue for most probably 3 to 4 weeks if nothing goes wrong. Already a lot has been done in the first days. Almost everything has been torn out that needed to go and the new stud walls and doors have been set in.

Here are a few before photos for you to see what it looked like ...

 

We are converting this large room into two rooms ~ an office and a TV room. 

 

This is still the powder room from when the house was built.

Do you see the hole in the ceiling above the sink? That's were the water shut-off taps were to turn the water off to our upstairs!!!

 

And this is what it looked like yesterday ...

 

Lots of dust, debree and much more work to be done.

 

  I am hoping to get some time to create today ( ...please) and it doesn't matter if it is only half an hour after I do all my out of the house chores today... buying two more new doors and a few other bits and pieces. The electricians are here today and maybe the plumber might be coming too. Looking at this mess can you believe that I am still really excited about this finally getting done!

 

Otherwise everything else here at Todolwen is the same ~ I need to start the clean-up in the backyard in the next few days and the pool people will hopefully come soon too and so much more.

 

I will try and post about this 'project' in a few days again or when ever I have the time and more pictures.

 

So ... when ever you have a spare moment, stop by here at Todolwen ... I would love for you to visit me again.

 

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B. 

 

Happy Halloween!

Hello my dear friends,

I didn't want to miss the chance to wish you all a ...

... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

 

I am so  busy right now (work on our basement has finally started) that I didn't even get my one and only Halloween creation finished to share with you on time ~ sigh!

 

I will finish it hopefully in the next few days and as soon as it is completed I will share it with all you lovely bloggers out there.

 

So, until next time ...

 

... happy spooking and ghoulish greetings from me here at Todolwen.

 

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

 

Have a spooky and boo~tiful night,

 

 

Karen B.

After The Storm ...

Hello my dear friends,

firstly I would like to say that I hope you are all OK and you haven't had too much damage from the storm.

We had very high winds and heavy rain here in southwestern Ontario but nothing as bad as they said it might be and far from what has happened in some of the affected areas on the east coast of the US.

I was very happy to wake up to see that our willow tree 'Salisbury' was still standing strong and had only lost a few branches which were not too big but one. And this one is the one that caused the damage we had. It was torn off and ended up in our pool, tearing a big hole into the winter cover that now needs replacing, which will take a few weeks before it can be fixed. Saying that we still have our roof, no broken windows and we are all OK and apart from the garden/backyard being very messy ... we were very, very lucky!! I so hope you were too!!

 

It didn't look bad at all this morning until I took a closer look and ...

 

... found this in the center of the pool cover. 

 

And it was big enough to make to cover now useless.

 

 

This is the branch that caused the damage ...

 

 

... as you see it's not that thick but the way it was torn off the tree made it pierce the cover like a large knife.

 

Our willow tree had a large piece of bark torn off but it was already loose from when it was hit by lightening a couple of years ago.

 

It is over 9 feet long and ... my younger daughter Caylagh wants to keep it!!

 

Last but not least ...

 

 

I finally got my first scarf in the mail yesterday afternoon and it's on it's way to Vicki!

 

My dear friends, I truly hope you are all OK after the storm and if you were affected I hope it wasn't too bad and that everything will be OK ... my thoughts are with you!

 

 

Sending you all many hugs,

 

Karen B.

 

My Last Church Sale Of 2012

Hello my dear friends,

I can't believe that I almost forgot to tell you all about my last church sale of this year and the treasures I found there. I have had these photos waiting to be shared since weeks now and I am glad I remembered. I had such a good time and also was so very lucky to find quite a few nice pieces. This particular church sale only comes twice a year and I make sure that I am there bright and early.

And these are my last church sale findings ...

 

An old picture frame ...

 

... with so much detail!

 

 

Lots of vintage linen bits and pieces ...

 

... all embroidered so neatly.

 

I love vintage linen so much ~ I can't stop buying it!

 

A delicate vintage silk hankie hand embroidered so beautify.

 

Little white baby dresses ~ you can never have too many of these.

 

 

A vintage cutlery box from England ...

 

... with the fine gold detail.

 

And last but not least ...

 

... lots and lots of sparkles!

 

And this one is my favourite piece of the day ...

 

 

... I think it looks like a snowflake from Heaven!

 

I am glad that it was the last church sale for this year that I am going to visit. Looking at my studio I really need to slow down a little for sure in the future but I am very happy that I have some lovely treasures to work with in the cold winter months that will be here soon.

 

And finally ...

 

... I would just like to tell all of you lovely bloggers out there that might become affected by the hurricane that is heading for the east coast of the US that I hope it won't be too bad. We here in south-western Ontario have been warned that we could possibly also be hit by the effects too with very high winds and heavy rain. I just hope it won't be too intense. I always worry about my big tree when the winds are bad ~ I would hate for it to be lost or to damage a neighbours home.

I just wanted to let you know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

I would love for you to stop by some time again here at Todolwen.

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

 

Adding The Last Touches ..

Hello my dear friends,

boy ... can raking leaves be a chore! My arms and hands are aching since I spent most of the last two days trying to pick as many up as I can because it would be too much all at once and with my luck it would have started to snow by the time all my leaves were on the ground.

Even though I knitted my scarves quite fast it has taken me a bit to get back to them to give them the final touches and get them ready for mailing but I am slowly getting there. Since the two first scarves are so light in color I decided to give a very delicate last touch in the shape of my little crochet flowers to which I added little pearls. I am so happy with the way it looks but take a look for yourselves ...

 

I used double thread to makes these little flowers and a different shade of pink for the pearls but am not quite finished just yet ... 

 

  

... I am making a tag for each scarf with a few words for each recipient. I just want each lady to know that the scarf was made especially for her, even though I don't know who she is and that she was thought of with healing wishes, loving care and in my thoughts and prayers. I would be so happy knowing I made her smile a little.

 

At last ... the first scarf is ready for mailing.

 

Last but not least ...

 

... amongst all the other bits and pieces that need to be done by me right now and things I would like to do, I am trying to work on a new tutorial for my etsy shop. Right now I need to get things scanned into my desk top computer before I have to take it apart for the basement renovations. My list of things to~do is getting longer and longer and I am excited to get everything sorted, finished and try new things out!

 

So ... stop by some time again and visit me because I might just have something new to share with you!

 

 

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

 

Have a peaceful weekend,

 

 

Karen B.