An Old Trusted Helper ...

 Hello my dear friends,

when I was a teenager and loved to sew my own clothes I bought myself my first pincushion. 

 You know, the old trusted helper in the shape of a tomato and it's little sidekick strawberry. 

I still have and use it today and it has now inspired me to make my own design of it, just tweeked a little to make it my style. My favorite tomatoes are the heirlooms tomatoes, I just love the way they look so that is what I wanted to create, a heirloom tomato pincushion. It took me a few tryouts at first but once I had a shape that I was happy with and my first tomato 'grew' quickly. 

I used some of the beautiful green velvet from the curtain valance I had found for the tomato and the little sidekick strawberry was made from some new red velvet. I filled both with crushed walnut shells to keep any needles and pins sharp and some hand dyed seam binding became the greenery. Hapy me of course I couldn't just make one tomato now, could I, so I 'grew' another one, this time from the that beautiful golden colored velvet.

And here is my newest 'harvest', my newest pincushions, my heirloom tomatoes.

Glorious in green ...

... and bold in gold!

I haven't made the little sidekick strawberry for this one just yet, something to do this evening and who knows, maybe another tomato might 'grow' too. 

I hope you like my newest work. I will be listing these pincushions in my Etsy shop in a few days as a 'made to order' item if you are interested in one of my heirloom fruits.

It is so nice that you have stopped by here today and I hope you have enjoyed your visit.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

When Green Turns Gold ...

 Hello my dear friends,

I love trying new things but I find it's harder for me to find things that interest me these days. But from time to time it does happen thankfully.

I had recently found this vintage velvet curtain valance in a stunning shade of green and loved it! I was thinking of what I could do with this beauty and ended up with my favorite go-to which of course is pincushions. Good ... idea found but that wasn't enough, I wanted that tiny bit more to do with it and then it came to me.

Some years ago my dear friend Dawn, from The Feathered Nest had tried something new with vintage velvet and I loved the outcome so I just had to give it a go. She had used 'color remover' to remove some of the color from a piece of vintage red velvet and oh my, the result was this beautiful pink color. So off I went, bought RIT color remover and went to work.

 Hot water in an old pot, a few tablespoons of color remover and my green velvet. I did exactly what Dawn had done, put 5 minutes on a timer and sumurged the velvet in the liquid. Five minutes later and I didn't feel that there was a big difference to my velvet, so 3 more minutes were set on the timer ...

 and OMG I LOVE the result!

My velvet went from vibrant green ...

... to bold gold! 

Well, it almost all of it did. The green thread decided not to budge and stayed that vibrant green color.

Having now two colors of this beautiful velvet I can finally start work and make my newest pincushions. I am going with a good old and well known design but I am going to tweek it just a little to make it my style. I am not going to share more right now, you will have to wait until they are done. Fingers crossed they will work out they way I see them in my mind.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting me here at Todolwen today and 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 Little Bit Of The Seaside Feel ...

 Hello my dear friends,

yes, it's been a while again hasn't it?!

These last weeks have been less about being creative but more about being outside, walking and spending time in nature and all it's beauty. I am very fortuante to live in a city that has several beautiful forests and nature areas. 

These days I struggle being inspired which can be so frustrating. I don't go out as much as I used too and I for sure don't shop as much as I used too either so I am grateful when I see something neat and an idea pops into my head right away. That is what happened a few days ago. 

 I found these neat mother of pearl salt and pepper shakers whilst out and about looking for some treasures and just had to have them. I couldn't wait to work with them but it took a day or two to finally come up with what I wanted them to be.

 I knew that they were kitchen/table utensils but I saw something else in them. I saw neat and unusual needle cases/needle keeps. I just needed to work on making them look that little bit prettier.

And that is exactly what I did. I worked on them and they are now done and I am so happy with the way they have turned out! I embellished them with some tiny real seashells and sweetwater pearls. Vintage lace was a must again too and of course that little sparkle was also needed. Not too little and not too much, with a bit of the seaside feel, perfect in my eyes.

And this is how they look now ... my seaside needle keeps/ needle cases.

This is the first one ...

(This one is already sold)

... and this is the second one.

 They are very alike apart from the lace that I used.

(sorry for the bad picture)

SOLD ~ Thank you!

The second needle case is now also sold ... sorry to anyone that was interested.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest work as much as I have done creating it. 

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have enjoyed your visit here at Todolwen.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Painted Daffodils ...

 

Hello my dear friend,

I don't know about you but I LOVE throw pillows!

 They are one of the things that can change the look of a room instantly along with blankets/throws. I normally go to my favorite store, Home Sense, to see if they have anything I like and I am normally sucsessful with my search but this Spring I found nothing.  Don't get me wrong they had lovely pillow for Easter with bunnies and stuff but noting just Spring. 

So ... what to do other than make some myself. I had two plain covers that I had bought at Hobby Lobby before COVID happened that I was thinking of donating and I am so happy I did in the end. The were made from unbleached thick fabric almost like drop cloth and had zippers, perfect! Now all I needed was the pretty part and after thinking a bit I decided to go with painting. 

I love daffodils and found an image online that I really liked the look of so off I went. I enlarged it to the size I wanted and using a simple pencil I transfered it to my pillow covers. Well, the first one I did, the second one I did free hand and it actually turned out OK.

With the painting done, all I needed to decide was what the next step was. Something was missing and it was that little more detail that was needed. I would have loved to have free motion stitched the outline of the flowers but the pillow case openings were too small to do so and I didn't want to cut them open them up to do so, so I chose to use a fine permanent black liner instead and it turned out how I hoped it would.

A little messy, out of line and not perfect and I love it!

 I would have actually bought these in a store if I would have found them there, they are exactly what I wanted. Simple, full of Spring vibes, just pretty and oh yes, the have daffodils, some of my most favorite flowers!

And now I am on to the next project, making pillow inserts for them. It seems the are a somewhat weired size and I can't find pillows that fit them or when I do the cost a little too much for my liking. Simple white cotton fabric and a IKEA feather pillow will give me what I need to display my lovely Spring throw pillows where they are meant to be ... on my bed. 

Thank you for stopping by here at Todolwen and visiting me. It is always so nice when you do and I hope you will come back soon again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Some Of My Favorite Things To Create ...

 Hello my dear friends,

 It has been quite a while again since I have posted something here, hasn't it but here I am, back at last.

And I am so happy that I have some new work of mine to share with you since I have actually been busy creating some of my favorite things this past week. I love and enjoy making my sari silk hydrangeas so much and as most of you know of my love for making pincushions. Combining them together is just perfect in my eyes. Each flower is made from approx. 100 small pieces of sari silk ribbon and looks just so pretty!

And once I start, I can't just make one so here are my newest pincushions ...

My first "Blue Hydrangea" ...

My second "Blue Hydrangea", this time in a small brass dish.

My "Sweet Two Tone" Hydrangea ...

And last but not least ...

... my "A La Creme" Hydrangea.

I am so happy with the way theses piece have turned out and I don't think that I am quite done making them just yeet. Maybe one or two more are needed to get them out of my system (for now).  

All but the "A La Creme" pincushion (it has already sold) are now listed in my Etsy shop. Why not pop over and take a look.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sticking by with me. You are so kind! I hope you have enjoyed your short vistit and it would be lovely if you stopped by soon again to see what I have been up too.

Oh ... before I forget ... my Todolwen facebook page is up and running again after almost 2 years now. So excited about this!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

I'm Late, I'm Late ... New White Crabapples And Pears ...

 Hello my dear friends,

yes, another late listing in my Etsy shop! ( I don't think I will ever learn ... sigh) 

I had shared my miniature crabapple and pears ornaments with you earlier this year and I love their natural look so much but because off white isn't everyone's thing, I decided to also make them in white and must say that they turned out just as lovely!

I have a few sets still availabe so if you are looking for that little something for you Christmas tree, why not take a look at my Etsy shop?!

That's all for today unfortunately. I still need to work on getting our Christmas tree finally up and the house decorated and I also really want to craft a little something for myself soon too. I will have to see if I have time for it though. So until next time, which won't be too long from now fingers crossed. It was so nice of you to stop by again and visit me, it always is.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

My Newest Winter/Christmas Pumpkins ...

 Hello my dear friend,

I am again a little behind in sharing what I have been making lately but I am trying to catch up. 

Today I am sharing two of my new Winter pumpkins I have recently made. They are so enjoyable to make and I love how pretty they look once they are done all glistening and frosty.

The first one I am sharing was a custom order and I am so happy to say that my customer was very happy with it. 

And this is the second one is my newest Winter/Christmas pumpkin and most probably the last one for this year . I actually think that it might be one of the prettiest one I have made so far. I wasn't going to make another one but now I am happy I did.

All in white and glistening with an beautiful stem and a very special touch in the shape of two large silver acorns, just perfect!

This pretty thing is now listed in my Etsy shop and ready to find a new home.

I am still behind with so many things right now. My tree isn't up yet (it's hiding behind all sorts still in our basement) but I did get our outdoor Christmas lights up and I will share some photos soon. I still need to wrap gifts and write Christmas cards and clues for our yearly treasure hunt for our girls (yes, we still do it!) on Christmas day. And that's all for the moment but I will try and be back here soon again.

It was so nice that you stopped by today and visited me here at Todolwen. Do come back some time again and see what I have been up too.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.