Please Pray For All Of Us ..

Hello my dear friends,

after what happened in Boston yesterday, I think prayers are needed for this world and especially for the victims of yesteday.

 

What is this world coming to?

 

 There is so much hate and unkindness out there these days that it is sickening. If every human in this world would just smile at a stranger once a day it already would make such a difference ..

.. I do so everyday in hope to make a stranger feel good.

 

I smile at each one of you ..

 

many hugs,

 

 

Karen B.

And Then Came The Rain ..

Hello my dear friends,

after a long winter and returning snow as soon as it was gone .. now we have rain! And a lot of it. We were actually under a 'rain warning' here in south-western Ontario for a few days last week which had already brought thunderstorms with it twice!

I think I have already mentioned this before that our property is the lowest on the block and that when it rains our backyard turns into a small lake pretty quickly and that is exactly what happened yesterday and not only once but twice ~ the water came and went away and then came again.

It tends to look like something I used to make as a small child ~ mud soup!

 

 

I am planning on picking all of these rocks up this summer and making some changes to our riverbed.

 

I always make sure these days that the storm drain isn't covered with twigs and branches so the water can drain fast again.

 

I am hoping to be able to change the situation though this year. My outdoor project for this summer is to build a sort of island so that the water can't gather there anymore and to lower the riverbed as well so that the water will flow away fast and hopefully not flood the back part of our backyard so badly anymore. A big project ...yes and I am planning to do it all on my own again. And I will share photos and keep you up to date on how things are coming on once I start.

 

Right now I am working on my 'to~do' list for this year and it is a long one. That means I will have much to write and share about over the next 8 months or maybe even longer. 

 And in the mean time I will see which little idea for a new creation I can come up with.

 

So ... stop by some time soon again!

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

It Has Been A While ..

Hello my dear friends,

it has been a while since I have created one of my favourite things ... namely a pincushion.

So yesterday morning that is exactly what I did. And guess what I used for the embellishment of the pincushion? ... I used one of the seam binding roses I made for my latest tutorial. I almost forgot how much fun I have making these little creations and I am going to make a few more new pincushions in the future.

This one is just so neat.
I thought it would be nice to use lots of different textures for the pincushion and so I used silk noil (raw silk), a little piece of vintage tatting and vintage pearls, seam binding of course and ... leather. I had 'found' my little leather stash in the bottom of a basket in my cupboard over the weekend and I am glad I did because the little leather leaves are perfect to finish this little creations off nicely.

I have taken many photos so you don't miss a thing.

 

And this is my little newest creation ...  

 

... another tattered and tarnished pincushion.

 

  

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed my latest creation and I am working on another one as I write this post that I will share with you lovely bloggers soon again.

 

Until then my dear friends ...

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.  

 

Seam Binding Roses~ How To..

Hello my dear friends,

today I am so excited to share my latest free tutorial with you! It is the how to make my seam binding roses. They are easy to make and look so beautiful and you could use them for so many different things.

This is going to be a longer post since I have taken many photos so you can see everything really well. Please note that I did not design how to make these roses ~ I am only showing you how I make mine.

 

This is what you will need:

 

~ Fabric or the piece you want to embellish

~ Seam binding

~ A large needle for the seam binding

~ An embroidery needle for either embroidery floss or strong thread
~ Embroidery floss or strong thread in the color of your seam binding

~ A sewing needle and thread (to sew the pearls onto the rose)
~ Pearls/beads for the centers of the roses

 ~ Embroidery hoop
~ Scissors
~ Pencil or disappearing quilt marker (when using velvet I use a fine tip Sharpie pen)
~ Coins or small round objects (for the size of the rose)
~ Piece of lace or doily (if you wish)

And now you can start ...

Using your pencil or marker draw a circle onto you fabric where you would like the rose to be.
(When I used velvet I had to use a fine Sharpie pen to draw with.)

Mark 5 dots as if you were to draw a 5 pointed star.

Now place your fabric in the embroidery hoop that is nice and taught. Double thread your smaller embroidery needle with your embroidery floss or strong thread and knot at the end.

  

 

  

  

 

 

Now stitch a 'star' into the circle using the dots as guidance. Secure the thread in the back well and cut the thread off.

Next ... thread your large needle with a length of seam binding and knot it at the end. I think that I thread about 30 inches/75 cms when I make my large roses. I always have a leftover piece of seam binding once the rose is done but I would rather have too long a piece than a piece that is too short. I just hold on to my leftovers and use them in other projects.

Hold your hoop and from the back stitch through your fabric close to the center of the thread star.
(This can be difficult at times because of the size of the needle with the seam binding so be careful and tug gently until it goes through.)

 Now twirl your needle around a few times so the the seam binding curls but not too much.
If your seam binding becomes flat again whilst making it, twirl the needle a few times again.

Now the 'growing of the rose' starts ...

  

 (sorry for the bad picture)

... you are going to weave your seam binding into your thread star by either going over or under the thread alternately.

I like my larger roses to be very full so I try and use as much seam binding as I can that is on my needle. You can make your roses of course as full as you like - just don't over fill it!

  

 

When you are at the end pull your needle through the fabric by going slightly under the rose and make a knot. Make sure you carefully push your knot towards the fabric to tighten it but don't pull too hard or you will ruin your rose. Cut the seam binding off leaving a small tail. I like to take the needle and thread and secure the knot with a few small stitches to prevent it from reopening which it sometimes can because the seam binding is quite smooth.

And now your rose is almost done. The only thing left is to sew the pearls into the center of the rose. For this take your sewing needle and thread it with strong thread and knot the end.

Now going through the center of the back of the rose, firstly fold the 'ribbon tails' over each other and push your needle through them.

 

 

Once your needle is through to the front center of the rose, thread a pearl into the needle, position the pearl in the center of the rose and then go back through the rose. Do this 3 times and then secure the thread and cut it off.

Now your rose is finished!

If you wish to embroider your rose onto a small tattered piece of lace or old doily, this is how I do it ...

Start by drawing your circle and marking it with your 5 dots onto a strip of muslin.

Next center the area and slip stitch your lace/doily piece over it so that you drawing is on the back and visible to you and then place it into your embroidery hoop.

 

 

Now continue as you would before ~ as above.

Once your rose is completed, carefully cut it out leaving a circle of muslin under the rose slightly smaller than the rose but beware not to go too close to the stitches!

 

Again your rose is now completed!

I work very hard on my tutorials and take many photos too in hope that it will help you lovely bloggers, even those that have never created before, to be able to learn how to create a little something.

I hope you have enjoyed today's tutorial ~ maybe you will try it out one day. I would love for you to visit me here at Todolwen some time again.


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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.
 

I Went Back Again .. To Michaels

Hello my dear friends,

yes, I did ... I went back to Michaels again and was very fortunate to pick up more amazing deals.

I bought some more bits and pieces that were on clearance from $11.99 to $ 1.99 and now I am all stocked up with enough to create with for a while.

These are very neat ...

... key escutcheons.

These little metal drawer knobs ...



... will come in handy for sure.

 

My daughter Caylagh and I are sharing these goodies ~ I get the bottom two pieces and she gets the top  two ~ very nice!

And last but not least ...

... already thinking of Christmas to come ~ this neat tinsel garland was 60 % off!

But now enough is enough ... no more Michaels for a while I think?! Then again ... I have always wanted to try out gilding and since this weeks advertising has a 50 % off coupon I might just have to go there one more time maybe. OK, OK, you are right ... I already know I am going to go again but then can you blame me?! My last two visits should have cost me just over $127 and I paid ... wait for it ... just over $21! I won't say that I saved over $100 but rather I didn't spend it.

I am hoping many of you lovely bloggers were able to make some great deals too.

And last but not least ...

... I have been working very hard over these past several days and now my newest free tutorial is ready to post within the next few days ~ maybe even tomorrow ~ so don't forget to stop by soon 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.