A 'Very Berry Gathering' ..

Hello my dear friends,

not only do I love tarnished silverware, I also love tarnished brass as well.

 Quite a few months ago I had seen a bag full of old brass curtain rings in one of the thrift stores I enjoy visiting. I took a liking to them right away but didn't want to buy them without a clue of what I could use them for, so I didn't. For weeks and weeks every time I would visit the store I would again look at them but not buy them. Well, that has changed now. I ended up driving to the store only to buy them because I finally had an idea for what I could use at least a few of them for.

They are tarnished, old  and a little chunky and perfect for my newest creation.

On that same day I also returned to an antique store I had visited the week before and again had see something of interest and again not knowing what to do with them, I left them behind and again now they are mine and the will be a part of something hopefully very neat.

I had seen these brass 'caps' or bezels as it said on the tag. Old, dinged and tarnished, they too were perfect. Of course drop cloth was a must as well and this time I finally could use my reddish dyed drop cloth which made me really happy.

 And what else would one create using reddish colored drop cloth but ...

... little strawberries!

Remember I had shared this photograph of my little berry with you before.

It now has become a part of my newest little making which is what I am sharing with all you lovely bloggers today.

And here it is my first ...

...  'Very Berry Gathering' Pincushion.

I have tried to keep it 'simple' so that each part of this creation could stand out on it's own a little. (I hope that makes sense to you?!) Crinkled seam binding, sari silk ribbon, a tiny piece of sparkle and of course my drop cloth strawberries make this piece what it is.

I really do like the way this creation has turned out and since I love drop cloth as it is ... untouched, I am also creating another one of these neat little makings using it and that I will be sharing with you hopefully tomorrow or the next day.

You will be able to find this neat piece now listed for sale in my Etsy shop if any of you might be interstested.

Thank you for stopping by today and visiting me here at Todolwen and I hope you will come back again soon.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Just Listed In My Etsy shop ..

Hello my dear friends,

just a short post to let you know that I have just added a new listing to my Etsy shop. It is my first 'Strawberry Delight' pincushion and it is now available for sale if any of you should be maybe interested.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

It Can Never Be Just One ..

Hello my dear friends,

as so many times before I can't just can't seem to work on one project at any one time.
 I must have at least six different creations that I am working on these days. I start one and then I think of something else and start that one too and so on. One good thing is that I won't get bored in the near future for sure and I hopefully will have several creations to share with all you lovely blogger soon.

If I am not working on a new pincushion ...

 ~ which I am and I am finally using this, I am working on a new nest.
I am not only working on my pink sari silk nests I told you about a little while ago ...

... but I am also working on this one as well. It is a pale cream nest with many different yellow roses.

With the heat still here every day and it almost being 40 C with humidity outside yesterday,  you wouldn't believe what I have been thinking of ... you guessed it ... Wintertime , snow falling, Christmas and more nests!

I had bought another very lovely sari silk ribbon in the most pretty shade of green which was called 'Dried Rose Leaves' several months ago with a Christmas nest in mind.  I had started to work on choosing which  flower I wanted to create and when I found the 'Christmas Rose' I just knew that it had to be this one ~ it is such a beautiful blossom and it was perfect. My first attempt to recreate it or rather my version of it didn't work out the way I wanted it to but then the second try-out turned out much better. I created a lovely sparkly, frost kissed little blossom that would be perfect for my Christmas/ Winter nest creation.

And these are my little Christmas roses.
Now all that is left to do is make this creation 'come to life' but that won't be for a little while yet.

But there is more that I am working on right now.

I am still working on my fabric sweet pea design as well these days.

It is slowly coming together the way I hoped it would and I am very happy with it so far.

So you can see my dear friends, I am one little busy bee here at Todolwen these days and I doubt that that will end very soon but that is a good thing in my book. I just love being busy and creative just like so many of you do too.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me today here at Todolwen ~ it is always so nice when you do!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

My Love For Old Things ...

Hello my dear friends,

you know how you see something and you fall in love with it but you can't have it because it is pricey?! No, I am not talking about a diamond ring or a house or car. I am talking about the little beautiful things and that is what this post is about ... a little treasure I have discovered.

I have a love for old things and especially when it comes to things from the Victorian and Edwardian days ... it is almost like I have been there and seen and felt it. Normally it is not the 'posh' pieces that would have live in a large mansion with the upper class that I am drawn to but it is the everyday pieces that would have been found in a little house with the working people. This time though it is different. I am in love with a little something very 'posh'.

Just take a look at it! ...

... it is a Edwardian pincushion in the shape of a tiny bird ...

... that lives in a little 'egg'!

Oh my ... this is such a beautiful piece!!

(All photos courtesy of SellingAntiques.co.uk)

This is an antique Sampson & Morden silver hatching chick pincushion with case.
It was made in Chester, England in 1913 and it is classed as incredibly rare because it is still together as one. The cost to buy this gem right now is almost US 1000! Oh ... how I wish I had $!000 to spare. (sigh)  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket this week ... you never know?!
But it is always nice to have a little dream!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Just Because It's Broken ...

Hello my dear friends,

do any of you remember this neat little treasure? 

 I had found it in a charity shop and I was so happy to take it home with me. It ended up becoming a home for some of my old broaches and it lived on my worktable, by the window in my studio. That is until a few days ago.

This is what my poor little box looks like now ..!

All smashed up, broken and a little bent out of shape as well.

A long story kept very short ... I had placed it on a box close to the floor and something fell onto the lid. It's my own fault for not being more careful. I am not going to throw it away though but keep it because I am determent to try and fix it some how. Hopefully I will be able to glue the pieces together and make them 'one' again.

 You see ... just because it is broken doesn't mean that it isn't beautiful anymore!

Unfortunately I don't think glue can save this little piece. This is the something that fell onto my little box.

 It is the bird feeder my daughter Ashleigh had made me a few years ago ... so sad it's broken but she said I shouldn't be unhappy because she will make me a new one.

From now on I am going to pay much more attention to where I place things. Again another lesson learnt ~ I hope! If I should be successful with fixing my little box, I will tell you all about it once it is done. So do stop by sometime again and find out if it has worked out or not.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Another Outdoor Project ..

Hello my dear friends,

if you are following me since some time now you know how I like to take on larger projects that have to do with our garden. I have landscaped the front and back of our property on my own including moving 13 yards of crushed rock from the driveway to where ever it's new home was one year and the following year I tackled our riverbed that is really a drainage system and lifted every single rock up and out of it and then replaced it after I had dug out and cleaned the riverbed. Several months ago I bought and planted 12 cedar trees. No help unloading, carrying or planting and I was so happy once it was done.

A few days ago I decided to address our maple tree that unfortunately isn't doing very well at all. The past two Winters have really taken a tole on it and several larger branches have died off and needed to be taken down before they became dangerous.

I hadn't done anything like this before, cutting large branches off a tree ... on my own, on a tall ladder. Yes, I can already hear what you are saying but I promise you I was very careful when it came to cutting and standing about 10 or 12 feet off the ground with a saw in one hand and holding tight to the tree with the other.

Branches started falling ~ the first smaller ones and then I took to the larger ones. Many of them were about 2 to 3 inches thick and very long as well.

In the end the largest one was taken down too.

 It took me some time to cut it since I was using a handsaw and Maple is a hard wood. It also didn't help that the branch was just over 5 inches thick and at least 9 feet long.

The smaller branches and twigs that were cut up right away filled 3 large garden waste bags and the larger branches are now laying on our deck, waiting to be cut too but that is something I will do another time.

Our tree now looks a little better now without all the dead wood and it is also somewhat bare on one side now but I am really OK with that. I am just hoping that it will survive because I would hate to loose it.

Oh, did I mention that it was also quite hot and humid on the day while I was doing all this?! I got it all done and was so happy about it but unfortunately my happiness didn't last long. Half an hour after the last branch had hit the ground I ended up having a migraine attack. The pain was bad and lasted for just over two days. Either I did a little too much hard work or it was the heat or maybe both together but I know for next time for sure to take it a little slower and not to do too much exhausting work in intense heat.

So my lovelies let that be a lesson to you and me too before you do something like this. Take care of yourselves and don't be silly like me and overdo it. It doesn't always end with just having a bad headache.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

More 'Delights' ~ No.5 ..

Hello my dear friends,

I hope I am not boring you with my latest little craz that I have, but I am just having so much fun creating these pincushions lately. Last Friday I had already shared my 'Strawberry Delight' No. 4 with you and today I am sharing my latest, my fifth one with all of you lovely bloggers.

It is the one I drew on the right piece of paper and it has turned out just as lovely as the other one.

So without further ado here is my 'Strawberry Delight' No. 5 ...

... and I hope you enjoy it!

This 'Delight' is already spoken for but I have just listed my pincushoin creation from yesterday (No.4) in my Etsy shop if any of you lovelies should be interested in it.

On another note ... I am sorry if my photographs are a little blurry, I think it is time that I get my eyes checked. Either my photos are a little unclear or my eyes are or maybe both. It also could just be that I don't know exactly how to use my new camera ... I wonder which one it is?!

Thank you so much for stopping by here at Todolwen and it would be nice if you would come back soon again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.