A Pumpkin Of The "Cooler" Type ...

Hello my dear friends,

we are still having quite a few hot days here in Southwestern Ontario, so it is nice that I am busy working on a few "cooler" things right now. 

 For once I am actually ahead of myself when it comes to creating. I have already made the gift for my "Christmas To Come" 2017 giveaway and all I have to do with it, is wrap it up and wait until mid November and then mail it to the winner. I have also just finished an order for one of my last years Winter pumpkins and I am happy to say that my customer is as happy with it as am I. I thought it would be nice to share it with all of you before it went on the journey to it's new home.

And this is my Winter pumpkin. 

I still love how magical these pumpkins look. I think my favorite thing about them is that Mr. Frost had stopped by and given them a kiss and now they sparkle so lovely.

I can't tell you how much joy I am getting from being creative again. I might not be coming up with lots of new ideas right now but I am grateful for the ones I am having. Whilst I was busy working on this pumpkin, I decided that I really wanted to make one for this year. A little different from the last one and that is exactly what I did. I am not going to share it just yet though, maybe when it gets a little closer to the cold months. My next project is a large pumpkin made from rust colored velvet I think. It came to my mind after I found an old cake slicer with a larger handle whilst organizing my garage sale stuff. I am hoping I will be having it this Saturday, weather permitting. Please, keep your fingers crossed that it won't rain again here. I will try and take a few photos if I don't forget if it happens and share them soon.

Thank you for visiting me here today at Todolwen. It is always so nice when you do.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

No Wrong Side This Time ...

Hello my dear friends,

sometimes there is no "wrong side". Well, at least when it comes to fabric.

 On the day I found the lovely wool fabric I turned into a pumpkin, I also found another very nice piece of fabric. It was a thicker fabric, possibly upholstery and so lovely with it's rich dark gold color, beautiful pink shaded roses and green leaves. It was perfect to also be turned into a Autumn fruit. Whist working on on this pumpkin, I noticed how pretty the "wrong" side of the fabric was. It was the opposite of the "good" side. It was quite dark, almost black and the roses and leaves were still there, not defined at all but you still see all of the colors, the shades of pink, the green and a shine of the dark gold. I just knew that I had to make another pumpkin with it showing that side of the fabric and that is exactly what I did. Now my "right" and "not~wrong" pumpkins are finished and I am happy to share them with all of you today.

I hope you enjoy them!

The "Right" Pumpkin ...

The "Not~Wrong" Pumpkin ...

I really like how my newest creations have turned out. 

Of course this pumpkin season could be not without one made from two of my most favorite things and that is going to be my next project. I am thinking of my favorite drop cloth and a harmonizing colored seam binding, two things I really love working with. The next pumpkin creation I will be sharing with all of you is one of the "cooler" type. I have been working on a past design and also on a new one too. So do stop by soon again, here at Todolwen  and see what I have been up too.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

A New Pumpkin Is Made ...

Hello my dear friends,

firstly thank you all for your lovely and kind comments! You are all so sweet!

So ... it is that time again - harvest time - and to be precise, pumpkin harvest time.

With the Summer almost over the time had come to create some new pumpkins.
 I had found some lovely fabrics at a fabric store that were beyond perfect to be turned into Autumn fruit. They were quite different from what I would normally go for and somewhat out of my comfort zone. While decluttering my studio, I found a bag of pip berries in a drawer that I had completely forgotten about and right away knew that they were perfect for my new pumpkins. They were a leftover from my "primitive time" and the last time I used them must be at least 6 years ago - now it was time to work with them again. It was so nice to sit down again and start a new creation and that is what I am sharing with all of you today ~ my first new Autumn fruit. I made it from lovely wool fabric in shades of white and grey, browns and black. Of course, you know me, seam binding was a must and a handle from a vintage knife became the stem for this piece. I personally love the way it turned out but see for yourself  ... here it is!

Now my first pumpkin is done, I am already working on my next one and so happy about it.
All of the pumpkins that I will be making this Autumn will be for sale in my Etsy shop some time next week.

Thank you so much for taking the time and stopping by here, it is always so nice when you do. I am hoping to share something new soon again so whenever you have a spare moment, do visit me again and see what I have been up to.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

These Past Months ...

Hello my dear friends,

it seems like forever since I have sat down and written a post to share with all of you.
 I have missed you all so much! I will update you a little with what has been going on in my life and at a later time I will write about everything or at least most of it in full detail. Our summer was very hot and quite busy as well. We have had a huge project done that entailed a lot of work in our backyard which took up a lot of my time.

I haven't been spending a lot of my time on the Internet really, apart from sharing some photos on Instagram or watching an old movie. When it comes to be creative, I am still working hard on getting back to the place where I was some time ago. Unfortunately it is taking me so much longer than I had thought and hoped it would to get there. I haven't been spending any time in my studio because not only did I feel lost when it came to looking at my creative space that was filled many, many things. There was the other part which was that I think I was pushing myself so hard. I felt like I had to create something or have a new idea, if not every day, then possibly every other day and after a while things started to go wrong. The more pressure I put on myself, the less I was able to be creative until it all came to a complete standstill several months ago. You might not  believe it but my studio/craft room is still a disaster area and that since months now. Things got so low that I didn't even feel like junking very often and that really means something.

 But in the past few days I have actually started to work on a few new pieces and since Fall is one way, I chose to make a few new pumpkins which I will share with you very soon.
 So here is to new energy, hopefully having new ideas and embracing old ones once again!

I did try something really new for me!
 I didn't really expect or think that it would bring me as much joy as it did. You might even giggle a bit when I tell you what it was because it was nothing special or big, just something very simple.

... I started to grow tomatoes in our backyard!
I am sure you have a smile on your face right now but that is good. Making you smile is a good thing.
Every time I look outside my dining room window in the morning and see that another red fruit is hanging on one of my two tomato plants, it puts a smile in my heart! Who would have thought that something like this would make me feel good and I have my friend to thank for this. I am so grateful to my neighbor and friend Lise who gifted me the two plants and opened my eyes to doing this.

I am now excited because I feel that I might have the bug of growing some of my own veggies. Next year I planning on trying to grow zucchini and possibly green beans as well as tomatoes. It is unbelievable how many tomatoes one single plant will give you. As of right now I have harvested over 30 tomatoes and there are about 20 more on the plants waiting to turn color and then be picked.
I haven't shared any photos here on Todolwen in months, so the first one that I would like to share with all of you are of my tomatoes!

They started off slowly and I wasn't sure if they were going to grow properly or not but I was pleasantly surprised in the end.

Honestly, you should really try this!
There is just something about it and it is so easy. All you need is a plant pot, some soil, a tomato plant and water and you are all set up. They don't need much, you water them and make sure they get enough sun shine to grow in. So ... why not give it a go next year?!

I still have so much on my to do list for this September. One of those things is having a garage/yard sale which I really need to do to declutter our now full garage. Fingers crossed the weather will be kind one a weekend sometime soon. A day trip to Point Pelee, Ontario, a day trip to Michigan to do a little shopping and a few other things are also still on that list apart from hopefully being a little more creative. I will try and post soon again so do stop by from time to time and see what I have been up too.

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

Have a  peaceful and creative day.

And The Winner Of My "Christmas To Come" 2018 Giveaway Is ...

Hello my dear friends,

I had planned to get this post out earlier today but I am recovering from a nasty summer cold and today is the first day that I am feeling a bit better but enough of that now. I am sure you are all waiting to find out who won my this years "Christmas To Come" giveaway.

As always each one of you became a number and ...

... your numbers ended up all together in a bowl.

It was time to pick the winner.

I picked the number ... 11!

And that number belongs to  ... Dear Faye!

So, "Dear Faye" all I need you to do now, is to email me your shipping address.
 I will mail your gift to you some time in November, just in time for Christmas. As in the years before, I will not be sharing what my gift will be until after Christmas. This way it stays a surprise gift. 

Thank you all for taking part in my giveaway and let's do this again next year!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

My "Christmas To Come" Giveaway ...

Hello my dear friends,

even though my break from blogging is turning out to be longer than I though it would doesn't change the fact that I am having my this year's "Christmas To Come" giveaway and there is still time to enter your name! 

So if you haven't done it yet, head over to the original post and leave a comment.
One thing though ... please enter your name on the original post and there only.
You will find  the link on the right side of my blog. Just click it and it will take you to that post.

Are there any rules to enter? ... Yes, just one little one.
I would love for you to become a follower of my blog Todolwen.

I will be picking a winner on July 25th, sometime during the day and will share it here on Todolwen.

Good luck to all of you!

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Lost My Mojo ...

Hello my dear friends,

it has been a while since I have posted anything here on Todolwen and I just wanted to explain to you why. 

The reason for my absence is that I have seem to have lost my mojo and that really badly when it comes to my blog and being also being creative.

Over the past weeks and weeks I would sit down and think of what I could do or make and there was a lot of nothing for most of the times. No creative thoughts came to me. I would go into my studio and gather some things to work with only to put them back after a while. My studio then became that messy place with things every where and any where just in case that thing called creativity suddenly appeared and I wanted/needed to pull something back out again. 

Don't get me wrong, once in a while I would have a creative moment or two and that is when I would start and finished a new creation in a day or so. I have shared a few things on my Instagram page but that is as far as it has gone. Unfortunately those moments have been far and few over the past weeks and months.

 I am so hoping that I am just under a sort of belated Winter blues thing even though I love it when it snows so much. Hopefully with more and more sunny days and bright colors outside it will change very soon again. So please, don't give up on me just yet. I am working on coming back.

Many hugs to all of you.