New Wool For Nests ..

Hello my dear friends,

I love having a basket or two full of beautiful wool and yarn in my studio and once in a while, maybe once or twice a year, I love to shop for yarn and that is exactly what I did recently.

 The reason for this purchase was mainly that my daughter Ashleigh came up with a new theme for a new nest creation for me but I didn't shop just for that. I am not going to give away just yet which theme it is because I haven't got all my yarn together yet and I am not sure if it will turn out but I can tell you that I love the idea the way I see it in my mind. I can also give you a little sneak peek of the yarn I have gathered already.

This is some of my new wool I have bought for more Spring nests and maybe Winter nests ...

... so many lovely textures and colors too.


And this is the wool for my new themed nest ...

... so many beautiful shades of blues and so many different textures as well. I can't wait to start creating my newest nest to see if it will work out the way I can see it in my mind. Some of this wool actually just arrived from Turkey yesterday!
 

The only question now is when I will have time to start working on these new creations since I have so many things on my to~do list already for the rest of this year. Well, I don't really know but as soon as I do I will make sure to share it with all you lovely bloggers.

 

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

23 Days Later And 3 Days Late..

Hello my dear friends,

after a lot of cutting, sewing and quilting and some very sore fingers my gift for my daughter Caylagh is finally finished and with that said I can finally share the Union Jack quilt I made for her with you today.

From start to finish it took me 23 days to complete this single quilt and after some setbacks I was finally getting to the completion of it and one of my favourite moments whilst making this quilt was this one ...

... cutting the excess backing fabric and batting off because ...

 

 (sorry about the bad photo)

... that's when I know I am almost done with my work.

 

 

I had found this lovely purple fabric for the edging at Fabric-Land  and ...

 

... with a little help from my husband's large level I was almost there ...

 

... and then there they were ... the final few stitches and then ... at last ... finished!!

And here it is ...

 

 

 

Unfortunately my writing faded with washing, so I will have to rewrite her label.

 

... my finished gift ~ I think it turn out so lovely!

When I have a little spare time, which will hopefully be soon, I am going to draw up the basic pattern for this quilt and a few little tips on how I made it and share it here on Todolwen for all you lovely bloggers.

That's all for now. I still need to rest my fingers a little more but it would be so nice if you would stop by soon again and visit me here at Todolwen again.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,


Karen B.
 

My Baby Girls 13th Birthday ..

Hello my dear friends,

life has been so busy again and because of it I didn't have the time to share my daughter Caylagh's birthday with all of your lovely bloggers. She is now 13 and so grown up already and does not like a lot of fuss around her right now (that includes taking photos) so her birthday was very small but very nice.

 As I told you already I wasn't able to finish my gift to her in time unfortunately but she received other gifts and loved them so much.

 

My older daughter Ashleigh baked the cake and ...

 

 

...because of Caylagh's love of unicorns that is what we chose to decorate her cake with.

 

The cake was golden pecan with a layer of brownies in between and covered in cream cheese icing ... needless to say it was yummy?!

 

 

Mail was opened and ...

 

... yes, there was a unicorn card there too.

 

 

 

 Caylagh received this beautiful antique locket from her sister and  ...

... this tiny critter from me.

She had found it on Etsy and fell in love with it so Mama knew it would make her happy.

It is so tiny it fits on a penny!

 

 

... and her Dad and other lovely relatives sent her on a shopping spree which we girls went on right after breakfast. Our final gift to her was that we surprized her with a day off of school. The day was great but very tiring and we were all happy to be in our bed at the end of it.

 

As I am writing this post my fingers are resting for a little while longer before I take to quilting again. I am so close to finishing my gift for my daughter and I am hoping to share it with you very soon.

 

It would be nice to see you here again some time and until then ...

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.

 

 

My Baby Shoe Nests ... Now Listed In My Etsy Shop

Hello my dear friends,

this will be just a very short post because it is my daughter Caylagh's 13th birthday today. Unfortunately I was not able to finish her Union Jack quilt in time but she is so sweet and understands. (My fingers are very sore!) But ... I will be done with it in the next few days and then I will share photos from Caylagh's birthday and my finished quilt too.

I also wanted you to know that I have just listed my four baby shoe nest creations in my Etsy shop.

If you wish, why not stop by my shop and take a look at them.

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

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

Remember These ..?

Hello my dear friends,

as I am so busy with my quilt project the only other thing I really have time for is doing a tiny bit of decluttering right now. My shelves still hold so many of my creations and yesterday I decided to choose some again that I will be listing in my Etsy shop.

 

I am not sure if you recall my baby shoe nests I made some time ago ...

 

... I had bought lovely shoes, stiffened them and then painted them in either pink or a light blue and then turned them into homes for little eggs that are resting in small nests.

 

And here are a few photos to share with you of them ... 

 

 

Each pair has become a standing and a hanging little nest. I had so much fun creating them with all sort of bits and pieces to make them just right and now it is time for these creations to find a new home.

 

You will be able to see more photos of them in my Etsy shop early tomorrow morning, so why not grab your coffee and pop over and take a peek?!

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

Karen B. 

One Should Pay Attention ..

Hello my dear friends,

really ... one should pay attention when working on a quilt or for the matter of fact anything.

Remember my 'quilt~headache' I had a few days ago? .. After I had to take two quarters of the quilt apart again and then noticing that I had cut 3 pieces ... better make that 5 pieces ...no, make that 7 pieces in the end, a quarter inch too small. I have no idea how that happened and then I finally discovered I had sewn two pieces wrong together ... I think I am finally on track and on my way to hopefully finishing this quilt in time for my daughter Caylagh's birthday.

I can't believe that this quilt has been so hard to put together. I have made quilts with over 1000 small squares and it went so much easier than this one with under 100 pieces. I am sure that the main problem was with the large triangles that stretched a little because of how they were cut. I just have to pay better attention.

And this where I am right now ...

... I sandwiched the layers together last night and this morning I began to quilt finally and that means the countdown has started ... wish me luck that my fingers will be able to quilt almost nonstop. The next time I will be sharing this creation with you is when it is completed.

 On another little note ...

.... my little 'cupboard mouse' is now on it's way to it's new home all the way in Indonesia which is over 12,900 km's/8000 miles away ... isn't that so neat?!

It would be nice for you to visit me here at Todolwen some time soon again and until then ...

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

Have a peaceful and creative day.


Karen B.

Just Listed ... 'Cupboard Mouse' Tea Rose

Hello my dear friends,

today I would love to share another one of my 'Cupboard Mice' which is now listed in my Etsy shop.

This little critter is so cute ... sleeping on top of some nuts which are laying in a vintage little bone china bowl. The bowl was made in England and has a beautiful yellow Tea rose design.

 

And this is my little critter ...

 

 

So neat ..!

 

I am sure nobody would mind this little critter living in their cupboard ... maybe it could be your cupboard?! 

 

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

 

Have a peaceful and creative day,

 

 

Karen B.