I bit the bullet! I finally plucked up the courage to steam and cut the canvas round my Sue Hawkins needlebook and once that was done, the rest just fell into place. The waste canvas folded back a lot flatter than I thought it would and blanket stitching the felt down was a breeze.
The rest of the felt gave me four internal pages and a finish.
It feels very odd to have a roomy book to leaf through looking for needles instead of a scrap of felt half the size of a credit card!
Another finish was this broken vintage brooch…
…to which I added some 3D beading on a piece of dyed pelmet vilene.
The beading was set into the long channel down the spine of the brooch and I set cats eye beads instead of diamantes into the cup shaped settings.
A jump ring and a gold plated chain completed the transformation into what my middle one calls the ‘fancy pea pod’ pendant!
It’s available here in my Etsy shop.
The other finish is another upcycled pendant created from a section of broken vintage bracelet and a single vintage earring.
This one is available here in my Etsy shop.
The fresh start is the third of my memory journals. Now Tattershall has been put to bed I can concentrate on the Kew journal, remembering one of the hottest days of the year last July when I visited the Chihuly glass exhibition with my son. I’ve completed the cover, another stitched on paper piece which I blogged about back in last August but now I can focus on the Kew pieces rather than being distracted by having all three on the go as I did last summer. So here it is ready to be filled.
The first piece is based on an image of the Niijima Floats in the Japanese Garden. Hopefully I will have something to show by next week!
Under A Topaz Sky 
Your creations are as beautiful as ever. 🙂
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that!
Two delightful finishes, and a bit more mental elbow room to get started on the next things!
You’ve hit the nail on the head – mental elbow room. I had so many potential ideas for this journal that I didn’t know where to start and that was compounded by having the other two ongoing at the same time. Now I have the space to focus!
Love the needle book! I bet you smile every time you use it. How you think of what to put on these pieces is amazing. So clever.
Love the pea necklace, well worth a look at more photos of it on Etsy. Need to sort my needle book out, instead of just sticking them in my felt scissor keeper.