Tulip Scissor Fob

I made this Tulip Scissor Fob from Sue Hawkins as a gift for a friend. Finished 12th July 2022, started in April the same year.

Tulip Bookmaker

Another Tulip Bookmarker - Sue Hawkins.

Happy updates :D

Wow - finishes - yes, multiple. I forgot to take photos of the teacher bookmarks (did I say that already? I can't remember when I last posted) so no photos of them, but they were appreciated.

Then more Sue Hawkins stuff - a scissor fob and matching bookmarker for a friend.

If you like her stuff her website is http://suehawkins.com/ - and I can highly recommend her kits - generous amounts of materials, great instructions, and apart from stuffing usually everything you need to finish the item is included.

Then there is my fathers piece - I finished that last night and I'm really pleased with how it turned out:

And a progress pic that I never did get around to posting earlier:

Next up for attention - my brothers wedding sampler - hopefully finishing in three weeks for when we see them (sorry no pic, but it's not far different to the last one I posted of it).

And I finished my 3000 piece jigsaw puzzle:

Since last time I posted we also took a road trip to Nashville, and stopped at Graceland on the way up where we saw these wonderful peacock stained glass windows:

Then on the way home we stopped at the Barber Motorsports Museum. If you have any interest at all in motorcycles you need to go there - it was amazing (they even had a Britten bike) - five floors of motorbikes, and some cars, and interesting displays, and overlooking the race track.

And in food news I found Oca (NZ yams) in a local(ish) supermarket today - I've been stalking an online grocery store for them, but they haven't shown up yet, so I was doubly pleased to see them. I'm hoping to save a few to plant - although with my gardening skills I'm not holding out much hope of succeeding, but I'm going to give it a good shot. Now to just find some NZ Marmite (yes, this is different (nicer) to UK Marmite that you can get at World Market) and my pantry will be set :) I have found somewhere not to far away that sells it but they are still out of stock from the lack over the last couple of years due to the earthquake damage at the Christchurch factory.

African Animals Needlebook

I finished this last night. I think it came out quite well.

African Animals Needlebook

I've now finished the basic stitching. I just have to block it and then I'll do all the edge stitching and sew it up.

African Animals Needlebook

More on the needlecase, I've done almost all the non-blended colours, just one left in the middle of the spots.

African Animals Needlebook

The latest on this:

There won't be another gecko on this case. But I do have the matching scissor case so there'll be another gecko there.

African Animals Needlebook

I have beaded the gecko now and done a bit more of the stitching.

Beaded Zig-Zag Brooch

Last night I finished the brooch that I started on the plane. The actual size of this brooch is just over 1 inch square. If I'd been brave enough to bead on the plane I could easily have finished this on the journey.

I think it came out really well, and it was very easy to make. And this finish brings my WIP number back down to what it was before I started these two kits.

New starts

I thought I'd be clever and just take a couple of little kits to work on on the plane. Cos I'm not a great traveller and tend not to be able to concentrate on things for very long while moving. And of course then there are the scissor restrictions and lack of space and lighting and so on. So if I took kits with precut threads then I could leave the ends hanging and just cut them off when we arrived. Good theory.

But, I forgot to think about beads. Both the kits I selected had beads in them, and I wasn't brave enough to try beading on an aeroplane - especially one where the seatbelt sign kept coming on due to turbulence. The kids loved the turbulence - coming in to land they were treating it like a roller coaster - arms in the air and squealing with delight every time the bottom fell out of our stomachs and wanting more. Not sure too many other passengers agreed with them.

Anyway - both kits I took were from Sue Hawkins. The first was a brooch - I did all the stitching up to the beading bit and then put it aside.

The second is a needlebook and I was supposed to bead the gecko first and then do the tent stitch. So I started on the tent stitch - didn't get too far though.

Of the two kits the better one to take was the brooch - partly because there were only two colours to deal with - the multicolour and the navy for attaching the beads. This meant there was very little colour sorting to start with, and once stitching I didn't have to think about changing colours.

The needlecase had a lot more colours to sort - somewhat a challenge in aeroplane lighting, and of course wanted me to bead first. The tent stitch also proved almost too small for me to easily do on the plane.

If I was going to do this again, I'd think first and not take anything with beads, but otherwise I'd stick with something small and few colours like the brooch. Sue Hawkins has a number of kits that would be suitable, so it wouldn't be hard to pick something.

Bookmarker

Here is my bookmarker for the swimming teacher. I tried to choose watery colours and I think it came out very well. It's one of my favourite combinations so far.

Bookmarker

The final bookmark is stitched and they were all handed out last Wednesday (yes, I know I'm a week behind, but I'm sure you can cope). I had just enough for one each including one for the visitor, so that was really good. And everybody liked them so that was even better :)

Anyway - here's the final one:

Bookmarkers

Here are the next two that I've done. The first is the Smarties colours again as I want to keep the original for myself. The next one is colours chosen from the four colours that weren't in any of the kits (from the original (I think) 12 colours of Anchor multicolours - definitely the 12 you could get in a pack together), the one I'm currently stitching is the other two colours which I like so much I might do another one for me.

Licquorice Allsorts Bookmarker

Here's the Liquorice Allsorts Bookmarker from Sue Hawkins that I finished last night. This is the last of the set of four, so from here on I'm going to be using my own materials (and the kit leftovers) with perhaps new colours, or maybe just using the same colours, to make the rest that I need.

Sue Hawkins Bookmarks

There have been a couple of comments about the Sue Hawkins bookmarks so I thought I'd post her website address as she only sells through her website and the shows that she attends. And she has so many lovely projects (yes, I'm trying to collect them all), not just bookmarks, but scissor cases, needlebooks, pincushions, bags and so on. So I figured a little bit of enabling wouldn't go amiss :) Her website is www.suehawkins.com - I do hope it inspires someone.

And while I'm at it I think it's time for another thank you for all the lovely comments that everyone has left on the blog. I do read them (when I remember to look for them) and I do appreciate them even if I don't always answer them. So thank you again.

Dolly Mixtures Bookmarker

Here is the third of these bookmarker kits that I got. I love these, they are so quick and simple to make, but look so neat. This one I did cut the canvas a bit close to the stitching so some of the seams (especially at the corners) are a bit dodgy, but it should hold.

Sherbet Lemons Bookmarker

Here's my second one of the Sue Hawkins Bookmarkers - this one is called Sherbet Lemons.