A new start

After so many finishes recently I have made a new start.   This is supposed to be done in red but I opted for a darker blue/purple variegated silk.   The colours in this photo are not true to life.   I am stitching on antique white linen with Caron Waterlilies silk.  

One side has strawberries and the other acorns.   There is a scissor fob and I will make a needle book and a tape measure cover as well.  The buttonholes at the top are threaded with ribbon and have personalised "fobs" at the ends to make a drawstring closure.
This is a relaxing stitch but I am itching to start another piece of hardanger or a sampler to get more variety of stitches.   But at the moment I am only dreaming as I have three projects on the go and want to get them completed before starting anything else.  

I completed all the cutting out of A Confetti of Hardanger and it is now resting in my drawer of finished-but-not-used doilies.

While on holiday last week saw this bag in an art gallery.   The creator had used the paper from what we call "junk mail" and folded it carefully before weaving into this handbag.  

I also found this necklace made with buttons.   The HD3QBEM dragged me into the knitting wool shop and this was what caught my eye.  Now I want to make one for myself so will be dragging the HD3QBEM around charity shops to rummage through their button collections as I would like to coordinate the colours a little more than this sample.  Great way to use up smaller buttons.