Nipping in for WOYWW, after two weeks absence, to share my "work desk" with the world thanks to the marvellous idea of Julia and all the participants who join in each Wednesday. All will be revealed in glorious detail over on the Stamping Ground.
I've been helping a friend who has been ill, and she has been in and out of hospital, so it has absorbed most of my spare time but I've still managed a bit of hand stitched patchwork during my travels, to and from her house or the hospital. As a result, I've been working on my knee with just a little box of tricks.
Here's the result of my car crafting, arranged in random order. I'll balance the colours out before I stitch them together, when I have made enough. 24 x 4 inch squares of Japanese folded patchwork made and only 246 to go! At the least and they'll all need stitching together!
Here's my little box of tricks I carry round to enable me to stitch on the go.....
Tuesday was the first time we could manage to meet up to celebrate Neet's birthday and we had a lovely Thai meal together at the Thai Kitchen in Hannigans pub and it was so good to catch up and have a good natter, a glass of wine and some excellent food.
The pub restaurant, on the Bury Road, rates No 1 of over 200 Bolton eateries rated on Tripadvisor and I must admit that I can well recommend it. It also serves good English food.
I love this pic (below) of Neet, after our meal, looking so relaxed and mellow!
Belated Happy Birthday to a special friend and thanks for a lovely day together.
I can now show the gift I made for the birthday girl.
(Jenny does so many fabulous, easy to follow, video tutorials)
and I had the idea to convert it to a seat cover for Neet to use in her craft room.
With elastic across the middle, at the back, this turned into......
this with the addition of some large flat beads to weight and decorate the front and back points. This seat has a low back but it would easily fit a higher one.
I sewed together all the offcuts of fabric quite haphazardly and made a handy tote for her craft shopping as an extra gift.
A great way to use up scraps!
Front and back are quite different.
I've been following the travel and adventures of Flat Susan (check her moves and all the fun here)
When I took her with me to Germany on her maiden trip I bought this small globe for Neet to mark all her "Ports of Call" and today I was amazed to see how many places she had visited all over the world. I wonder how many miles she has travelled in less than a year?
Hello to all the lovely WOYWW bloggers I usually visit and I do hope time allows me to get around to lots of you for a nosey this week.
I have been missing but I have missed you!
37 comments:
Have really missed you on here, so glad you were able to drop in this week.. LOVE that patchwork and the bag too... such talent. I've lost track of Flat Susan, but love the globe pinpointing her travels. Helen 11
Lovely photos of you and Neet :) Love all the colourful textile projects. Looks great fun to be creating with a happy rainbow of colour. The Tote looks amazing :) Pxx
Thank you for a lovely day out, fun and friendshp are the best things anyone could wish for.
Love all my pressies and the mini tangine will be in use tonight. Too full last night to cook.
See you soon I hope.
Love, Neet xxx 40
Look at you two all dewy eyed after a few. Lovely pics and such a lovely present for Neet too.
Have a good week Jo
Lynn xx
43
Wow, you have been busy with some wonderful projects, I seem to have been missing your posts recently but just had a good catch-up lol. I have been having massive PC problems and lost most of my stuff!
Hugs Tilly
Fab sewing. Gorgeous photos of two very specail friends. So good to see you blogging. Jo and I were talking about you Monday and saying how we missed you.
Hugs,
Annie x # 41
ps will try to email you later with the latest nightmare
Wow, love that crazy patchwork! You don't do 'quiet' fabrics, do you?? lol It makes for such a glorious rainbow effect...the bag is a great idea.
Good pics of you and Neet too!
Hugs, LLJ 27 xx
What a lovely post Jo, all your makes are fabulous, you really are the Queen of quilting! Lovely to see you and Neet together, you are both very special ladies! Hugs, Anne x
Oh Jo, there's so much gorgeousness to feast our eyes upon in this post!I love the Missouri Star co videos.So clear.I am clearing the decks a bit, so I can get back to patchwork projects.Love the stitching on your knee.Stitching can be soothing while you support your sick friend.
That tote..hmm fab!!
Thanks for visiting me.
Judy #4
It sounds like you've been busy, Jo. I hope your friend is feeling better.
Love all your stitching. It still makes me smile that you craft in the car. I think it would make me feel poorly, I can't even read a map!!
What lovely photos of your birthday outing with Neet.
Hope the family are all good.
Hugs Lisax
Jo, you have been busy, that seat cover and bag for Neet are beautiful. Wonderful birthday gift for her.
I do wish I was as industrious as you.
Chris #36
Fabulous sewing projects ;)
xoxo Sioux
Man it took forever to make the comment box pop up! But I waited it out cause everything is so lovely I just had to say so :) Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff. And now that is three blogs in a row that seem to be pushing me towards my fabric stash! I should just give in....
:)
Happy WOYWW!
Mary Anne (22)
Thanks for stopping by my blog...I like you, love anything old that you can recycle and the one thing about items not matching is they never date!! Love your patchwork that you have been doing whilst looking after your friend, the square are beautiful. Happy WOYWW.
Dawn #39
'Mellow' is one way of describing it Jo :-)
Good to see you back on here with all that gorgeousness, love the tote bag and I really must get back into sewing. Hope to see you Saturday at Port Sunny.
Happy Wednesday
Ann B
31
Is that the cathedral window pattern? I'm in awe that you've committed to make so many. I made TWO squares a few years ago, sewed them into a little chatelaine and said, "Done that."
The chair cover and bag are gorgeous, what thoughtful gifts!
Happy Woyww,
Sandy #10
Inspirational piecing! Love your art on the go.
Art Heals!
Thanks for visiting, your kind words and the snoop around your place!
Robyn 6
Just had to pop back, Jo. What fantastic news, I'm sooooo pleased for you all, it's been a long and hard road. I can't believe your little Grandson is 6 months old already, where does the time go?
Look after yourself and make sure you grab a bit of time for yourself.
Hugs Lisax
Thank you, for stopping by dear Jo! And thank you for sharing your textile art and thoughts.
Greetings from Erika - Das blaue Haus
Your gift to Neet is proudly displayed on her blog......me thinks she loves it!!
Love the pictures of the two of you, show great times.
Happy WOYWW
Krisha #12
Hi Jo-gorgeous pressies for Neet, love all the colours.Those Japanese quilts blocks are amazing- thats a lot of squares to go! Have a great week, Hugs, Shaz #33 xxx
Wow, the pressies for Neet are stunning. Gorgeous colours. I love that as well as looking after a friend you have found a way of doing some portable crafting! Thanks for sharing. Happy WOYWW. Caro x (#55)
Hi jo welcome back I was only thinking the other day that I hadn't seen any
Of your posts lately but I have been so poorly lately that I didn't have the energy to email you. Finally feeling a bit better, the seaside should help brrrr and hope to be back to work next week. The patchwork looks fab I love the bright colours with the black, it's amazing what you can do on the go
Have a great time with the girls
Janet
What a great day out the pair of you have had - photos are gorgeous - fun-filled - great! I love the chair cover - you are so inventive, Jo. Care for a few days in Wales to help with a wedding dress???!
Have a great week.
Margaret #85
Love your sewing projects ! And Flat Susan's globe is great fun ! How lovely to have a crafting friend so close by - I so enjoy having my friend Lynda to craft & share girl time with & so good our menfolk get on well too ! Thanks for visiting ! Ali #30
Ok I'm convinced. I'll have a go at this quilt. It looks fab. As for the chair cover and bag, absolutely love it. I'll have to stay off sick permanently to get all these things done that I want to do, x
Love your creative work and what a great table runner and bag. So pleased to see you out with Neet she is one really special lady whom I would love to meet one day. Oh and I love Thai food too, pity I couldn't join you all.
Hugs Eliza & Yoda 19
Happy WOYWW
You have been having so much fun Jo.. and love the pressies so much, esp the bag!! wow!
.. well done you both.. remember our time together two years ago now.. in early May...
Now, Jo, how weird is this? the pattern you are sewing the quilt up in is the pattern I used on my Oriental card this week!! quite bizarre but yours is lots more work!! will love to see it made.
Happy WOYWW Shaz in Oz.x #15
Happy Belated WOYWW. Hope your friend is feeling better now. I have not got the patience to do patchwork. All of those squares! I hope that one day my sewing skills are somewhere close to your's! Ali x. #42
Oh you clever blogger you! I love the chair cover and I bet Neet does too. Lovely photos of you all. x Jo
I've missed you, dear friend. LOVE that globe and how many places Flat Susan has been. Wish I had known about her. WOYWWendy would have loved the company while she was in the States.
Neet looks beautiful in that picture, as do you. What a lovely gift you made for her, and all from scraps, no less.
I confess those squares look extremely complicated and very well done. I might be able to make ONE in my lifetime, but it wouldn't be perfect like yours are.
Thanks for stopping by to see me, even though I didn't play at Julia's this week.
Bless you for helping your friend out during this difficult time. She is blessed to have you as a friend. Your patchwork is looking lovely and your lap desk is surely one of the unusual desks this week. Your gifts for Neet are wonderful!
Happy WOYWW!
Hugs, peggy aplSEEDS @3
I love all your beautiful patchwork, Jo, and the gorgeous chair cover you made for Neet. It looks as if you had a great time celebrating her birthday!
Happy belated WOYWW,
Shoshi #48
Hi Jo - you have been busy. love your Japanese folded patchwork design. I think you're like me - can't decide what craft you like most lol. I'll be popping back to catch up with your quilting. Carolx
You can't beat really good friends.Great pics of a happy time together,FAB Birthday presi too,you are soooo talented.Hugs xx
Thanks for popping by and for your lovely comments. Your patchwork is great and your gifts so thoughtful. Glad you got to have a lovely birthday meal with your friend.
I was hoping to see where you had been lately, but sadly, I only see your old WOYWW post.
Thanks for offering to make me a chair cover, but I only sit if I'm sewing, so it's not something I do often.
Also, you said Dolores was coming in May. Will you and she be coming to the WOYWW crop? I know she's been to the previous two, so I was wondering if that was one of the reasons she was coming in May.
Now for the real reason I wrote. My post using your spray starch background technique has just gone live:
http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2014/04/eye-shadow-or-mica-powder-and-friday.html
Hope you enjoy it. And thanks for sharing your knowledge, too.
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