Lockdown Continues

As lockdown continues we have all been at home together, for which I am extremely grateful.  I think lockdown would have been a very different experience if my family were working away from home.  Our son had just bought a flat in London during February, but thankfully he hadn't yet moved in and both our children (still calling them children although they are adults) have been able to work from home.

An unseasonably hot spring was a blessing and we have enjoyed many walks in the countryside surrounding our village.

One walk was to our favourite woodland whilst the bluebells were in bloom, where we had a special encounter with a red kite, who seemed as interested in us as we were in him.

Spring was also a busy time in the gardening calendar.  I grew a lot of vegetables and flowers from seed in the greenhouse

 and we spent a fair amount of time working at the two allotments we rent.

We have been harvesting beans and salad leaves.

Our garden looks particularly beautiful during springtime.

The roses bloomed earlier this year and along with the foxgloves they have kept the colour flowing in the garden through the June gap, whilst waiting for the summer flowers to appear.

We have had lots of visits from our feathered friends.

A sunbow over the garden one lunchtime.

With all my family home all the time, I have had the pleasure of baking more often.

These are just a few of the treats I have been making ... and eating!

Of course there was also some Easter baking.

There was a special bake, a birthday cake for our daughter who loves raccoons.

I made some elderflower cordial.

During lockdown I decided to try to finish some of my many WIP's.  That is quite a task I have set myself! :)  I am pleased to say that I have completed most of my scrapbooking projects, some of which have been hanging around for a good many years and have caught up on my journalling.

There have been a couple of new items made.  Firstly I made some masks for family and friends.  I was hoping that we wouldn't need masks, but C-19 is still making an impact our all our lives.

Throughout history events have been documented through the medium of needlework and when I heard that the Royal School of Needlework had set a Postcard from Home challenge that was open to all abilities, I decided to join in as I felt it was important to record this period in our history.  I created my postcard from a photograph I had taken whilst on our bluebell walk as this woodland holds memories of previous family trips there, both with our children and with my parents and our walks have been especially good for our mind, body and soul, during lockdown.

This is the first time I have tried to replicate a photograph in embroidery, but it was a lot of fun.  I coloured in a guide for the stitches on some vintage sheeting using watercolour crayons.

I designed the reverse of the postcard to document the social distancing aspect of this time.

I completed the front of the card with a background impression of trees using silk paint.

One of my first older projects to finish was the covered notebook that I started a year ago at a Penny Edwards aka The Embroidery Bird workshop.  I'm now looking forward to filling the pages.

Another completed project were these Dropcloth Sampler pincushions.

I haven't picked up my knitting needles much during lockdown, it has been all about the sewing.  One final project to share is an addition to a vintage French apron I am decorating.  Sadly at the beginning of lockdown we lost our little cat Ella, so in her memory I appliqué a cat onto my apron.