Fruit and veg. patchwork.

Some of the ladies on the Home Makers Forum decided to have a swap of 'care packages' to cheer ourselves up.  I made this table mat for my swap partner as she is a dedicated 'foodie' who loves to cook! I selected a bright cheerful Batik fish fabric for the back.  The design on the front was originally called 'Rainy Days' because the designer bought fabric with raindrops on it, and made it up during a spell of wet weather.  I found the pattern on the internet several years ago, but this is the first time I've made something with it. 
It's not a great example of how the design should look; other people have made it, but on bigger quilts, with the borders of each square of fabric wider than I've done here, and they look really great.
I have more of this fruity fabric in my stash, and am keen to make one for myself, but will make the black borders wider, and use more squares to make a table runner instead of a mat.

Stitching in these stressful times.

Life is back to normal!

Did I really say that on my last post?  Little did I know when I wrote that on 18th February, what would be confronting the world within weeks, or even days - of that statement.

I haven't visited any blogs since then, let alone post anything on my own, because I've been flat out adminning the Home Makers Forum, where 99% of the chat is about COVID19.  Naturally people want to vent their anger and frustration, and express their anxiety, but tonight I suddenly felt tired of it all, and have returned briefly to my little blog.

For my long term blogging friends, I can assure you that Ken and I are fine.  Not a lot has changed for us, as being old older and non travelling retirees, most of our time is spent at home anyway.  Ken's GP has instructed him not to leave the house, so all his medical appointments are cancelled, we don't go to the gym (but I still do my knee exercises at home), and we don't have friends and family popping in to visit us.  But we stay in touch with everyone by phone and email, and I have been writing letters to many of my friends, just for something different.  I've had a good response to that!

For  the month of March I was completely uninspired, like many crafty friends, but this month I made a conscious decision not to wallow in worry and sadness any more.  I got out some of my long term UFOs and have been working on them.  I've put my quilting aside for the moment, as I've been quilting steadily for a few years now and decided to make time for the abandoned embroidery and cross stitch.

Here I am on one of our last warm sunny days in March, stitching my late mother-in-law's supper cloth that she started around the 1930's and gave to me in the 1990's to finish!  It's taking a long time...I  had a photo of what I had stitched on this day but can't find it now.

This Semco blackwork sampler has been sitting on a large embroidery frame for goodness knows how many years.  It has been covered by a cloth, so hasn't been affected by light or dust, but it was in a corner of my sewing room and whenever I had to get something from that corner, I had to move the embroidery frame.  So last week I moved it right out of the corner and into the middle of the room where it gets good light from the window, and can't be ignored by me any longer!
Last week I did the cross stitch on the handle of the teapot/jug and a bit of back stitching.