It’s a strange time, I find myself creating art for exhibitions and events that have been cancelled or at least postponed. It makes me realise that deadlines and imagining my work in a space is quite an important part of the process. That has always helped to supply the drive. I have had to produce work with no aim other than for the love it! How wonderful you say, but it was a tricky transition at first!

Life doesn’t feel too different from normal on some days but lockdown can produce a level of anxiety, fear of the unknown and worst of all, separation from loved ones, we all know now how that feels. We are all trying to find the positives each day. For me this means long walks with my new dog Bobby, accompanied by my son or husband who share lockdown with me. Baking flapjacks and chocolate cake, cooking lovely food and gardening. Wine o’clock has crept a little earlier in the evening than usual and sometimes it’s a cheeky G&T to round off another day.

It’s been a pleasure to allow the good weather to distract me into my garden, which, like many is in shock due to the amount of attention its getting! Cooler days and inspiration gets me in the studio creating embroideries.

I have been working on pieces that were due to go in exhibitions as they were already in progress and I was keen to complete them. In addition I have been experimenting with my embellishing machine. I have tried to make images by felting layers together, learning which fabrics work, how to blend colours and finally add definition with stitch. It has been an interesting learning curve.

I have experimented with filming myself stitching, thinking it would be of interest. It was a challenge, getting the right gadget to hold the phone, trying not to nudge the camera when I rethread the machine, getting the right camera angle and still be able to see to stitch! I got there eventually and posted the results on social media with a great response from followers, so it was worth the effort!