Lockdown week 4 - I have no idea what day it is anymore

 I don't know where the week has gone. Whole days seem to slip by now and suddenly it's bedtime and I can't really think what I've done. I think I am getting so chilled that I'm just losing the plot. I haven't been out the front door since Tuesday night when I went and did a big shop at Sainsburys which should keep us going for a few weeks. Which is fine, I'm quite happy staying safe behind our front door like the government is telling me.  I've seen enough half-dead patients on ventilators being interviewed on TV, telling everyone don't go out, it's not worth it.

We've all settled into routines.  DS is either on his laptop in the dining room during working hours, or on his computer in his bedroom outside of working hours - we see him at mealtimes and tea breaks.  DH is on his computer during working hours in the attic, and comes down also for lunch and tea breaks.  We all generally use the treadmill every day for exercise (not at the same time).  While the weather stayed warm, DH and I often sat out in the garden for lunch or tea.  I spend my days crafting, checking work email (I'm still not actually working), doing an hour of Japanese a day, playing video games and pottering in the garden.  One side effect of the quieter surroundings and more relaxing days is that I'm sleeping much better than I have done for some time.

After making the totebag from the panel last week, I had a rummage in my stash of panels to see what else I could make.  I found a garish print of American houses with quilts on a washing line and garden flowers, and by cutting away a lot of the garishness and replacing it with solid blue borders, I made another panel totebag.  This one is rectangular. I've been using it already to carry my current sewing project around the house.

I also found a printed panel to make a teacosy in the shape of the historic Mermaid Inn, a real building in Rye. I inherited the panel from a older quilting friend now passed.  There is a book bag pattern in the Masako Wakayama book which has two straight sides around an elongated oval base, with an inserted gusset to allow the bag to expand.  I realised that I could be creative and turn the tea cosy into a handbag.  This was quite fun to do and I'm pleased with how well it has turned out.  It's constructed using the Japanese method, where every component (sides, base, gusset) is first fully finished with no raw edges, and then hand-stitched together for the final assembly.  It's stiffened using Bosal foam stabiliser.  The handles were purchased previously and were in my stash.

The rest of the week I have been cross-stitching and hand quilting, and I've used some of my time in the days to start to learn needle tatting from Youtube videos.  I used to shuttle tat a long time ago, at an advanced beginner level only. I liked the physical action of using a shuttle but didn't like how hard it was to fix mistakes if you had to try to undo a ring especially in finer thread.  Needle tatting is done with a long blunt needle, and the stitches are formed directly on the needle.  This makes it much easier to undo an error - you can just drop the stitches off the needle or easily undo a closed ring.  It's also easier to count stitches in a long row on a needle than it is in a loop when using a shuttle.  That said, there is still a lot to learn about needle tatting and my initial try at a pattern is pretty lumpy and misshapen.  The motif is about two inches wide in this thick thread.  I'm trying the same pattern again in a finer thread and it's going a bit better.  Are you learning anything new during the lockdown?