I recently found this post in my drafts! I don’t know why I never sent it, but I guess it was the trauma of the whole period that affected me and my posts! Because it is quite long, I have split it up into multiple parts.
It is very interesting to reread my thoughts, but very exciting too, in that I was SO creative and productive during this time! I rather surprised myself when I read it!😀. I have not changed my words, other than to correct spelling, grammar, etc!
By the beginning of May 2020 we had already been in lockdown for 6 weeks. There was not much sign of it ending, so most of us decided to knuckle under and make the best of it (unfortunately some people are unable to do this, but that does not belong in this blog).
Every day I wake up and express gratitude for my brain, my creative abilities, the use of my hands, and the use of my eyes. My brain guides me in this creativity, and I sometimes have to ask it to challenge itself and bend itself a bit! We always come out at the right end, thank goodness! At night when I go to bed, I also give thanks for the creative day that has preceded my putting my head down on the pillow, and I am so grateful for it and all the things I have achieved during the given hours!
May and June continued in much the same way as the previous months with a lot of solitude and time to be creative and inventive. DH was also extremely creative and has made some incredible things in his workshop, for me and for house and home. I will include the things we worked on together, and the things he has made for me, in my diaries [edit – now a look back!].
The most incredible item that DH has done is to restore an old kist that has been in the family since the late 1800’s. It had become decidedly rusty and neglected, and was relegated to the garage. We had toyed with the idea of getting someone to renovate it for us, but realized that that would be extremely expensive. One day DH decided to tackle the job!
While cleaning the kist of rust he discovered that the back hinges actually had the name of the trunk on it – it is a Clinton Wall trunk dating back to 1890! It was brought to South Africa from the UK on a ship by someone in the family (no-one is quite sure who!) He looked at images of what the trunks should look like, and with a small pot of gold paint, some black paint, varnish and a brush started cleaning it and painting on the metal sections – it looks like the pressed metal they used for ceilings. Some of the wood had rotted, so he split a piece of pressed wood to get thin sheets, stained and varnished them so they look almost like the wood that was salvageable. This job took a few weeks, sore feet and a stiff neck, but the result is spectacular!
When it was finished we took it upstairs to the bedroom. I used some old bull denim curtains and made inner lining covers for it, both in the lid and in the trunk itself, to protect blankets and pillows from direct contact with the old wood. It is a beautiful addition to our bedroom, between 2 very old Danish ‘camping’ chairs.
I finished the Squares and Circles towels that I had woven in April made with hand-dyed cotton. This is a pattern from Handwoven May/Jun 2019.
I then tackled my first ever linen project. I had bought some gorgeous white linen from the USA and combined it with some handspun indigo-dyed cotton to make some simple towels designed by a Swedish designer a pattern from Gist yarns. I think they will last for MANY years!
I bought some colourful silk/merino fibre at Thread Handed 2019 and spun that up into singles so as to not lose the gorgeous colours and lustre of the silk. I will have to give serious thought to what I am going to do with it!
To be continued…
