This quote sums up mine and many other people’s week here in the UK as we enter a period of social isolation. The good things though, are many, and it is important not to lose sight of that.This lovely photo was posted on the local Facebook page by a local photographer to cheer us all up.There have been blue skies and Spring flowers.

The sense of community here in Marsden is wonderful, with people helping each other, ensuring we have food available in all the shops and arranging deliveries from local shops and businesses for those who need it. I am so glad I am living here, as even being on my own I am not concerned if I do get ill as I have lots of support.

There are some very sad things of course, not least the actual virus, but also that we are now an online university for a while so I had to say goodbye to all of the students very hastily on Tuesday. Luckily we had a really nice week last week with the Year 2s and they only had a couple more weeks of input so it is not too bad for us. It will help me a lot health wise not to have to get up at 6 am and get the bus in the rain so I am very, very,  grateful that I have a job where I can work from home.

We are also not going to Japan to see Jake at Easter, we were still hopeful up until Tuesday but realistically knew that it could be cancelled at any minute and at least the travel restrictions mean we can claim on the insurance. We hopefully will be able to re-schedule that for Aug/Sept time so I am looking forward to that.

The other lovely thing has been all the support from crafters and other businesses sharing free stuff or reduced subscriptions. I have signed up to several things while I am at home more so am hoping to find time to improve my quilting skills amongst other things. I will now use some of my leave to have a staycation in my craft room!

We had one last trip out to buy fabric before isolation and went on a visit to a lovely fabric shop Oh So Sweet near Barnsley. All of us wanted things for isolation projects and also wanted to give this lovely business a boost, they do have a website so hopefully people will keep shopping as we would not want to see small businesses going under.I loved the fact that they had hand written receipts, made it feel very vintage.

Of course I do already have a little bit of fabric 🙂 but I also did not want to miss the opportunity to spend time with my lovely friends as we will only be having virtual contact for a while. Also I have just taken delivery of 5 new Barbies from Ebay and they need some nice clothes, so I bought a lot of small scale prints to make beautiful Spring dresses for them and some lovely white on white prints.

I am thinking of something like this gorgeous version of a Dior classic from one of my favourite designer doll sites, Diane on Whidbey Island. This picture is from her blog and there are so many other wonderful things on her site to inspire me.

I also bought this vintage fabric notions print, I have quite a few versions of these now and they make great baskets to sell at Yarndale. I made the two below a couple of years ago, and they make great gifts for stitching friends.I will now have much more time for crafting over the summer as well as all of our re-enactment events up until July are now cancelled.

I bought some more cream lace for pouches as well. This type of lace looks lovely with denim and linen pouches as in the one below.

So lots of disruption and I am so sad for all my self-employed friends and traders and all the musicians at festivals and everyone who is going to be affected. Strange times indeed but thankfully I have my crafting to keep me busy and a lovely home to enjoy. I am very, very  lucky to be in this position and will be doing all I can to support small business and food banks from home.

Take care of yourselves where ever you are and thanks, as always for visiting.