Relaxing during lockdown?

A lot of people who are getting paid to stay at home have said how relaxing it is.

I'm afraid I can't agree with that. Reading is about the closest I get to doing nothing at home. (Outside the home, sitting in the cinema eating a small portion of popcorn is the closest I get to doing nothing.)

When I feel like watching something on YouTube or on UK TV, then I have to do something. Here is a selection of things that I've been doing since the restrictions have been in place. If you want to see a bigger photo, click on one of the photos and you can just use the mouse wheel to 'flick' through all 51 larger photos.

OK...this lot was all done by the end of February, but they were too nice to leave out. A mix of 'reading blankets' and 'baby blankets'.

And by the end of March, I had completed this lot. 

This is often the state of my table. Mind you, this is neat compared to what it can look like.

In mid-March, I started embroidering cotton shopping bags. The patterns all came from old issues of Labores del Hogar.

 I'd like to add that each bag took 8 to 10 hours to embroider. It's not something you can do in a hurry.

 I was using up odd bits of wool to make what I call 'spectacle cocoons'.

 And here you see me making face masks out of two old M&S pillow cases. I had planned to turn them into bags. Wasn't it lucky that I am so lazy that I hadn't got round to it in the last two years or so. All in all, I made 5 face masks from this stripey material and 2 from the pink material I made the bags with. See below. And all sewn by hand, I might add.

Then I decided to embroider a bag for a French acquaintance of mine whom I hope to meet again on Mallorca this year. Shopping is much more fun with bags like this. Again, the patterns came from Labores del Hogar - from various issues, combined by me.

Then I got the sewing machine out, for about the 4th time in the 20 years I've had it.

And this was the result. I've had the material in my sewing cupboard for at least two years. Thanks to these restrictions, I've finally got round to doing what I originally intended.

And then yesterday and today, I got round to making two new teddy bears for the twin granddaughters of my old Japanese boss in London. The one on the right, in red velvet, is one of the first ones I made around 20 years ago. He lives in my wardrobe and looks as fresh today as he did when he was 'born'. All bears are sewn and stuffed by hand and I crochet their scarves, too.

The hardest thing is ensuring they have a friendly, smiley face.

What a cutie!

And these are the things I've completed this year. Other things are in the making. Oh, I forgot.. there were some cross-stitch pictures. I shall have to make photos of them, too.

Edit: This morning, I realised that I hadn't photographed these three blankets that I made when non-essential shops re-opened and I could get three more big balls of yarn from Woolworth. These have all been made so my eldest cousin can give them as Christmas presents to elderly people in care home who don't have family to give them a present on Christmas Day.