My Sew A Little Happiness Every Day sampler

I know that lockdown isn’t over at all but last week, my son returned to school for a very few hours, and it felt like that phase of our life was over. At the start of lockdown Sarah from Pretty Fabrics & Trims mentioned she was going to start a 20″ square sampler, adding some stitches to it every day. It was a bit of a community project as everyone was invited to join in, and you could share your progress on Instagram using #SewALittleHappinessEveryDay.

I really wanted to join in but find it hard to focus and finish projects I start. A few days in and there were so many interesting stitches being shared on Instagram that I had to join in too. I found a plain tea towel, marked a grid on it and started stitching. It’s been a life saver over the last few months! Although Sarah shared a few ideas and templates on her blog, you could do anything you liked.

Like a lot of parents I have spent hours round the dining table with my children whilst they have been home learning. My #SewALittleHappinessEveryDay sampler has saved my sanity, giving my hands something to do through the hours of maths, english and foundation subjects my children have been doing. I’m not a natural teacher and it’s just been amazing, having something to pick up and focus on, helping me to concentrate and stopping me from getting frustrated with the children’s school work.

I’ve always been a huge fan of sewing and crafting but I have loved keeping myself busy with crafting during lockdown. I haven’t just been sewing. My Cricut Maker has been used more than ever, and our garden is full of DIY projects too. My sampler has grown week by week and I can’t quite believe it’s finished after 12 weeks.

I’ve added all kinds of different things to my sampler. I started off with tiny Liberty hexies, one for each day of lockdown, but then got a little bored with the monotony of it. I added a Liberty binding and then went through my sewing box, looking for scraps I could add. I found all sorts of things made over the years, from orphan quilt blocks to printed scraps, Suffolk puffs and pieces of cross stitch. I added on a little something every day. I’m not the neatest stitcher but I added a few special pieces to commemorate these strange times, from a rainbow to a medal for Captain Tom, a geocaching logo to  PE with Joe Wicks, and a toilet roll to a picture of our puppy which my son drew.

I finished it off by adding a running stitch along the lines I drew on 3 months ago. It was very soothing stitching over them and has given it a lovely finished look. This has been the strangest 3 months of our lives but this little piece of stitching helped me through.