'During lockdown for Covid 19 I had time on my hands. I was furloughed from my job at the library and after ‘all the jobs that needed doing’ I was at rather a loose end. I felt I should make something as a memento of this strange time and also fill in any spare moments so a needlepoint project seemed appropriate – marking the time stitch by stitch.

The process of stitching is relaxing and meditative as well as offering the possibility of creating something of my own to remember this year by. Something to record some of the details and feelings we experienced.

The cushion was created one section at a time as I thought of what to do next. It is made up of approximately 32,000 stitches and some felt appliqué and the bobbles representing the virus variants emerging.'

Sally Petheram, 2021