Like everyone living alone during lockdown, I found the imposed solitude very difficult and almost surreal to deal with, being someone who loved the freedom to come and go, to visit friends and family at home and abroad since retirement from teaching.......I suddenly had to launch into another way of living, which was distressing and bewildering and there were no official guidelines of how to deal with it! Of course I had my phone and my laptop as a lifeline ,and I slowly got to grips with the joys and hazards of life on Zoom....I spent a lot of time reading and talked with God a lot...But my daily default setting became my sewing machine, and my love of creating patchwork quilts for family and friends!! and over 2 years I created and gave away12 quilts! My life and sanity depended on them and I withdrew into my own safe zone. Now, looking back, I realise it was a period of self discovery as well as intense creativity and my continued existence 'depended on this daily ritual.At the end of each day would sit down opposite the treasured photo of my beloved 6 grandchildren sitting on the wall in my garden and know I had survived another day, and feel thankful!