My piece is a very personal representation of my pandemic experience in Andalucia. I was first aware of the coronavirus from TV broadcasts showing scenes from overwhelmed Italian hospitals. Spain's initial lockdown in March 2020 was strict: I could leave the house only for essential shopping. No outside exercise was permitted and restrictions were enforced by armed police. I set up my embroidery trestles overlooking the gardens across from our house with their hedges of bougainvillea and the sea in the distance. I began work on a blackwork design by Valentina Sardu and found that concentrating on this, while being able to look at the natural world outside, enabled me to temporarily forget the awful images and emotions encountered while watching the nightly international news coverage. The blackwork circle, based on one of Valentina's patterns, represents the virus. It resides within a black box of gloom, inhabited by a range of emotions - from an initial awareness of the virus to the feelings of hope and optimism that vaccines would bring. The words outside the box are the colours of the purple bougainvillea flowers, ever present in Andalucia, while the blue border represents the endless sky and the sea.