Dad's handiwork

My dad, now 77, cannot stand to be idle.

  Whilst not academic in any way he can turn his hand to many a practical task. Instructions may confuse him but give him a picture or example to study and he's off. 

 He spent his younger days working the land, before degenerative spine disease forced him to give up the farming he loved. He's a determined old B, there's no doubt about it, when I was a child he was told by the doctors that he'd be in a wheelchair soon, but he wasn't having any of that and now over 40 years later he still isn't. He rides his bike, though admittedly you sometimes need to watch carefully to check he's actually moving (beats me how he stays upright at his snails speed) and he still works two plots at the allotments!  But come the winter evenings he wants to sit but he wants to do something too. My parents don't have a TV so that's not an option, he reads a lot but felt like a change.  He's made rugs in the past but they are now so expensive and no one wants the finished article, and he can't be bothered with all the counting for cross stitch. Though he can knit (it was actually him who taught me) he doesn't really enjoy it (yes, I know) and then one day he was talking about how is mum was always making things including English pieced patchwork and he thought he might give it a try 

Not bad eh? It's 'bagged' rather than quilted and mum is going to tie it but I'm quite impressed.

I spent quite a while reminiscing, spotting bits of my skirts, Nan's blouse, the dress Auntie Lynda made and cut out two left fronts and so on. 

Now that the lighter evening are approaching he won't be doing much more for a bit but he's already planning some cushion covers for next winter. And it all goes to show that you are never too old to start a new craft.