Earlier this year my dad died. He wasn’t an acquisitive man, so he didn’t leave possessions to inherit, but I do have some objects around the house that came from him and one in particular has been getting plenty of use recently.

When I was about 14 I became very keen on patchwork and I wanted a board on which to pin out my designs. In those days blocking boards were unheard of and I guess that most people just made do. My dad, being happy to make a variety of things for us (I have very fond memories of our sledge, which he made from old timber and which had metal curtain-track runners and his homemade table tennis table) agreed to make me a cork board for my crafty endeavours. At the time he’d just laid a cork floor in our kitchen and he had a few tiles left over. Those along with a piece of hardboard and some tile adhesive allowed him to create a board for me.

My patchwork board

As you can see, he was using up scraps of tiles, so it’s a bit of a patchwork itself. Plus, to begin with it was a bit smelly because of the adhesive, but that has faded with the years. When I’m blocking crochet or knitting, I have to cover it with a tea-towel because otherwise it stains my work slightly. However, in combination with some map pins, it is still doing a great job… I’m sure my dad would be pleased.

In use for blocking some bunting