I stitched this COVID-19 piece in 2020.  It consisted of the center surrounded by a small border.  I recently decided to stitch a larger border.  I think it’s done now.

I felt compelled to stitch something representative of this awful pandemic, COVID 19.  I struggled as to how I would commemorate this world-wide threat.  I chose to stitch the virus itself which, to me, resembles pretty folk art flowers - a contradiction.  The color I chose for the body of the virus almost blends with the night-time sky color to mimic its invisible nature. Yet, photos of the virus include red and yellow appendages that some say look like a crown, thus its name Corona virus.  I chose a night-time scene as it invokes the sense of hope promised by an impending new dawn.  I included circular openings of white representing light breaking through to further serve the concept of hope.  I filled in a few chain stitches with yellow to mimic the yellow dots found on the virus to represent its shedding nature.  Crows have historically played a roll in religious and mythological beliefs.  I chose to use the symbolism of the crow because, to early man, sighting a single crow portended impending death and sorrow.  As crows are scavengers that will eat whatever they find, early man often observed their presence around death, thus associating them with death.  Their color, black, has long been associated with death.  I found it interesting that crows are in the Corvid family…close to COVID.  The virus held in the crows  beak serves to identify the cause of the potential impending death.