'Virtual' Open Studios

(Ignore the date at the top - I posted this in the early hours of Saturday morning 3rd October, after getting home from Hammersmith, having been to a "Mott the Hoople" gig, but for some reason I can't change the date from the time I first saved it as a draft) ..........

As announced previously, I am joining in with Quilting Arts Virtual Online Open Studios event to coincide with the publication of the latest edition of "Studios" magazine. So you are cordially invited to have a look at my workspace.

My studio is a posh shed, built by my friend's son, at the bottom of my garden. I don't have a video recorder I'm afraid, so no video, just still photos. May I suggest that you pretend that you're walking along, and hum to yourself, as if it's a video accompanied by music. At least that way, you can have the music of your choice rather than mine, which isn't to everybody's taste. Come on, be creative, enter into the spirit of it!

Let's go through the archway (mind you don't get tangled in the rose bush) And here it is - (pause briefly to admire my pots newly planted with winter flowering pansies and cyclamen)... Mind the step ...., oh and could you NOT wipe your muddy feet on my door mat - it cost rather more than a door mat should, but it was chosen for it's decorative qualities. Bit like me.
As you can see, I always keep it very tidy .....

No, of course I didn't make a special effort before I took the photos!

Then, there's the slight less tidy storage. I'm not sure how other people manage with pretty vintage-y storage, for me it's millions of plastic boxes with a couple of Ikea drawer units thrown in for good measure. Not sure what's in the Ikea drawers that are in this picture - the drawers seem to have warped a bit since I put them together and I haven't got the strength to open them now. Oh well, it'll be a nice surprise when I do manage it. Obviously, it wouldn't normally be this cluttered, but all my City and Guilds homework is piled up in the corner.

The Lloyd Loom-type chair is on semi-permanent loan from my friend Jill who has too many chairs. I am going to spray it white and recover it, then if she comes round to reclaim it I can deny all knowledge. And the 'bar stool' is from my friend Betty, who also had too many chairs. (What is it with my mates and their furniture surfeit?)

This is another self-built unit from Ikea, I'm really pleased with this - it's great for storing large sheets of paper and much cheaper than a proper plan drawers chest.And finally the decorative features. My heart shaped card holder, displaying some of the many hand made postcards my lovely sister has sent me over the past two years.

I LOVE my shed/studio and time flies when I'm down there. I never seem to get as much done as I intend to, but then do we ever? I use it for painting occasional watercolours, painting and printing papers or fabric for my course, card making and sometimes stitching - my sewing machine and fabric is kept elsewhere, but I do sometimes take my machine down there to sew - I seem to get far less distracted if I work down there. I've got a little radio (sometimes tuned to Radio 4, but usually NME radio or XFM) and a kettle. Oh and a torch, since the time I had been down there all day until it got dark, and then I had to grope my way in the dark back up the garden.

And to sum it all up, the poem written and embroidered by my Mum, who claims to have set me and my sister off on our creative journeys .....

She made that up herself - and very appropriate! Right, I'm off now to go and have a nose at everyone else's workrooms.