I've been thinking a lot about creative spaces just lately, the places where I find myself sitting most often to write or crochet. Much of my creative thinking happens when I'm outside walking, but in this season of cold, grey weather there are many hours spent indoors working on ideas and projects. It got me reminiscing about the studio room I used to work from on the first floor of a small local café, and how much I miss that quiet little space I used to occupy.
I first landed at Coopers Café exactly twelve years ago in February 2013, and you can read the whole story in my archives ((here)). For almost two years I shared one of the larger upstairs rooms with my friend Tracy, then at the start of 2015 she moved on and I relocated into the second smaller room.
The photos that I'm showing you today are from 2015 when I was settled into the small room on my own, ohh, I did so love working there! You can see more photos of my studio ((here)).
I had an old pine table in the centre of the room that I found on eBay and this is where I designed and worked on a good many of my crochet projects between 2015 and 2020. The above photo was taken at the beginning of March 2020, and of course this was just a few weeks before the covid pandemic threw us into lockdown. I didn't know at the time that this would be the last time I would be able to work from my studio, because many months later when hospitality businesses slowly started opening their doors again, this room was reclaimed by the café to provide an additional seating area and it has stayed that way ever since.
It was a wonderful seven years and I often think back and feel massively grateful for that time and place.
These days I'm a stay-at-home creative, and I'm generally very thankful for the ease of my working from home life. Unfortunately I don't have a dedicated work space here at home which is something I do struggle with on a daily basis. I mostly work from the dining room table at the back of the house which is part of our open plan living/dining space. As this is the only room we have for eating/relaxing, I'm sure you can imagine how well used it is by the whole family and how difficult it can be to find any kind of quiet, thinking/creative head space within it. I make do though, and try really hard not to moan about my situation (mostly!) because, well, I do really enjoy being at home.
When I was looking at my accumulated photos from the past few weeks, I realised how many of them were taken at the table, and thought it would be fun to share them with you...
I eat here of course, a solo breakfast and lunch and then in the evening we all sit at the table and eat together as a family. It's something I hold very close to my heart and LOVE the fact that my family really enjoy my home cooking and that we have the ritual of sitting down to eat and talk together every day.
I nearly always have flowers on the table, usually a cheap and cheerful supermarket bunch which comes home in my bag with the food shop. I had daffodils throughout January and now in February I've switched over to tulips....
....which do seem to last well and still look fantastic as they slowly fade away.
At the moment I've got these fancy-schmancy tulips in an old stripy jug, my goodness they are pretty. They cost me three pounds fifty and I am so in love with them.....
....I mean, just looook how glorious those gentle colours are! Floral colour will forever inspire me and I love having flowers nearby while I'm working or eating at the table.
I often light a candle when I'm sat here, especially at breakfast time when it can still feel quite gloomy in the mornings during winter. I'm enjoying this scented sea salt candle which was a Christmas gift, it smells wonderful and really does remind me of being beside the sea.
In fact I've been missing the sea since my trip to Dorset earlier in the month, and what with the seasalt candle and the little collection of pebbles and sea glass which had gathered, I was inspired to crochet something in coastal shades.
I delved into the Cupboard of Doom to find my bag of DK cottons (a mixture of Ricorumi and Sirdar Happy), picked out a bluesy colour palette and started crocheting a small mandala.
Mandalas are incredibly satisfying and mindful things to make when you have a creative itch that needs scratching and are the perfect vehicle for colour play. I followed my own Yuletide Mandala pattern which is free on my blog ((here))....
....although I made it a bit smaller than my original design, following as far as round 8, then skipping ahead to rounds 12&13 to create the scalloped edging. It didn't take me long, less than an hour, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Sometimes I forget that I can crochet something just for the sheer joy of the making process.
I often get asked about the crochet mats that sit on my table under the jugs of flowers, I have a collection of them made over the years in different colours. Some of them use the Yuletide Mandala pattern shown here, and others use a pretty mandala pattern I created back in 2014 which is called "Attic24 Mandala Wheel" if you're looking for it in my pattern list.
Working with these gorgeous seascape colours reminded me of this greetings card that sits on my book shelf, I absolutely adore it. It's called "The Strollers" by the artist Dee Nickerson, and I found the card last year on an outing to Salts Mill. Dee doesn't seem to have a website or be on social media at all, but I found a wonderful little write up and an inspiring selection of images on the card publishers website ((here)). I really love her work.
The strollers.....ahhh, how that speaks to my heart! Beach walking is one of my absolute favourite things to do.....
....and it's only three weeks since I was down in Dorset and had the pleasure of walking the sandy shoreline in Weymouth. I miss being by the sea, even in the depths of winter when the skies are heavy and grey and a strong wind blows. Maybe I love it best of all then, there is something so exhilarating about a long walk on a deserted winter beach.
You can guess what's coming to mind now, can't you? A day trip to the coast of course, I'm pretty predictable with my wants and needs. Maybe I'll manage to persuade J to come with me to St Anne's and we can be The Strollers in real life.
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