Its been a week since we turned off the lights in The Old Art Room Swaffham studio for good.
Quilters Cottage has become my studio again. Home from home. An unsettling feeling of loss, bewilderment and stress as we could see bills not going to be able to be paid, if the pandemic continued, as the town studio and shop thrives on sharing and support. We handed the keys back to our amazing but reluctant landlady on the 3rd of August, as she too loved the 'magic' the studio created and we had been good tenants throughout the five years.
A lot of changes have occurred as we (meaning Stewart and myself) have worked from home, gardened and brought Quilters Cottage back to life. The cottage and garden needed so much doing as we maintained what we could in a few hours at weekend before this. The studios were more like store rooms, grabbing what I needed for the town studio and dumping off what was not required until the following time or season, they needed love and TLC as we had put some much time and energy into growing the business in Swaffham. It thrived and I am so pleased with that as it has made so many so happy, including us. Not to say it won't again but it will be very very different with social distancing being a main priority for the unseeable future.
Covid 19 has brought about a change for all of us.
In the beginning of the pandemic Stewart was on call and worked certain days but this has gave us the time for us to work on Quilters Cottage and bring it back to life. This was until the whole of a town studio came home, overwhelming and creating what we can only term caos and a feeling of hoarding. This led to us taking 45 boxes and items to our local auction to ease a little of the tusami of shop and studio that hit our veranda, studio and home. this I can see we are going to have to do for months to come as there was never able to be a sale due to the restrictions. A sense of overwhelm but I deal with each area, each box day by day. Each item, box means often at least 5 to 10 other moves or jobs as it takes logistics to fit in what I had gathered over 25 years of teaching and sharing creativity in the community. A life's work!
So, I felt it necessary to write this entry to express this. Unsure whether it was nostalgia or a sense that Quilters Cottage is becoming another way of sharing the creativity that is wakening here. The Old Art Room is still operating as the signs are ready to go up in a very unique space:))
I will keep you up to date with the goings on.
Join us for Facebook live HERE or the blog Here
Unsure whether this is a stand alone entry or the start of many.
We are still needing support for the studio because we are still working away with the 10am Facebook live on Old Art Room Page and delivering to customers in many different ways.
if you would like to donate click here thegf.me/u/xuuw9u
Go fund me link below. Anything is so appreciated and Thank you for your time:)))
Unsure whether this is a stand alone entry or the start of many.
We are still needing support for the studio because we are still working away with the 10am Facebook live on Old Art Room Page and delivering to customers in many different ways.
if you would like to donate click here thegf.me/u/xuuw9u
Go fund me link below. Anything is so appreciated and Thank you for your time:)))
If you shop on Amazon click the link HERE and we receive a small donation at no cost to yourself. Click the link and it takes you to Amazon then you can sign in and shop as normal. Thank you
