Month: April 2018

Sunday Sevens #134 29.4.18

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

Hello and welcome to this Bank Holiday edition of Sunday Sevens. We are enjoying a 4-day weekend here in Gibraltar with Workers Memorial Day tomorrow and May Day on Tuesday. Fortunately, we enjoyed some rather nice sunshine yesterday, although we have had heavy rain and thunder storms overnight, so it’s turning out to be your usual British bank holiday! However you are spending this weekend, I hope you’re having a good time 🙂

Heavy seas

Last Sunday I took a walk around the eastern side of the Rock and was mesmerized by the waves. They were crashing on the rocks below like billy-o and were quite hypnotic to watch.

Poppies & partridges

Poppies and Barbary partridges were the order of the day for my Monday trip up the Med Steps. These were the first poppies of spring this year and are always such a treat to see.

Just killing time with a crochet rainbow

One afternoon I found myself with some time to kill in the car while waiting to pick up Little Postcards. Fortunately, I came prepared with my crochet. A lovely way to while away a few moments.

Another painting finished…

At my art class this week, I finished off my freesia painting. That’s four now that I have done in this style and I’ve really enjoyed painting & drawing them (all four are below). The first one (the purple iris) was a copy of a greetings card, which my watercolour teacher had by an artist called Judy Ball. The original was a lino print rather than a ink and watercolour picture.

I then copied that style to do my own compositions of daffodils, tulips and freesias.

Gib Rocks

The Postcard from Gibraltar ‘Gib Rock’ has been set free in the beautiful Alameda Botanical Gardens. It was left in a particularly tranquil spot, one that’s special to me, because it reminds me of my lovely Gran. She sat in this area for a while on her only trip out to Gibraltar to visit us. If you should happen to see my rock, I’d love to hear from you 😊.

Out of my window

I love that whenever I look out of my window here, my view is always changing. I glanced up while on the phone one lunchtime this week and spied this old fashioned ship picking it’s way amongst the bunkering tankers and cargo ships. I have a great app on my iPad called Marine Traffic (a bit geeky I know) which lets you see the name, country of origin and destination of many of the ships out in the Bay. Sadly, I was too busy to take the time to find out about this one. It does look rather magestic don’t you think?

And finally, time for something different…

I spotted this little chap in the middle of the lawn behind the Gibraltar Register Office this week. I hadn’t walked that way for quite some time and had never seen him before. I think he’s rather sweet, and I think Gibraltar needs more garden gnomes!

I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Sunday Sevens #132 22.4.18

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

Hello there, welcome to the latest Sunday Sevens, a week which began in bright sunshine and ended with grey cloudy skies….

Don’t go into the water!

There were reports in the media last week that lots of Portuguese Man-o-war were being washed up on Gibrataltar’s beaches. Not wishing to miss out on seeing them, I headed down to Camp Bay with the Little Postcards last Sunday to see if we could see any. We weren’t disappointed. I had never seen them before and found them rather mesmerising with their bright blue colour and tentacles drifting below the waves.

We kept our distance though, as they can be very dangerous, even lethal in some cases. I thought it best to show the children what they looked like in case they should ever encounter them again. Now they will know to avoid them in future.

I’ve got a beach!

This week I managed to keep up with the Coastal Crochet CAL (Crochet along) and now have the beginnings of a beach on my Seaside Stash-busting Blanket. It was very nautical for a while there, but now I have wet sand, seaweed and pebbles.

3 times round

I can’t quite believe I am writing this, but although I didn’t plan it, I managed three times round the Med Steps this week. I had intended to do twice round but something Mr Postcard said as he went to work (along the lines of “two not three?”) planted the seed and once I’d completed number 2, thought, why not? I went for it. It was very difficult. This photo was taken at the bottom of the final set of steps. I was sitting on the bottom step at the time! I’ve got less than a month to go now before the Med Steps 5 Challenge, so there’s no time to waste!

Princess line seams

This week’s dressmaking class was all about the princess line seams. Boring photo I’m afraid.

Double daffs

I went crazy and splashed out £2 on a bunch of daffodils for myself this week. They had beautiful double heads and made me smile.

More stepping

The beautiful sunny weather we had at the start of the week had disappeared by Friday. I headed back up the steps. It was very blustery up there and just a little bit scary as I turned the corner onto the east side. It was blowing me backwards as if I wasn’t allowed to go up. Once I was properly round onto the eastern side, it was much more sheltered and not a problem at all.

Seeing as I can’t show you blue skies on this one, I took a few pictures of the beautiful wild flowers up there, including the Gibraltar national flower (the Gibraltar Candytuft: bottom right) which is in flower in a few sheltered spots now.

Gib Rocks

There is a phenomenon sweeping Gibraltar at the moment, especially for families with young children, called Gib Rocks. It started just a few short weeks ago, and the idea is to paint rocks and stones with bright colours, a message or a picture, then hide them somewhere in Gibraltar for someone else to find. It was sparked by one Gibraltar-based family’s trip to Battle in the South of England at Easter, where a similar scheme is in operation. On their return, they set up a Facebook page called Gib Rocks and at the last count it had over 3,600 members. It’s kind of mushroomed!

Anyway, we decided to join in too. I shan’t show you what the Little Postcards painted, as they wanted to keep it a secret, but I’m rather partial to rainbows so I could only paint one thing couldn’t I? It’s drying off nicely now ready for it’s final touches, I’ll keep you posted on where it ends up…. watch this space!

I’m linking with Natalie from Threads & Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Friday photo challenge (week 16) Transport

~ Making Stitches ~ 7 Comments

There should’ve been a midweek post this week or even last week all about our trip to London at Easter. Life has been a bit busy though, and it sits, half written in my drafts list. Maybe next week?

In the meantime, here are a few photos of some the transport related parts of our trip; overground train lines, the Tube and the Docklands Light Railway. Oh, and I love some of the Tube stations with their original Art Deco tiling.

Don’t know why, but this sign always made me smile as I walked past!

Maybe it’s just me being childish, apologies 🙈.

Next week’s challenge is ‘blue’ if you fancy joining in!

Sunday Sevens #131 15.4.18

~ Making Stitches ~ 5 Comments

Hello there, and welcome to this week’s Sunday Sevens. It’s been a bit of a busy day, hence the lateness of this!

Sunshine ☀️

After a dodgy start, last Sunday was glorious. In the afternoon we took the Little Postcards to the park to run off a bit of energy ahead of school starting back the next day. On our return, Mr Postcard and I, took a few minutes to sit out on the balcony before dinner to soak up a few rays – rain was forecast for the next seven days – you have to take the opportunity while you can!

Back in the groove

Oh, how I missed my crochet while I was in the UK over Easter. I took a portable project with me but sadly the hook recommended was too small for my tension and although I had the next size up with me that was too small too… I did the first two rows of 300+ stitches and frogged it three times before giving up.

There was a lovely looking yarn shop in Sidmouth where we stayed but it was closed (understandably) over Easter weekend, and in London, we took a big diversion one day to visit Loop in Islington (a gorgeous yarn emporium). They had every size hook imaginable in stock apart from the size I needed – grrr! Never mind, I got to scratch my crochet itch on our return and managed to catch up on about 3 weeks worth of rows of the Coastal Crochet Seaside Stash Busting Blanket.

Med Steps training

I’m committed to doing the Med Steps 5 Challenge again in May this year, but so far my training hasn’t gone to plan very well. On Monday I managed a first for this year, twice round! The second trip was not easy at all but it feels like I’m finally getting somewhere!

As you can see above, I started the first trip up in drizzle with a rainbow in the Bay and finished the second in sunshine….

Back to art class

It feels like it’s been a long, long time since my last watercolour class. It’s got to be about a month since I last put pencil or brush to paper. This week I headed back to my class and began a new ink and watercolour painting, freesias this time.

Happy post & a bumble bee 🐝

I have been meaning to go and pick up a parcel from the post office since we returned from our Easter trip to England and a message on the radio gave me the kick up the behind I needed. The parcel post is moving locations across Gibraltar this weekend, to make way for a new school building project.

I didn’t want my parcel to get lost in the move, so hot footed it over to pick up my latest Little Box of Crochet. Being a native Mancunian, I just love my bumble bee brooch! I also have a friend who’s expecting a baby girl, so I have just the person in mind for that crochet project, once it’s complete!

Wet, wet, wet!

This week, we had storms on Tuesday and again on Thursday. It was pretty wet for us on Friday too but I persevered and climbed up the again on Friday. The Steps were closed on Wednesday and Friday after the storms so I went up the road on the other side instead. I’m chuffed with myself that I managed 3 training sessions in total this week.

Football crazy

Yesterday meant lots of football, and with it lots of very welcome sunshine. We had a league match to attend in the morning for one Little Postcard and then a 5-a-side tournament in the afternoon. Never a dull moment in this house!

And that, as they say, is that. Sunday Sevens complete for another week. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have had a good week and that the week ahead is kind to you.

I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for the Sunday Sevens blog series.

Friday photo challenge (week 15) Clock & March round-up

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This week’s Friday photo challenge features two clocks I saw last week on our Easter trip to England. The first being the clock of St Paul’s Cathedral in London as seen from the stone gallery around the circumference of the dome.

The second being the clock on the steeple of St John the Evangelist church in Burgess Hill in Sussex. We visited this church on a family history quest and found the war grave of Mr Postcard’s great great uncle who died aged 18 in World War 1. It was a beautifully maintained church and graveyard and a very special place for us all to visit.

Next week’s photo challenge prompt is: transport.

Last week I should have included a monthly round up for March but didn’t manage it owing to being on holiday, so here it is, one week late:

Cosy

Over on Instagram there was a plethora of cosy crocheted and knitted items, blankets, socks to name but two. A very cute sleeping cat showed up too, but poor old Alison in Andalucia (@alisoninandalucia) was struggling with a cold at the time and was staying cosy under a blanket with a hot lemon drink.

Best Friend

Sandra at Wild Daffodil told us the story of Maggie who loved shopping with her best friend!

On Instagram chocolate featured more than once, I had to admit it’s a good friend of mine, although I do pay a price for this friendship! Also a very special rescue cat by the name of Zac who is Susan’s (@BlueJake235) best friend. Janet Bryden posted a photo of herself and her husband and best friend as they are celebrating 40 years of marriage this year – congratulations to you both 🙂

Communication

Snail mail was a popular choice for communication over on Instagram, and I have to agree. You just can’t beat a letter through the post can you? My favourite photo for Communication has to be Sandra’s (@capanosandra) it showed her holding someone’s hand along with some rosary beads, prayer being the form of communication she had in mind. It is a very powerful photo.

Spring

I love Sandra’s take on the Spring Equinox over at Wild Daffodil.

On Instagram, there were spring flowers a plenty. Daffodils, crocus, bluebells and cherry blossom all feature. It wasn’t looking too spring-like up in Yorkshire for Saffy (@bumblebluebee07) though, icicles featured on her feed! Susan (@bluejake235) stole the show though with her spring lambs – aaah!

Rainbow

You really can’t beat a rainbow to lift the spirits! A couple of Instagrammers opted for woolly rainbows like me, there was variegated rainbow yarn knitted into a pair of jazzy cosy socks and an extremely cute crocheted rainbow bookmark by @hookstitchsew and as for ‘real’ rainbows – @bluejake235 took the biscuit with a beautiful rainbow snapped next to a waterfall in Iceland.

If you want to join in with the Friday photo challenge, it’s not too late. You can dip in and out as you wish. Just leave a link to your blog in the comments below or use the hashtag #postcardfromgibfridayphoto and then we can all see your pictures.

Sunday Sevens #130 8.4.18

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

Hello there from Gibraltar on the last day of the Easter school holidays. Life will hopefully fall back into some sort of routine from tomorrow. We’ve had a lovely week and a bit of family time with travel to the south of England, which we all enjoyed, but it will be nice to get back to normal again… here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Down on the farm

On Easter Sunday we piled into car and drove from our holiday home in Sidmouth in Devon to a fabulous farm shop and café for breakfast. Greendale Farm Shop, just outside Exeter, has won awards and I can see why, it was fabulous. We had great breakfasts ranging from a mini full English to bacon butties, omelette to waffles and ice cream?! The shop was excellent, as was the farm itself.

The Little Postcards were mesmerized by the free range chickens who followed us wherever we went. As for Oscar the ostrich, the jury’s out. Just for the record I was informed that there was a more than passing resemblance between myself and the pot bellied pigs (see what I have to put up with!).

Train travels

We were on the move again on Monday, we travelled from Devon to London Paddington. The train was terribly overcrowded, we stood all the way from Exeter to London 🙁 it was so overcrowded even the toilet door handle was shocked:

I stood next to it all the way :-/

Being tourists

On Tuesday we met up with some old friends who used to live in Gibraltar and did a spot of sightseeing. (It was lovely to see them again.) First stop was St Paul’s Cathedral. I had never been inside before and was mesmerized by this place which, when I was a little girl in 1981, hosted the fairytale royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di.

I had a Ladybird book of the royal wedding which I knew off by heart cover-to-cover preparing myself for my own wedding to a Prince…. I did indeed meet my prince, Mr Postcard, our wedding was a rather more low key affair but no less special 😉

Flying high

On Wednesday we took a bit of a tour around the capital for the benefit of a Little Postcard who has a thing for public transport, we rode the Tube, the Docklands Light Railway, a regular train which ran on part of the soon to be opened Cross-Rail project and hitched a ride on the Emirates Airline cable car. It gave us a great view across the O2 towards the City, and despite the rainy weather was lots of fun.

A perfect spring morning

On our last morning in London, we woke to blue skies and set off for a bit of a walk to make the most of the good weather. We headed to Kensington Gardens and as you can see it was glorious. What a charming park, despite being busy with people it didn’t feel overcrowded and it was great to get a fix of green in the Big Smoke. Many of the trees were starting to show signs of spring and it was so good to see.

Heading home

On Friday we headed home to Gibraltar. Before setting off from Blighty we had an overnight stay with more friends in Sussex and we headed out for a walk near to where we were staying. On that walk I spied these pretty primroses. I do love visiting England in the spring. The sprouting trees and hedges and spring flowers hold such promise of the beauty which is yet to come. Thank you England, we had a lovely trip!

Back down to business

Too much time has passed without Med Steps training, so once my washing airers were full of clean wet washing and I could wash no more, it was time to hit the steps again yesterday.

I have to admit feeling a little disillusioned and unmotivated about my training of late as life and bad weather have rather got in the way. However, as I stepped I plugged in my headphones to listen to an amazing podcast. It was the latest in the Blogtacular Podcast series and featured Lauren Mahon, the author of the blog Girl vs Cancer.

It was incredibly powerful as she spoke of the importance of support services to help people undergoing cancer treatment. It reminded me why I was training for the Med Steps 5 next month, which raises funds for the Cancer Relief Centre here in Gibraltar so it can offer a whole range of much needed support services to those undergoing treatment as well as their nearest and dearest. I’m back on track now!

Thank you for stopping by and reading this Sunday Sevens. I’m linking with Natalie from Threads & Bobbins.

Friday photo challenge (week 14) Sweet

~ Making Stitches ~ 7 Comments

This week’s Friday photo challenge is ‘sweet’. I have to admit to having a very sweet tooth. Sweet things are my downfall.

This beautiful cake was very sweet and was made to celebrate a family wedding we went to last year.

And now for something completely different, and very sweet…

…this was one of the yarnbombed bollards outside the Yarndale festival 2016. The bollards were created by the Thirsk Yarnbombers for the festival.

Next week’s photo challenge is : clock.

Normally on the first week of a new month I include a monthly round-up of everyone else’s photo challenge entries, but as I’ve been away on holiday recently I haven’t had the chance to do that. The March monthly round-up will happen next week instead.

Easter in England

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

Last Thursday we packed up the car and headed off bright and early to Malaga airport to catch a flight to the UK. This time we were heading for new territory, the Jurassic Coast on the South West Coast of England.

We were staying in a lovely house in Sidmouth in Devon.

We even had a ford in front of our front door…

How English is that??

Sidmouth was decked out and ready for Easter…

The shop windows in the town were lovely.

On a walk down to the seafront, the coastal erosion was very apparent.

Just 12 hours before our arrival, there was a major rockfall. Just check out this garden shed on the brink…

On our first full day we took a trip to Lyme Regis on the hunt for fossils…

It’s a rather pretty seaside town…

A place where even the street lights feature fossils!

The inclement weather wasn’t exactly suited to foraging for fossils on the beach, so we made do with a wander around the town. We could appreciate the beauty of the place in spite of the poor weather…

… that coastline must look stunning on a clear day!

The shops in Lyme Regis are dominated by the area’s rich prehistoric history. Fossils are all over, none made me smile though like these ‘ammoknits’! How cool are they?

We left Lyme Regis and headed next to Seaton, and Seaton Jurassic in particular. It’s an interactive museum perfect for children and even features a time machine…

We travelled back in time millions of years and learned lots of interesting facts about dinosaurs to earn this treasure…

We may not have made any major fossil finds, but it was a special day for Littlest Postcard who saw real snow for the first time on our drive home.

Exeter

Saturday saw us heading into Exeter to meet up with some old friends from University. We hadn’t seen them for a few years so it was wonderful to be able to catch up with them again.

Gotta love a good gargoyle…

Exeter is a very pretty city. I would’ve liked a look around inside the Cathedral, but unfortunately time didn’t allow on this occasion, perhaps next time…

I spent a good bit of time wandering around looking up at the old buildings with their wonky windows and charm.

Our friend who lives locally took us on a mini Harry Potter tour. Apparently JK Rowling studied at Exeter and while she was there found inspiration for her books. This road, Gandy Street, was the inspiration for…

…Diagon Alley.

And this pub entrance…

… Gringott’s Bank.

There was even a Cauldron Inn…

Or at least there was a sign for one above a doorway.

How about this for an Easter chick?

On Easter Sunday we went to Greendale Farm Shop outside Exeter. I’m not sure that this counts as breakfast, but it was Easter Day…

The Little Postcards loved the farm animals…

… I did too 😉

Then back to Sidmouth for a stroll along the prom and a visit to the town’s independent lifeboat.

The Methodist Church had a beautiful display for Easter Sunday.

In spite of the weather, I was rather enamoured by Sidmouth.

The rather circumspect weather meant that we opted for a trip to the cinema to dodge the rain.

The independent Radway Cinema is really lovely. It was spotlessly clean, the staff were great and it was so reminiscent of our local cinema when I was growing up. We enjoyed Peter Rabbit very much!

However you spent your Easter weekend, I hope it was a good one for you.

Monthly Meet-up April : Yellow

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Crumbs how are we on our fourth monthly meet up of 2018 already? This month’s prompt was ‘yellow’, so here’s a sunny sunflower to brighten your day. One of our first crop when we moved to our current home in Gibraltar, which luckily gave us enough space outside to grow some sunflowers.

Regular visitors to Postcard from Gibraltar will know I am a watercolour student. This is one of my most recent paintings done at my weekly watercolour class…

Last summer we visited Rome and one of our days there was spent touring around the Vatican. It was a truly fascinating day, and you can read all about it in my Postcard from the Vatican. While we were there we simply had to send home a postcard from the Vatican….

Oh and another great trip last year was to visit some very good friends living in Berkshire. While we were there, we went to Legoland for the day, which is where we saw these ducks!

I’m linking with Sandra of Wild Daffodil for this monthly meet up.