Sunday Sevens #203 29.9.19

September 29, 2019September 29, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Hello! It’s Sunday again, and it’s been another busy week at this end with lots going on! Here’s what I’ve been up to this week:

Med Steps on a Monday

It feels good to be able to say that! It’s been such a long time since I had last made the climb. I think it was back in May just after the Med Steps 5 challenge actually, so this walk was well over due! It was hot but glorious up there and took me 46 minutes to get to the top (when I’m on form I can make it in less than 30 so there’s some training required!). I stopped aching yesterday… 🤣

Nocturnal visitors

When we got our new windows put in recently I was hoping our gecko friends wouldn’t abandon us. I am pleased to report that they came back with the warmer summer weather and they are still with us now. They don’t come onto the clear glass windows – just the frosted ones and lie in wait for moths.

Dressmaking class

My made-to-measure paper pattern is finished and the fabric has been cut ready for my trial run at making trousers. Sewing will begin this week.

An evening with friends

This week the book club I belong to had its first meeting since before the summer break. We met on Queensway Quay and it was lovely to catch up on everyone’s news and hear how everyone was getting on. Our book over the summer was Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman which I read when we were away in Portugal on holiday – it was so long ago I had trouble remembering the story! Must be my age!!

Upper Town walk

One morning I found myself in town and had a bit of free time (which doesn’t happen often enough!) so I took a wander up into Upper Town. There was a time a few years ago when I would regularly end up in these streets and alleyways but life doesn’t bring me up here often these days – it’s funny how your life’s geography changes over time.

Down by the water

On Friday evening I found myself at the Park just by the water at sunset. Normally I see the sun going down from our balcony but it was nice to see it from close to the water for a change…

Seamist at sunset

Last night though, I was back at home and saw this great weather as the sea mist swept into the Bay from the Strait of Gibraltar just as the sun was going down.

Eldest spotted it first looking out the window and commenting that it was like being on a plane and being above the clouds! It was quite beautiful. Less so though for those who were actually on planes and had to be diverted to Malaga because the reduced visibility meant they couldn’t land in Gibraltar.

I did manage to grab my crochet hook yesterday for a while in solidarity with all my yarny friends who are at Yarndale this weekend. Each year I hope I will be able to return to this great friendly festival, maybe next year? You can read all about my first, and so far, only trip to Yarndale in 2016 here.

And that brings this week’s Sunday Sevens to an end. I hope you have had a good week and that next week is kind to you.

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

A very belated round up of my Summer Craft Challenge 2019 (Weeks 7, 8 & 9)

September 23, 2019September 23, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

So, this summer’s craft challenge rather fell at the last few hurdles. It was doing so well but life got hectic and I’m afraid I put my crochet hook down rather a lot in the last few weeks of the school summer break. Not all the time though, so here goes with a mish mash of photos from the end of the holiday.

Introducing Dino…

Dino is the project I was working on during our holiday in Portugal but I couldn’t share a finished picture until he was gifted to his new owner in Manchester.

While in Manchester, an Edward’s Menagery Kit by Toft accidentally fell into my shopping basket. This cutie is Calle Emma.

She didn’t quite look exactly like the photo in the kit but she’s still pretty cute I think!

And that was the end of my summer Craft Challenge for another year, my least successful in so far as I didn’t manage to crochet every day, but a few unexpected things happened which got in the way of having crochet time.

I also didn’t want to put out this post until I had the time to pick up a hook again, and I’m very pleased to say that after about a month with no crochet at all, I was reacquainted with my Catalan Bay / Changing Tides Blanket again yesterday and that felt good!

Sunday Sevens #202 22.9.19

September 22, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Back again, and just one week since the last one! How are you? I hope you had a good week!

Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Back to school

My Dressmaking classes restarted this week – it felt good to be back again and using my brain! New term means a new project – trousers. Pattern drawing began this week and I took in the fabric I bought in the UK to show my teacher – thankfully it got the seal of approval. It will be a while before I start sewing with it though, after I cut my paper pattern I need to make a trial run in cotton to make sure I have the pattern correct.

Sunny morning in town

Its been such a long time since I’ve met a friend for coffee, but I managed it this week. We had a really good chat catching up on news from both of us from over the summer and cooking up a plan for the future – it was fun.

Birthday cake baking

I certainly wouldn’t get a place on Bake-Off… one of the Little Postcards celebrated a birthday this week and carrot cake was the request. I only bake for birthdays and occasional charity cake sale so it’s not my speciality nor is my spice rack particularly up to date. Imagine my horror when I replaced the required spices with new ones (as the old ones were a few years out of date) and only discovered the unopened packet of ground ginger when I was clearing up afterwards.

My delight at being told, ooh Mummy this tastes so gingery was a relief! Shhh it’s our little secret!

Many shades of grey…

It was a very grey affair on Friday… just look at those grey skies against the grey of the Rock, road & the buildings!

Relay for life

I had the privilege to pop along to the annual Relay for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK which was taking place yesterday. I wasn’t taking part, just cheering along from the sidelines. This amazing event saw about 80 teams of people walking round the track at Victoria Stradium for 24 hours from 11am yesterday to 11 am this morning – that’s some going. It is a very emotional event as many people are walking in memory of loved ones and in support of friends and family who are going through cancer at the moment. What a special thing to witness.

That’s it from me for this week, I hope you have a good one! Until next time, bye for now…

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #201 15.9.19

September 15, 2019September 15, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Ahh that feels better, back in the Sunday Sevens saddle! I hope you’re all well and have had a good week! This week for me has felt more like 2 to be honest with the Gibraltar Calling Music Festival last weekend and National Day on Tuesday. I have to admit that I’m rather looking forward to a ‘normal’ week with a ‘normal’ routine next week! Here goes…

Sunday at Gibraltar Calling

Last Sunday was day 2 of the Gibraltar Calling Music Festival. We got there early in time to see the day kicked off by King Calaway. Those of you away from Gibraltar may not have heard of them so I’ll explain who they are….

They’re a relatively new band based in the USA and are comprised of individuals from across the states as well as Europe, including the gentleman below. He’s called Simon Dumas and is from Gibraltar. Simon’s pretty well known here for being in a couple of local bands with his brothers Guy & Philip as well as being a radio presenter here whilst he was away studying music in Manchester.

Since he graduated he joined this band, King Calaway and they’re having quite a bit of success in the States. They are a bit ‘country’ and have performed with big stars like Garth Brooks and played at the Grand Ol’ Opry. This was their first performance in Gibraltar and it went down a storm!

They even performed one of the old Frontier’s songs (his last band before leaving here) along with his brothers.

I hope they don’t leave it too long to return!

Next up was Tom Walker …

Then I nipped over to the classic stage for a bit of David Essex’s set.

And then back in time for Rick Astley! Never gonna give you up….

The run away highlight of the day had to be Take That. Yes, that’s right – TAKE THAT!!!!!

Oh my word, they were terrific.

The fun didn’t stop there, Mel C from the Spice Girls came on to DJ. I’ve never heard a Spice Girls track (Who do you think you are) mixed with Nirvana‘s Smells like Teen Spirit before but I loved it!!

After that, a Queen tribute act came on but we headed home soon after they came on stage. Well it was after 1am and it was school the next day… 😳

National Day 2019

Two days later was Tuesday 10th September, Gibraltar National Day. The day when everyone wears red & white and has fun basically. We had aerobatic displays to watch…

Some people created the biggest tented city I’ve ever seen on Catalan Bay beach!

And in the evening we had a the obligatory National Day fireworks display.

Town centre Oasis

After all the excitement of the previous few days it was nice to take a moment to enjoy a bit of quiet in town while ferrying Little Postcards to after school activities!

Moody skies

Friday night saw moody skies brewing. Not far up the coast near Malaga there were terrible floods and some people lost their lives in the heavy downpours. We were extremely fortunate to escape that.

Gibraltar day still in evidence!

Even yesterday the place was still looking festive. Some shop keepers really go to town with their window displays – they look lovely.

And so here we are at the end of a rather long Sunday Sevens. I can pretty much guarantee that next week’s won’t be as exciting – but you never know what’s around the corner do you? Have a great week!

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

End of summer catch-up

September 14, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hello everyone, sorry for the radio silence for the last few weeks. It’s been a hectic time with one thing and another so Postcard from Gibraltar took a bit of a back seat, all being well Sunday Sevens will be back this weekend and normal service will be resumed!

In the meantime, here’s a bit of a catch-up from the last few weeks…

Mid August I took the Little Postcards away with me to visit my parents in Manchester.

We had a great time. It was so lovely to see them as they haven’t been able to make it over to see us this year and they noticed a big difference in the Little Postcards and how much they’ve grown. Aside from seeing friends and family it’s also lovely to do things we can’t do in Gibraltar. Like foraging for berries, and then enjoying them in the tastiest Apple & bramble crumble. (We jettisoned the elderberries- not sure what to use them for).

It’s become a bit of an annual tradition on our summer trips back home to visit Marbury Park for a picnic and then call into the Great Budworth Ice Cream farm for ice creams on the way home. I wouldn’t have felt right if we hadn’t done it this year, so we did!

And of course, the reward for the walk was some super duper raspberry ripple!

We took a trip into Lancashire to visit my lovely little brother and his wife. They drove us to Rivington Terraced Gardens where we had a picnic and a fabulous woodland walk climbing up a huge hill. We could even see Blackpool Tower in the distance!

After our week or so up north, we took the train down south to visit some very dear friends of ours who used to live in Gibraltar.

Grey’s Court National Trust property is just a short drive from where our friends live and we enjoyed a lovely trip there in the summer sunshine!

All too quickly though, our time in England came to an end…

Bye bye England!

As we headed home from Malaga airport, it didn’t take long before the sweaty Levante cloud came into view….

A couple of weeks ago it was the annual Gibraltar Fair with the usual churros, rides and this year Jedward too… we didn’t stay late enough to see the former Eurovision & X Factor pair. I hear they were ‘entertaining’.

As the fair drew to a close, so did the school summer holidays for many young people including my 3. Lots of others though, are still waiting for their new school buildings to open next week.

Last weekend the Gibraltar Calling Music Festival was on. A highlight for me was Liam Gallagher. I’ve seen Oasis play live a couple of times and I was really looking forward to seeing Liam. He didn’t disappoint.