Blimey – that was a quick week. Week one if my Summer Craft Challenge 2025 is done!
I have to say I have been thrilled to be joined by so many other crafters so far this time – some are joining everyday, others just now and then. There is absolutely no pressure to post something everyday, but if you feel inspired to do something creative after reading this, please join in! Here’s a little look back at my creative week number 1!
I had enough time today to actually make a full trio of matching hearts for the appeal – the staff on the ambulances need three matching hearts for each family, so this is my first full set done!
Day 3 : Monday 21st July
Now this was fun, a new make for a very special collaboration I am working on with Eleonora from Coastal Crochet. I won’t say any more for now, but I am very much looking forward to sharing it with you very soon…
Day 4 : Tuesday 22nd July
Super busy day for me both at work and at home in the evening meant there was very little time for crochet, but I did plan ahead and take my hook into work with me and managed a quick five minutes during my lunch break!
Day 5 : Wednesday 23rd July
Another frantically busy day meant not much time for fun things after work, cutting the lawn, food shopping, washing, ironing and packing to go on holiday, but it was all worth it because….
Day 6 : Thursday 24th July
….after a very long drive and ride on a ferry, we arrived at our home for the next week, in Scotland! Hurrah! Check that view out for a backdrop to my sock knitting!
Day 7 : Friday 25th July
I’ve been saving up this embroidery project to bring with me on holiday. I bought it a few months back from Hello Hooray Blog with the intention of bringing it away on holiday with me. It’s perfect, it’s small, portable and has everything I need inside and I LOVE the colours! I can’t put it down… just one more diamond….
Not only did I manage to do some embroidery on Friday, I also managed a bit of crochet on the side of the shinty pitch while my boys had a kick around!
Thank you to everyone who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge 2025 so far – I have loved seeing your creations appearing online. Here are just a few of the brilliant snapshots of creativity which have been shared under the #SummerCraftChallenge2025 hashtag this week!
Thank you all for being good sports and joining in! Have a lovely weekend!
Hello there! In our household, school finished for the year yesterday (for one of my boys) and so that means, today is the first day of my Summer Craft Challenge for 2025!
In case you haven’t come across one of my Summer Craft Challenges before, it first started way back on 9th July 2016. At the time, I was living in Gibraltar with my family. I was a full-time stay-at-home Mum, I had 3 young men in my life (aged 12, 8 and 4 at that time) and I was staring down the barrel of a 10-week-long school summer break.
Having lived in Gibraltar for 7 years by then, I was well used to the chaos of the long summer break. I would often find myself at home, parenting alone for long stretches due to my former husband’s work schedule and frequent trips away. It was hard work.
Being creative is amazingly important to me for supporting my mood. If I go for too long without making something – I get grumpy!
So, back in 2016 I challenged myself to do something crafty every day of that 10-week-long holiday (even if it was only for 5 minutes), take a photo of myself doing it and post it to Instagram to keep me accountable and it worked! Not only did I feel better but I had a nice crafty photo diary of my summer!
(This was my first ever Summer Craft Challenge Photo – taken on 9th July 2016 in our back patio as we enjoyed a start of the summer holiday barbecue).
My Summer Craft Challenge wasn’t just for days when we were at home, my projects came away with us on family holidays including in 2016 when we visited the Norfolk Broads!
Always having a project with me wherever I was during the summer holidays meant that sometimes I just found myself in the perfect situation to take a photo of what I was working on including when I took my Little Box of Crochet project (designed by Eleonora Tully from Coastal Crochet) away with me to finish on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk in 2018.
It has come on planes with me – along with my mascot for the summer of 2017 – Europa the Unicorn, who accompanied the family to England, France, Italy & Portugal that year – much to the embarrassment of my boys! (I made Europa on the first day of my Summer Craft Challenge 2017 using a kit from Simply Crochet Magazine).
I continued working on that shawl while escaping the heat of the midday sun in Carcasonne in Southern France in 2017.
My crochet also joined me on the beach in Portugal! (2017)
Not all of my summer making has been in such exotic locations though, I’ve done sock knitting between rain showers at the top of a hill in the West of Scotland! (2022)
Oh the glamour of knitting on a wet and windy Scottish hillside… I enjoyed it so much the last time, I did it again last year!
I love my Summer Craft Challenge, even though life is so different now to how it was when I first started, we are now a family of 4, my boys are 21, 17 & 13 and I work now too, so my time is a lot more limited than it once was. However, doing this reminds me of lovely summer memories of days gone by and it still helps keep me on an even keel with the juggle of work, family and everything else.
The best thing about the Summer Craft Challenge though is when others join in. Each year, the number of people joining in has grown and grown and that’s so lovely. If you want to join, please do – you don’t need to commit to doing it every day (sometimes I can’t manage it these days) but you are very welcome to dip in and out at any time. If you share a photo of your current project online, please use the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2025 so everyone can see what you’ve been up to! Please do give it a go – the more the merrier!
I’ll be sharing my photos daily on Instagram and writing a weekly blog post looking back at what I’ve been up to as well. I can’t wait to see what you get up to yourself though!
Today I would like to share something very special with you. Recently, I was contacted by a lady called Emma who works for a very special organisation – the North West and North Wales Paediatric Transport service (NWTS).
The North West and North Wales Paediatric Transport Service transports critically ill children from their local hospitals to regional Paediatric Intensive Care Units for ongoing care. During Covid, when they were unable to have parents traveling in the ambulances with their children, they asked knitters to make matching hearts for the children and their families.
The team carry sets of three hearts – one for the child and one for each parent. The child receives their heart while the team stabilises them before the transfer, and the parents are encouraged to hold their hearts during this time. Before the transfer, the hearts are swapped over, so that each family member holds the other’s heart.
Emma explained that although this may seem like a little thing, it helps families feel connected at such a stressful time. The NWTS team has the goal of having 3 hearts to give to each family they work with, so their hearts remain together even if they cannot physically be together during the hospital transfer.
Currently, NWTS’s supply of hearts is running low and they are asking for help to boost their supply of yarny hearts. Emma contacted me to ask if she could share my amigurumi heart pattern for crocheters to use, naturally I said yes and asked if she would like me to spread the word about the appeal.
So here we go, if you have the time to hook up a trio (or multiple trios) of matching hearts for this very special cause, please do! You can find my little amigurumi heart pattern here. It’s a pretty small pattern which is perfect for using up little odds and ends of yarn and a teeny bit of toy filling to make it nice and plump. It works up very quickly, so you will have your hearts made in a jiffy! Also, if you are going to be joining me with my Summer Craft Challenge this year, these little hearts are the perfect palate cleanser mini project to slot in between your other wips.
“We would be incredibly grateful for help from anyone who enjoys crocheting, to create matched hearts for the children and their families. Our team carries sets of three hearts – one for the child and one for each parent. Right now, our supplies are running extremely low, and any contribution – no matter how small – would be deeply appreciated. The goal is to provide three hearts for each family: one for the child and one for each parent, so their hearts remain linked even if they cannot be together during the transfer” – North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport
When you have made your hearts, please send them to this address:
NWTS, Room 005, Newton House, Birchwood Park, Faraday Street, Risley, Warrington, WA3 6FW, United Kingdom.
If you do decided to make some hearts for NWTS, and you share them on social media, please use the hashtag #Hearts4NWTS so we can see all the beautiful hearts as they appear.
I would be so grateful if you would please help me spread the word about this yarny heart campaign to help make a very difficult time a little bit easier for poorly children and their parents.
Hello there, how are we at 14th July already? Almost at the midpoint of the month! I hope it’s been a good one for you – it’s been a decidedly warm one for us, with temperatures in the 30s (which for those of you in hotter climes probably doesn’t sound too hot but we felt it was!).
Last month was a rather special one for me in my blogging life, this little blog celebrated its 10th birthday. Never in all my imagination did I think, it would still be going after all this time when I first started out. I can vividly remember going out for a walk one evening (about a decade ago) along the winding streets and passages of Gibraltar taking photos of bougainvillea to illustrate one of my earlier blog posts and thinking, ‘is there anyone out there who will want to read this?’. I’m thrilled to say there was, and I’m still here knocking out posts (a little less frequently these days due to work commitments) and you’re still out there reading them! Thank you!
That bougainvillea from 10 years ago!
Anyway, here’s a quick look back at June in my world:
International Stitch Day
What a way to kick off the month, and what an amazingly on-brand event for Making Stitches! I was thrilled to be able to attend International Stitch Day on 1st June at the opening of Woven in Kirklees Festival in West Yorkshire. It was a brilliant day hosted at Oakwell Hall in Birstall. There were stalls, workshops (including one I had a play at), lots of interesting things to look at, and the most amazing thing I have experienced this year so far, the Red Dress was on display in the old hall itself.
I have been aware of the Red Dress for quite a while now through social media and blog posts I have read, but to be able to witness it myself in real life was quite something. As I arrived early at the start of the event, I was able to go and have a look once the initial flurry of visitors had been in and at one brief point, I was the only person in the room (apart from the staff standing discretely at the back). The atmosphere was amazing and I felt truly privileged to witness it for myself.
To see the intricate stitching and the countless hours of work by 380 different embroiderers, both professional and amateur, and to learn about some of the stories of the people who have stitched onto the dress was just amazing. After seeing it for myself, I was able to go and hear the ‘creator’ of the dress, Kirstie Macleod, give a talk about how the project had come about and a snapshot of some of her adventures as she has traveled around the world with it. It’s just mindblowing how big this project was and the complexity of the logistics involved.
I was delighted to be able to sit down briefly with Kirstie after her talk to record a short chat for a future episode of Making Stitches Podcast and I’m thrilled to say that she agreed to a longer chat with me for a special ‘Red Dress’ episode which will be out in autumn.
A weekend away
Unfortunately one of us had to take the picture – but there were 5 of us!
I was so lucky in June to experience not one, but two brilliant weekends – first came Woven and next came a weekend away with four very special ladies who I have known since University days (one even since primary school!)
One of them lives in the Lake District and we have been trying to arrange for us all to spend a weekend together at her house for years. Each time we thought we had a date in the diary, something would come up and we were determined to do it with us all there. Persistence paid off and we had the most amazing couple of days reconnecting, walking, eating and drinking.
True old friends are just the best. They hold you up in the worst of times, share the best of times and, no matter how long passes between your meetings, when you are back together it’s as if you were never apart.
I feel truly blessed to have them in my life.
10 years of this blog
Back in June 2015, after years of reading other people’s blogs, I decided to have a go myself. I thought the chances of anyone reading it were slim, but I thought I could use it as a kind of diary to record our life as a family living in Gibraltar. In its first iteration as Postcard from Gibraltar, it really surprised me – I found people around the world all reading it and sending me lovely messages.
In the intervening years, our family has changed, has moved back to the UK, I’ve gone from being a full-time stay at home Mum to a working Mum Postcard from Gibraltar morphed into Making Stitches and the Making Stitches Podcast was born too! If you missed my post about the anniversary, you can find it here.
First strawb of the year!
I don’t know what happened to my strawberry plants over the winter – but I went from having about six containers full last year to just having three weedy looking specimens. My parents felt sorry for me and sent me over a new container filled with healthy plants and this was my first strawb. I am giving the new pot a lot of attention – especially during this very hot and dry weather so that it survives beyond the first month in my possession!
Soccer Aid
Honestly, trips to Old Trafford are like buses, you wait for years to go and then get two trips straight after each other! After going to the last match of the season for Manchester United in May, I went back with my Dad and Youngest to watch Soccer Aid on Father’s Day.
It was a great evening’s entertainment and really quite funny at times. There was even a musical interlude at half time which included a grand piano on the centre circle!
Making Stitches 2025 CAL : June
Summer Solstice SquareBonus Birthday Square
June saw not one, but two new squares for the Making Stitches 2025 CAL. The main reason for me doing this CAL this year is because of the special anniversary, so it seemed appropriate to mark the occasion with a bonus square in addition to this month’s main square. The Summer Solstice square was launched on 1st June and the Bonus Birthday square pattern was released on my blogiversary.
There was just one episode of Making Stitches Podcast released in June as series 9 drew to a close ahead of the summer break. My guest this time was Micah Clasper-Torch a punch needle designer who has taught thousands of people the craft through her online platform. She has a new book out and is hoping to reach an even wider audience through her wearable punch needle designs. You can listen to the episode with Micah here.
Before I go…
This Postcard is almost at an end but before I head off, just a couple more things…. I have been so busy with crochet designs and recording new episodes for the next series of Making Stitches Podcast that I am well and truly ready to have a bit of a breather as life shifts down a gear and we hit the soon-to-be-upon-us school summer holidays.
Before the holidays hit though, I am looking forward to sharing a bit of lovely news with you very soon. Keep your eyes pealed for that please – because I am going to need your help with something very special and worthwhile.
Also, when my boys break up for their school summer holidays I will be launching my Summer Craft Challenge 2025 when I do something creative every day during the school summer holidays. I would love it if you would join in too! I love doing it each year and carving out a little bit of time each day to do something creative (it’s a real sanity saver amongst the chaos). As one of my boys finished for the summer on Friday this week, so I am going to be starting day one on Saturday (19th July) and posting a social media post each day to share what I have done, which will keep me focused on maintaining the challenge.
The thing about a Summer Craft Challenges is that it’s always better when you’re not the only one doing it. So… please do join in and share your makes this summer on social media with the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2025 so I can see what other creativity is going on – just like the Making Stitches 2025 CAL – it’s better with friends and it would be great to build a Summer Craft Challenge community!
Hello there, sorry for the slight delay in getting this square out to you. This month I could’t decide which design to go with so you have a choice, ‘Anyone for tennis?’ inspired by Wimbledon with a tennis ball centre and strawberry border, or, sticking with the strawberries, the Tutti Frutti version complete with an orange slice in the middle.
The only difference between the two squares is the central circle design and the colour choices for the rest of the square.
As always, I have made these squares using my own stash of Stylecraft Special DK yarns, I have included the numbers for the shades I have used below, but please use any yarn you like. It’s a perfect way of using up any small odds and ends you have left over from other projects.
Each square in the Making Stitches 2025 CAL is made to a similar basic pattern and should have 120 stitches in the final round to make joining the squares together at the end a little bit easier.
You will need:
Using Stylecraft Special DK
(A) Pistachio (1420)
(B) White (1001)
(C) Green (1116)
(D) Matador (1010)
(E) Clementine (1725)
(F) Jaffa (1256)
Size 4mm crochet hook
Scissors
Stitch Marker
Yarn Needle
Abbreviations (in UK terms): blo = work in back loop only, ch = chain, dc = double crochet, dc5tog = double crochet 5 sts together, dtr = double treble crochet, fyo = final yarn over, htr = half treble crochet, mc = magic circle / magic ring, fpdtr = front post double treble, rep = repeat, RS = right side, slst = slip stitch, st = stitch, tr = treble crochet.
‘Anyone for Tennis?’ Square
‘Anyone for tennis?’ square
Tennis ball
Using Yarn A, make a MC.
Round 1 Ch2 (not counted as a st throughout), 12 tr into MC. Slst into top of ch2 to close the round. Pull the central yarn tail tight to close MC. (12tr)
Round 2 Ch2, 2tr into every st around. Slst into the top of the Ch2 (24tr)
Round 3 Ch2, (2tr in first st, 1tr in next st) rep around. Slst into top of Ch2 (36tr)
Round 4A Ch1, in flo, (2dc in first st, 1dc in next 2 sts) rep around. Slst into top of ch1. Fasten off and break yarn. (48dc)
Then, using Yarn B, either surface crochet or embroider the wavy line onto the ‘tennis ball’.
Using Yarn C, join into the blo of one of the sts in Round 3.
Round 4B Ch1, (2dc in 1st st, 1dc in next 2 sts) rep around. Slst into top of Ch1. (48dc)
Round 5 Ch1, (2dc in 1st st, 1dc in next 3 sts) rep around. Slst into the top of ch1. (60dc)
Round 6 Ch1, (1dc in next 3 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1dtr 2ch 1dtr in next st, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1dc in next 3 sts) rep around. Slst into top of the ch1. Fasten off and break yarn. (16 sts on each side = 64 sts)
Round 7 Join Yarn B into any st. Work 1dc into every st around and 1dc ch2 1dc into every corner space. Slst to top of 1ch. Fasten off and break yarn. (72dc)
Round 8 Join Yarn A into any st. Ch2, 1htr into every st around. Work 1htr 2ch 1htr into every ch space. Slst into top of ch2. Fasten off & break yarn. (80htr)
Round 6 completeRound 7 completeRound 8 complete
Round 9 Rejoin Yarn A into the 2nd last st before a corner, 2ch, 1htr in same st, and next st, (1htr 2ch 1htr into corner space, 1htr in next 2 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 2 sts) rep around until you reach the first st of the round and slst into to the top of the 2ch. (You should have 4 x 5tr clusters on each side and 18htr on each side).
Round 9 completeRound 10 in progressRound 10 complete
Round 10 Ch2, 1htr in the next 3 sts, (1htr 2ch 1htr into the corner space, 1htr into next 3 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo of last st, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr in next 4 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr in next 4 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr in next 3 sts) rep around until you reach the first st of the round and slst into the top of the 2ch. (20htr & 4 dc5tog on each side).
Round 11 Ch2 1htr into every st around working 1htr 2ch 1htr into every ch space. Slst into top of 2ch to close round. Fasten off and break yarn. (26 htr on each side = 104htr).
Round 12 Join Yarn B into any st. Ch1 and work 1dc into every st around, 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of Ch1 to close round, fasten off and break yarn. (112 dc)
Round 13 Join Yarn C into any st. Rep Round 12. Fasten off and break yarn. (120 dc)
If you wish, you can use some Yarn A to sew the edge of the tennis ball flush to the square.
The Tutti Frutti Square…
July Tutti Frutti Square
If Tennis isn’t your thing and you fancy making a Tutti Frutti square inspired by cooling fruit juices, home grown strawberries or maybe even a tipsy fruit punch, here’s how to make one!
(The centre of the orange slice can be a bit fiddly, but I think it’s worth it to create clear segments for the orange.)
To make the orange slice
Using Yarn E, make a MC.
Round 1 Ch2 (not counted as a st throughout), 1tr into MC, changing to Yarn B in fyo, with Yarn B work 1tr into MC changing to Yarn E in fyo. Repeat until you have 6 orange tr and 6 white tr in the MC. Slst into top of ch2 to close the round. Pull the central yarn tail tight to close MC. (12tr)
Round 2 Rather thank working 2tr into every st around as in the tennis ball, in this round, we are making 3 tr into the orange sts of Round 1 and 1 fpdtr around the white tr sts in Round 1 to make the white pithy section stand proud of the orange segments. Work every st as described (3tr into each orange st & 1fpdtr around every white st) and slst into the top of the ch2 to close round. (24tr)
Round 1 completeRound 2 in progressRound 2 complete
Round 3 Ch 2 to begin. In this round, we are working 2tr into the first orange st of the segment , 1tr into the 2nd st, 2tr into the 3rd st of the segment changing to Yarn B with the fyo of the last st and 1fpdtr around the white st below from Round 2. Repeat around and slst into the top of the first 2ch to close the Round. (30tr & 6fpdtr).
Round 4 Join Yarn B into any st. 1ch, (2dc in the first st, 1dc in next 2 sts), rep around, slst into top of 1ch to close the round. Fasten off and break yarn. (48 dc).
Round 5A Work in the flo in this round. Join Yarn F into any st. 1ch, (2dc in flo of first st, 1dc in the next 3 sts), rep around. Slst into top of 1ch to close round. Fasten off and break yarn. (60dc)
Round 3 completeRound 4 completeRound 5A complete
To make the square:
Using Yarn A, join into the blo of one of the sts in Round 4.
Round 5B Ch1, (2dc in 1st st, 1dc in next 3 sts) rep around. Slst into the top of ch1. (60dc)
Round 6 Ch1, (1dc in next 3 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1dtr 2ch 1dtr in next st, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1dc in next 3 sts) rep around. Sist into top of the ch1. Fasten off and break yarn. (16 sts on each side = 64 sts)
Round 5B in progress Round 5B complete Round 6
Round 7 Join Yarn B into any st. Work 1dc into every st around and 1dc ch2 1dc into every corner space. Slst to top of 1ch. Fasten off and break yarn. (72dc)
Round 8 Join Yarn A into any st. Ch2, 1htr into every st around. Work 1htr 2ch 1htr into every ch space. Slst into top of ch2. Fasten off & break yarn. (80htr)
Round 7Round 8Where to start Round 9
Round 9 Rejoin Yarn A into the 2nd last st before a corner, 2ch, 1htr in same st, and next st, (1htr 2ch 1htr into corner space, 1htr in next 2 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn D in fyo of last st, work 5tr into next st changing to Yarn A in fyo of last st, 1htr into next 2 sts) rep around until you reach the first st of the round and slst into to the top of the 2ch. (You should have 4 x 5tr clusters on each side and 18htr on each side).
Beginning of Round 91st side of Round 9Round 9 complete
Round 10 Ch2, 1htr in the next 3 sts, (1htr 2ch 1htr into the corner space, 1htr into next 3 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo of last st, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr into next 4 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr in next 4 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr in next 4 sts changing to Yarn C in fyo, dc5tog changing to Yarn A in fyo, 1htr in next 3 sts) rep around until you reach the first st of the round and slst into the top of the 2ch. (20htr & 4 dc5tog on each side).
Dc5tog in Round 10First strawberry top complete Round 10 complete
Round 11 Ch2 1htr into every st around working 1htr 2ch 1htr into every ch space. Slst into top of 2ch to close round. Fasten off and break yarn. (26 htr on each side = 104htr).
Round 12 Join Yarn B into any st. Ch1 and work 1dc into every st around, 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of Ch1 to close round, fasten off and break yarn. (112 dc)
Round 13 Join Yarn A into any st. Rep Round 12. Fasten off and break yarn. (120 dc)
Working 1htr into top of dc5tog on Round 11Round 11 completeRound 12 complete Round 13 complete
And there you have it, a choice of two Making Stitches 2025 CAL squares for July. I hope you enjoy making them as much as I did!
If you do make one or both of these squares and want to share them online, please tag me in your social media posts using the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL and then I will be able to see them.
Thanks so much for joining me on this my first ever CAL, it’s been so much fun for me so far and so lovely to see some of my squares out there in the wild!
