Hello there! I hope you have had a good month and that Christmas went ok for you. I have decided to go into 2025 with good intentions and try to be up to date with things so here’s my Postcard from December on the last day of December!
It’s been a funny old month weather wise with us not so much cold and frosty weather as you might expect but plenty of grey, dull, wet and in some cases very foggy days.
In spite of the weather it’s been looking really rather pretty in our neighborhood with lots of lovely Christmas lights adorning people’s homes and gardens.
A lovely yew tree dressed for the season
The FareShare Festive Feast Wreath
I was able to pay £55 to FareShare Greater Manchester just before Christmas, thanks to the sale of patterns of the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath.
Thank you so much to everyone who has bought one! It was a thrill to see photos of wreaths which have been made so far out in the wild!
The annual Christmas Special from Making Stitches Podcast made an appearance just before Christmas. It was lovely to be able to look back at my podcast year and share a few of the highlights.
We had a nice quiet Christmas and Boxing Day, followed by a lovely walk with family in Lancashire. We visited a route by the River Yarrow near Chorley. It was rather muddy under foot but we were dressed appropriately and really enjoyed our woodland wander.
It felt good to be moving again after a couple of rather sedentary days!
Even when there are no leaves left on the trees it was still a treat to get some ‘Vitamin Tree’.
The walk saw us zig-zag back and forth across the series of small foot bridges as we followed the river.
This bright orange fungus & green moss were real pops of colour on an otherwise grey day.
I believe this spot is a perfect place to enjoy bluebells in springtime. I’d love to come back and see them myself one day…
My word, that work did us all the world of good after a little bit too much chocolate & other naughty food!
And that just about wraps up this final Postcard from 2024. Thank you for stopping by and having a read and to anyone who’s a regular visitor to Making Stitches, thank you for your continued support.
Next year is a big one for me in terms of my blogging, I look forward to speaking more about that next year as this little site celebrates it’s 10th birthday – isn’t that crazy?!
As part of my celebration I’ve decided to release a new crochet pattern each month – a very relaxed crochet-along if you will. Watch this space – more will follow very soon!!
Until then, thank you again for sticking with me to the end of another year, I hope you enjoy your evening tonight however you plan to see in the New Year!
Hello there! Well, I blinked and then missed September! It was only 5 minutes ago that I was on holiday in Scotland at the end of August surely – how can we be on 4th October already?!
Although it went quickly, September was a good month for us with Eldest heading back to University, Number 2 son beginning A-levels and Son number 3 returning to school too. It’s been a bit full on with work, and despite having great intentions to keep up the momentum I managed to achieve with my crochet adventures during my Summer Craft Challenge, it has, I’m afraid to to say, rather fallen by the way side.
I have been working on something on the QT which I’m super excited to tell you about, but that will have to wait for now I’m afraid. I’m keeping my powder dry on it for the time being, but there will be a big ta-dah moment coming up in the not-to-distant future.
Despite my best efforts to keep up to date with my blog posts (I’m still due to share a Postcard from Scotland) I haven’t managed to, but my excuse is that my laptop died early in the summer and since then I have been struggling on with just my phone to post from. I’m thrilled to say that I am sitting here tapping away on my brand new laptop and it feels good after having had months without one! No excuses now.
Here’s a little look back at what I got up to in September!
Double Rainbow
Now, when I scrolled back through my phone to find some photos from the past month to share with you, I realised I didn’t take very many at all – so I am making up for the lack in variety with the sheer number of rainbow photos from one evening in the first half of the month. It had been raining and sunny in equal measure and I came round from the back of our house to spot this vivid rainbow in the sky in front of where we live.
That’s not over remarkable really, they do happen from time to time. What marked it out as remarkable was the fact it must have lasted for over an hour. It was so vivid and it was a double rainbow!
I drove Youngest to Scouts and spotted it on the field ahead of us (so was able to get him to take a photo)
Then, after dropping Youngest at Scouts, I drove back to the field, got out of my car (much to the bemusement of people sitting in traffic watching the crazy woman who was actually choosing to get wet) and took this lovely picture below!
I then drove round to visit my parents and you could see it shining there for about another 40 minutes – it was truly remarkable.
A finished item!
Do you remember I was working on some Granny squares during my Summer Craft Challenge (particularly when we were on holiday in Scotland)? Well I joined them all together and finished my *very loud and colourful* All You Need Is Love cardigan from Inside Crochet Magazine.
It was supposed to be made in a cotton yarn which I would have loved to have used but it was rather pricey, so I took a look in my stash, and found that I had comparable colours in my Stylecraft Special DK stash and only needed to get a handful of extra balls. I changed the main colour from cream/off white to dark grey and got cracking. I’m quite please with it. I even got it finished in time to wear it to Yarndale!
Yarndale 2024
Looking down towards Yarndale from the Yarn Walk
I made my 4th visit to Yarndale last weekend. I first went in 2016, back in the times before Covid when I actually had to get on a plane and fly over to the UK from Gibraltar to visit (imagine that – it feels like a lifetime ago!). I also visited in 2021 in the first post Covid festival and again in 2022. I didn’t make it last year, but a little bird told me that she would be there this year, so I had to book my ticket so I would get the chance to see her again. Can you guess who that little bird was?
Arriving at Yarndale
I got up early on Sunday morning for a 10am entry (thankfully Skipton is only about 75/80 minutes drive from where I live in Manchester) because there was someone special giving a talk at 11am – it was Eleonora from Coastal Crochet!
Eleonora giving her talk about her crochet along blankets and holding her first one – the Seaside Stashbusting Blanket
It was so nice to catch up with Eleonora and hear her speak about her many, many crochet along blankets. I vividly remember her posting on her blog back in 2018 (I think) that she was thinking of hosting a crochet along and inviting anyone who wanted to join her to make a Seaside Stashbusting Blanket. I was compelled to join in after following Eleonora and her yarny coastal exploits from the early days and it was an utter delight. Before long there was a huge community of coastal crocheters around the world hooking up Eleonora’s lovely designs.
I was lucky enough to meet Eleonora at Yarndale in 2022, and when she messaged me to say she would be going back again this year, I simply had to book my ticket! It was so nice to hear her talk about her passion for being creative and also to have a nice chat afterwards. I had my podcast head on while I was there and recorded a lovely chat with her for a future episode of Making Stitches Podcast, which will be coming your way soon.
After hear Eleonora’s talk, I went off for a wander around the many lovely stalls, I spoke to some truly fascinating people and managed to get to another talk – this one about the economics behind the British yarn industry which was really thought provoking.
Some woolly friends
I do love Yarndale, it’s such a friendly place filled with so much inspiration, I’m so glad I made the journey over the Pennines again this year.
There were some pretty impressive yarn bombed bollards outside Skipton Auction Mart. I remember being bowled over by all the yarny items on my first visit, and this is the first time since then that I have really paid attention to them.
There is so much work which has gone into making each one of them – all of them were works of art!
What I’ve been listening to
My latest audiobook loan was Elton John’s Me read by the man himself & Taron Egerton, the actor who played him in the Rocketman film. Blimey, that man’s had a life and a half. I found it very moving and utterly hilarious. There were times when I burst out laughing and others when I found myself in tears. Just as well I listened indoors!
And that, I’m afraid is it for September’s news – I was pretty rubbish at taking pictures of inspiring things this month. I promise to do better with October’s edition!
Until next time, take care of yourself, and thank you for stopping by!
Hello there, and hello September! Blimey that summer went quickly didn’t it?! And check me out posting on the first day of the month!
It’s been a funny kind of summer for us, as it’s been the first full summer of my current job – last year I worked 100% from home and that meant I was always around for the boys. They are now old enough to manage without me in the house all day every day, so for a chunk of the holidays this year, I’ve been out at work.
That led to the inevitable Mum guilt of not being around for as many days out as in the past but we did manage a few, and here they are…
At the start of the month we had a nice warm, sunny spell which was a relief after a particularly damp and grey time of it. We are very lucky to have the Cheshire countryside on our doorstep, so getting out into the green is quite easy. One day, when both myself and Eldest were off work, we all managed to get out for a lovely walk along the canal towpath towards Lymm and back again. I love this walk, whether in winter (with the reward of a bag of chips at Lymm) or as was the case this time, an ice cream in summer. It was so nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air!
A visit from special friends
Last month we were so happy to play host to a couple of friends who we’ve known since our time in Gibraltar. They moved back to the UK well before we did but we have stayed in regular contact and it’s so lovely to get together with them when we can.
They arrived in Manchester for a weekend with us and as their previous visit north had been during Covid times which rather restricted what we could do (although obviously not in lockdown though), we were thrilled to take them on a bit of a tour of Manchester.
As one of them is a newly qualified art teacher, I thought she might appreciate a trip to Manchester Art Gallery.
There was a fab exhibition on featuring outfits from a whole host of fashion designers from Balenciaga to Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood to Chanel. It was a real treat!
As well as having a dairy herd at the ice cream farm, there are several goats and a rather cheerful looking donkey, who stole the show!
Our final week of August was spent north of the border in Scotland, but I rather think that deserves a blog post of its own, so when I have the chance I will sit down and write that, watch this space!
International Granny Square Day
International Granny Square Day falls in August and this year I was in work on the day itself. I spent lunchtime at work scrolling through Instagram looking at so many gorgeous squares and feeling frustrated that I hadn’t been able to make any myself. So, when I got home, while making dinner for the family, I may have slightly overdone a few bits and bobs while I made these two podcast related granny squares of my own!
What I’ve been listening to
Well my audio book library card has had a fair bashing lately – I’m totally hooked. So much so, I’ve been having to catch up on my favourite podcasts! I have almost finished the four Thursday Murder Club books – I’m in the last few chapters now. I can highly recommend them if you’re after a light, funny and at times emotional read/listen. I can see why Richard Osman sits at the top of the best seller charts with them – he’s such an observant writer.
Podcast News
Dr Gemma McKenzie
There was just one Making Stitches Podcast episode in August – I decided to take a short break as it was proving difficult to keep up the schedule with the boys on holiday. In this episode Dr Gemma McKenzie spoke to me about the crochet exhibition she is planning to raise awareness about human rights around childbirth. It’s an area I admit to not knowing much about but I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and am interested to learn more because of it.
I almost forgot to add this exciting bit of news which happened in August too – my second design for Inside Crochet magazine was published. I really enjoyed making this soft, textured book for toddlers to celebrate autumn.
That’s all for this time. Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time, take care!
Hello there! I hope you’re doing ok. I had been hoping to get this post out weeks ago, but hey ho. The juggle of life, family, work, school holidays, podcasting & a craft challenge meant that craft challenge posts took priority and I’m pleased to say I’ve managed to stick to those each week so far! Gold stars all round for that I think.
As I write this, these memories from last month feel very distant, we are currently entering the 5th and penultimate week of the school summer holidays locally and it feels like it’s gone full steam and whizzed ridiculously fast. It’s hard to believe that we had a General Election last month! So much has happened since then.
I had the morning off work this morning to take some lovely friends who have been staying with us this weekend to the station and am feeling very chilled about life which is lovely. I’m back in work this afternoon so taking this sliver of opportunity to get this post written and out to you before I need to start thinking about my Postcard from August!! Here goes…
Greenhouse update
Looking at these little baby tomato plants they look rather tiny compared to the monsters I now have (you’ll have to wait until the August edition to see them now). However this was taken at the start of last month as my new-to-me green house became operational. I have 3 types of tomatoes, all cherry toms but different kinds and teeny sweet pepper plant too.
Also in my garden was this stunning white passion flower. I bought it as part of a deal at the supermarket (3 plants for £12 I think) and the photo label showed a traditional blue and cream kind of flower but this appeared and I love it, if the slugs stop eating it – I will be happy – I hope it survives!
[In slug news – after a particularly damp and rainy day last week we counted 32 in our back garden. 32!! Yuck!].
Back to the Lake District
Our first weekend of the summer holidays was spent back up in the Lake District with our lovely friends up there. We had such a brilliant time. We had a couple of walks – one which involved a kayaking expedition in the middle of it and another which had a fabulous pub Sunday Roast lunch at the end!
On one of our walks we passed these stunning nature-inspired gates. Aren’t they beautiful? They reminded me of the Lord of the Rings films – there are definitely Rivendell vibes in this part of the world.
The view below was from our walk to the pub lunch. The lake in the distance is Grasmere. The photo doesn’t really do it justice, it was so beautiful up there despite the moody skies.
And after that climb, we dropped down into Elterwater (below) where we had a gorgeous lunch. Guilt free after that strenuous climb!
My friends have a fab VW Camper which they’ve owned since forever. I wanted to make them a gift to thank them for their hospitality, so made them a squishy cushion version.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to finish it before I arrived with them and didn’t take enough stuffing to fill it, so had to bring it back home to fill it properly (see below). It’s now back where it belongs up the Lakes.
Closer to home, we’ve had a few walks on nice days – the picture below is of a local park just about a mile from our house. I do so love that green colour you get as the sun shines through the leaves!
What I’ve been listening to
I have recently discovered that you can borrow audio books from my local library for free! How amazing is that? I’ve listened to Michelle Obama’s Becoming, Richard E Grant’s very moving A Pocketful of Happiness and am currently smashing my way through the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. I really enjoyed Andrew Ridgeley’s Wham! George & Me which was read by him. For people of a certain age who had Wham posters on their bedroom walls – I can highly recommend it!
Podcasting news
Emma Varnam
Last month, there were two episodes of Making Stitches Podcast released. The first with the fabulous Emma Varnam. I was so lucky to be invited to visit Emma at her home and had a lovely chat about how she began designing crochet patterns, how (like me) many of the people in her closest circle have hand made gifts foisted upon them and the joys of creating. It was so lovely to meet Emma and I have our mutual friend Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum for introducing us – thank you Christine! You can find our episode here.
My second offering featured a chat I had with Jen Simonic from the Loose Ends Project which matches volunteer ‘Finishers’ with craft projects which have been left part made by crafters who have either died or are unable to complete because of health reasons. It’s a truly remarkable project and mind blowing in how quickly it has spread around the world. You can find out more about this here.
Kasey & Jen from The Loose Ends Project
In case you missed my Summer Craft Challenge 2024 so far…
And that just about brings this Postcard from July to a close. I hope you had a good month and have been able to find a bit of creativity to unwind and relax as I have for the past month. You can read all about what I’ve been up to craft-wise in the last few weeks in the four previous posts.
Hello there! I hope you’re doing ok. True to form, here is a ‘Postcard from June’ coming to you two thirds of the way through July.
Back in the day, when I first started this blog under the name of Postcard from Gibraltar, I was a stay at home mum of three young men. Now I am a working mum of three young men with a podcast to make and crochet commissions to complete too, so despite my best intentions, time can run away with me. It frustrates me sometimes when I realise I have failed my own self imposed deadlines, but then I stop and think about the fact that there are only so many hours in the day and I can give myself a break every now and again.
So, without a guilty conscience on my part, here is a little look back at June in my world.
Talking of giving myself a break…
Langdale YHA first thing in the morning…
The top photo is of the calm before the crowds arrived at a very good friend’s 50th birthday party at the start of the month. They moved from our home town of Manchester a couple of years ago up to the Lake District, a dream of theirs which they decided to just do rather than thinking about it any longer.
They live in a little slice of gorgeousness and love to share it with family and friends, hence the invitation for a jolly good knees up to celebrate the significant birthday. The party spilled out into the driveway which they share with lovely neighbours (who also came to the party) and a brilliant time was had by all – even the weather behaved. It was a truly brilliant celebration.
I went along without the young men in my life in tow and spent the whole time chatting to old friends and having a good laugh. That night, as we all made our way to our various overnight lodgings, I headed over the (rather large) nearby hill to Langdale YHA, my bed for the night. The photo immediately above is the view from the youth hostel first thing the following morning. I got myself a coffee and sat out on the veranda admiring the view and the peace and quiet while I waited for breakfast.
What bliss it was, a mini 24-hour-long holiday in the sunshine with lovely friends. I caught a lift down to Windermere later that morning to catch another lift back to Manchester and my boys. While I waited for the second lift back home, I sat on the shore of Lake Windermere with my crochet… it doesn’t get better than this!
What a place to sit an crochet, while contemplating life!
Such a beautiful place to visit…..
The longest day…
This photo was taken after 11pm on 21st June, the longest day of the year. Despite being on this planet for 50 years already, it never ceases to amaze me that within the matter of a few months, we can go from living in near darkness from around 3:30pm in the depths of winter to still having light in the sky so late on in the middle of summer.
Having had lots of holidays north of the border, I am aware that the days are much longer up there, but this still impressed me!
I have a greenhouse!
One of my oldest friends is having a garden rejig which includes upgrading her mini greenhouse to a full sized greenhouse. That meant her old one needed a new home. So imagine the scene as, along with the help of my two eldest boys, we walked the greenhouse round from her house to mine (some of the journey was spent with me actually in it holding it up – arms above my head – in a Fred Flintstone feet through the bottom of the car style with one son at the front walking backwards and another son taking the weight at the back) it must have been quite a sight for the neighbours between our two homes. On a ‘normal’ day the walk is just over 5 minutes. It took a bit longer than that with a few breaks to rest our arms along the way. I had a giggle, even if the boys died a little bit inside at their crazy mother’s schemes….
Anyway, it is now happily residing up the side of our house (where the sun reaches in the morning and again, mid to late afternoon) and is home to three tomato plants and a sweet pepper plant. I shall keep you posted on any updates on their fruiting – fingers crossed!
A trip down memory lane
At the end of the month, Keele University celebrated its 75th birthday. It’s the place where I spent an incredibly happy three years, meeting life-long friends and the man I married. There was a special open day to celebrate the milestone and former students and local residents were invited along to wander round the campus. I took two of my boys down to see it for the first time. It was lovely to retrace the footsteps of my much younger self!
Keele Hall, where I spent many hours studying English Literature
My design in print
In a month of lots of lovely things, this was probably the most exciting… for the first time ever I got to see my own design in print in a magazine. I designed and made this canal boat art inspired bottle holder for Inside Crochet (my first design for them) and it even made it onto the front cover!!
It was such a thrill to see my design photographed by a professional and presented so beautifully – thank you so much Inside Crochet!!
And that brings, this latest Postcard to an end. But, before I go….
Anyone fancy a Summer Craft Challenge?
As I mentioned at the top of this post, my time is tight right now. I remember back in the summer of 2016, as my boys’ schools in Gibraltar broke up for the long summer break, I wondered how I would survive with three young men for a 10-week-long ‘holiday’. I decided to set myself a challenge that no matter how busy or hectic or tiring a day was, I had to carve out a little bit of ‘me’ time to be creative. It didn’t matter if it was just 15 minutes of crochet late at night when everyone was in bed, or a lazy afternoon hooking some granny squares sitting on a deck chair on the beach.
Each day I took a photo of my little creative moment and wrote a blog post each week to talk about what I was making. It really worked you know, rather than spending weeks too busy to ‘make’ and getting grumpier and grumpier as time went on, I managed to carve out a little bit of creativity and it worked wonders.
Tomorrow, school comes to an end for my youngest, and this year, for the first time since being a Mum, I have a job which takes me out of the house to an office and I have a bigger juggle than ever to fit everything in. No better time then surely to make sure I have a window of creativity each day to keep me on an even keel. So, I have thrown myself the gauntlet of attempting to create that space each day and document it as I go along. Summer Craft Challenge 2024 is a matter of hours away.
Care to join me? If so, please post the photos of your summer creativity and use the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and join the creative fun! I’d love to have your company on this summer adventure!
Until next time, look after yourself and enjoy your creativity!
Hello there! True to form, here’s my look back at May coming to you in the middle of June! One day I may be organised enough to get one of these to you at the start of the month…
Goodbye Diamond
Diamond
Unfortunately, last month, we said goodbye to our lovely little fluff ball, Diamond. Diamond was our house bunny, he came to live with us in Gibraltar, where it was too hot for him to live outside and there was danger from the local residents too (Barbary macaques).
He was the third of our bunnies, first of all there was Bunny Postcard aka Russelina (caramel & white fluff ball), then came Snowflake (who we rescued after seeing her being abandoned in the Alameda Gardens in Gibraltar).
Russelina (left & bottom) and Snowflake (top right)
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us when we rescued Snowflake, she had a virus which infected Russelina, which ultimately led to the demise of both bunnies.
Diamond came into our lives shortly afterwards and he stayed with us until last month, he even traveled by road from Gibraltar to Manchester with a special pet courier when we moved house!
We’ll miss our fluff ball.
Amigurumay
It was the annual Amigurumay celebration over on Instagram last month run by Ilaria Caliri. It was a fun excuse to take a look back in the Making Stitches/Postcard from Gibraltar archives for suitable photos to include. It was nice to see this pair again – Rocksy & Gib, my Gibraltar apes.
A new garden project
At the start of the month I set to work on a project I’ve been wanting to do since we first moved into our home. The front garden is totally filled with pebbles and is effectively a car park. Since we arrived I had planted the privet hedge you can see, but I wanted more greenery.
Monty Don inspired me in an episode of Gardeners World when he mentioned about steel edging for lawns. I thought, that’ll do for my new flower bed. I found some online and ordered it. With a lot of help from my lovely Dad, we made a flower bed….
Then, once it was filled with peat free compost, came the fun part – filling it with plants!
Ta-dah! The photo below was actually taken one week into June (so I’m cheating here in May’s postcard) but here it is now. I’m thrilled with it, it’s got a white theme. There’s a magnolia, hydrangea, astilbe & jasmine along with white Japanese Anemones, geranium Alba & a couple of white bedding plants. I hope to add more white flowering plants in time, but for now that’s it and I’m really happy with it!
Take That!!
Well I didn’t expect to be telling you about this, but I got the chance to see Take That in concert in May too! It was a last minute thing- some of the Mums from Youngest’s football team were going, but one was ill and asked if I’d like to go in her place (this was 24 hours before the show!). I didn’t need asking twice – they were amazing.
I’d seen them once before, many moons ago when they came to the Gibraltar Music Festival and did a half hour set, but this was something else! A fantastic night of dancing and memories!
On my hook
Mini Dan
I have been working on some top secret crochet commissions lately which I can’t share sadly, but I also made this little chap. This is mini Dan. Big Dan was in my year at school and he turned 50 last month. He plays bass guitar in a fab band which does covers of songs from our youth and this is the kind of outfit he wears when he performs. (I believe Dan’s daughters loved mini Dan!).
Dan had a fab birthday party, the band played and folk got up to sing – it was a brilliant and sober night for me as I had a big run the next day – see 👇 below:
The Great Manchester 10K Run
On 26th May, it was the day of reckoning. After months of training I put my trainers on and headed into Manchester for the Great Manchester Run 10K. It was an amazing experince – so many hundreds and hundreds of runners set off in staggered stages.
This was my vantage point in the ‘pink’ stage. The atmosphere was terrific. There was a light rain to start which was fine, but as we set off, the rain stopped and the sun came out and it got really quite hot.
The heat made the run a lot harder than I expected, but I did what I set out to achieve, which was to run without stopping at all. I did it in 1 hour 11 minutes. I have no idea if that’s a good time or not but I’ll take it as a win!
I have a medal to prove I did it! Not sure I’ll run that far again but I can now say I’ve done a 10K at the age of 50!
Thank you to everyone who sponsored me, together we raised £440 for the Jo Cox Foundation which I’m really chuffed with – thank you x
Making Stitches Podcast is back for a new series!
I was thrilled to be able to bring Making Stitches Podcast back for its eight series last month – I kicked off the new series with an episode delving into the podcast’s archives from the past 4 years it has been going. The topic was being creative for mental health and featured excerpts from chats I’d had with Lisa & Lynda-Rose from the Crochet Santuary, Emma Jones from the Vintage Sewing Box, textile artist Matthew Downham, former BBC Europe correspondent and now maker extraordinaire Mary Jane Baxter, Peace Campaigner and knitter, Figen Murray and Clinical Psychologist, Dr Mia Hobbs. You can listen through the player below or by searching for Making Stitches on your favourite podcast app.
Hello there, I hope May is treating you well! I was really meaning to get this post out at the start of the month, but somehow life got very busy and here we are half way through May already!
Well, better late than never, here’s a little look back at April in Making Stitches world!
A flower show
Last month, the first ever RHS Urban Show happened at the Mayfield Depot, close to Piccadilly Station in the centre of Manchester.
It was an interesting event – where we were greeted by a pair of very friendly pot plants!
One of the balcony gardens – this one was for an artist
There were many beautiful stalls from plants people, an exhibition of balcony gardening from a local group of students – there was even an indoor forest! (See below 👇).
It was a really beautiful use of a huge network of warehouses and tunnels. Inspiration was everywhere and it was nothing like anything I’ve experienced before!
There was even an art exhibition included…
… which included lovely felting…
… and punch needle work too.
And I came home with this beauty! 🪴
On my needles
I’m still knitting my Tin Can Knits top down basic sweater. It came out in a trip to the hairdressers with me last month, but hasn’t seen much action lately as I have been working on a rather large and all consuming crochet commission (which unfortunately I can’t share with you). I’m thrilled to say that went off in the post this week so I can get back to doing other things now – phew!
Podcast news
Well this was exciting – Making Stitches Podcast got a double page spread in Simply Crochet Magazine! What a thrill!! It sparked some really lovely messages from crafty friends who were surprised to spot me in their favourite magazine!
I’m pleased to say that work has begun on the next series of the podcast – I’m looking forward to being able to share that with you again soon.
Other news
I’m thrilled to say that last month, I started a new job! It’s a great role using my skills for a really important charity. I’m chuffed to bits. They’re a lovely bunch of colleagues and I’m looking forward to the future with them.
We also had a birthday in Making Stitches world, I am now the mother of a 20 year old… how did that happen?? And for Youngest, there was success for his football team as they won their league cup. 🏆
That’s all I’ve got for you this time I’m afraid other than some really pretty blossom which appeared in my back garden last month. I do love this time of year – it feels so full of promise for the summer ahead!
Hello there, blimey we’re on day 10 of April already, I genuinely don’t know where the time has gone! Well I kind of do, I’ve just started a new job, so that has filled my time somewhat and my brain too for that matter, but for now, here’s a little look back at March in my world!
Belinda Bunny
Last month I launched another new pattern in my shop, in time for Easter, Belinda Bunny made an appearance. Inspired by our very own little Diamond bunny (as you can see) bunnies aren’t just for Easter….
White bunnies were clearly the flavour of the month in March as when I spent a wonderful day at the Crochet Sanctuary last month, this bunny wreath was one of the projects we made! The wreath is sitting on an, as yet, still unfinished cowl.
I had a really lovely day just sitting, chatting and crocheting – I feel like I’d been away on a holiday rather than just a few hours!
Holiday
Speaking of holidays… I got on a plane last month for a fabulous break in Spain.
Along with 4 lovely friends from my University days, we had a joint celebration of our 50th birthdays (no, that can’t be right surely?!). The sister of one of my friends has a house in Spain which she offered for us to use for our 4-night-long getaway. It was amazing!
Sadly the weather wasn’t great, but we didn’t go for the sun, we went to spend some time with each other. What with family commitments and work, it had been nearly 30 years since we’d spent that long together. Apart from being in bed no later than 1am and having a beautiful clean tidy house with lots of nutrious food – it was just like being back in our student flat!
Isn’t it wonderful when you have friends who know you so well that you can just pick up from where you left off no matter how long ago it was the last time you saw each other? I feel truly blessed to have them in my corner.
I wanted to give them all something to mark this momentous occasion, but couldn’t think what was suitable to buy – after drawing a blank I opted for making them each a little ‘Keele girl’ (we met at Keele University). I surreptitiously asked them all what colour swimming costume they were bringing with them and made them a coordinating mini costume. I based the pattern on the Crochet Iconic Women book by Carla Mitrani (I thought that was rather appropriate seeing as I think they’re all pretty iconic in my book).
We had lots of fun taking the mini crocheted girls out and about with us…
To the beachTo the poolOut for tapasEven a night on the tiles!
We had a right giggle – it was an amazing break.
Out & About
Bridgewater Canal at Lymm
Easter school holidays meant the need to get out and about in fresh air to get the young men in my life off devices and, for one, away from GCSE revision for a while and we had a few nice walks. This one was along the Bridgewater Canal towpath in Lymm. The weather in Cheshire was better than in Spain to be fair!!
Lymm Cross
Podcast News
The latest series of Making Stitches podcast has come to an end with a lovely chat I had with Heather of KCACOUK (Keep Calm & Crochet on UK). We met in person at last year’s March Crochet Sanctuary and talked about recording an interview- it took almost a year to achieve it!
Heather Gibbs
You can listen to the podcast here if you missed it:
Hopefully the next series of Making Stitches won’t be too long in the making!
Keep on Running!
I have mentioned in my monthly postcards before that I’ve been doing a bit of running lately, and that I was thinking of signing myself up for a 10K. As I was approaching the age of 50, I decided that if I was ever going to achieve a 10K, it was probably a good idea not to out it off for too much longer. I gave myself a talking to as I remembered having the same one way conversation as I hit 40, but didn’t achieve that goal.
It’s now official, I am signed up to run the 10K race on the day of the Great Manchester Run on 26th May. I’ve been training since before Christmas and once I managed to run 7K last week, I thought it was safe to go public and tell people.
I’m not sure I’ll be repeating the feat, so thought I’d better make it a worthwhile venture and have opted to raise funds for the Jo Cox Foundation. Last year, I did some work for them and I wanted to thank them for putting their faith in me, as well as helping them going forward with the amazing work they do to help build community relationships, supporting civility in public life and generally continuing the work started by Jo Cox.
For those of you who don’t know who Jo was, she was a wife, mother, MP (Member of Parliament) and humanitarian who was murdered while she was working in her constituency of Batley & Spen in West Yorkshire in 2016. Had Jo still been alive, like my friends and I, she would be celebrating her 50th birthday this year, so this seemed very appropriate.
A view across our local golf course while on a sunny run!
Also in March, I managed to get a job! I’m thrilled and started the new position this week. It does mean I have a bit less time for podcasting etc, but I can pay the bills which always helps!!
And that is just about it for this month, sorry it was a few days late! It was a long one too, so if you made it to the end, thank you!
Until next time, take care, and thanks for stopping by!
Hello there! It’s the 1st of March – the first day of meteorological spring – how lovely! The days are slowly getting longer and that always puts a spring in my step. I hope this finds you well and that the past month has been kind to you. Here’s a little look back at what happened in my world in February.
A lovely gift to start the month
I started (and ended) the month as a ‘lady of leisure’ in other words I don’t have a job as such at the moment (other than freelance bits and bobs). I have to admit that at times I have found it a struggle. It’s not for the want of applying for jobs, I have spent a lot of time over the past couple of months filling in application forms, writing cover letters etc, but as yet, they haven’t borne fruit. I’m not sure whether it’s the state of the job market at the minute, the fact I’m not as young as I used to be or what, but as I write, I’m still looking.
On a positive note though, I did get a lovely parcel through the post, the yarn bowl pictured above was a gift from my former colleagues at my last place of work – they knew me well clearly! It has seen two projects completed using it (both of which are commissions I can’t share sadly) and is now home to my current make, which hopefully I will be able to share with you pretty soon.
My former colleagues were a really lovely bunch and I miss them but I can think of them whenever I’m using this yarn bowl.
I also had a go at making a stripy rainbow heart using my free pattern here. This was fun to make and I have one hanging in the room I do most of my crochet – it makes me smile especially on grey wet days!
A half term trip to London
Tower Bridge
The school half term holidays fell last month and we made a trip down to London to visit Eldest. He’s studying there at University and it was the perfect opportunity for Son Number 2 to see what University accommodation is like as it won’t be terribly long before he’s thinking about such things – eek!
It was a really lovely day – and super to be able to give Eldest a squeeze too. We ended the day looking around the area where he’ll be moving to for the next academic year – how are we talking about such things already? Time is galloping on!
Sunset in Islington
A sunny walk
Just 2 weeks after visiting him in London, Eldest had a reading week and made the trip up north to visit me and his brothers. We were very lucky to have some bright winter sunshine briefly so we dashed out for a walk before the next lot of rain came!
We had a lovely walk along part of the Trans Pennine Trail at Lymm in Cheshire. It was pretty busy as lots of other folk were making the most of the nice weather. After walking the trail for a while, we doubled back and went into Lymm itself. There’s a chippy there which does really rather fantastic chips which taste delicious with a slosh of vinegar, a sprinkling of salt and eaten out in the fresh air!
The Bridgewater Canal at Lymm
Sock darning
While Eldest was visiting, I darned a pair of his favourite socks for him. I mentioned it to my Mum and said I’d struggled to get the right colour of yarn and that his burgundy socks now had bright red toes! A day or so later, I received a package filled with sock yarn (some of which is specifically for darning) and my great grandma’s darning mushroom! Never again will I have to struggle and keep jabbing my fingers with the needle – and as long as future socks are grey or blue I should be sorted!
If only that mushroom to could speak and tell about all the socks which had been darned with its help. I shall treasure it, and am thrilled to be custodian of this family heirloom now.
In the long run
I started running (off and on) a few years ago. I did the Couch to 5K which is a miracle considering I was always vying for last place in school cross country races. I wasn’t built for speed! Once I’d got over the initial breathlessness and built up a bit of stamina, I was rather pleased with my progress and from time to time I start running again for a while.
I spotted these snow drops (above) when I was on a run early in February around the time I was considering upping my game a bit. You may be aware I celebrated a milestone birthday last month, and I wondered whether this was the year I should attempt a ‘real’ run. Now by real, I don’t mean a marathon or anything daft like that, more like a 10K.
I’ve thought about trying one, probably for 10 years, and I’m not getting any younger, so now is probably the time I need to stop procrastinating and give it a whirl. The picture below was taken of the picturesque Manchester Ship Canal at the end of my first proper training run – I managed to run for 10 minutes four times – which I impressed myself with.
I shall keep you posted on my progress and let you know if this is indeed the year for a 10K attempt. Watch this space!
10K training
Podcast news
Cathy Wright from Lazykate Textiles
I’m pleased to say that Making Stitches Podcast made a return last month after a longer than expected Christmas break. My first guest was Cathy Wright from Lazykate Textiles who spoke about her passion for spinning and weaving. You can catch her episode here.
That’s all for this month’s round up. Let’s hope March brings us more blue skies and good times ahead.
Thanks so much for stopping by! See you again soon.
A view from my New Year’s Day morning run in the sunshine
Hello and welcome to this Postcard from January, a month of winter weather, creativity, the end of one chapter and significant birthday.
New Year News!
I started the year with a lovely delivery through my letter box – the latest issue of Simply Crochet Magazine – and it’s got me in it!!
There I am in the middle of the top row with my microphone in a special feature about crochet podcasts! It was a thrill to be asked and even more of a thrill to actually see the article! Thank you Simply Crochet!
A significant birthday
So, this month I hit a bit of a birthday milestone… and I was very lucky to spend some time with lovely friends and family.
I had a gorgeous meal out with my immediate family and had several friends call round to see me too. I was even lucky enough to have some time on my birthday with Eldest before he had to catch the train back down to London to restart his university studies.
I had a lovely chocolatey birthday cake but couldn’t resist making a calorie free crochet one too! (I’m going to write up the pattern for it soon in case anyone else fancies making one!).
I received two beautiful bouquets of flowers which you can see above and below. I feel very lucky to have such lovely people around me.
Winter weather
A frosty golf course which I ran past
It’s been a busy month weather wise in this part of the world. There have been named storms, torrential rain, snow and ice!
One morning in mid January we woke to a blanket of snow. I think I was more excited about it than the boys were! I popped out for a few minutes during a quick break from work and took some photos in my back garden.
The place just looked magical…
Even the bug hotel got a dusting!
Immediately after the snow had thawed (it lasted less than a day) we had quite a cold snap again with morning school runs that were well below zero. I don’t mind the cold though, when you get skies like this…
Two new hats
January was the month I finished my latest two projects – the hats which featured in my last post. If you missed it, you can find it here. I haven’t had the chance to wear one yet outside as they weren’t completely finished when it was super cold. There is a football match this weekend which Youngest is playing in though, so that may well be the time for one of them to make a debut!
Looking back…
My phone likes to surprise me from time to time with a throwback photo from the past and this one popped up this week. They are a few of the crochet bits I made for my first ever craft stall 9 years ago this month over in Gibraltar. Nine years on from the crocheted Jammie Dodgers and I’m still crocheting sweet treats! There was a heavy Attic24 influence to it and quite a lot of heart themed items as it was just a two weeks before Valentine’s Day on 31st January 2015.
Looking forward…
At the end of January I said goodbye to the lovely colleagues I’ve been working with for the past eight months. I had a contract to cover a maternity leave and it whizzed by. I’m now on the lookout for my next job, but am quite looking forward to having a little rest too. It does mean I’ll have more time for crochet so hopefully I’ll be able to share a bit more with you in the coming weeks!
While I’m busy crocheting and applying for jobs, I’ll be chomping through this lovely lot! This fantastic hamper of goodies was sent to me as a farewell gift from my lovely colleagues! I will really miss them, they are the best.
That’s all for this time, thank you for stopping by! I’ll be back again soon with some crochet to share, but until then, look after yourself.
