Summer craft challenge 2016

Summer Craft Challenge 2016 Part 8

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This is my final Summer Craft Challenge 2016 blog post. By making the decision back on Saturday 9th July (the first day of the holidays) to attempt to do something crafty each day throughout the long school summer holiday in order to help me retain my sanity is one I’m very pleased that I made.

Normally the holidays see the end of any crafty endeavours and I get increasingly frustrated at my lack of productiveness. This year though, by just ensuring I spend even a few moments each day with a crochet hook, paintbrush or needle in my hand I have managed to produce a rather varied range of things, my sanity has been retained (almost) and I have still been very much present for fun with the Little Postcards. I would highly recommend it to anyone!

If you have travelled along with me on my crafty summer journey, thank you for your company, I have had some lovely comments along the way. School has now restarted as of yesterday (1st September) and we all survived the long summer break.

Here’s the final instalment of my challenge:

 

Day 50 : Saturday 27th August

On Friday night I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with the crochet guru known as @mariwish on Instagram. Marisa Boseli teaches crochet in London but is actually from Gibraltar originally. Whilst visiting family and friends here this summer, she decided to put on some crochet classes.

So, on Friday night after a meal of tapas in a beach front restaurant at Catalan Bay, we set to work. Marisa has taught me the art of lacy shawl making – something I’ve never attempted before. The lighting was more suited to a romantic evening meal than a crochet class so as you can see above, we hooked by the light of our phone torches!

In daylight, on Saturday it was much easier to make progress…

Day 51 : Sunday 28th August


Oh no… a mistake! I had to unravel almost two entire rows to get back to this part!

Day 52 : Monday 29th August


My shawl so far – I’ve really enjoyed making this and can’t believe how quickly it’s growing.

Day 53 : Tuesday 30th August 


A lovely time was had al fresco hooking in the park with friends in the afternoon, by the end of the evening I had reached the end of the line.


I’ve run out of wool! I think I just need one more ball. This beauty will just have to wait a little while longer before I can get her finished…

Day 54 : Wednesday 31st August

On the final day of my challenge, I thought I’d share something with you which I’ve only become aware of recently: the Sixty Million Trebles project.

At the end of last year, the UN estimated that there are sixty million refugees worldwide. Sixty Million Trebles is a project to create the world’s largest blanket containing sixty million treble stitches. The huge blanket will be used to yarnbomb a venue in London to raise awareness of the plight of the refugees before being split up to make blankets 50% of which will be donated to UK charities, the other 50% will go to ‘Hand in hand for Syria’ an organisation which helps refugees from there. They also hope to raise a penny for every treble crocheted to help refugee charities.

To find out more about the project, check out the Sixty Million Trebles blog or search for them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

The granny square above is the beginning of my contribution, with just 246 trebles included. I’ve decided upon a rainbow colour scheme as rainbows are a sign of hope. I hooked up dozens of square centres on the beach on our last day of the school summer holidays. This may take some time…

And so I guess, this is the end of my Summer Craft Challenge for this year, thank you for all the support and encouragement along the way! I’ll keep you updated on the progress of my Rainbow Hope blanket for the Sixty Million Trebles project in future posts.

Here’s just a few highlights from the past eight weeks:


Thank you for stopping by!

 

Summer Craft Challenge 2016 Part 7 

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Day 43 : Saturday 20th August


I made up for the crafty inactivity of our journey home last Friday by cracking open my watercolour paints. I’d intended to take them on holiday with me but forgot to pack them! I missed them… I also managed to finish a very small rainbow scarf for Littlest Postcard too. 

Day 44 : Sunday 21st August

Another day, another new project… This one’s for Middle Postcard (apologies little man I can’t think of a better pseudonym for you). He chose the yarn and asked for a winter hat. Having failed to find a suitable pattern online I’m making it up as I go along… Let’s see how this turns out 😉

Day 45 : Monday 22nd August


It’s beginning to look less like a big blue & green boob and more like a hat. Hurrah for that! 😉

Day 46 : Tuesday 23rd August

It’s finished! One completed bobble hat = one happy Little Postcard.


I’ve had loads of fun working on this – can you guess what it is?

Introducing Llanita the Gibraltar Yarndale sheep. Llanita will soon be jetting off to the yarn festival in Skipton, North Yorkshire, known as Yarndale. Along with hundreds of other handmade sheep, she will be auctioned off to raise much needed funds for Martin House Hospice. 


Baa!

Day 47 : Wednesday 24th August


A day at the beach in Sandy Bay meant portable crochet was required. A few circles were hooked up on the sand.

Day 48 : Thursday 25th August


If sewing name tapes into school uniform counts as craft, then here’s what I was doing yesterday. So far, with three new sets of school uniform for three Little Postcards all going to new schools, I have sewn in 13, just a gazillion left to do!

Day 49 : Friday 26th August


Back on Day 12 of this challenge I tried, and failed, to have a go at free-motion machine embroidery. After posting my failed attempt on Instagram the lovely Karen at Wakeymakes, Shiela at Sewchet and Laura at Holly’s Kitchen came forward with great advice. 

I am now the proud owner of a special presser foot for the job and know how to drop the feed dog on my machine to it doesn’t chew everything up. What has now become evident is the fact it’s not as easy as it looks…. Practice, practice, practice is required. I’ll keep you posted, but it could be some time before I produce anything worth showing so please bear with me.

Another Dino


Do you remember the little Dino I made back in Part 2?  Well the little baby boy he was made for arrived safely and this little chap has moved in with him so I can show him to you now (his Nana reads this blog so I had to keep him under wraps).

That’s it for this latest week of my craft challenge and it’s the penultimate one for me as the school gates reopen in Gibraltar on 1st September. Thanks for joining me on my crafty journey through the school summer holidays. 

Summer Craft Challenge 2016 Part 6

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Day 36 : Saturday 13th August


I know I’d only been working on this blanket for 8 days when I took this photo but there’s an awfully long way still to go!! I have crocheted every day so far and have used a complete ball of white wool edging the circles so far. As one Instagram and blogging friend Wakeymakes pointed out at least I’ll have good memories of the different locations where I’ve made all of the squares 🙂

Day 37 : Sunday 14th August 


Time for a spot of slow Sunday morning stitching at breakfast time…

Day 38 : Monday 15th August


It was the turn of the Little Postcards to be crafty on Monday morning with a pottery painting session at Gallery Thea in Southwold. This effort was a lighthouse, just like the one at Europa Point, by the Littlest.


Did you know that Monday was Granny Square Day 2016? Here’s my contribution to the collage blanket collated by @suregal27 on Instagram. I only had a few colours with me on holiday so I used the colours in my current blanket WIP. 

Day 39 : Tuesday 16th August


A new chunky wool project was begun on a boat on the Norfolk Broads. We hired a day boat and chugged around the Broads for about six hours, it was really lovely. I have run out of my white wool for my blanket WIP (cue : shock, horror, teeth gnashing) so I had to start something new that was portable. Littlest Postcard saw this rainbow wool in a wool shop last week and asked me to buy it and make him something. He’s getting a scarf if the wool lasts long enough…

Day 40 : Wednesday 17th August


We loved it so much at Rendlesham Forest last week that we made a return trip. We had a lovely woodland walk and I enjoyed a quiet few moments of crochet while Littlest Postcard enjoyed the adventure playground. 

I was also able to collect our pottery productions from Gallery Thea, they had rushed our painted bits and bobs through the kiln in time for us to pack them and take them back to Gibraltar with us. Littlest’s lighthouse came out really well 🙂

Day 41 : Thursday 18th August


One last pint of Adnams Spindrift sitting on the South Green in Southwold on the last night of our holiday.  We’ve had a wonderful two weeks here and are sad to be saying goodbye…

Day 42 : Friday 19th August


No craft today I’m afraid, for the first time this summer craft challenge I haven’t picked up a needle, hook or brush. This was our last glimpse of Blighty as we flew home to Gibraltar (I think we were near Southampton when I took it). Eleven hours door to door, we’re a little jaded, normal service will be resumed tomorrow…

Summer craft challenge 2016 Part 5

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Day 29 : Saturday 6th August 


Making circles while sitting outside the Red Lion at South Green in Southwold. We drank Adnams Spindrift out of plastic glasses in the evening sun, the perfect end to a sunny summer day. 

Day 30 : Sunday 7th August


Another Adnam’s beer to accompany my circle making on Sunday evening. I am on holiday and I’m supporting the local brewery so I think it’s a good thing… food miles and all that 😉 Slowly does it with this blanket…

Day 31 : Monday 8th August


Making the most of a few spare moments before heading out for dinner by squaring a few circles.

Day 32 : Tuesday 9th August


Early morning on the beach and we were lucky to have much of it to ourselves. While a major feat of civil engineering was begun (a sand fort with double walls) I set about on my first pink circles for my current blanket project.


Back at home with a cup of tea in the late afternoon, once the cloud rolled in and made the beach a bit too cool the cross stitch beach huts made another appearance. 

Day 33 : Wednesday 10th August


Making a few more Fondant Pink circles while sitting in the driveway of our holiday cottage waiting for Little Postcards to wake from their hire car slumbers… Silence was golden but it didn’t last too long 😉

Day 34 : Thursday 11th August


A spot of evening crochet before heading to bed 🙂

Day 35 : Friday 12th August


Time for a colour change on a picnic in Rendlesham Forest.

And finally…


Do you remember the crochet wreath I was working on last week? Well it’s finished and has arrived at its new home so I can reveal it in all it’s glory now. I think it turned out ok 🙂


Summer craft challenge 2016 Part 4

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Day 22 : Saturday 30th July


A woodland walk and a picnic in the countryside on Saturday meant portable crafting was required. After lunch, while the Little Postcards played football I made some little crochet flowers.

Day 23 : Sunday 31st July


Slowly but surely a little bit of progress is happening on my summer holiday cross stitch picture. A little bit each evening in front of the TV seems to be working so far.

Day 24 : Monday 1st August


Can you see a little green & white stripes beach hut appearing. I’m really enjoying this cross stitch picture so far…

Day 25 : Tuesday 2nd August


I’ve been working on this crochet wreath as a birthday present. I had originally chosen pale pink to go along side the fuschia shade against the pearly cream wreath but it was lacking something. A quick trip to the wool shop in the afternoon solved the problem… a variegated yarn. 

It will live in a pale blue bedroom when it’s completed so I wanted a hint of blue but not too much as I don’t want it to clash with the walls!

Day 26 : Wednesday 3rd August 


Just adding the finishing touches to the crochet wreath. I will reveal all shortly…

Day 27 : Thursday 4th August


My last few woolly hearts for Yarndale were finished off and parceled up ready to be posted to Skipton. If you aren’t aware of the 7000 challenge check out @bonnies_little_crafts on Instagram. This lovely lady’s trying to make and collect 7000 woolly hearts to give to visitors to the Yarndale festival in September this year.

Day 28 : Friday 5th August


Today began a little too early with crochet on the platform of Manchester Oxford Road station just after 8am waiting for the train to take us to the next destination on our holiday. We waved goodbye to the north of England and hello to the East. 

A new destination seemed as good a reason as any to begin a new project. This one’s a blanket using square the circle squares. I used a very clear pattern called Bullseye by Little Tin Bird but instead of changing the colours on each round I kept the square to just two colours.

Summer Craft Challenge 2016 Part 3

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Day 15 : Saturday 23rd July 


A new project and a new location… Saturday was our first full day in Manchester and the first day of our ‘summer holiday’. As all loose ends had been darned in on my ongoing WIP before I left Gibraltar, it was time I cracked open a new ball of yarn and got cracking on my next project. This is another gift, but I have almost two weeks to complete it so no pressure 🙂

Day 16 : Sunday 24th July


Sunday’s crafting session was a family affair. I continued with my crochet I started the day before and two of the Little Postcards began their summer sewing projects. One is of landmarks in London worked in cross stitch, the other is a football tapestry worked in long stitch.  

Day 17 : Monday 25th July


Flower making on a cross country train to visit special friends who used to live in Gibraltar 🙂 …. Who now live in:

Spotted this gorgeous crochet sign in the restaurant we are dinner in – isn’t it gorgeous? 🙂 It has pride of place at the top of a community notice board.

Day 18 : Tuesday 26th July

We had such a busy day out having fun with friends that the only crafting I managed was just before bedtime. I sewed these two little flowers together which I had crocheted on our train trip the day before. Not much to show I’m afraid but a brilliant day was had by all, Mums and children alike 🙂

Day 19 : Wednesday 27th July


Another train journey – this one taking us back up north to Manchester meant time for leaves to go with all those flowers made on the southbound journey. Once the leaves were complete, this little pile of #woollyheartsforyarndale got their ends darned in and a few buttons attached. They’ll be winging their way to Skipton very soon 🙂

Day 20 : Thursday 28th July


My wreath base is complete. I just need to add the flowers & leaves.

Day 21 : Friday 29th July


I cracked open my summer holiday cross stitch picture today. It’s a lovely summery beach scene, so the big question is – will I finish it be the end of the summer? Or more likely by the end of the decade? I’m a bit slow at cross stitch as a rule, time will tell… I have never stitched on coloured Aida before and I found stitching blue thread on blue material made my eyes a bit funny even in bright daylight. The jury’s out on whether it’ll be a success or not. 


Summer Craft Challenge 2016 part 2

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Day 8 : Saturday 16th July


I have a Dino tail 💙! I can’t show you any more of this make until it has been gifted and has arrived in its new home I’m afraid. I love the 3D quality of crochet, it’s just magic how yarn and a hook can create structures like this! 

Day 9 : Sunday 17th July


I hooked up my contribution to #jennysblanketofhugs organised by Kate at Just Pootling. Crocheters around the world are making up to three squares each which will be joined together into three blankets. With a colour palette of pinks, red and orange, they are made into any of the three patterns detailed on Just Pootling: plain, stripes or bobbles.

Two of the blankets will be gifted to two ladies, a mother and daughter who are going through a tough time at the moment. The third will be raffled or auctioned off to raise money for charity. It’s a very worthy cause.

Day 10 : Monday 18th July


Having watched a video on how to crochet bobbles on Just Pootling’s Instagram I realised that yesterday’s attempts at bobbles fell far short of the required roundness. They were unraveled and redone. I think they are a far superior version and am glad I discovered my mistake. I think they could become a favourite stitch and will appear in a future project :-).

Day 11 : Tuesday 19th July


A day trip to the beach meant lots of playing in the sea and chatting to friends and not much crafting, but I did manage one solitary #woollyheartforYarndale 🙂

Day 12 : Wednesday 20th July


I took a break from my crochet hook and had a bash at free-motion machine embroidery… and failed. I did a batik, quilted, fabric picture at school in sewing which used machine embroidery to embellish it (I was trying to impress with the number of different techniques – can’t you tell 😉) and I’ve always fancied having a go again. 

I tried and failed to find an attachment online to adapt my 10 year old Harmony 2039 New Home by Janome but my mind was boggled by all the options. I told my dressmaking teacher about it and she gave me the plastic plate (above right) to cover the teeth below the presser foot.

I clipped it into place (kind of) and set off. It wasn’t very free with the motion- I had to tug the fabric through and was convinced I’d end up breaking a needle (I didn’t amazingly). I did however chew up the underside of the plastic plate and got the threads tangled into lots of knots.

I asked for help from any experienced machine embroiderers on Instagram on Wednesday and was given lots of great advice about new presser feet and lowering the feed dog so I will give it another try when I get the machine out again. Isn’t the online crafting community lovely? Thank you to everyone who offered me help and advice!  🙂

Day 13 : Thursday 21st July


I’m not sure whether this counts as ‘craft’ or not, but I finished an alteration for my Mum. She asked me to shorten her new trousers, normally a simple job, but these trousers had zips at the bottom. I had to remove the zips, trim the length and then reinsert the zips in their new position.

I have to admit I was guided by my dressmaking teacher – it wasn’t an entirely solo affair, but considering that I only inserted my first zip just over six months ago, I’m pretty  pleased with how they turned out.

NOTE TO FRIENDS: I am not taking in alterations 😉 these trousers were good practice but I prefer frivolous crafting to the practical stuff! 

Day 14 : Friday 22nd July


I can’t show you what I made yesterday as it’s a surprise gift but I can show you my craft supplies all packed into my suitcase ready for our summer holidays. I flew to England last night to visit family along with the Little Postcards. Mr Postcard stayed behind to look after Bunny. He’ll join us later on when Bunny checks into his health farm retreat for his vacation.

I’ve got two crochet projects and a cross stitch picture to do while we’re away – do you think that’ll be enough?? 😉



Summer craft challenge 2016 part 1

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In my Sunday Sevens #39 10.7.16 post last weekend I mentioned that I’d set myself a craft challenge to do something crafty on every day of the school summer holidays. It’s for my benefit (to maintain a tiny bit of sanity restoring craft time) and for the benefit of those around me (hopefully I’ll be a slightly less grumpy Mum).

Last weekend we were staring down the barrel of 8 long weeks of school holiday. It’s my favourite time of year in that we no longer need to clock watch and get to so many activities. The flip side of the situation is that at times it can be like spinning plates trying to keep all 3 Little Postcards happy. All three have different ideas about how they would like to spend their holidays and the conflicting opinions can often lead to well, er conflict.

By promising myself a tiny window of crafting each day I have a little bit of sanctuary in among the warring factions and general chaos! Each day I have posted a daily #summercraftchallenge2016 photo on Instagram and I have even had fellow crafters saying they’ll join in too once their childrens’ schools break up for summer. If you are a crafter and fancy joining in please use the #summercraftchallenge2016 on your Instagram photos and we can all link together to share our creations.

Here’s my first seven days of the challenge:

Day 1 : Saturday 9th July

A visit from an old friend at the weekend gave us the perfect excuse to have a barbecue. Fruit punch and a new crochet project went hand in hand.

Day 2 : Sunday 10th July 

A shady spot at the Alameda Gardens park was lovely and cool on a very hot day.

Day 3 : Monday 11th July

This micro-second of bliss was shattered as I became the target of 3 water pistols…

Day 4 : Tuesday 12th July


A picnic lunch gave me the chance to make a few Attic 24 May Roses.

Day 4 : Wednesday 13th July

The first summer craft challenge project completed! A dinky wreath for our bedroom wall using my May Roses.  It measures just 13cm across.

Day 5 : Thursday 14th July


Al fresco crochet again, this time an amigurumi dinosaur which is for a soon-to-arrive little baby. Spot the deliberate mistake? A dropped stitch wasn’t noticed in the bright sun/sunglasses/camera combo. It was put right shortly before a water bomb hurled my way cut this crochet session short…

Day 7 : Friday 15th July


Learning from my previous poolside crochet mistakes I opted for an activity today which didn’t require too much concentration from me while I was supervising the Little Postcards in the pool. I hooked up quite a few little woolly hearts for this year’s Yarndale festival in Skipton recently and the ends needed darning in and buttons sewn on. These will be winging their way to my Instagram friend @bonnies_little_crafts who has set herself the challenge of creating and collecting 7000 wooly hearts to give to visitors to Yarndale this September. Check her out on Instagram and search the #woollyheartsforyarndale2016 tag if you fancy joining in, in a recent post she revealed that she has received more than 4,500 already!

So all in all, it’s not been a bad first seven days of the holiday. I wonder what next week holds in store… Thanks for stopping by 🙂