Summer Craft Challenge 2019

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

~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

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

Introducing Dino…

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

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

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

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

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

Summer Craft Challenge 2019 (Week 6)

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

And so we are now two thirds of the way through our school summer break here in Gibraltar, and so far, I’m pleased to say, we have all survived!!

Here’s week 6 of my summer craft challenge…

Day 36 Saturday 3rd August

Last Saturday we made our way home from our lovely holiday in Portugal. I managed a little spot of crochet while we sat in the border queue to cross back into Gibraltar.

Day 37 Sunday 4th August

Sunday was all about post holiday laundry duties and putting our home back together after the contractors had done their stuff while we were away.,.. as I write this on Saturday, almost a week later, the apartment is still a work in progress! On Sunday, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for crochet but I did find ten minutes to flick through the latest edition of Simply Crochet. Does that count?!

Day 38 Monday 5th August

A plump Dino body in progress in front of the telly…

Day 39 Tuesday 6th August

A Dino tail in progress on the beach…

Day 40 Wednesday 7th August

Dino arms today…

Day 41 Thursday 8th August

This is pretty much all I can show you of this little chap for now until he’s gifted in a couple of weeks’ time. I promise I will share a picture then…

Day 42 Friday 9th August

Another spot of beach crochet and another little dinosaur part…

And that brings this week’s Summer Craft Challenge to a close. Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Craft Challenge 2019 (Week 5)

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Well that week flew by in a flash – might have had something to do with us being on holiday. My hook came with us to Portugal! Here’s what I got up to craft-wise this week…

Day 29 – Saturday 27th July

A new week and being on holiday means a new project. My changing tides blanket is a bit warm and large to bring with me on holiday, so I brought a little crochet commission with me.

Day 30 – Sunday 28th July

It’s growing, but slowly. Too much fun being had to pick up my hook!

Day 31 – Monday 29th July

When your creation & hook match your outfit…

Day 32 – Tuesday 30th July

Crochet fun at the water park between slides…

Day 33 – Wednesday 31st July

Decisions, decisions. This holiday I have really enjoyed reading. I have finished two books and am now on my third, hence the crochet has been rather slow.

(In case you’re interested the books were: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and a book stall purchase while on holiday… The President’s Shadow by Brad Meltzer).

Day 34 – Thursday 1st August

… a few more rounds this evening.

Day 35 – Friday 2nd August

And so our Portuguese holiday came to an end last night with Crochet & Prosecco on the balcony..

Summer Craft Challenge 2019 (Week 4)

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Good evening, here’s week 4 of my Summer Craft Challenge…

Day 22 Saturday 20th July

Back on the aqua blues after that pop of colour last week…. do those bobbles remind you of anything?

Day 23 Sunday 21st July

…more waves.

Day 24 Monday 22nd July

… and still more waves!

Day 25 Tuesday 23rd July

And here is my first row of land… a spot of wet sand!

Day 26 Wednesday 24th July

I have a grey stripe now…. looks a bit like pebbles don’t you think?

Day 27 Thursday 25th July

We spent a lovely hour in Catalan Bay on Thursday evening which made me think perhaps it was as good a time as any to reveal that this year my seaside blanket will be made with a Catalan Bay theme – I can’t wait to capture some of the colours of those Catalan Bay homes!

Day 28 Friday 26th July

Today I did a bit of planning for my Sandy beach rows, then a spot of ruffling…

We have had a rather busy week this week and as it’s the summer holidays I’m taking a little holiday from my phone as from tomorrow. I’ll keep up with my Craft challenge and will tell you all about it when I return!

Until then, bye for now and thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Summer Craft Challenge (Week 3)

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hi, 3 weeks down already, those days are zipping by at lightning speed! Here’s week 3 of my summer Craft challenge…

Day 15 Saturday 13th July

Last Saturday after what felt like weeks of ‘shrimp’ bobbles I finished the round and changed to ‘lemon’ instead!

Day 16 Sunday 14th July

I’m liking the contrast of the citrus colours against the blue…

Day 17 Monday 15th July

I managed to find time for a little bit of crochet on the balcony as the sun went down time…. ahhhhh!

Day 18 Tuesday 16th July

… more bobbling.

Day 19 Wednesday 17th July

Whilst on a flying visit to the Costa del Crochet, I managed to finish the bobbles and even managed another row of blue.

Day 20 Thursday 18th July

I got a lovely surprise on Thursday morning – my Spanish bobbles featured on Eleonora’s weekly round up grid of her Changing Tides CAL with crocheters from around the world. What a treat to see that when I picked up my phone!

Thursday’s Crochet was pale blue…

Day 21 Friday 19th July

Friday night was a rushed crochet before bed – so rushed that I realised today that I’d done it wrong and had to frog it! Whoops!

That’s it for another week… thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Summer Craft Challenge 2019 (Week 2)

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Week two gone already! It’s been a very busy one here with the Island Games (more on that in Sunday Sevens here tomorrow). Here goes with this week’s crafty endeavours…

Day 8 : Saturday 6th July

Saturday was a very grey and cloudy day here in Gibraltar which made it perfect weather for me to sit out on the balcony and do a bit of catch up on the Coastal Crochet CAL without getting sunstroke. That’s week 6 complete (just another 7 weeks’ worth to catch up on now…)

Day 9 : Sunday 7th July

Sunday was a busy day going to see some of the Island Games events but there’s nothing like a spot of crochet while the sun goes down to unwind!

Day 10 : Monday 8th July

One last row of aqua inspired blues before a change of colour….

Day 11 : Tuesday 9th July

And this is the colour change I opted for, the rather aptly named ‘shrimp’. The perfect colour for for a spot of bobbling on the beach!

Day 12 : Wednesday 10th July

And the bobbles continue…

Day 13 : Thursday 11th July

A spot late night of bobbling in front of the TV.

Day 14 : Friday 12th July

Well I’ve been bobbling since Tuesday and I’m still going!! There’s a lot of work in these bobbles and it’s been a busy week, so my crochet windows have been small. I’m hoping next week will offer more time with my hook…

Thanks for stopping by! If you would like to join in with the summer Craft challenge, just upload a photo of your crafty work onto Instagram with the hashtag #summercraftchallenge2019

Just in case you were wondering, I’m currently working on the lovely Changing Tides Blanket CAL by Eleonora from Coastal Crochet.

Summer Craft Challenge 2019 (Week 1)

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

And so it begins… school’s out for summer and as in the previous three years I decided that the only way to survive the long 9 (yes, 9) week-long school summer break is to find a few moments each day to do something I love (not just drinking Mojitos – although this was a particularly lovely one) but making something or doing something crafty.

Although I only work a small part-time job, this academic year has been a very busy one for me with other projects going on. All of those things are coming to a hiatus during the summer months which is giving me the perfect opportunity to pick up my crochet hook, needle or paintbrush and get cracking in amongst the usual arguments, suncream & sand that punctuates the summer months.

Each day I will attempt something crafty and post it on Instagram using the #summercraftchallenge2019 hashtag. I’ll also publish a weekly round up of my crafty endeavours – this forces me to actually stick to my summer resolutions! If you would like to join in, please do and use the hashtag on Instagram too, I’d love to see what you’re up to as well

Here goes with Week 1:

Day 1 : Saturday 29th June

I may only be on week 4 of the Coastal Crochet CAL when the CAL is already in its 12th week, but I have plenty of time to play catch up this summer!

Day 2 : Sunday 30th June

A spot of long waving in front of Glastonbury on the telly!

Day 3 : Monday 1st July

Got the long waves finished on Monday night.

Day 4 : Tuesday 2nd July

Now for the turn of the blue waves on Tuesday.

Day 5 : Wednesday 3rd July

Life got in the way of crochet on Wednesday…

Day 6 : Thursday 4th July

On Thursday I did get the time to pick up my hook, I managed a lovely row of granny clusters… My photo from Tuesday made an appearance on Eleonora’s Thursday round up of her Changing Tides CAL (from Coastal Crochet) which was a lovely surprise (top left).

Day 7 : Friday 5th July

Another busy day meant no crochet for me, work, swimming with the Little Postcards and then the Calentita Food Festival last night! I’m not doing too well with this year’s challenge am I? Never mind… here’s where I’m up to so far. Better luck next week I hope! Still at least I’m now on week 6 of the Coastal Crochet CAL I’m very slowly catching up!

If you want to join in (and do a better job than me) of posting a crafty photo each day on Instagram throughout your summer, please do join in with the hashtag #summercraftchallenge2019