amigurumi dinosaur

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

Image shows fruit punch in a glass in the background with a small amount of light turquoise crochet in the foreground
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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 🙂

Sunday Sevens #37 26.6.16

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Well then, that was quite a week on all sorts of levels. I shall refrain from mentioning anything political in this post as it makes references to mundane everyday stuff, well err mundane and perhaps a little irrelevant. So here goes, it feels like a lot longer than seven days since my last Sunday Sevens, but it’s not. Who knew this time last week what was about to happen?

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series devised by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins. If you fancy joining in, pop over to her blog and find out how to have a go.

 

A crafty paradise

Last Sunday was Father’s Day in the UK and I spent it in England with my lovely Dad for the first time in years. My little Postcards took good care of their Dad when I was away and I think they really enjoyed their time with just Daddy. My Sunday was completely different from the usual routine. I wasn’t woken early with the pitter patter of small feet coming into the bedroom to ask for a cuddle/juice/breakfast/the TV remote. I had a lie-in (bliss) and after breakfast we jumped into the car and headed out into the Cheshire countryside to the fabulous Black Sheep Wools at Culcheth in Warrington.

It was wonderful to be surrounded with all this wool of every colour imaginable, there were fantastic books, fabric, sewing kits and all sorts of crafty delights. I was in heaven. We stopped for a tasty lunch in the cafe there aptly named ‘Tea Bags Full’ and before heading to our next destination I made use of the facilities.

On the way to the loo, I spotted these cute pompom sheep (above) and a fascinating series of maps on the wall. The maps were of the British Isles and also the world. People had written their names and where they were visiting from on tags. It was such a good idea as it showed how far their customers had travelled from. In the scheme of things Gibraltar wasn’t that far. South Africa and New Zealand featured tags from customers as well as many other exotic destinations. There were no spare tags for me to write on and say I was visiting from Gibraltar so this is my tag. Hello Black Sheep Wools, my crafty stash grew quite a bit thanks to you. I hope to be back again one day!

 
Back home

Monday meant time to head back home to Gibraltar. I had a really great time with my parents and was also able to see my little brother and his lovely fiancee. My weekend away flew by so quickly that I was on my way back to the airport before I knew it. On the flight I was blessed with a window seat on the right hand side which gave me a wonderful view as we circled the Rock. As we approached along the Spanish Mediterranean coast from Malaga, Gibraltar was shrouded in cloud caused by the levanter winds. Moments later, after we came around the southern tip of Europa Point I got this great view of the Rock  with it’s cloudy hat on. It’s amazing to think that these two pictures were taken just moments apart.

Dressmaking class


I’m growing to love this fabric. After buying it I was worried it was a bit too Hawaiian shirt-esque but it’s so bright and summery it’s really growing on me. This week the side seams of my final skirt project were stitched, the lining was attached to the skirt and front pleats stitched into place. In theory there’s just a waistband and hem standing between me and a finished garment. It doesn’t sound a lot if you just say it quickly but I have a feeling it may not be straightforward…

Another dinosaur gets a new home

Meet Wonkysaurus. He’s my fourth dinosaur crocheted from a pattern in Simply Crochet magazine. I do rather like him, he’s got slightly wonky spikes, hence the name. This week he went to his new home to meet his new owner. I’m not sure what his new owner makes of him yet (he’s just 4 weeks old) but his Mummy approves.

Time for another one…

No sooner had one dinosaur left me and I received a request for another one. This one’s for a baby not yet born so I have a little while yet to make him, however as the little Postcards are on summer hours at school (i.e. they finish at lunchtime) my crafting time is vastly reduced so I’m making hay while the sun shines, or should that be making heads while the sun shines? (Sorry – couldn’t resist that one 😉 )

Convent Garden Open Day

Saturday saw the annual Convent Garden Open Day in Gibraltar. It’s a regular event on the Gibraltar social calendar and gives us mere mortals the chance to wander round the Govenor’s back garden. The planting is gorgeous and a riot of colour beneath the lovely shade giving trees – many of which were planted by visiting Royals in years gone by. It was hot hot hot so that shade was very welcome. I’ll share a few more photos of this soon.

Postcard birthday

IMG_4348

I’m amazed to be saying this but yesterday Postcard from Gibraltar had it’s first birthday. I can’t believe a whole year has gone by since I made my first post. It’s been such fun. I have come into contact with so many lovely, encouraging people during the past 12 months both online and in person. Thank you to all of my new friends as well as my old friends and family who have supported my fledgling blogging adventure so far. Here’s to the next 12 months! Now it’s time for cake don’t you think?

Sunday sevens #34 5.6.16

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Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series devised by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog.

Bank holiday Monday


We had a very quiet non-eventful bank holiday Monday. The tiniest Postcard was a bit off colour so we didn’t ‘do’ a great deal. There was a spot of gardening and general tidying up along with a trip to the tip (non-stop glamour round ours) but I did get out for a nice walk on Monday evening. We’d had mixed weather over the weekend but Monday was warmer and sunnier even though it was a bit blowy. I went out to take few photos for an up-coming Stroll around Gibraltar, I thought I’d make the most of the nice evening and get ahead with my planned posts. I was treated to this lovely view on my wanderings.

Tuesday evening making up session


These little dinosaurs weren’t going to make themselves. I felt sorry for them lying at the bottom of a bag in bits… Here’s a sneaky peak of my progress so far… Will they be finished by the end of the week??

A trip to the Museum

Wednesday was a bit unusual for me as our eldest had a teacher training day at school so I enjoyed his company while the other two were in school. It was a rare chance for the two of us to do what we wanted.

We decided to pay a visit to the Gibraltar Museum. We hadn’t been for a while and quite a bit has changed there. A lot of work has been done focusing on the Rock’s ancient past and it’s first known inhabitants, the Neanderthals. We really enjoyed it.

That moment when you really need to be somewhere but a plane’s about to land…. #onlyingibraltar


Thursday saw a mad panic trying to find somewhere to park as I had to get a small postcard to an after school event at the Victoria Stadium. Unfortunately there was a school sports day there at the same time so my usual parking space had been taken, in fact the entire car park was full. Then just as you think you can still make it in time, the plane from Morocco comes in to land, closing the road and everything comes to a stand still. #onlyingibraltar 

Yarnbomb anyone?


Did you know that it’s International Yarnbomb Day next Saturday 11th June? I’ve done a little bit of research and as far as I can tell Gibraltar hasn’t experienced a yarnbomb yet. I think it’s about time – don’t you?

Gastronomy event 


Yesterday saw a Gastronomy event being held in Queensway Quay marina. There were cooking demonstrations by the marina’s restaurants as well as craft and charity stalls and live music. We went along and the boys met up with some friends from school. We sat in the sunshine, had a good chat with friends and ate good food. The perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Finished!


Meet Spike & Stripe… They are complete…at last! They have a little pal too but he’s a gift which hasn’t yet been given so he’s being shy ;-). I really enjoyed making them and I have a feeling they won’t be the last I make.
Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you have a good week!

Sunday Sevens #28 24.4.16

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Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at the Threads & Bobbins blog. It gives you a chance to reflect some of the things you’ve been doing in your week through a series of seven photographs. To find out more, or to join in, pop over to her blog for more information.

**Warning – this blog post contains a lot of Med Steps related things – apologies for the repetitive nature but it’s kind of consuming my world at bit at the moment!**

My Med Steps training update

Monday morning meant an early trip up the steps and boy was it worth it, the view was absolutely stunning from the top of the Rock. Look at Spain heading off into the distance!

Time didn’t allow me to train again on Tuesday or Wednesday but the weather would have stopped me so it’s probably for the best. We did the school run on Tuesday morning to a soundtrack of thunder, Wednesday was wet too. 

Thursday was dry and bright and meant for the first time we managed…

4 times round…  

I can’t quite believe that we managed it, that final (fourth) ascent was a killer. Just in case you haven’t heard, me and a couple of other crazy ladies are currently training to take part in the Med Steps 5 Challenge next month. That means we hope to climb the Med Steps five times in the one day – see, I did say crazy. 

Why? I hear you say… Well here’s how it all came about:

 My post-Christmas hangover cure…

  

My secret’s out, the reason why I’m doing the Med Steps 5 Challenge is because I agreed to do it while under the influence of Christmas spirit! ;-). My Med Steps journey so far featured in an article in our local e-magazine for parents Mum on the Rock. Do check out their website or the Postcard from Gibraltar Facebook page if you want to read it. 

And now for something completely different:

In my watercolour class this week I decided to revisit my bird of paradise flowers from Easter. This photo was taken part way through, my teacher told me to loosen up my style and be a bit less detailed. I’ll put another layer of paint on top of this once it’s dry and see what happens next week.

Dressmaking class  

This skirt’s a bit tricky, I’ve got lining, panels, a waistband and an invisible zip all going on at once -arghhhh! Deep breaths, slow and steady does it…. 

#tightsqueeze


Twice this week I got stuck behind two buses having to negotiate the same very narrow stretch of road. I have no idea how they achieve this feat without coming a cropper. Do you think they ask the passengers to breathe in? I wouldn’t fancy attempting it!! Hats off to the very skillful drivers. 

A quiet Saturday morning


This weekend has been very strange in our house. Our two eldest went away on Friday evening to a scout camp. We have spent the weekend with just one child in the house for the first time in over eight years. I was really looking forward to it but to be honest I’ve missed them and it felt really odd. Yes, it was nice not to have to intervene in sibling arguments and play referee on who’s turn it was to watch their choice on TV, but I’m not sure I liked it. 

I’ve felt very uneasy the whole time like I should be busy doing something… So I had a quiet post-breakfast sit down at the window looking out over the Bay and doing a spot of crochet – it’s a green stegosaurus this time ;-). It’s my second attempt at this Simply Crochet magazine pattern, I think they’re so cute.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you’ve had a good weekend.