autumn

Sunday Sevens #206 20.10.19

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Hello again, another week gone by and another Sunday Sevens. It was the Battle of Trafalgar remembrance service in Gibraltar this morning. It was lovely to see, it will feature in next week’s edition. Here’s a bit of what’s been going on this week….

And then it was gone

I mentioned the demolition of the Queens Cinema in a Sunday Sevens a few weeks back, all that remains of this lovely building is a pile of twisted metal. Such a shame.

Trial run trousers mark 2

In my dressmaking class this week I began making my second pair of trial run trousers. Let’s hope the adjustments I made to the pattern accommodate my larger than average calves work out! 😉

A colourful visitor

I went to open the back door one afternoon and spied this beautiful moth sitting on the lock!

Election Day

Gibraltar went to the polls on Thursday. Over here you vote for 10 candidates which you would like to represent you rather than just one representative for your ward. There were candidates from three parties standing this time, which was a first for us in our decade in Gibraltar.

Election results

As we woke up on Friday morning, the results from Thursday’s election were announced. Sadly Steven Seagull didn’t win despite his lovely campaign posters. (The previous government of GSLP Liberal Alliance were returned to power). This lovely poster was designed by the street artist whose work includes cats, a sloth and a few other images which gave appeared around Gibraltar lately. You can see their work on Instagram, just search for jupp.jupp.jupp.

Autumn florals

Gibraltar is still looking beautiful even though it’s well into autumn now. I found myself taking photos of flowers a lot this week.

Crisis averted

So yesterday afternoon we lost our tv signal. Just about the only UK programme I watch on a regular basis apart from the news is Strictly. Half an hour before it went on air and after plugging and unplugging all our cables (and blaming the Little Postcards for touching things they shouldn’t) I called our TV provider. Aparently the whole local area was off – sorry boys! The man said it would probably stay off until this morning – nooooo! But amazingly it came back on part way through – hurrah!

And that brings another Sunday Sevens to a close, thank you for stopping by!

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #204 6.10.19

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Hello there! We’re basking in some beautiful autumnal sunshine here at the moment in Gibraltar. If the weather where you are isn’t too great I’ll have a word and see if we can share some of ours with you! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

A new skill to start the week

On Monday I went to an extra skills workshop with my Dressmaking teacher Dorcas Hammond to learn how to do shirring and make a shirring dress. I saw some of the work produced by my fellow Dressmaking students on the last workshop and it was beautiful. Shirring is such a useful technique, not only can you make pretty dresses, but also tops, waistbands and sleeves.

I can’t wait to find the time in my busy weeks to actually put my new found skills to the test! I have bought fabric and am raring to go! Now this little dress is ready to go to a young lady I know….

The end of an era

There has been much debate and regret on local social media and in the press about the demolition of the Queen’s Cinema. When we first arrived in Gibraltar we lived very close by and I loved the architectural style of it from the outside. On the two occasions I was able to attend events inside, it was so reminiscent of the old cinema in the town where I grew up, it felt so homely straight away.

It had closed as a cinema by the time we arrived here to live, as the new purpose built leisure complex at Kings Bastion had a couple of brand new screens, so I didn’t see it in its heyday. I think it’s such a shame that a developer or the Government didn’t turn it into a facility for the community. Perhaps showing old films or for local productions? Anyway, that won’t happen now, just the bottom of the walls and the skeleton of the balcony remain. So sad…

Mantis!

Whilst visiting the home of a friend this week I spied this mantis on the window of the stair well. It rather took me by surprise! They are fascinating creatures to see up close!

Sewing in the dark…

Whilst at my regular Dressmaking class this week we had a power cut. It was so frustrating as I was on a roll seaming my trial run trousers. I had just one inside leg left to sew, so I had to finish it off cranking the wheel by hand by the light of my phone torch! It didn’t half make my shoulder ache! A handle or even better, a treadle would have been much easier! There’s a lot to be said for manual power, or pedal power – it won’t let you down in a power cut!!

Stunning sunset

We have had some truly beautiful sunsets this week because we’ve had clear skies and whispy clouds. This is the gorgeous one we enjoyed on Wednesday.

Blue skies

Those clear skies I mentioned… just check out these on Friday. It was absolutely glorious. I went for a very boring trip into town on an admin mission and bumped into Mr Postcard. We had an impromptu lunch in Ocean Village with this lovely view (below):

Guess where we went shopping?

Many months ago I promised Eldest that I would take him to Ikea. (He had his eye on a new desk lamp). We have an affection for all things Scandinavian, you may remember we made a special trip to Stockholm earlier this year. Anyway yesterday was the day we went back to Ikea. We were able to stock up on a few sweet Swedish treats!

We’re into October already, which hardly seems possible. Here’s a few of my September highlights:

That’s all from Sunday Sevens for another week. I hope you have a great week ahead…

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #202 22.9.19

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Back again, and just one week since the last one! How are you? I hope you had a good week!

Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Back to school

My Dressmaking classes restarted this week – it felt good to be back again and using my brain! New term means a new project – trousers. Pattern drawing began this week and I took in the fabric I bought in the UK to show my teacher – thankfully it got the seal of approval. It will be a while before I start sewing with it though, after I cut my paper pattern I need to make a trial run in cotton to make sure I have the pattern correct.

Sunny morning in town

Its been such a long time since I’ve met a friend for coffee, but I managed it this week. We had a really good chat catching up on news from both of us from over the summer and cooking up a plan for the future – it was fun.

Birthday cake baking

I certainly wouldn’t get a place on Bake-Off… one of the Little Postcards celebrated a birthday this week and carrot cake was the request. I only bake for birthdays and occasional charity cake sale so it’s not my speciality nor is my spice rack particularly up to date. Imagine my horror when I replaced the required spices with new ones (as the old ones were a few years out of date) and only discovered the unopened packet of ground ginger when I was clearing up afterwards.

My delight at being told, ooh Mummy this tastes so gingery was a relief! Shhh it’s our little secret!

Many shades of grey…

It was a very grey affair on Friday… just look at those grey skies against the grey of the Rock, road & the buildings!

Relay for life

I had the privilege to pop along to the annual Relay for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK which was taking place yesterday. I wasn’t taking part, just cheering along from the sidelines. This amazing event saw about 80 teams of people walking round the track at Victoria Stradium for 24 hours from 11am yesterday to 11 am this morning – that’s some going. It is a very emotional event as many people are walking in memory of loved ones and in support of friends and family who are going through cancer at the moment. What a special thing to witness.

That’s it from me for this week, I hope you have a good one! Until next time, bye for now…

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #201 15.9.19

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Ahh that feels better, back in the Sunday Sevens saddle! I hope you’re all well and have had a good week! This week for me has felt more like 2 to be honest with the Gibraltar Calling Music Festival last weekend and National Day on Tuesday. I have to admit that I’m rather looking forward to a ‘normal’ week with a ‘normal’ routine next week! Here goes…

Sunday at Gibraltar Calling

Last Sunday was day 2 of the Gibraltar Calling Music Festival. We got there early in time to see the day kicked off by King Calaway. Those of you away from Gibraltar may not have heard of them so I’ll explain who they are….

They’re a relatively new band based in the USA and are comprised of individuals from across the states as well as Europe, including the gentleman below. He’s called Simon Dumas and is from Gibraltar. Simon’s pretty well known here for being in a couple of local bands with his brothers Guy & Philip as well as being a radio presenter here whilst he was away studying music in Manchester.

Since he graduated he joined this band, King Calaway and they’re having quite a bit of success in the States. They are a bit ‘country’ and have performed with big stars like Garth Brooks and played at the Grand Ol’ Opry. This was their first performance in Gibraltar and it went down a storm!

They even performed one of the old Frontier’s songs (his last band before leaving here) along with his brothers.

I hope they don’t leave it too long to return!

Next up was Tom Walker …

Then I nipped over to the classic stage for a bit of David Essex’s set.

And then back in time for Rick Astley! Never gonna give you up….

The run away highlight of the day had to be Take That. Yes, that’s right – TAKE THAT!!!!!

Oh my word, they were terrific.

The fun didn’t stop there, Mel C from the Spice Girls came on to DJ. I’ve never heard a Spice Girls track (Who do you think you are) mixed with Nirvana‘s Smells like Teen Spirit before but I loved it!!

After that, a Queen tribute act came on but we headed home soon after they came on stage. Well it was after 1am and it was school the next day… 😳

National Day 2019

Two days later was Tuesday 10th September, Gibraltar National Day. The day when everyone wears red & white and has fun basically. We had aerobatic displays to watch…

Some people created the biggest tented city I’ve ever seen on Catalan Bay beach!

And in the evening we had a the obligatory National Day fireworks display.

Town centre Oasis

After all the excitement of the previous few days it was nice to take a moment to enjoy a bit of quiet in town while ferrying Little Postcards to after school activities!

Moody skies

Friday night saw moody skies brewing. Not far up the coast near Malaga there were terrible floods and some people lost their lives in the heavy downpours. We were extremely fortunate to escape that.

Gibraltar day still in evidence!

Even yesterday the place was still looking festive. Some shop keepers really go to town with their window displays – they look lovely.

And so here we are at the end of a rather long Sunday Sevens. I can pretty much guarantee that next week’s won’t be as exciting – but you never know what’s around the corner do you? Have a great week!

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Postcard from Gibraltar Review of 2018

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Well here we are at the end of another year, it’s been a year of crafty and photo challenges, and on the whole a good one for the Postcard clan. It’s only now I’ve taken a look back at what we’ve done that I realised that we’ve packed a lot in! Here are some of my highlights from 2018…

January

I started the year off with a lovely walk up the Rock, those paperwhite narcissi were photographed on New Year’s Day. After enjoying participating in a photo challenge in 2017 under the stewardship of Sandra at Wild Daffodil, I decided to have a go at running one in 2018, so #postcardfromgibfridayphoto was born on Instagram and in Blogland. I also embarked on the Seaside Stash Busting Blanket CAL in January too. Little did I know what fun it would become.

February

February saw plenty more crochet and a fair bit of watercolour painting, along with the arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth to Gibraltar. The huge Royal Naval aircraft carrier was quite a sight to behold.

March

March, very fortunately for us was a month for travel, first to attempt skiing for the very first time in the Italian Dolomites – it was amazing, and second to take the Little Postcards on an Easter trip to the South of England.

April

We began April on Easter Sunday on the Jurassic Coast in Devon, then headed to London for a few days before heading home. It was a fun trip.

May

May meant Med Steps 5 Challenge, Gibraltar’s Comic Con and some lovely spring weather.

June

June brought with it the Calentita! food festival and my very first printed article in the Calentita! magazine. We celebrated World Environment Day and I had a go at Yarnbombing the Alameda Gardens!

July

Summer holidays we the order of the day in July (along with my now traditional annual Summer Craft Challenge). We headed off to Suffolk to help celebrate a big birthday for a member of the Postcard family. We traveled by plane, old trains and kayak! Which reminds me, we went to a fabulous country fair at Worstead, I really should get a post written about that…

August

August was spent in Suffolk, Gibraltar and visiting my family in Manchester. We watched acrobats and magicians in Gib and followed the Bee trail around Manchester.

September

Back to Gibraltar in time for school starting and the end of the Gibraltar Fair. We had National Day celebrations and the MTV Presents Gibraltar Calling Music Festival.

October

At midterm in October we headed off for a short break in Portugal. We’re so lucky to be able to drive to so many lovely places from where we live. This was also the month that I finished my Sandy Bay blanket.

November

November began for us in Portugal and ended with the Christmas light switch on with the fabulous Gibraltar Literary Festival in between. It’s a truly wonderful festival which happens right on our doorstep.

December

December saw the end of the Friday photo challenge I curated as well as a rather pleasant pre Christmas trip up the Med Steps…

Thank you to everyone who has followed and read my posts this year, it’s been lovely to know that there’s someone out there actually reading them! I hope that 2018 has been a good year for you and that 2019 is too!

Sunday Sevens #156 30.9.18

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Sunday again, I was supposed to post midweek all about the Music Festival last weekend but unfortunately time got the better of me, perhaps I’ll manage it this week…. here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

And relax…

It’s been quite a week for me this week, we have had visitors over – which has been lovely (and I couldn’t have managed without their help), I’ve been doing a bit of extra work too this week and it’s been a bit non-stop at times. It has made realise that there’s no way I could work full-time. I take my hat off to all those parents out there who hold down a full-time job as well has looking after children.

Pattern making

There wasn’t a lot of sewing going on at my dressmaking class this week but my jacket pattern is moving on apace.

Under a cloud…

The hot and sweaty Levanter weather conditions have continued for most of this week. As you can see, up above the thick cloud (which sits above Gibraltar at the minute) there’s some lovely blue sky. Everyone’s complaining about the humidity at the moment, I hope it comes to an end soon.

A lovely lunch

As I alluded to before, we have special visitors over at the minute, my parents are here for a visit. That gave us the perfect excuse to go out to lunch while the Little Postcards are at school. It’s amazing being able to hold uninterrupted conversations!!

Whoops!

I’m on the final push for my Coastal Crochet CAL. The Seaside Stash Busting Blanket has seen a bit of action this week, but as you can see, I got it a bit wrong…. it took me 4 rows to realise that I’d made a mistake – whoops! Thankfully it’s sorted now!

The end of summer…

It looks like summer beach season is over… I was at Sandy Bay on Friday and although there were quite a few people on the beach and in the sea, work was underway removing the net from the family end of the beach. It doesn’t feel like autumn yet, that’s for sure!

A new arrival in Gibraltar

There’s much excitement in our household about the arrival of a new eatery in Gibraltar. When we visited Sidmouth and Lyme Regis on our Easter trip to the south coast of England, we first encountered the delights of the Cornish Bakery. Then, on our trip to Southwold in Suffolk, we discovered a branch had just opened there too. Imagine our surprise when this signage appeared in Casemates Square… is this an anti-diet conspiracy??!! Is the Cornish Bakery stalking the Postcard family? Methinks a few pasties may be consumed…

Thanks for stopping by to visit this week, that’s all for this Sunday Sevens. As always, I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Friday photo challenge (week 38) Autumn

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We may not have autumn in the same way as in the UK with falling leaves and all the beautiful colour that goes with that, but we are experiencing autumnal mists at the minute.

Yesterday’s trip up the Med Steps was very atmospheric. Don’t think it was cool though, I was really hoping for a bit of cool weather because it’s been so very humid since the height of the summer. It was warm and humid all the way up until the ninth set of steps towards the summit and all of a sudden I walked into a cool blast of breeze coming up from the sea – it was so welcome!

It’s this cool air which causes the Levanter cloud to form on the top of the Rock, and that cloud is what seals the hot humid air in for those underneath, yuck!

Many of the plants on the side of the rock are dead and burnt to a crisp after a long hot summer, but this clump of purple flowers took me by surprise. Not everything has gone to sleep!

Sunday Sevens #111 26.11.17

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Hello there, I hope you have had a good week. It’s been as busy as always Chez Postcard and I’m staring down the barrel of a frantic few weeks with all the pre-Christmas antics there are are for the Little Postcards. There’s actually one day next week where I need to be in 4 different places at the same time…. I may be calling on the services of Dr Who and his Tardis to get everything done!

Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

A sunny start to the week

There was an in-service day for some of the Little Postcards on Monday. I haven’t been feeling too great for the last couple of weeks and they behaved so well for me letting me have an easy day, that we did a late afternoon trip to the park at Europa Point for ice cream as a reward. (My fluey cold from the other week turned into bronchitis 😕). The weather was glorious, as you can see, with just the hint of a Levanter cloud forming on the top of the Rock.

It’s finished #1><

Ta-dah! It’s finished at last! I have actually completed a blouse in my Dressmaking class, with a collar, cuffs and buttons (although I was tempted with velcro when the button holes weren’t behaving as I wanted them to). It’s a bit ‘loud’ colourwise so I’m not sure when I’ll wear it… perhaps under a cardigan!

Cloud free skies!><

We had more beautiful cloud-free skies mid-week. We have been so lucky to have a warm, dry autumn here in Gibraltar so far. I’m dreading having to dig the waterproofs out when the rains come….

It’s finished #2><

It’s been quite the week for finishing things, I managed to finish my autumn crochet wreath – before the end of autumn (a miracle!). I’m thrilled with how it turned out, it looked great in the autumnal sunshine on our front door. The kit came in a Little Box of Crochet and the designer was Kate Eastwood of Just Pootling.

Not much watercolour progress…><

I guess I can’t finish everything at once, so I’m still working on my watercolour painting of town. I’m getting there slowly but surely.

A new project><<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Yesterday I treated myself to starting a new crochet project. I was very disciplined and waited until I’d finished my wreath before cracking open another little box of crochet…

Christmas is coming>

<<

The Gibraltar Christmas lights were turned on on Friday night and yesterday we took a trip into town to visit Gibraltar’s first ever Christmas market. There are artisan stalls set up in little wooden huts, you can even get mulled wine – it smelled lovely (I shall have to go back once I finish my antibiotics!).

I’m linking with Natalie (the proud Mummy of a beautiful new baby girl) from Threads & Bobbins for this weekly Sunday Sevens blog series.

Sunday Sevens #110 19.11.17

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Hello and welcome to this week’s Sunday Sevens (or in this case Sunday Sixes). I hope you have had a good week…

Sunny Sunday

Sadly I wasn’t feeling too well last Sunday. I was laid low with a bad fluey cold. Mr Postcard went out though and took this lovely sunny photo. Look at that blue sky!

Buttonholes

by Tuesday I was feeling much better and back at sewing. The time had come to put buttons and their button holes on my blouse. Slightly daunted by the fact I haven’t done one in about a year, I practiced on scrap fabric and put off doing it until next week!

I must clean my windows

Tuesday’s sunset through a dirty sash window – sorry Mum, I’ve let you down! It still looked lovely despite the muck!

Coffee & crochet

Two of my favourite things in the world beginning with ‘c’ apart from … chocolate! I had a lovely catch up with an old friend who’s new to crochet this week. We have to spread the love haven’t we?!

Gibraltar Literary Festival

The Gibraltar Literary Festival was back this week. I only managed to get to a few events this year, as I was busy with other things but a post about my experiences this year will be on its way soon.

Watercolour rooftops

At watercolour class this week, I did some more work on this painting of Gibraltar’s town and Upper Town. Striking the balance of what detail to include and what to miss out is proving tricky.

It’s just a Sunday Six this week I’m afraid, a lot of what I got up to wasn’t really photo worthy, so I shan’t bore you with the mundane stuff. I was hoping to have my autumn leaves crochet project finished by now but that’ll have to wait until next week…

I’m linking with Natalie of Threads & Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Sunday Sevens #109 12.11.17

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Hello there. Please forgive the underwhelming nature of this week’s Sunday Sevens, I’ve been a bit under the weather of late (autumnal sniffles) so my photo taking opportunities have been rather limited this week…

The last rays of sunshine 

Last Sunday afternoon we spent a little while on the Eastside of the Rock at Sandy Bay. You can tell we are heading towards winter as the sun disappeared behind the Rock sooner than it did a few weeks ago…

A posh boat


While on a walk in Ocean Village at the start of the week this rather posh boat caught my eye. I thought it looked unusual with its black hull.

Setting in my sleeves

At my Dressmaking class this week, it was time to set in my sleeves. Amazingly they went in perfectly, at the first attempt!

Under the weather


By midweek I was feeling a little bit off colour. Since then, I have spent a lot of time in bed. It’s just a cold, but I’m a reluctant patient and I’m feeling decidedly frustrated that I’ve run out of energy to achieve anything beyond the basics. Poached eggs are just the ticket when you’re feeling run down don’t you think?

Friday night dusk

I caught sight of this beauty out of the window on Friday evening. You can’t beat a lovely sunset to lift the spirits. 

Autumnal leaves


It has felt decidedly autumnal here this past few days (and I don’t think it’s just because I’ve felt ill). Bright sunny skies yesterday made me yearn to kick through piles of autumn leaves at a National Trust property. I started working on this delightful project from Little Box of Crochet at the end of last week, when we were on holiday and yesterday I added this cute amigurumi toadstool to my autumnal crochet leaf collection. It’s been such fun to work on. 

Thank you for joining me for this week’s sniffly and sneezy edition of Sunday Sevens. I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.