colouring for grown-ups

Earthquake excitement We awoke on Monday morning to hear that there had been an earthquake in the Straits of Gibraltar in the early hours of the morning. It turned out that there were several in actual fact (last I heard there had been 160 aftershocks!). Despite being up several times in the night to tend to a poorly 4 year old the whole drama passed me and the rest of the Postcard household by! Friends described their beds shaking and the rush to make sure their kids were moved away from windows, social media in Gib was humming with the excitement of it all, we didn’t notice a thing!!

Whoops spoke too soon

Last week I crocheted the last row of my Cosy stripe blanket and then began sewing my ends in. On Tuesday I had a few quiet moments out on the balcony and thought I’d begin my border… I looked on the Attic 24 blog for the instructions only to discover that when I’d transcribed the order of the coloured rows into my notebook (way back in 2014 – I’m not a fast worker ;-)!) I’d missed off the last 15 colours – that means another 30, yes 30, rows!!! It’ll be a while before I get to crack on with that border after all!!

#7000 challenge

One of my Instagram friends @bonnies_little_crafts has set herself the rather grand goal of making and collecting 7000 little crocheted hearts in time for the Yarndale yarn festival in September. Her intention is to give visitors to the festival a heart each as a welcome gift to her home town of Skipton. In previous years I have sent woolly offerings to Lucy at Attic 24 (one of the founders of the festival) for exhibition displays, so although I have failed to attend myself, a little bit of me has made it over to the Yorkshire based festival of woolliness in past years. One day I would love to go, as I have seen all the lovely pictures posted by crafty bloggers who have been already, and it looks amazing. As I have spent a large chunk of this week sitting on the sofa with poorly children I thought I’d hook up a few to send off to Skipton. If you want to have a go at making some little hearts to support the #7000 challenge, look up @bonnies_little_crafts on Instagram for more details.

Instagram photo challenge

I have really enjoyed taking part in the #30daysofcraftiness photo challenge this month. It has forced me to think a bit more about the photos I take and encouraged me to take photos I wouldn’t ordinarily capture. The photo above is for day 28 and the title is ‘quote’. I didn’t want to just use a Google image of an inspirational quote or cat picture (ref: The Lego Movie) so had a go at making my own. And it’s true – I get grumpy when I haven’t been near a crochet hook or needle or paintbrush for a while, to me crafts truly are my therapy!

Stormy night

On Friday night we had a belter of a thunderstorm. The rain and thunder had been forecast, so it wasn’t a surprise but the intensity and noise was really quite unsettling. Living in an old building with original wooden sash windows which are a little past their best, we almost felt like the roof was coming in on us. The windows and floors were rattling with the noise and the brightness of the lightening was off the scale. Thankfully it was late in the evening so our two youngest were tucked up in bed and oblivious to the storm. As the storm had taken out our TV signal, No 1 son sat up with me colouring. It was a nice way to spend quite a dramatic hour or so!

Calm after the storm

Looking at this, it seems hard to believe that less than 12 hours before the lightening was splitting the sky and the thunder was rattling the chimney pots! What a beautiful way to start the weekend – hello Saturday!

Med Steps in the sunshine!

After 6 days of poorly children, we are all healthy again (touch wood) and I managed to escape to do the Med Steps yesterday afternoon. It was hard work because it had been over a week since my last trip up AND it was warm. The sun made it absolutely glorious though, the butterflies were out, the gorse bushes were flowering and just look at the colour of that sea! I also had a first – I saw a Barbary Partridge for the first time. He was too quick for me to photograph though so you’ll just have to make do with this picture 🙂 .
Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series which was created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins.

Passing it on

I, like many crocheters was taught by my Mum and Gran. They also taught me to embroider, sew and knit. As a mother of 3 boys I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity to pass these skills onto the next generation, but to my pleasant surprise I was asked by Number 1 son to teach him cross-stitch several years ago and he made a small picture for his room. Since then, at various times over the course of at least 2 years, he has asked me to teach him to knit. I haven’t been too successful so far, and as is the way when you are young and keen, he has very high expectations (like being able to knit a whole scarf for himself within a day). So far our yarny adventures haven’t been 100% successful.

In the run up to Christmas I spotted a knitting loom in our local knitting shop and thought perhaps that could be the answer for him. It appears that if you put it down and forget about it for several weeks or months between sessions it should remain intact and not all slide off the end of a needle (as has been the case for us before). At last I had the time to work it out and get him started. This is it so far, it is rather loose (not sure if that’s what’s supposed to happen). Perhaps using chunky wool would be better? Although the lady in the shop said DK would be fine. Anyway he seems to be enjoying it this far lifting the loops of wool over the pegs with a little hook rather like one of those knitting dolls I had as a child. Any advice anyone could give me on this would be greatly appreciated!

Cavalcade Tuesday of course meant the Cavalcade in Gibraltar (see my previous post for more on this), but it marked the end of the Christmas festivities and really the end of the Christmas holidays for me and the boys. We had a lovely afternoon – we went to see the Peanuts Movie, had a quick dinner in Kings Bastion Leisure Centre (where the cinema is) while dodging an almighty downpour and then met up with Mr Postcard to watch the floats and bands go past. A lovely end to our holiday together.

Med Steps Challenge

The gauntlet has been thrown down and I have been set a challenge for 2016 – well until May 2016 anyway. Regular visitors to my blog will have heard me mention every now and then, the Med Steps (or Mediterranean Steps to give them their proper title). It’s a footpath which winds up the Southern and Eastern sides of the Rock of Gibraltar to the summit and is a route I walk fairly regularly to try and keep fit. There’s a contest twice a year which involves walking/running (for the super fit) up the steps and back down again 5 times (yes you read that right) 5 times in the one day. A couple of friends who I have done the steps with in the past have decided to have a go at the challenge, and I am considering having a go too. Thursday marked the first day back at school here in Gibraltar and therefore, training began for us. We managed it… once, in a time of 31 minutes from Jews Gate up to the top. I have heard of much faster times, but for a first training session and after a month of virtual inactivity and perhaps just a little overindulgence over Christmas, I don’t think it was too bad. How on earth we will manage to do it 5 times in a row, I have no idea but I’ll keep you posted on our progress!

Cosy stripe blanket progress
I reached a big milestone this week. I finished the stripes of my Attic 24 Cosy Stripe Blanket. It was begun in November 2014 as a CAL (crochet-along) and over the course of a month or two, crocheting several rows each week, it was due to be finished at the end of the year (2014 that is). I so admire crafters who can knock out several blankets a year, I even saw one crocheter talking recently on Instagram about the fact she had completed 60 – yes 60!!! blankets last year. Well I’m afraid I’m a bit flighty and get easily distracted and like to have multiple crafty things on the go at any one time so I tend to be a one blanket a year (make that 14 months) kind of girl. Now to darn in all those pesky endy bits and crack on with the border!

Mr Potato Head lovers – look away now…

….I think he may have exploded! Now I’m sure I said ‘put all that away before bedtime’ but perhaps I was just talking to myself. Do you ever get the feeling no one’s listening to you???

Colourful start to the weekend

Yesterday morning we had a real treat outside our front door – double rainbow in the Bay. How beautiful!

Colouring for grown-ups

I’ve had loads of fun this weekend playing with one of my Christmas presents, a grown-up colouring book. I had been a bit dubious about the claims of relaxation and mindfulness relating to such activities but I’ve been convinced. It’s not the best effort so far but I’ve had fun doing it!