Sunday Sevens #76 26.3.17

Happy Mother’s Day to all you lovely Mums, Grandmas and everyone else too.


Here’s the gorgeous Mother’s Day window at Originarta shop which featured in my post on Upcycling recently in my Creative Gibraltar series.

Now to the rest of week’s edition of Sunday Sevens…

Cheerful blooms


I had the excuse to buy some flowers this week for somebody and thought these yellow gerberas were just lovely. Such sunny flowers!

Company at the top 


I made my first trip up the Med Steps for this week on Wednesday. It was so warm. Although it was cool to start with, once we’d climbed round to the eastern side of the Rock, it was in direct sunshine and sheltered from the wind. 

In spite of the heat, my friend and I managed it in under thirty minutes for the first time this year. We have talked about doing the Med Steps 5 Challenge again this year, but by this time last year we had done it at least twice round if not three times round in our training… I’m not sure whether we’ll (read I’ll) be ready to do 5 times round this time.

The start of another painting

There’s not much to show for this week’s watercolour class as there was a lot of planning (and quite a lot of chatting) but I have started a new painting. I have fancied having at go at trying to paint a section of the Med Steps seeing as I’m such a frequent visitor these days.

I have hundreds and hundreds of photos of the Steps, wildflowers and views on my phone that it was quite hard to make decision which one to go for. We’ll see how this one turns out….


Friday Steps


It was a beautifully clear morning on Friday, when I made a solo trip up the Steps. I had toyed with the idea of making my first ‘twice round’ trip, but alas no. There just wasn’t enough in the tank, so I headed home after the first circuit and used my time sewing! I’m working on a secret project which I can’t share yet, but I promise I will as soon as I can. 

In the meantime just check out how clear the mountains across the Strait were on Friday. There are times when you almost feel like you can reach out and touch Morocco – it’s so close and clear!

A few hours later…

We had a very heavy hailstone shower just a few hours later after lunch! The spring weather is a bit unpredictable at the moment… four seasons in one day!

Furry friend


Bunnies and crochet don’t mix, or so I learned this week. Every evening we get Diamond out to have a run around the lounge. He loves the freedom and bunny hops his way from one end to the other and tries to fit into holes he really shouldn’t be able to fit into (if the laws of physics have anything to do with it). 

One evening I was sitting with my crochet and I hadn’t realised the ball of yarn had rolled off the sofa and onto the floor. All of a sudden I felt a tugging on the other end of the yarn and I found this tinker all tangled up! He was none the worse for his ordeal, but I learned that trying to hold a fidgeting rabbit and trying to untangle him from a length of yarn at the same time is harder than you think!

That’s all for Sunday Sevens for this week, however you’re spending your day I hope you have a good one. Thanks so much for stopping by!

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

Sunday sevens #24 27.3.16

Happy Easter!

   

I’m starting this week’s Sunday Sevens with the cutest shop window display in Gibraltar. It belongs to the Originata shop & gallery on Governor’s Street. The shop is run by a lovely lady called Sue, who makes all the pretty things she sells and she offers craft classes as well. Sue cteates a lot of her products from recycled materials and tiles, shells and sea glass she finds on Gibraltar’s beaches. 

My first attempt at a lined curtain
Well I’ve done it, I have completed the curtain section of my home furnishings course. I’ve made samples of a rod pocket, a tab-top, a standard tape top, a small pair with a valance attached and now a fully lined curtain. I’m chuffed with what I’ve learned and been able to achieve over the 10 lessons. I’m particularly pleased with the neat hand stitched corners on the bottom right above. We have just 2 more lessons on the course and it’s cushion time when we return after Easter.

Now you see it, now you don’t…  

This week in my dressmaking class I had a couple of practice attempts at invisible zips as I’ll be using one for my next skirt. After quite a few deeps breaths (I’m being polite here!) and fair amount of unpicking I managed to pull it off reasonably well. Apparently they aren’t quite 100% according to my teacher but I’m pretty pleased with them. Whether I’ll be able to replicate it when the pressure’s on and I’m doing my skirt… time will tell!

Wierd weather 

 

This may not seem a big deal to UK visitors to the blog, but on Tuesday I witnessed a rare weather phenomenon for Gibraltar… hail stones. Can you see one in the centre of the photo on my windscreen? Soon after hitting the car, they melted but crikey, after 6 years of living here I have never seen hailstones here before! They were followed by very heavy rain and a thunderstorm, perhaps winter hasn’t let go just yet! 

Easter holiday time!

 

Thursday meant the first day of the school holidays here in Gibraltar. We had a couple of friends over to play and a trip to the park at Europa Point to get buffeted by the winds. Hide and seek was played and ice cream was dribbled down chins. It was a really sunny day but a little cold out in exposed areas – which is exactly what Europa Point is! The kids didn’t notice, they were too busy running around having fun. Gibraltar’s lighthouse is right next to the park – I couldn’t resist taking a photo; red, white and blue are a great colour combination.

 Easter bunny

  

It is the season for bunnies, so I couldn’t leave our very own Easter bunny out of this week’s Sunday Sevens. He’s growing a very funky hairdo, if it gets much longer it’ll flop into his eyes and I’ll need to give him a hair clip or a trim! He is such a monkey, his days of hopping about on my bed are numbered – he had a good old  chew on my duvet this week. 

 Bank holiday painting

 
I’ve been very good and had a go at a spot of painting this weekend even though there was no class. I was inspired by some beautiful ‘Bird of Paradise’ flowers (I think they may be called Strelitzia or something like that). I’m not sure what my art teacher will make of them but I had fun painting them. I even managed to do it with my three amigos in tow. They came along every now and then to see the progress and then went back to their business. It’s the first time I’ve attempted painting while they’re not at school – so far, so good.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series which features seven photos from the past seven days. Sunday Sevens was devised by Nat at Threads & Bobbins blog. Pop over to her blog to find out more, then you can join in too!