London

A Postcard from February 2025

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Hello there! I do hope February has treated you well. I have had a great month, and for once actually have some photograph worthy updates for you! Here goes…

London calling

The view from Greenwich Observatory towards the City of London

I started the month with a fabulous overnight getaway to London. It was courtesy of Eldest who, for my Christmas and birthday presents paid for me to stay in a hotel near his student hall of residence and booked tickets to take me to see Mama Mia! What a lovely boy – I am one very lucky Mum!

One of the joys of train travel (assuming they are on time and you can get a seat) is the uninterrupted craft time…

Once I’d arrived down in London, we had a bit of time to kill, so Eldest took me for a walk around his neighbourhood, which is in the Shoreditch/Islington area.

Although it’s very much an inner city area, there were lots of quiet back streets to explore and wander around.

I had to stop and take a photo of this, I like the sound of the ‘Worshipful Company of Haberdashers’!

After our wander, we headed back to base so I could get changed ready for our big night out. First stop was a delicious pizza for an early tea before hopping on the tube towards the West End…..

My word, I did enjoy the show. I think I must be one of just a handful of people who haven’t seen any of the Mama Mia films. I have seen bits of them but never the whole way through, so I didn’t know the storyline at all.

It was so good and really interesting to see how the ABBA songs were used to tell the story. Eldest made a great choice getting me this present – it was perfect.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to brilliant blue skies. It was the perfect day for an explore, so we hopped onto the Tube and then took the DLR out to Greenwich. First stop was a wander to the bank of the River Thames and a quick Look at the Cutty Sark before heading towards Greenwich Park.

It was such a beautiful morning that there were loads of people out in the park and it took a bit of negotiating to get to the top of the hill to see the Greenwich Observatory.

We really were spoiled to see it on such a beautiful day. That stunning blue sky was the perfect backdrop to the skyline.

After getting an alfresco cup of coffee sitting in the sunshine by the Observatory, we made our way back down into the town centre.

Back down at the River Thames, it looked more like August than the first weekend in February – it was so beautiful! I really was lucky in so many ways during my 24 hours away from home!

We decided to take an alternative route back to the hotel and walked under the Thames through the pedestrian tunnel!

Birthday celebrations continued…

Just two weeks on from my belated birthday celebration in London, I was taken out for another birthday celebration (I could get used to this!). My lovely brother and his wife told me on by big day back in January, that they wanted to take me out for lunch as my gift.

We went to Dishoom in Manchester for the most beautiful lunch. It was such fun and the food was out of this world. The building where the restaurant is based is stunning too.

After lunch, we called in to this Mancunian institution – Peveril of the Peak. Inside are photos of famous visitors to the pub including Robbie Coltrane and the Gallagher brothers.

I can’t remember the last time I went to the pub in the afternoon! It felt like being a student again!

Loving the longer days…

One of the great things about this time of year is the fact that the days are getting longer. I took this photo on the first day when I got home from work before it was dark! It’s the simple things which make all the difference!

Spring is around the corner

Just this week I went out for a walk on an afternoon off work. The sun shone brightly and lit up this fantastic display of white and purple crocuses – just stunning!

An evening with the News Agents

Tower of Light lit in the colours of the Ukraine flag

I was blessed with two weekends with Eldest this month. He had a week off lectures owing to a ‘reading week’ and came home for a few days to see me and his brothers. On Monday evening (thanks to a last minute booking on my part when I heard he was coming home and it coincided with the show) we went to see the News Agents Live at the Bridgewater Hall in central Manchester.

We both have a fascination with current affairs and politics and love to listen to the News Agents podcast on weekdays. When they announced that they were coming to Manchester I had toyed with the idea of going but discounted it as it was on a ‘school night’, however when Eldest said he’d be here and the dates coincided, it felt like it was meant to be, so I booked two of the last few tickets just days beforehand.

We took the tram into the city centre and walked the short distance from the tram stop to the venue past the Tower of Light which was lit in the colours of the Ukraine flag to mark the unfortunate 3rd anniversary of the Russian invasion and subsequent on-going war. It felt rather fitting to see it on the way into a highly political evening of chat which was rather obviously dominated by conversations about Putin, Zelensky and most notably Donald Trump.

Our view as we waited for the show to start

We really enjoyed ourselves, it was a great show and very thought provoking on so many levels. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might be thinking of going.

As we left the venue and began our walk back to the tram, Eldest exclaimed that he had just seen Emily Maitlis at the rear of the building (her bright turquoise dress had caught his eye) then we spotted Lewis Goodall who was chatting with people who were leaving too. Eldest nearly died of embarrassment, but I went along to say how much we had enjoyed the show as well as the podcast and got a celebrity selfie (please ignore the double chin – I didn’t exactly catch the right angle!!).

Not my best angle but a thrill nonetheless to meet Lewis Goodall!

Making Stitches 2025 CAL February Square

The All You Need Is Love February Square

Love seems to be in the air a lot during February, so this month’s square for the Making Stitches 2025 CAL had to involve a heart. It was so thrilling to see squares appearing on my Instagram account literally 24 hours after I published the pattern – wow! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken part in the Crochet-Along so far.

❤️Some of the brilliant February Squares out in the wild! ❤️

If you fancy tagging along, please do, the patterns will be living on my blog for free (there’s a section now in the main menu where you can find links to the CAL patterns so far). It doesn’t matter if you didn’t start in January – a few new faces appeared online this month and have caught up. You don’t even need to do all of the squares – just the ones you feel like! If you do make a square and decide to share it on social media – please use the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL so I can see your square!

I’m off shortly to put the finishing touches to the March square pattern ready for it being released tomorrow!

And finally…

Making Stitches Podcast is back! The brand new episode went live this morning and features a chat I had with Felix Ford from KNITSONIK. You can listen to it here.

In it we chatted about Felix’s work with sound, colour, yarn and stranded colourwork knitting as well as her Masters project which involved making knitted cosies for walking sticks which diverted conversations away from disability and towards appreciation of creativity instead. It also features a few snippets of Felix’s musical compositions too. Please do give it a listen!

That’s all for this time – I’m quite pleased I’ve been able to share so much with you for a change! February may be the shortest month, but it’s been a busy one – I can’t promise my postcard from March will be as exciting!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from October & November 2024

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Halloween decor in London

Hello there! This should really be a Christmas post, but life’s been very busy so it’s a Postcard from October & November instead!

Better late than never eh?

I really don’t know where the weeks have gone but the juggle with work and family meant blog writing got put on the back burner for a while.

Here’s a quick whistle-stop round up of October & November in my world.

October 2024

Half term trip to London

Back in October I took my 2 youngest sons to London to visit big brother at University. As well as visiting him in his Uni accommodation to let Number 2 Son see what lies ahead for him in the not-too-distant future, we did a bit of sightseeing.

We’d prebooked to visit the Natural History Museum as myself and Youngest had never been before. Prebooking was wise because it was so incredibly busy and we skipped the entrance queue. However, once inside it was so busy it was quite unpleasant.

I have never felt panicky in a crowd before (I’ve been to a Wembley cup final & big gigs) but this was intense.

We went to see this big animatronic T-Rex then made the decision that perhaps we should leave as it wasn’t a fun experience.

We took a long route through the museum to appreciate a bit of the architecture, then, once outside we bought an ice cream and found a nice bench to sit on to take a moment.

That bench happened to be next to the Albert Memorial overlooking the Royal Albert Hall.

We sat there for ages as Eldest read us information about the history of the Albert Memorial curtesy of Google. It was an unexpectedly fun hour or so learning about the meanings of all the little statues around the memorial. We just sat there for ages chatting – much nicer than being jostled in a hot, crowded museum!

Then we decided to walk through Kensington Gardens and spied Kensington Palace in the distance as the sun started to set.

We had a lovely meal together before Eldest directed us back to Euston for the trip back up north to Manchester.

One finished jumper!

Well it’s been on the go since about October last year, and stupidly I thought it would be finished for Christmas 2023. It is finished for this Christmas though! I really enjoyed making this Tin Can Knits pattern – for those who don’t know them, you buy a ‘real’ pattern which you can print but you also access it on the Tin Can Knits app and can mark your progress on the pattern and make notes on your app – it’s brilliant! I would highly recommend it!

[The yarn I used was Knit Me Crochet Me by Stylecraft.]

The FareShare Festive Feast Wreath

In case you missed my last post back in October, this is my FareShare Festive Feast Wreath! I started working for FareShare Greater Manchester earlier this year and decided I wanted to create a crochet pattern to help raise funds for the charity. I even made a Making Stitches Podcast episode about it. The pattern’s still available for sale in my Etsy shop if you fancy making your own!

Podcast News

As well as podcasting about the wreath pattern, I revisited a guest who I met at Yarndale this year – Becky Davies-Downes. Becky worked for decades in TV & Film costume departments and now created beautiful things inspired by British wartime fashion. You can find out more about our chat here.

November 2024

And so to November… and that month saw me taking another train journey down to London for a meeting. Thankfully I also got some precious time with Eldest again as it fell on a day he had just one lecture!

It was a bitterly cold day as I left Manchester and saw some lovely snowy and frosty scenes on the way down south. This photo was taken close to the Wedgewood factory in Staffordshire. I took so many but most were blurred as we were speeding past.

I had my crochet for company – the Mischievous Magpie Mal from Heather at Keep Calm & Crochet On & yarn from Kitey at The Yarn Whisperer. One day I will finish this…

After the meeting, Eldest took me to Loop in London – I once visited many years ago while we made a family trip to London from Gibraltar. I remember it was at the end of a long day with lots of walking. Tired, argumentative boys waited outside with their Dad while I walked in and was slightly overwhelmed. I left after a hurried look around aware of the increasingly fractious situation outside and bought, wait for it, a pair of scissors!

This time, Eldest told me he was happy waiting outside and to take as long as I wanted (what a lovely boy!).

Similarly, I was a little overwhelmed by the colours & yarns on offer but this time I left with this lovely hand dyed skein. I wonder what I’ll use it for?

After our trip to Loop and a fabulous pizza for lunch, we went for a short walk along the canal from close to Angel in Islington. It was such a beautiful, bright, sunny day and it was lovely to escape the traffic noise and hubbub of the city.

It really was a lovely day, and a luxury to spend some time with Eldest on my own.

November yarny things..

I decided that I wanted to make myself a quick tank top. After the elation of finishing my jumper in October, I thought I’d see how quickly I could whip up a granny treble cluster tank top. I made one for Christmas a couple of years ago making it up as I went along and did the same with this. I used some ‘Nigel’ yarn I had bought at Yarndale in September. (I did have to order some more mid project as one ball wasn’t enough).

I’m really pleased with how it turned out and how quick it was to make – it goes really nicely over a denim shirt.

Also in November I challenged myself to a bit of knitted colourwork. I ordered the kit for the Season’s Greetings Festive Stocking kit from Black Sheep Wools designed by Debbie Abrahams.

It includes beading with the colourwork and is such a clear pattern to follow. I have amazed myself that I’ve managed to do it so far. I shall share a finished photo when I get that far!

And that just about brings this very belated Postcard from October and November to a close.

As it’s Christmas Eve, I would like to wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas.

If this is a difficult time of year for you, I hope you find some peace and time to do something that makes you happy.

With love,

Lindsay x

A postcard from February 2024

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Sunset on 1st day of February 2024

Hello there! It’s the 1st of March – the first day of meteorological spring – how lovely! The days are slowly getting longer and that always puts a spring in my step. I hope this finds you well and that the past month has been kind to you. Here’s a little look back at what happened in my world in February.

A lovely gift to start the month

I started (and ended) the month as a ‘lady of leisure’ in other words I don’t have a job as such at the moment (other than freelance bits and bobs). I have to admit that at times I have found it a struggle. It’s not for the want of applying for jobs, I have spent a lot of time over the past couple of months filling in application forms, writing cover letters etc, but as yet, they haven’t borne fruit. I’m not sure whether it’s the state of the job market at the minute, the fact I’m not as young as I used to be or what, but as I write, I’m still looking.

On a positive note though, I did get a lovely parcel through the post, the yarn bowl pictured above was a gift from my former colleagues at my last place of work – they knew me well clearly! It has seen two projects completed using it (both of which are commissions I can’t share sadly) and is now home to my current make, which hopefully I will be able to share with you pretty soon.

My former colleagues were a really lovely bunch and I miss them but I can think of them whenever I’m using this yarn bowl.

Crochet Hearts

So this month, as well as making magazine commission samples, I made a few hearts and wrote a pattern! The pattern for this heart garland is now in my Etsy shop if you fancy giving it a go. Remember, hearts aren’t just for Valentine’s Day!

I also had a go at making a stripy rainbow heart using my free pattern here. This was fun to make and I have one hanging in the room I do most of my crochet – it makes me smile especially on grey wet days!

A half term trip to London

Tower Bridge

The school half term holidays fell last month and we made a trip down to London to visit Eldest. He’s studying there at University and it was the perfect opportunity for Son Number 2 to see what University accommodation is like as it won’t be terribly long before he’s thinking about such things – eek!

It was a really lovely day – and super to be able to give Eldest a squeeze too. We ended the day looking around the area where he’ll be moving to for the next academic year – how are we talking about such things already? Time is galloping on!

Sunset in Islington

A sunny walk

Just 2 weeks after visiting him in London, Eldest had a reading week and made the trip up north to visit me and his brothers. We were very lucky to have some bright winter sunshine briefly so we dashed out for a walk before the next lot of rain came!

We had a lovely walk along part of the Trans Pennine Trail at Lymm in Cheshire. It was pretty busy as lots of other folk were making the most of the nice weather. After walking the trail for a while, we doubled back and went into Lymm itself. There’s a chippy there which does really rather fantastic chips which taste delicious with a slosh of vinegar, a sprinkling of salt and eaten out in the fresh air!

The Bridgewater Canal at Lymm

Sock darning

While Eldest was visiting, I darned a pair of his favourite socks for him. I mentioned it to my Mum and said I’d struggled to get the right colour of yarn and that his burgundy socks now had bright red toes! A day or so later, I received a package filled with sock yarn (some of which is specifically for darning) and my great grandma’s darning mushroom! Never again will I have to struggle and keep jabbing my fingers with the needle – and as long as future socks are grey or blue I should be sorted!

If only that mushroom to could speak and tell about all the socks which had been darned with its help. I shall treasure it, and am thrilled to be custodian of this family heirloom now.

In the long run

I started running (off and on) a few years ago. I did the Couch to 5K which is a miracle considering I was always vying for last place in school cross country races. I wasn’t built for speed! Once I’d got over the initial breathlessness and built up a bit of stamina, I was rather pleased with my progress and from time to time I start running again for a while.

I spotted these snow drops (above) when I was on a run early in February around the time I was considering upping my game a bit. You may be aware I celebrated a milestone birthday last month, and I wondered whether this was the year I should attempt a ‘real’ run. Now by real, I don’t mean a marathon or anything daft like that, more like a 10K.

I’ve thought about trying one, probably for 10 years, and I’m not getting any younger, so now is probably the time I need to stop procrastinating and give it a whirl. The picture below was taken of the picturesque Manchester Ship Canal at the end of my first proper training run – I managed to run for 10 minutes four times – which I impressed myself with.

I shall keep you posted on my progress and let you know if this is indeed the year for a 10K attempt. Watch this space!

10K training

Podcast news

Cathy Wright from Lazykate Textiles

I’m pleased to say that Making Stitches Podcast made a return last month after a longer than expected Christmas break. My first guest was Cathy Wright from Lazykate Textiles who spoke about her passion for spinning and weaving. You can catch her episode here.

That’s all for this month’s round up. Let’s hope March brings us more blue skies and good times ahead.

Thanks so much for stopping by! See you again soon.

Lindsay x

A postcard from December 2023

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Hello there, I hope this finds you well and doing ok. This year, more than most, I know that Christmas can be a tricky time for people, and if that’s been the case for you, I hope you are doing ok now. I have to admit that 2023 is a year I’d rather forget, but life doesn’t always take the easy path. I don’t have many plans for 2024 as we head into this new year – we aren’t always able to control what happens to us – but it’s a fresh start and time to look forward with positivity.

The first step in doing that is publishing this, it’s not been a hugely photogenic month for me to share with you, but here goes…

London in the run up to Christmas

My ‘day job’ took me down to London for the day in early December which was super because it meant I was able to meet up with Eldest for a couple of hours and get a much needed cuddle (I think I speak for both of us here)!

On our wanderings we ended up in St Pancras Station and I found myself face to face with this beautiful Christmas tree made of books. I’d seen it popping up on Instagram a few times and it was lovely to see it in real life. It was rather busy, so I didn’t get the opportunity to sit in one of the booths and listen to an audio book, but I’m glad I saw it.

On the road again…

Just one week after my trip to London, my job took me to Birmingham! In the run up to the trip my colleagues kept arranging to meet under ‘the bull’ before walking to the venue of our meeting. Unfortunately, my train got in me in after they had left, so I missed them and got to walk on my own.

It was fascinating to see the bull which had played a significant role in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. He’s called Ozzy after Ozzy Osborne and he was the centerpiece of the games’ opening ceremony. You can read all about his life after 2022 here.

My solo walk was really rather pleasant, taking me through large town squares filled with Christmas markets, an ice rink, fun fair and over one of the city’s famous canals to the building where we were meeting. Best of all was I arrived in time for coffee and mince pies!!

Yarny things

Little Jen

Last month I shared a photo of an amigurumi head, it was the head of ‘Little Jen’ a gift I was making for my lovely friend who graduated at the start of December as an Art Teacher. I’m so proud of her for going back to University later in life and fulfilling her dream. It’s just as well I only shared her head, because Jen read my last blog post and when she opened her gift said, “I saw that head on your blog and thought that looks a bit like me! But why would Lindsay be making my head??” Well now she knows! I believe Little Jen had a trip into school to meet Jen’s pupils!

In other little crochet people news…. Meet Birthday Boy! I have reached an age when my school friends and I have a BIG birthday looming. This week, it was the turn of Steve, someone I’ve known since infant school, life took us separate ways at secondary, but he joined our sixth form at 16 and is part of the wide circle of school friends I’m still in touch with thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

Steve lives with his family in Barcelona, but came home to Manchester for his birthday celebrations, and boy, they were good!

Birthday Boy

I’m thinking about publishing patterns for Little Jen & Birthday Boy. Do let me know if you would be interested in making a ‘mini me’?

In other yarny news, work is progressing on my rainbow jumper, although it has taken a back seat in the past week. I love the colours, they make me think of a rainbow against storm clouds. Very apt given the time we’ve been through.

New Year Plans

As I write, I have about 15 hours left of 2024 and although I’m not making an New Year‘s resolution as such, I want to get back into blogging regularly again next year. My current job is coming to an end soon (it was a maternity leave cover) and I am on the look out for a new job. I don’t know what that will entail, nor how much time it will allow for fun things like this, but all being well, I’d like to grow my blog, podcast and crochet business. If you would like to sign up to my email newsletter, I’ll be sharing any news about my adventures there first.

You can sign up for my newsletter here

All that’s left is for me is to wish you a very happy start to 2024, I do hope next year is kind to us all.

Lindsay X

**EDIT!**

I posted too soon this morning – just back from a lovely walk with my boys round the Cheshire town of Lymm and spotted this beauty – which simply had to be shared!

Crocheted Christmas tree 🎄 in Lymm, Cheshire
Leafy Lymm
Lymm Dam

A Postcard from September 2022

Postcard from Gibraltar Postcard from September 2022
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Well here we are again, in the midst of October and slowly inching towards the October half term holidays…. Roll on Monday and no early alarm!

I hope October’s been kind to you thus far. I have some news for you coming soon, but before then, here’s my Postcard from September. It was a busy month, but blimey it feels like a long time ago already! Here goes…

End of summer

The beginning of the month fell in the last few days of the school summer holidays. A group of friends from Youngest’s old primary school got together for a final hurrah before they went their separate ways to their new secondary schools. The venue for the meet up was Manley Mere Country Park in Cheshire.

It’s a super place with a huge lake for water sports, and an adventure trail which we went to….

There were tunnels, woodland walks…

…bridges…

….and lots and lots of mud. Thankfully we were forewarned and Youngest was dressed in old clothes – just as well as he went swimming in a pool of mud!! I think I’ve just about got him clean now!

New season of football… or not

The football season got back into gear at the start of the month too with some pre-season friendlies and assessment matches but not for us. In his first week of school, Youngest managed to break a bone in his thumb whilst in goal playing football at school – not the most auspicious start to his secondary school career, although he was very proud of the fact he did save the goal in spite of the injury. No contact sport for 6 weeks meant no football of course. I’m pleased to say that the thumb is now healed and he has restarted PE and training at last.

Royal news

Of course last month was dominated by the news that HM Queen Elizabeth died, so it wasn’t your average September. When the Royal Proclamation was made in Manchester, I went along to witness history being made. I’m glad I was there.

Eldest off to Uni

September was also significant for us as Eldest flew the nest down south to University. I didn’t fancy my chances driving down to central London to drop him off, so we had to be packing ninjas and fit as much as we possibly could into suitcases ready for the train. I’m not sure how we did it but all bedding, pots and pans, food and clothes were squeezed in and we got him there! He got the keys to his accomodation on the evening before the Queen’s funeral – it was an auspicious time to be in London. I wrote a post about that time if you are interested in reading more, you can find it here.

Moody skies over Westminster as the people queued to see the Queen lying in state.

Once Eldest was safely ensconced in his lodgings I headed off for a walk to soak up a bit of the atmosphere and made it to Parliament Square in time for the National minutes silence. You could have heard a pin drop.

Spuds!

This was our second year in our ‘new’ home and the second year I have attempted to grown some food. I wasn’t quite as adventurous this time, just strawberries, cut and come again salad leaves and some potatoes. There’s a narrow strip of land behind our summer house and next to the back fence which isn’t really any use for anything. It doesn’t get much sun at all and is completely out of sight from the house. Last year I took a gamble and tried planting spuds there – it worked, although it wasn’t the largest of crops. I had another go this year and we enjoyed some lovely zero food miles potatoes with our dinner!
Harvest time!

Happy birthday Yarndale!

I managed to get to Yarndale again this year in time for the festival’s 10th birthday and it was great fun. There was so much lovely yarn to squish and bucket loads of inspiration. It’s such a lovely festival. You can read all about my trip to Yarndale 2022 in this post.

One of the benefits of being out in the Yorkshire countryside while visiting Yarndale was that I was finally able to find the perfect spot to do a photo shoot with my latest Up the Garden Path dolls – Oakley the Acorn Tree Sprite and Agatha the Fly Agaric Mushroom. I may have had a few funny looks from passers-by but I don’t care! The light and location were perfect!

Podcast news

Making Stitches Podcast came back for a new series in September. The first episode featured my trip to Yarndale. You can listen to it here….

You can also access the episode show notes here.

And that’s just about it from me for this monthly Postcard, I will be back again soon with that news I promised. Thank you for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from London at a particular moment in history…

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I found myself in London today as I took Eldest to begin his University adventure. Once he was settled in, I had the chance to soak up some of the atmosphere of a capital city preparing for the funeral of our Queen tomorrow.

Normally I wouldn’t be in a position to hop on a train specifically for an occasion like this, but today, I found myself in the right place at the right time.

The famous queue of people waiting to see the Queen lying-in-state was inescapable as we were based on the south bank of the Thames – right next to it. After settling my son into his new home, I was free to wander and experience the atmosphere.

As the sun set and the rain came, I followed the queue along the South Bank…

By the British Film Institute there was a huge screen showing footage from the Queen’s 70 year-long reign…

The atmosphere was remarkable, amicable chats amongst those in the queue. Not one raised voice. Just patient shuffling along the side of the Thames.

As 8 o’clock approached, I wanted to be somewhere significant for the National minute’s silence. I was hoping to make it to Buckingham Palace but was warned roads nearby were closed because of the reception for world leaders so I opted to stay close to the Palace of Westminster.

Road closures meant pedestrians could spill into the road over Westminster bridge. However, those same closures meant a diversion for pedestrians back along the Embankment and then on to Whitehall, where people were already camping – some with tents – to have front row seats for tomorrow’s events.

Parliament Square was a hive of activity as contractors removed all the traffic lights and many police officers and army personnel were involved in preparations.

I found a perfect vantage spot to wait for half an hour or so ready for the silence. I even spotted the Castle & Key of the Gibraltar flag hanging opposite the Houses of Parliament.

Tannoy announcements told the gathering crowds that the silence was imminent and slowly the noise levels fell. Work came to a halt. People stood still and you could hear a pin drop. The silence was impeccably marked and was really quite moving. Being so close to where the Queen was lying in state felt right.

I’m so glad I went. The silence was ended with a round of applause and a spontaneous rendition of the National Anthem.

Then it was time to head back across the river..

The queue continued to move slowly along the South Bank and nightfall meant a projection onto the front of the British Film Institute had appeared.

I stood for a while to watch black and white footage of the Queen at important moments in her life.

It was lovely to see all the different ways her passing had been commemorated at different locations.

Tate Modern

There was a beautiful and huge light & sound sculpture at Tate Modern – an unexpected surprise.

At the Globe Theatre there were wreaths of Rosemary for remembrance and photos of the Queen & Prince Philip from the official opening of the venue.

And then, unlike those hardy folk in the queue or camped out on the funeral procession route, I returned to my hotel by following the queue back to where I’d started. I am unlikely to be able to watch the Queen’s funeral tomorrow because of travel back up north but I’m glad I was able to spend some time in London at this particular moment in history.

Sending love to all those who need it.

Lindsay x

A postcard from April 2022

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Quarry Bank Mill at Styal

Hello there and welcome to this latest Postcard from April – if a little late! It’s a teeny look back at what I got up to in April and as spring has sprung well and truly round here, it meant spending a lot of time out in my little garden.


Where we live we are surrounded by streets and roads filled with trees. I believe the local town planner back in the 1930s believed that there should be a tree planted for every person who lived in the district, so we have him to thank for all the lush greenery around here.

One of the side effects of having so many trees about is that they drop their seeds in autumn and as I discovered last spring (our first in this house) those seeds produce dozens and dozens of tiny seedlings in our pebble driveway. This is just one handful of seedlings picked during about 10 minutes one afternoon – there are approximately 124 seedlings there. I reckon in total I’ve pulled up at least 200 – which would have left me with a jungle or even a forest between our front door and the pavement! It’s no trouble really and rather therapeutic, although they can be hard to spot against the pebbles, and are easy to miss.

Fence panel painting before & after (left panel is painted, right panel isn’t)

Also in the garden, I decided that this year, it was time to give the fence panels a treat. Thankfully the previous owner had left a partially used pot of fence paint, so I was able to set to work straight away once the mood took me. Once I ran out of the original stuff, a quick trip to the local DIY shop had me back to work. One day over Easter weekend I managed to paint 15 fence panels. I was a little tired that evening!

I also thought the shed could do with a treat, despite painting it last year, it was looking a little tired. So that got a coat of paint too along with a new trellis and a new honeysuckle which I bought from the local allotment which was having a plant sale. It’s more than doubled in size since this picture was taken!

Birthdays

There were two birthdays in the household in April. One was a big one as Eldest turned 18 – eek! I have no idea how that happened. I’m just mentally preparing myself for the fact he’s going to be leaving home (all being well) in September to go off to University. Not sure how I’ll feel when the time comes….

Another birthday I celebrated last month was the 2nd birthday of Making Stitches Podcast – but more on that later….

Psyduck (minus his tuft of hair/feathers)

I was invited to a special 21st birthday party last month too. Special in that it was 2 years late. A very good friend of mine has a lovely son who turned 21 in April of 2020, at the time a party had been planned and of course lockdown happened so he had no celebration at all. In fact his parents only managed to deliver a cake to the driveway of where he was living and sang happy birthday from the car, before driving home.

Unlike certain other people, he didn’t have a party….. that was until this year, when, two years later than planned, family and friends were able to get together for a better-late-than-never celebration. Oh, and the amigurumi I’m holding above is Psyduck (a Pokémon character – in case you didn’t know). This young man was a huge fan of Psyduck when he was younger, so I made him one – albeit with out the tuft of hair he’s supposed to have because I left it to the last minute and forgot to in the rush! But the recipient was happy and the party was a great night.

Easter holiday trip out

We are very fortunate to have a few really great National Trust properties close to where we live. One of those is Styal Mill near Manchester Airport. Our great friends and neighbours across the road were going for the day, so I took youngest along with me (the other two were otherwise engaged) for an Easter treasure trail and picnic on a lovely warm and, at times, sunny day.

We hadn’t been for a few years – it’s so easy forget what’s down the road isn’t it? But I’m so glad we had the invitation to join our friends. The kids had fun and ran off some energy whilst learning about the industrial revolution and leeches (on the tour of the apprentice house). It had particular resonance for my young man because the mill was actually used as a location for the filming of the new CBBC drama Dodger, which he had very much enjoyed watching.

The grounds were looking gorgeous and the picture of spring with tulips galore and azaleas too – the rhododendrons were just about to explode into colour too.

A trip down to London

As mentioned before, Eldest has his sights set on University for later this year, and last month was invited for a look around one of the Unis on his list. I tagged along so I could see where he might be disappearing off to. Blimey, universities have moved on a lot since I was at one! The services and support are so much more sophisticated than I can remember, which certainly put my mind at rest as a slightly anxious parent. Another positive of the day trip was plenty of time for hooky on the train!

Podcast Update

In podcast news, as well as celebrating 2 years of Making Stitches Podcast, I released a couple of new episodes. Episode 42 was ‘Crochet-tastic’ and packed full of crochet chatter featuring a conversation I had with Hannah Cross of Hanjan Crochet and another with Amanda Bloom formerly of Little Box of Crochet and now from Cosy Life Boxes about her amazing fundraising efforts for Ukraine with her ‘Blanket of Hugs’ for Ukraine appeal. You can find a link to the episode here.

Hannah Cross of Hanjan Crochet (l) & Amanda Bloom (r)

Episode 43 was bright and colourful (if you can do that with sound) and featured the lovely Clare Albans from Hello Hooray Blog about her creative journey from music teacher to hand-embroidery designer and small business owner. Last year, Clare was able to open her own bricks and mortar studio and haberdashery shop thanks to a Kick-starter campaign. You can find a link to that episode here.

Clare Albans from Hello Hooray Blog

And that’s just about it from me for this month. I have been working on a few crochet projects behind the scenes but I hope to be able to share them with you very soon, and I’m still working on up-coming episodes of Making Stitches too.

I hope you have enjoyed this little look back at April in my world and that it hasn’t been too boring for you! I hope you’ve had a good month too.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time, bye for now!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2021 (Week 3)

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hello there, I’m a bit late with this post – it should’ve been written on Saturday – but hey, it’s the school summer holidays so we’re just rolling with it…

Here’s what I got up to last week in my crafty challenge 😊

Day 15 : Saturday 7th August

More festive leaves on the hook for day 15.

Day 16 : Sunday 8th August

My pile of Daisy hexies is growing… perhaps not as quickly as I had envisioned. I don’t think this blanket will be finished this summer somehow!

Day 17 : Monday 9th August

Summer craft challenge Day 17 went on the road… or perhaps that should be the train! I began a project I’ve been keeping on the back burner for a special occasion – a Little Box of Crochet designed by the lovely ladies The Crochet Sanctuary @Lynda-Rose & Lisa. I got half way through my heart which was made between Manchester & London.

Then I got to visit a place I’ve wanted to go to for aaaaages….. Liberty of London! ahhhh! Those fabrics, all the beautiful things….

I may have accidentally made a teeny-weeny fabric purchase 🤪

Day 18 : Tuesday 10th August

Managed most of the second half of my heart on the train home but I was utterly pooped and ran out of steam. The miles we covered on foot and public transport was bonkers (40,000 steps in less than 48 hours), but it was a very informative trip looking at possible places for Eldest to study next year – eek.

Day 19 : Wednesday 11th August

I made a crown and a chubby squidgy heart!

Day 20 : Thursday 12th August

Thursday’s crochet was all about leaves again!

Day 21 : Friday 13th August

A second project finished! I’ve been waiting over a year to make this and it was well worth the wait – a beautiful heart pincushion designed by The Crochet Sanctuary ladies for Little Box of Crochet. I love it!

That’s all for this installment of my summer craft challenge. I hope I can keep it up – I seem to be powering through my projects which is great. Onwards….

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lindsay x

Friday photo challenge (Week 47) Climb

~ Making Stitches ~ 1 Comment

My regular climb, apart from up the stairs to our apartment is the Med Steps. But another big climb which we made at Easter time this year, was to the top of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Up and up we climbed to the very top. It felt rather odd peering down through the little window in the floor of the upper room to the huge cathedral below. It was a wonderful day out with some very dear friends.

Next week’s Friday photo challenge is ‘wild’.

Friday photo challenge (week 15) Clock & March round-up

~ Making Stitches ~ 6 Comments

This week’s Friday photo challenge features two clocks I saw last week on our Easter trip to England. The first being the clock of St Paul’s Cathedral in London as seen from the stone gallery around the circumference of the dome.

The second being the clock on the steeple of St John the Evangelist church in Burgess Hill in Sussex. We visited this church on a family history quest and found the war grave of Mr Postcard’s great great uncle who died aged 18 in World War 1. It was a beautifully maintained church and graveyard and a very special place for us all to visit.

Next week’s photo challenge prompt is: transport.

Last week I should have included a monthly round up for March but didn’t manage it owing to being on holiday, so here it is, one week late:

Cosy

Over on Instagram there was a plethora of cosy crocheted and knitted items, blankets, socks to name but two. A very cute sleeping cat showed up too, but poor old Alison in Andalucia (@alisoninandalucia) was struggling with a cold at the time and was staying cosy under a blanket with a hot lemon drink.

Best Friend

Sandra at Wild Daffodil told us the story of Maggie who loved shopping with her best friend!

On Instagram chocolate featured more than once, I had to admit it’s a good friend of mine, although I do pay a price for this friendship! Also a very special rescue cat by the name of Zac who is Susan’s (@BlueJake235) best friend. Janet Bryden posted a photo of herself and her husband and best friend as they are celebrating 40 years of marriage this year – congratulations to you both 🙂

Communication

Snail mail was a popular choice for communication over on Instagram, and I have to agree. You just can’t beat a letter through the post can you? My favourite photo for Communication has to be Sandra’s (@capanosandra) it showed her holding someone’s hand along with some rosary beads, prayer being the form of communication she had in mind. It is a very powerful photo.

Spring

I love Sandra’s take on the Spring Equinox over at Wild Daffodil.

On Instagram, there were spring flowers a plenty. Daffodils, crocus, bluebells and cherry blossom all feature. It wasn’t looking too spring-like up in Yorkshire for Saffy (@bumblebluebee07) though, icicles featured on her feed! Susan (@bluejake235) stole the show though with her spring lambs – aaah!

Rainbow

You really can’t beat a rainbow to lift the spirits! A couple of Instagrammers opted for woolly rainbows like me, there was variegated rainbow yarn knitted into a pair of jazzy cosy socks and an extremely cute crocheted rainbow bookmark by @hookstitchsew and as for ‘real’ rainbows – @bluejake235 took the biscuit with a beautiful rainbow snapped next to a waterfall in Iceland.

If you want to join in with the Friday photo challenge, it’s not too late. You can dip in and out as you wish. Just leave a link to your blog in the comments below or use the hashtag #postcardfromgibfridayphoto and then we can all see your pictures.