school trip

Sunday sevens #32 22.5.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 16 Comments

Hello there, I do hope you’re having a good weekend. Well summer seems to have arrived here in Gibraltar this week, Thursday saw the hottest day of the year so far, with highs of 26 degrees. The flip flops are out, the toenails are painted and we’ve had our first barbecue of the year!

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series which features seven photos from the last seven days. It was devised by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog. Pop over to her blog to find out how you can join in.

Sunday = rest day!

After the exertions of the Med Steps 5 Challenge last Saturday, Sunday was a rather quiet and stationary affair. We did manage a walk to the botanical gardens and a trip to the supermarket but mainly it was spent at home. We made a pleasant discovery on our balcony when we found that this flower had opened without us even noticing the bud had formed. I do love my hibiscus.

Watercolour class

This week we continued our study of orchids. I finished off last week’s attempt and worked on a couple of other styles too. Still more work to do on these though…

Dressmaking class


I have done absolutely no sewing at all in my dressmaking class for the last two weeks – it’s been exam time (well sort of). In order to test the knowledge we have gleaned so far, we were given a series of skirts to make mini paper patterns for. It was just to reinforce what we already know and to push us a little to experiment and consider how other styles we haven’t yet tried are put together. 

The first few were relatively easy. The last two though, my word – my brain hurt! (The one above was one of the tricky ones). I had to go outside and have a walk to try and process what I was trying to achieve. I’m pleased to say that with a little gentle pushing in the right direction by our lovely teacher, I got there in the end. I was a bit of a zombie for the rest of the day though – I only seem to have limited brain cells available these days!!

Town scenter florals


Town scenter… do you like what I did there? No? Sorry, I won’t do it again! Walking through the new park in the centre of town this week I was overwhelmed by the beautiful scent of Jasmine. The old wall, the entire length of the park, has been planted up with Jasmine and they are in bloom right now. They look beautiful against the old brickwork and the smell is amazing. 

Crochet crazy


Wednesday was rather pleasingly filled with crochet loveliness. First, I had a lovely response to my Med Steps Crochet wreath post. The highlight being that Lucy from Attic24 who had inspired me to have a go in the first place said on Instagram that she thought it was lovely! Hurrah for that – it made my day 🙂

Secondly, I went to the post office to collect my latest edition of Simply  Crochet magazine which contained a kit to make a bright flower brooch. I had intended to crack on with my spring cleaning, but got ever so slightly distracted 😉

Med Steps… a return trip.


I did say in my last post that I would stop going on about the Med Steps but it would appear from many of your lovely comments that you’ve become rather attached to them. Well I guess I have too, as on Thursday morning I took a walk up there again. It was a lot quieter than last Saturday and it was a lot hotter too. I think I may have to stop the morning walks there as the sun’s beating down on you at that time. An alternative route will be found and Med Steps will soon have to become an afternoon or evening destination.

I was thrilled to find out this week that the Med Steps 5 Challenge raised over £7,000 for the Gibraltar Cancer Relief Centre. Our little gang of girls who walked up the Rock together managed to raise a fair chunk of that, over £1,700, which is utterly amazing to me. Our lovely friends and families have been so generous as well as a few lovely ‘blogland’ friends too. (I didn’t ask for sponsorship through the blog as I don’t like to, but a handful of lovely people actually contacted me and asked if they could support our efforts). Thank you all for helping us to help this wonderful cause. Xxx

He’s back!


Our eldest arrived back safe and sound from his week away in England with school. He had an amazing time rafting, canoeing, quad biking and learning archery among many other exciting things. I know he and his friends have made precious memories which they will cherish well into adulthood. Thank you to the teachers for looking after their precious cargo so well and bringing them safely back home to our families.

It’s been a busy week here chez Postcard, I wonder what the next seven days hold in store? Until next time, thanks for stopping by…

Sunday sevens #31 15.5.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 22 Comments

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series devised by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog . It features seven photos from the past seven days.

A damp start to the week

As much of the British Isles were basking in Mediterranean weather at the start of the week, we were donning our  wellies and digging our waterproofs out of the back of the wardrobe! I’m posting this photo to make all you Brits feel better about the weather up North! I don’t grudge you having the sunshine one little bit, you deserve it. We, at least are guaranteed a long, dry, hot summer, thankfully this is just a temporary blip! 

Watercolour class


This week, I tried my hand at orchids as my teacher had a lovely one in her house. As you can see, I had to take the photo while it was still wet, so the colours may have changed slightly by the time I get back to class to finish it off. It was a very calm, therapeutic lesson though. Us students joke that our teacher should charge more as she’s a therapist as well as a teacher! We can go and have a good laugh or a moan about things and we all come out feeling much better at the end and sometimes we even have a nice painting to show for our work too!

Feeling floral

I’ve been working on a floral crochet project of late, I’m hoping to be able to share a bit more of it with you soon – here’s a sneaky peak 😉

Here comes the sun!

At long last, after a very wet week, the sun came back to us on Friday. Oh it feels good to be able to hang your washing out outside again!! 

A school trip


We waved our eldest off on a school trip on Friday night. He flew to England for a week long visit to an outdoor adventure centre. I know that he and his friends will be having a whale of a time but it was difficult saying goodbye at the airport. 

Gazing around the parents milling about at the check-in desks I guess it was us grown ups who found the parting hard, the kids much less so. This photo was taken on our walk back across the runway to collect the car. The Rock looked majestic in the evening sun. 

The traffic on Friday night was awful, there were a few planes landing, it was Friday’s rush hour – oh and Gibraltar had just been made the 211th member of FIFA so the the border queue was pretty slow heading into Spain…

Med Steps 5 Challenge


Well, we did it! 5 times round the Med Steps, that’s more than 19km in a time of 4 hours & 38 minutes. It was hot on the Eastern side of the Rock with our newly returned sunshine. When I last checked 140 individuals had registered to take part and 160 in teams of up to 5.

It was an excellent event organized by the Gibraltar Prison Service and to support the wonderful Cancer Relief Centre here in Gibraltar. Everyone was so friendly and encouraging. I’m very proud of what my team mates and I achieved and grateful to have been able to support this event and the charity it’s for. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us and put up with the incessant ramblings about this event. We have had some lovely good luck messages and your support has been very much appreciated. We have been feeling the love – thank you!

And finally…


A glass of bubbles to toast our five times round. The wrist band was stamped on the completion of each circuit – I promise it has 5 stamps even though you can’t see them all!