Southwold Beach Huts

Sunday Sevens #59 27.11.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 16 Comments

Hello there, here’s this week’s Edition of Sunday Sevens. I hope this finds you well and not being too battered or soggy by the winter weather we’ve been seeing in both Britain and this part of the world this week! Here goes:

Touchline crochet 

Last Sunday I had an early alarm call. One of the Little Postcard had a football match with a kick off at 9am. It was our first early kick off of the season and hopefully there won’t be too many more! 

A thermos with coffee and a spot of touchline crochet took the edge off the early start. Not quite as good as a lie-in but at least they won!

I must get organised…

On Monday I had nothing in the diary at all while the Little Postcards were at school – a very rare happening in my usual routine. I used my time wisely and finally attempted to get my crafty broom cupboard sorted out. 

An avalanche of bags of fabric & yarn had been preventing me from getting the door open for weeks… I’m not brave enough to show you a before picture 😬. I’m pleased with what I achieved. 

My cupboard isn’t very big (180cm x 88cm) I had to stand in the hall to take the picture. But it’s my own little space and I feel very lucky to have it – it’s the first time I’ve had a dedicated crafty corner in any of our homes (and there have been a few over the years).

Dressmaking class

My lining and outer fabric are joined on my princess-line top. Please forgive the shot on the ironing board. The alternative was a white table – and the top would have disappeared! Side seams and invisible zip next – arghh!

My latest project

I’m working on something for a friend at the moment and it’s in chunky yarn. Oh the joys of chunky yarn…. you get results so quickly! Loving that I’m now one third of the way through already! 

Beach huts – finished

My interpretation of the beautiful beach huts at Southwold is finally finished. I’m really pleased with them. I think this one’s a keeper. Watercolour class next week will mean a new project – what next I wonder?

Happy post!

You may remember last week I was a bit browned off that the Post Office had lost my parcel. Well on Tuesday I got a phone call from a very nice man to say they’d found it. It took until the end of the week to be able to go and pick it up, but it was worth the wait.

I’m chuffed to bits with my new Lana Bou ‘crocheter’ glitter necklace. You can find Lana Bou on Instagram and her Etsy shop is here : Lana Bou Shop

Hitting the virtual airwaves

Did you see my post yesterday? I’ve been having a play about on the computer ably assisted by Eldest and made my first ever podcast. It was good fun (if slightly difficult) to make and I’m hoping to make some more, longer ones in the new year. 

I spend quite a bit of my time listening to podcasts during the day when I’m busy getting stuff done about the house and they cover a wonderful array of topics. They are like tailor-made radio shows just for you – I really love them. Here’s my first offering in case you missed it yesterday : Podcast 1

Another thing…

One of the things which spurred me on to press publish on the podcast was reading this wonderfully moving post by my online friend Nancy of Avocado Fairy. It’s really worth a read and reminds us that life is short and it is what we make it. Thank you Nancy for the kick up the backside I needed to get on with it!

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


Until next time, have a great week!


Sunday Sevens #58 20.11.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 4 Comments

Hello, and welcome to my latest edition of Sunday Sevens. I hope you have had a good week. I’m slightly later posting this today as I have been to a football match already this morning! More on that in the next edition.

Without further ado, here’s this week’s offering:

Remembrance Sunday

It doesn’t matter where I am, but every Remembrance Sunday at 11am I am transported back to being a Girl Guide and standing to attention with my friends at our local parish church during the 2 minutes silence. I have no direct relatives (that I know of) who fought in the either of the World Wars or since, both my grandfathers were involved in war duties at home. It is such an important time to be still and remember the sacrifice made by so many people for our benefit. In the light of recent events and the precarious nature of world politics, it seems even more important to remember what’s gone on in our not too distant past and hopefully not make the same mistakes again.

Super Moon

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram will have already seen this photo, but I had to include it. On Monday night, Mr Postcard rushed out after dark with the Eldest to see if they could spot the super moon, they did and on their return urged me to go out and see it too. A short drive from our home and I was at Europa Point. I can honestly say I have never visited this part of Gibraltar after dark and it was weird to be adjacent to a play park we regularly visit but at night time and without children! It was so busy there – I presume it was because other folk wanted a good view of the super moon too.

So here is my attempt at capturing it, it was quite difficult. I’m a bumbling amateur when it comes to using a camera and I’m sure people who know what they’re doing would have been able to manage a much more sophisticated version! I’m rather pleased with it though…

Dressmaking class


Apologies for the uninspiring photo but it’s just to illustrate that at last my lining & outer section of my princess-line top have been joined. It’s been a long slow process but at last I feel like I’m getting somewhere 🙂

Watercolour class

Progress is also being made at watercolour class. Slowly, slowly my beach huts are edging nearer completion. I’d been having difficulty deciding how much detail to include in the middle of the picture, so my teacher told me to turn the original photo upside down to get a better perspective – it really works!

Glum Friday


I didn’t have the best day on Friday, I seemed to be in a bad mood when I woke up and despite a lovely impromptu coffee with friends, the blue mood persisted. Can’t explain it, I just wasn’t happy. The mood of the day wasn’t helped by the post office losing a parcel I’ve been waiting for with great excitement for 2 weeks or the fact it took us over 50 minutes to queue our way out of the new multi-storey car park on Friday night….

Festival of Light


The reason for us all being in town in the car on Friday night was to see the Gibraltar Christmas lights switched on in the Festival of Light. The Countdown to Christmas has officially started – eek!

Pokémon cards


Do you have Pokémon cards in your house? I do. They have become a bit of an obsession of late for Middle and Littlest Postcards. They had been promised that good behaviour would result a trip into town on Saturday to buy a few more packets.

Such was the level of excitement, they couldn’t wait to get home before ripping them open, so on the steps to the Parliament building they were opened and admired! Pikachu and Chespin are favourites in the Postcard family and both turned up in this haul so for them it was a very successful trip!
Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins. If you are a blogger and would like to join in, pop over to Natalie’s blog to find out more.

Thank you for joining me this week, I hope you have a good week ahead. Until next time, goodbye for now!

 

Sunday Sevens #57 13.11.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

Hello again, wow, it’s been quite a week with everything that’s been going on on the global political scene. I can’t help but feel uneasy about what the future may hold for us all, but I’m staying away from politics and looking at the smaller, positives that have happened this week for us. Here goes….

Med Steps in the November Sunshine

View across the Strait of Gibraltar from the start of the Med Steps
On Sunday afternoon after we had returned from our mid-term break up the coast, and after I had finished unpacking and got the first load in the washing machine, I headed off on my own for a lovely walk up the Med Steps. It was such a stunningly beautiful November day and it was a crime to stay indoors. The younger Postcards were more content to stay at home and reacquaint themselves with all their stuff after a week away so I made the most of the peace and quiet.

It was the first time I’d attempted the Med Steps for ages and it took me a while longer than on previous occasions because I kept stopping to look at everything. Unlike back in the spring, when everything looked so luscious and green, a lot of the vegetation was crisp and brown after the long, hot Mediterranean summer days but here and there there were little shoots of fresh green sprouting through and even some dwarf narcissi.

As I reached the midway point, I was greeted with this stunning view back towards the north.

 

Crochet-on-the-go

Monday meant one of the Little Postcards returned to school but the two other had an in-service day. The lovely sunny weather continued on from Sunday and after the joys of ironing and putting away of clean laundry, we headed down to Europa Point for a bit of fresh air. After a scoot around the park, they found a new friend to play football with. While they were happy having a kick around on what could be the most southerly football court in Europe, I enjoyed a spot of crochet in the sunshine. (I can’t call it a pitch because it’s made of concrete and surrounded by chain link fencing…. so surely it’s a court?)

Dressmaking class

Tuesday morning and all three of the Little Postcards were in school for the first time in two weeks (thanks to  a virus and then mid-term) and I headed back to my dressmaking class. At last, after weeks of planning, pattern cutting, fabric cutting, pinning and tacking, I got the sewing machine out! I completed the princess-line seams on the lining and then promptly ironed the bust seam flat and reduced it from a 3D piece of fabric to a 2D one…. whoops.

The morning after the night before.

So, on Wednesday morning, we awoke to the news the America had nearly elected a new President. By the time we were on the school run, the result was pretty much sealed. In tumultuous times, I find it’s sometimes good to just stop and take a deep breath and realise that life goes on. The world kept turning and the boats were still out in the Bay.

Watercolour class

It’s been three weeks since my last watercolour class and I’ve missed it a lot. Us students often joke that our teacher should charge us more for the therapy we get from her classes. Work continued on my interpretation of the beach huts in Southwold. Slowly but surely I’m getting there…

Blue skies

We really have been blessed with the weather this week. You can’t help but feel positive when the sky is as blue as this can you?

Stunning sunsets


The lovely clear weather has resulted in some lovely sunsets for us too. This one was last night. Although the sun’s been shining away, you can’t help but notice it’s November as there’s a distinct chill in the air once you are out of the sunshine. 

We often joke that you can very rarely sit out on our balcony because it’s either too hot or too cold. In the summer time it’s like sitting on a spit roast when the sun’s shining on the front of the building, in autumn and winter, once the sun drops it’s suddenly really chilly. I know, I know, I’ve turned into a softy… you wouldn’t think I’d been brought up and spent the first 30-odd years of my life in the north of England would you?

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog. Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you have a good week ahead.

Sunday Sevens #52 9.10.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

 

Despite the fact we are well into October now, it’s been very warm again here in Gibraltar. As I sit at the dining table writing this, I have steam coming out of my collar!!

This week has been a rather busy one for me, there’s been nothing in particular, just lots of different stuff going on, so there was no midweek post from me this week. I hope you’ve had a good week, whatever you’ve been up to. Without further ado, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Across the Strait

This photo kind of sums up the weather we’ve been having for about half of this last week. I took the photo on Sunday afternoon when we took the Little Postcards to Europa Point park to let off a bit of steam on their scooters. You know when they are bouncing off the walls that you need to get out and exercise them like dogs!! The sky was crystal clear overhead but in the distance across at Morrocco there was a hazy mist which looked like someone had taken an eraser to the bit where the mountains touch the sea!

So for most of this week, in the afternoons  it has been clear, bright and hot (especially when standing outside the school gates waiting for the bell to go!) but the mornings have been misty and town was sitting under a heavy Levanter cloud with gusty winds whipping up the dust.

Dressmaking class


Sewing continued on the sample top I’m working on in my dressmaking class. The photo doesn’t show it to advantage as the back is still unfinished and open. Part of the exercise for this sample is to make up the front, then remodel the arm holes and neckline. This is before the remodelling takes place.

In addition to working on my sample top, I have also been making a skirt for my Mum who has been over visiting at the moment. A straight skirt with a small slit at the back and in a colour to compliment her new winter coat is underway. After several fittings and alterations, I am now about to machine stitch the side seams and hand sew the hem. Hopefully it will be ready for her when she returns before Christmas.

Watercolour class

After two weeks of pencil sketches, I finally got around to mixing some paint colours and worked my current project at my watercolour class this week. I just love the brightly coloured beach huts at Southwold, and wanted to work on a painting to reflect that. I’m working from a photograph taken by Mr Postcard of a stretch of predominantly blue and white ones, but have used a little artistic licence and injected more colour based on photos I took on our visit in the summer. I’m really enjoying painting this one. 🙂

Sea mist


We had everything crossed on Friday evening. After dropping my parents off at the airport to fly home, we returned to find our home had been engulfed by a real pea-souper of a sea mist. Just as their plane was due to land it got thicker and thicker.

Miraculously the plane landed. The two photos above were taken 30 minutes apart. The first one is of a tree about 100 metres from our apartment – there was no point taking one of the sea, it would have just been grey!

I’m very pleased to say that Mum and Dad made it back home safely and we look forward to seeing them again just before Christmas.

Autumn leaves


It’s October, and of course that means autumn. I do love autumn in the UK in a kind of bitter sweet way. It’s such a beautiful season with the colours of the leaves on woodland walks but it also spells the end of summer and all the fun which that season promises. Back when we lived in England, I kind of dreaded winter with the grey damp urgh kind of weather it could spell for weeks between the odd beautiful crispy frosty day.

One benefit of living here in Gibraltar is that although we do have seasons, they aren’t quite as noticeable as in England. Summer is undboubtedly hot and sunny and winter is often damp and grey but not quite as cold and depressing as I remember English winter days to be. That does mean though that spring and autumn aren’t quite as obvious as what’s experienced in the UK.

I remember feeling a bit homesick that first autumn after we moved to Gibraltar and I just couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was. Suddenly it hit me, the vast majority of the trees here on the Rock are evergreen and that meant there are very few leaves to crunch through and collect with little people. Autumn always used to mean Sunday afternoons spent at one of our nearest National Trust sites or parks collecting sticks, conkers and brown, red and golden leaves of all shapes and sizes to bring home. That just isn’t an option here.

In recent years though, a few new trees have been planted here and some of the ones in Commonwealth Park (which was built a couple of years ago) are deciduous. It was so nice to sit under the browning leaves on a bench for a while yesterday as the Little Postcards played football. We were all in T-shirts and shorts so it’s not really like autumn, but it was nice to pretend.

A new crochet project


After finishing my sixty million trebles blanket last week, I was free to crack open some of the lovely new yarn I bought at Yarndale a fortnight ago with a clear conscience. The gorgeous mohair and bamboo Louisa Harding Yarn I bought from Esgair Fibres had been calling me from my stash and really needed to be worked on as soon as possible! I’m using it to make a shawl/scarf for when the weather here turns a little bit fresher. It’s so lovely to use, the constantly changing colours which change even within just one treble stitch are gorgeous and it feels so nice between my fingers as I hook up another row.

 
PS : just one more thing…

A couple of people asked to see the finished picture that I posted two weeks ago from my watercolour class, here it is, mounted and ready to go to its new home in England.

 

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

(Natalie, if you’re reading this I hope you’re ok! You’ve been very quiet lately.)

Sunday Sevens #43 7.8.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

It may be our summer holidays at the moment but we’ve packed a lot in this week: three train journeys, two big cities, two woodland walks and two trips to the coast (one on the Irish Sea, the other on the North Sea).

All aboard!

The Abbotsfield Park Miniature Railway is a must-do destination on our stays in Manchester. Myself and my brother were regular visitors to the Sunday-only train track and it’s grown in size over the years. 

Manned by enthusiastic volunteers who charge just 30p each for a ride around the circuit of track. It’s great value for money and really good fun. I may have to borrow some children when mine are too old to be interested in it any more so I can still go for a ride 😉

Sale Water Park

I’ve not visited Sale Water Park in years so we made the most of a dry sunny afternoon and headed there for a waterside woodland walk. 

Another train trip…


Monday morning meant another train trip for us, this time it was a short hop over to Liverpool to visit some friends (another family who once lived in Gibraltar and  have moved back to England with work). We had a fantastic day out visiting museums and seeing the sights. The trip deserves a whole post of its own so there will be one on its way soon.

Dandelions


I’ve not blown a dandelion clock for years. It was 12 o’clock apparently. The Postcard family did their bit for dandelion propagation at the local park.

A trip to the beach…

It’s August, we’re on our holidays – let’s go to the beach! We drove to Formby Point National Trust on the Lancashire coast to see the sand dunes and red squirrels. It was rather windy and we got well and truly sandblasted. My face was tingling hours later! We had a lovely walk though through the pine forest and it stayed dry so I’m not complaining.

A long journey 


On Friday morning we were up with the larks and off on the next leg of our trip. Mr Postcard checked Bunny into his health farm and flew to join us the night before. 8am saw us in central Manchester catching the train south & east. By late afternoon we’d finally arrived in beautiful Southwold our home for the rest of our holiday. 

RNLI Lifeboat week

The RNLI celebrated lifeboat week off the beach at Southwold yesterday. The local lifeboat crew was joined by the one from nearby Lowestoft and rescued surfers, swimmers and fishermen from peril in the dramatic display. The great weather brought crowds to the beach and the promenade above to watch the spectacle. What an amazing job these hero volunteers do. 

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog. It gives bloggers the chance to link up and feature seven photos from the last seven days. To find out more about it, pop over to Threads & Bobbins for more info. 

Until next time, thanks for stopping by 

🙂