Hello there! I hope April was kind to you. We have been blessed with some truly beautiful sunny days with blue skies and they have meant the gorgeous spring blossoms have been looking fantastic. From my own back garden, to walking down the street and visiting a university open day with Son number 2 this month, the one constant has been floral colour and it’s been spectacular.
An azalea in my back gardenBeautiful cherry blossom on a street I walked downStunning blossom at Keele University
So here’s what I’ve been up to last month…
Easter Weekend
The month of April kicked off with Easter this year and it was a lovely weekend for us. Eldest set aside some time from his studies to return home and we were able to spend a good chunk of time together which was lovely. We had a family meal (finished off with a gorgeous chocolate cake made by my Mum – Grandma’s Easter cakes are legendary in our household!), we got out for a lovely walk which included some very seasonably appropriate coffee! I made up some cute Easter jar lids for table decorations. The pattern is by @blossom.and.yarn on Instagram and was so easy to follow. This little collection of bunny ears worked up very quickly.
Another University Open Day
One sunny Saturday, I found myself back on my old stomping ground of Keele University with Son Number 2 who is considering it for his next step.
Keele has a very special place in my heart. I spent 3 of the happiest years of my life in this place and have lifelong friends and three very special young men in my life as a consequence of my time there.
I’m not sure if Keele will be his first choice for where he wants to study, but it was so lovely being back there briefly.
Vitamin Tree!
My word, I do love being out in the greenery of nature. We are blessed to have Dunham Massey, a National Trust property in our area and we made the most of the sunshine last weekend to pay it a visit. We got there relatively early in the morning before it got too busy and it was so lovely to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place.
Big news!
I have been bursting to share this news… last week it was announced that I am going to be a guest designer at The Crochet Sanctuary! My appearance will be in October 2027 – so there’s a bit of time before then. Although I have been designing for over 5 years, this is the first time I have ever done anything like this – so it’s all very exciting!
Early in April, I popped along the M60 to Stockport to visit a fantastic independent yarn shop called Manchester Wool & Yarn! It’s run by Gareth, who I met for the first time at TexStyle festival in March. We chatted then and he invited me to come and visit him in his fab yarn shop to record an episode of Making Stitches Podcast.
I have to confess that despite living back in Manchester for almost 6 years, I haven’t visited Stockport since my return. It was a place we often went to for a mooch around the shops when I was growing up, but it had fallen off my radar of late. I keep seeing posts about the vibrant independent shops which have sprung up in the town centre, and it was high time I returned!
It was lovely to actually see Manchester Wool & Yarn in real life after seeing so many of Gareth’s social media posts! It really is a delightful shop, packed full of beautiful yarn and lots if gorgeous hand dyed skeins created by North West yarn dyers.
Do please pop in if ever you are in that neck of the woods – it’s so nice.
The first podcast episode I released in April featured the amazing Anna Nikipirowicz, a hugely talented crochet designer, who is passionate about crochet, mosaic crochet, Tunisian crochet and embroidering on crochet too.
Hello and welcome to March! Happy St David’s Day and happy first day of meteorological spring! What better time than to crochet ourselves some spring flowers?
March Spring Flowers
The days are getting longer in my part of the world, you can see the leaf buds beginning to form on the trees and there are plenty of spring flowering bulbs around. Crocus seem to be at their best right now and my first daffodil flower opened yesterday just in time for this pattern release! March to me, says spring, early spring no doubt, but spring nonetheless!
As with the previous two squares for the Making Stitches 2025 CAL, the colours I have used are not prescriptive. I have made them using my own stash of Stylecraft Special DK yarns and I will include the names and numbers of the shades I’ve used in case you want to replicate what I have done exactly, but you can use any yarn you like. The only thing you need to do is make sure it’s all the same weight, ie all DK or all Aran or whatever yarn you choose, and if you are making the whole project along with me, make sure all your squares are made using the same weight and the same size of crochet hook to make sure they all measure the same size so they can be joined together easily at the end.
So, without further ado, here goes…
2025 Making Stitches CAL Part Three : March – Spring Flowers Square
The Spring Flowers March Square
This pattern is meant to be a stash buster project however, if you would like to use the same yarn as I did, here’s what I used to make this square: Stylecraft Special DK in (A) Clementine (1853), (B) Citron (1263), (C) Meadow (1065), (D) Violet (1277).
Abbreviations (in UK terms): blo = work in back loop only, ch = chain, dc = double crochet, dtr = double treble crochet, flo = work in front loop only, fyo = final yarn over, htr = half treble crochet, mc = magic circle / magic ring, rep = repeat, slst = slip stitch, st = stitch, tr = treble crochet, trtr = triple treble. Tension: Tension isn’t important for this project as long as you maintain the same tension throughout the project so all your squares are the same size. Once blocked this square will measure approximately 20cm x 20cm. The stitch count of the final round of each finished square will be 120 plus corner chain spaces.
NOTE: The floral buds of the ‘tulip stitch’ in Round 9 are made by making 5tr into the centre of the V stitch created in Round 8. Once you complete the 5th tr, take your hook out of the working loop and insert it into the top of the 1st tr from front to back, then back through the working loop and close the bud with a slst.
Once the 5th tr is complete remove your hook from the working loopPut your hook through the top of the 1st treble form front to back and then back through the working loopClose the tulip bud with a slip stitch and repeat around
Central Daffodil motif:
Round 1Round 2Round 3A (Trumpet)Round 4A (Frill)
Using Yarn A, make a MC.
Round 1 Ch2 (not counted as a st throughout), 12 tr into MC. Slst into top of ch2 to close the round. (12tr)
Round 2 Ch1, 2dc in every st around. Slst into top of ch1. (24dc)
Round 3A (Trumpet) Ch1, working into the flo, 1htr into every st around. Slst into top of ch1. (24htr)
Round 4A (Frill) (1dc & 1htr into first st, slst into next st)rep around. Fasten off. This will result in a frill with 12 ‘lumps’.
Round 3B (Petals) Join Yarn B into blo of one of the sts in Round 2. (Ch6, 1dc in 2nd ch from hook, 1htr in next ch, 1tr in next ch, 1trtr in next ch, 1trtr in last ch. Miss next 3 blo in Round 2 and Slst into blo of 5th st). Rep around until you have 5 petals ending with a slst into the same blo where you began. Fasten off.
Round 3B First 6chSlst to join bottom of 1st petal2 petals completeRound 3B compete with 5 petals
Round 3C (Beginning the square) Join Yarn C into one of the back loops of Round 2, ch2, (2tr in blo of 1st st, 1tr in blo of next st) rep around – making sure you work into all 24 sts even the ones where the petals are attached with a slst. Slst into top of 2ch. (36tr)
Beginning Round 3CWorking into one of the back loops which have already been worked in Round 3BRound 3C Complete
Round 4 Ch2, (2tr in first st, 1tr into next 2 sts) rep around. Slst into top of ch1. (48tr)
Round 5 Ch1, (2dc in first st, 1dc into next 3 sts) rep around. Slst into top of ch1. (60dc)
Round 4 from the back once ends have been woven inRound 4Round 5
Round 6 (It’s time to square your circle) Ch1, (1dc in next 3 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1dtr + ch2 + 1dtr in next st, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1dc in next 3 sts) rep around. Slst into top of ch1 and fasten off. (64 sts)
At this stage you can neatly sew the petals of the daffodil in place attaching them to the background square. I used the yellow yarn and very small stitches so they aren’t obvious. Once they are sewn into place and stop curling up, they look much more like a daffodil!
Round 6Round 7Round 8
Round 7 Join Yarn A in any st. Ch1, 1dc into every st around and work 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of ch1 and fasten off. (72 dc)
Round 8 Join Yarn C in a corner space, ch5 + 1tr into that corner space, *miss 1st st, 1tr + 1ch + 1tr into 2nd st, (miss 2 sts, 1tr + 1ch + 1tr in next st) repeat along the first side to the corner space, 1tr 2ch 1tr into the corner space, repeat from * on next 3 sides (missing the final 1tr 2ch 1tr as this has already been formed at the start of the round) slst into the 3rd of the starting 5ch. Fasten off. There should be 6 V stitches on each side plus one in each corner by the end of the round.
Round 9 Join Yarn D in the centre of the first V stitch of a side created in Round 8 (on the right as you look at it) . Ch2 & 5tr into that V stitch. Once you have competed the 5th tr, remove the hook from the working loop and insert it into the top of the 1st tr from front to back, then back through the working loop and close the top of the flower bud with a slst. *Ch2 and make the next flower bud in the next V stitch (5tr, remove hook from loop, insert it into top of first tr from front to back and then back through the working loop. Close the bud with a slst. Ch2) repeat until you have 6 buds along the side and you have reached the corner space. Work another flower bud as before, ch4, and make a 2nd flower bud into the same corner space V stitch. Repeat the process from * along the three remaining sides of the square. Slst into the top of the first bud and fasten off. (32 buds)
(I am aware that the photos below don’t show the row beginning the V stitch I suggested above – please ignore that fact and stick to the written instructions!)
Once the 5th tr is complete remove your hook from the working loopPut your hook through the top of the 1st treble and then back through the working loopClose the tulip bud with a slip stitch and repeat aroundClose Round 9 with a slst into the top of the first budRound 9 compete
Round 10 Join Yarn C in a corner space. Ch1, (2dc 2ch 2dc into the corner space, work 1dc into the top of the first bud, work 2dc into the ch space, repeat along the side with 1dc in each bud and 2dc into each ch space). Rep on each side and slst into the top of the 1st dc. Fasten off. (104 dc)
Working a dc into the top of a flower bud in Round 10Round 11Round 12
Round 11 Join Yarn A in any st, ch1 and 1dc into every st around working 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of ch1 and fasten off. (112 dc)
Round 12 Join Yarn B into any st, ch1 and 1dc into every st around working 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of ch1 and fasten off. (120 dc).
Your square is complete now. Weave in the ends and block it to make a nice neat square.
You can alter the colours you choose for the outer rows
I chose purple for the flower bud row with the intention that they should look like crocus flowers, but you could use any colour you want to – I think the combination of rounds 8 & 9 are know as a ‘tulip stitch’ and they do look rather like tulips. As tulips come in all shades of pink, red, purple, yellow, white and even black you can go wild!
It was so lovely over the past few weeks to see lots of February ‘All You Need is Love’ squares appearing on my phone – a few of which appeared within 24 hours of publishing the pattern which utterly blew me away! If you are joining in and making a March square, please do use the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL so I can see if any ‘Spring Flower’ squares start blooming all over the place!
Some of the February ‘All You Need is Love’ Squares which popped up on my phone during February!
Mother Nature has to be the biggest beauty of all surely. I just loved seeing all the beautiful spring flowers on our Easter trip to England. We aren’t often there at that time of year to see them at their best, but this time we were.
I’ve just about managed to publish this in time to still count as Sunday Sevens, after 9 and a half hours traveling back home to Gibraltar today from beautifully sunny and springlike Suffolk.
So, this time last week it was Mother’s Day… feels like a very long time ago now!
Wisteria
I do love wisteria, such a gorgeous flower! I spotted a bumble bee climbing into this bloom as I walked past last Sunday morning. Despite weather forecasts suggesting dodgy weather for the weekend we were blessed with sunshine and, at times, clear blue skies – how lovely! Just perfect for Mother’s Day.
Scummy Mummies
I treated myself to a Mother’s Day gift this year and it arrived just in time. I listen to the Scummy Mummies podcast when I’m out walking, and can often be spotted howling with laughter like a mad woman as they regale tales of hilarious parenting fails and make their Scummy Mummy confessions of when things go awry… The book didn’t disappoint, I giggled away to myself as we flew out to England later in the week.
Ready for the off!
So Tuesday saw us swerving the school run and heading to the airport instead. The Little Postcards’ only cousin was due to get married this week and we couldn’t miss that! We left the cloudless skies of Gibraltar for the slightly cloudier skies of….
Southwold!
It was so lovely to be back in Southwold on the Suffolk coast again so soon after we our lovely holiday there last summer. If you missed my posts all about the beautiful seaside town and pier, you can find them here for Southwold and here for the pier.
Love is in the air…
We were blessed with the most beautiful weather and venue for the special family wedding we attended. I will share a few more photos of the day in a future post. It was perfect in every way, and the happy couple enjoyed themselves immensely, as did we.
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside
Oh I do love it in Southwold. It feels like coming home to be able to walk along the prom here. We have been visiting since long before the Little Postcards were born and it is just so familiar, like putting an old jumper on! It hasn’t changed that much in the years we’ve been visiting and it’s reassuring to repeat our ritual walks here again and again (they usually involve, chips, ice cream and a visit to the pier!).
Spring has sprung!
It seems appropriate to book end this post with pretty flowers, Gibraltar wisteria at the beginning and some Suffolk blossom at the end. Spring has certainly sprung in the corner of England that we visited, the hedgerows were greening up, there were daffodils by the roadsides and blossom trees galore. I don’t usually visit the U.K. at this time of year and I feel privileged to have been able to witness Spring in all it’s glory on our trip.
And now we’re into April already, the year is just whizzing by so fast! Here are a few pictures from last month, which included a trip to Spain, last week’s to Suffolk and the sad loss of our rescue bunny Snowflake.
Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins.
