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 #74 12.3.17

Hello there, I’m pressing the publish button on this edition of Sunday Sevens in Spain. It’s a bank holiday weekend in Gibraltar and we have taken the opportunity to get away for a couple of days.

Without further ado, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…


A first attempt at corner to corner


YouTube is a wonderful thing… I have used it to learn lots of different crafty things. My latest tutorial to watch was one on corner to corner or ‘C2C’ blankets. It was presented by Bella Coco and I can highly recommend it for clarity and being easy to follow. You can find a link to her channel here.

I decided to have a go at making a baby blanket with this new found skill, and I rather like it. It’s very addictive though – you have been warned!

A new project…

I’m trying my hand at patchwork quilting. I have made a few quite basic ones in the past, and this one will be similarly basic too. I love the look of the really intricate ones but the thought of how to make them makes my head ache. 

I had a few hours spare on Monday so I decided to set about cutting out my fabric pieces and laid out the pattern on the dining room floor. My word, it took such a long time to cut out and figure out the pattern that I only had an hour left before the school pick up. Unfortunately that’s as far as I got with it this week. I hope I can get a bit more done on this soon.

Zip’s in!

I missed my dressmaking class last week because of a poorly Little Postcard. Part way through this week’s class I received a phone call from school to go and collect another Little Postcard as he’d had a mishap. I’m pleased to report that he’s fine and was none the worse for his sporting injury by bedtime. I’m also pleased to say in my brief time at my lesson I managed to insert the invisible zip into my dress. 

A walk in the clouds 

In case you missed my post midweek, here’s another chance to see my view from the top of the Med Steps. We climbed up through the clouds to get to the summit. You can see the post I wrote about it here.

Flower making at football training 

So at football training this week I struck up a conversation with one of the other mums as I sat crocheting in the afternoon sun. She really surprised me by telling me that she had read Postcard from Gibraltar and it was one of the reasons why she’d moved here! Holy moly, I did not expect to hear that!!

It’s the weekend!


It’s a bank holiday weekend in Gibraltar this weekend. Schools are closed on Monday because it’s Commonwealth weekend (a fact I find befuddling given that it’s not celebrated in the British Isles). Anyway, we made most of it and ran away for an impromptu couple of days along the coast. 

The Little Postcards didn’t know we were going, although they did question why we were crossing the frontier into Spain straight from school. It was a gorgeous afternoon and so clear. We could see the Rock getting smaller and smaller as we drove along the coast to Marbella. 

Saturday night rock and roll


Hibiscus and strawberry gin and tonic with a side order of crochet, that’s how I roll on a Saturday night these days! Perhaps it’s my age… Did you spot the fact that I’m on my second C2C blanket already?? I warned you the are addictive!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, whatever you’re up to this weekend I hope you’re having a good one!

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

A stroll through the clouds… 

I wasn’t planning on going for a walk up the Med Steps this morning, but I’m so glad I did. It was beautiful and I also got the chance to climb up through the clouds again. You may remember I took a similar walk like this just under a year ago… A mini stroll in the mist.

The sun was shining as we set off from the western side of the rock but as we walked around to the eastern side it was a bit cloudy. You could still feel the  sunshine beating down through the clouds though.

Looking up the sky immediately above us was so clear and bright!


  

As we climbed and looked out to sea it became obvious the clouds were actually forming a low blanket which the top of Gibraltar was just poking up out of.

From the summit you could just spy the northern tip poking out above the clouds.

Looking north

Looking south towards Morocco, the clouds were creeping around from the Mediterranean and into the Strait of Gibraltar.

Looking south
To the north, on the western side, the airport runway and part of town had been hidden from view as the misty cloud swept around and into the Bay.

Looking north west
We headed back down the Rock after our exertions in the cool shade feeling proud of ourselves for having achieved our goal. Within an hour the two cloudy arms had joined across the Bay and were encircling us in a giant cloudy hug. 

I drove into town to find myself severely underdressed (the T shirt was a bad idea!) and shrouded in cloud…. Can you believe these two photos (above and below) were taken just 10 minutes apart?!

Looking up the Rock from town
I’m pleased to report that the cloud has now burned off and we are basking in bright sunshine and blue skies!

Ahhh that’s better!

Main Street
How many seasons in one morning?! The weather and the micro climates around the Rock are part of the fun of living here.  It’s not just the apes, British Bobbies and red phone boxes that make Gibraltar unique.