Week 3 of my Summer Craft Challenge has truly whizzed by! I can’t believe that a week has passed since I was sitting in the sun in my back garden with my bee mug of tea & my MagpieMAL crochet… We’re almost half way through the school summer holidays now for our family which means I’m almost halfway through the Summer Craft Challenge too! Sniff, it’s going too fast!
Here’s what I got up to this week:
Day 15
We had such lovely weather on Saturday – we went out for a lovely walk in the Cheshire countryside then headed home for dinner. I took the opportunity have a quiet sit in the garden for a while when dinner was in the oven.
You can’t beat a bit of Al fresco crochet and feeling the sun on your face!
Day 16
Had a bit of fun on Sunday trying to perfect a sprout pattern – I know there are patterns already out there, but wanted to come up with one of my own… still working on it!
Day 17
Day 17 of the Challenge and time for a bit more progress on my #magpiemal shawlette.
Day 18
It was a knitting mindless rounds in front of Olympics kind of a day… busy, busy, busy. And relax…
Day 18 of the #SummerCraftChallenge2024 done!
Day 19
Day 19 of my #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and there was time this evening for a spot of work on a pattern I’ve been sitting on for quite a while. Can you tell what it is? I got a couple of correct guesses over on Instagram which is reassuring I’m on the right path!
Day 20
Day 20 already on the #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and it was back to the #MagpieMAL for me. No work the next day so it felt like Friday already!
Pattern by Heather @kcaco.uk Yarn by Kitey @the_yarnwhisperer Cute Stitches Marker by Amanda @MrsGMakes
Day 21
Had rather a lot of fun yesterday hooking up some sausages – doesn’t everyone?
There’s been a bit of a food theme this week… I feel a project coming on – watch this space!
Join in!
Nothing says #SummerCraftChallenge like a bit of al fresco crafting, sock knitting by a loch in the sun, crochet by a tree in Norfolk and embroidery on the beach in Sardinia! Here’s a little snap shot of some of the fab creativity which has been happening this week.
Thank you so much to everyone who has joined in with the #SummerCraftChallenge2024 this week, including @catsy_crochet @mariwish @nanaseamakes @merkducrochet @yarnstorms & @alisonswoolnwalks
It’s so fun knowing so many people are joining in with my challenge this year!
If you’d like to join me with a little bit of creativity every day this summer, please do. Just take a photo of your moment of creative fun and upload it to Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 – there are no rules, just fun! Post once, occasionally or everyday – it’s up to you!
Hello there and welcome to the second weekly round up of my 2024 Summer Craft Challenge.
It has been a very busy week for me doing the juggle of work, school holidays and podcasting too. It’s made me realise that maybe I’m doing a little bit too much. I’m going to have a look at what I can reduce to allow for a bit more down time!
As a consequence I haven’t had much concentration space to allow for much creativity as my creative juices have been consumed doing other things! There has been a lot of mindless knitting happening as a result so my photos this week aren’t the most inspiring – apologies for that.
Here goes…
Day 8
After the struggle I had last Friday getting in a tangle with my yarn winding for the Magpie MAL by Heather from Keep Calm & Crochet On UK (Yarn by Kitey of The Yarn Whisperer) I decided to take it nice and slow and really enjoyed sitting quietly winding yarn cakes with the rest of my yarn for this project on Saturday.
Day 9
The MAL began in earnest for me on Sunday morning accompanied by a cup of coffee enjoying the peace and quiet before the rest of the household woke up!
Day 10
Back to work and after a busy day I sat down to enjoy a few rounds of my long term project – a top down sweater by Tin Can Knits. I’m loving this section as you just go round and round and round and don’t need to think too much!
Day 11
Tuesday and more continuous rounds of knitting….
Day 12
On Wednesday I had to double up on the creativity – knitting while editing my podcast episode for Friday. (Normally I have my episodes edited further in advance but the juggle meant it was a bit last minute this week which doesn’t help with the stress levels). A lot of the editing process involves listening back to sections so I used my hands to knit while doing that.
Remember these cushions I made in week 1? Well they went into a gift I was making for my good friend whom I saw on Wednesday evening – they were the stuffing for a….
…. Cuddly VW Camper Van. I can now share it as it’s been gifted and gone off to its new home up in the Lake District!
Day 13
Well Thursday was a day and a half. Full on, in person outdoors in the sun for 8 hours meeting and chatting to people all day long with work. My batteries were a little flat by Thursday evening so a teeny amount of knitting was all I could manage.
Day 14
A good night’s sleep was just the medicine to be able to get back to reading a pattern again and trying something more exciting for Friday’s crafty moment – back into the Magpie MAL and loving it!
Join in!
A few of the other Summer Craft Challenge Instagram posts this week!
This summer, more than on any of my previous Summer Craft Challenges (dating back to 2016) I’ve been joined by quite a few other crafters and it’s been fabulous to see so many other people enjoying a bit of creativity every day. It really helps me by encouraging me to dig out even a teeny bit of quiet and calm when I’m super busy, I hope it’s helping everyone else too.
There’s been quite a bit of variety of crafts too this week – did you know it was International Embroidery Day on Wednesday? I didn’t! There was quite a bit of slow stitching on the IG squares this week along with plenty of crochet, knitting, a fabulous doggie outfit ready for a Rock Choir event and a resin dipped flower!
If you’d like to join me with a little bit of creativity every day this summer, please do. Just take a photo of your moment of creative fun and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 – there are no rules, just fun! Post once, occasionally or everyday – it’s up to you!
Hello there, well that’s the first week of the school summer holidays done in our house and that means week one of my Summer Craft Challenge is done too.
It’s been a really rather special one for me – I’ve been doing this every summer since 2016 (except during 2020) and occasionally other people have joined in here and there. It was primarily a way to give me a focus during the long summer school break (10 weeks long back then when we lived in Gibraltar) with 3 young men to look after and entertain. It had the benefit of reminding me that being creative is good for my mental health and it’s so easy to become overwhelmed with all the things which need to be done at the cost of carving out a little time for yourself.
Back when I started, I invited people to join me and never before has it been so whole heartedly done – thank you so much to everyone who has tagged along with me!
Here’s a little look back at this week in craft..
Day One
This time last week, we were in beautiful Grasmere in the Lake District visiting our good friends who live up that way. School finished the day before and we headed straight up to Cumbria that afternoon. We woke up, had breakfast and headed to the Mere for a morning out on the water. We all took a turn kayaking and while I waited for mine, I sat on the shore hooking! We even had a visit from an inquisitive duck!
Crocheting by the water at Grasmere
Day Two
Still in the Lakes, we hiked to Elterwater for a wonderful Sunday lunch in a hotel – it was delicious and all the more tasty thanks to our walk to get it! I took my yarn and hook with me to get some more al fresco crochet in – it ended up being crochet on the move as we caught the bus from Elterwater to Ambleside after lunch.
Elterwater
Day Three
We traveled back home on Sunday and I took Monday off seeing as it was the first proper day of the holidays. There were lots of jobs to do, as is always the case after a trip away so the first chance I had to sit down and do something creative was after dark! I’m hoping to finish this Tin Can Knits top down jumper I’ve been working on since before Christmas at some point this summer. I’ll keep you posted!
Day Four
Another busy day. Back at work but did manage a bit of knitting while there was still light in the sky!
Day Five
I ditched the yarn this evening and blew the dust off my sewing machine to repurpose an old unwearable school shirt into something new – a couple of little cushions for a project I’m working on.
Day Six
That project I was making the cushions for is finished. It’s a gift so I can only share a sneak peak and this is it. Once it’s been gifted, I promise I’ll show you what it is!
Day Seven
Today, I thought I’d crack out a new project I’ve been saving for this very purpose – the Mischievous Magpie MAL (Yarn by Kitey from The Yarn Whisperer & pattern by Heather from Keep Calm & Crochet On).
I got over excited and went a bit hell for leather on the yarn winding and got myself into a bit of a pickle. I was unraveling hours later as I watched the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games! I’m pleased to say I got there in the end…
Join the challenge!
So, as I said before, quite a few people joined me this week. You can see some of that creativity above – what a thrill! Thank you to you all for tagging along.
If you fancy joining in, please do, there are no rules. Just take a photo of your moment of creativity and post it on Instagram with the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024
Hello there! I hope you’re doing ok. True to form, here is a ‘Postcard from June’ coming to you two thirds of the way through July.
Back in the day, when I first started this blog under the name of Postcard from Gibraltar, I was a stay at home mum of three young men. Now I am a working mum of three young men with a podcast to make and crochet commissions to complete too, so despite my best intentions, time can run away with me. It frustrates me sometimes when I realise I have failed my own self imposed deadlines, but then I stop and think about the fact that there are only so many hours in the day and I can give myself a break every now and again.
So, without a guilty conscience on my part, here is a little look back at June in my world.
Talking of giving myself a break…
Langdale YHA first thing in the morning…
The top photo is of the calm before the crowds arrived at a very good friend’s 50th birthday party at the start of the month. They moved from our home town of Manchester a couple of years ago up to the Lake District, a dream of theirs which they decided to just do rather than thinking about it any longer.
They live in a little slice of gorgeousness and love to share it with family and friends, hence the invitation for a jolly good knees up to celebrate the significant birthday. The party spilled out into the driveway which they share with lovely neighbours (who also came to the party) and a brilliant time was had by all – even the weather behaved. It was a truly brilliant celebration.
I went along without the young men in my life in tow and spent the whole time chatting to old friends and having a good laugh. That night, as we all made our way to our various overnight lodgings, I headed over the (rather large) nearby hill to Langdale YHA, my bed for the night. The photo immediately above is the view from the youth hostel first thing the following morning. I got myself a coffee and sat out on the veranda admiring the view and the peace and quiet while I waited for breakfast.
What bliss it was, a mini 24-hour-long holiday in the sunshine with lovely friends. I caught a lift down to Windermere later that morning to catch another lift back to Manchester and my boys. While I waited for the second lift back home, I sat on the shore of Lake Windermere with my crochet… it doesn’t get better than this!
What a place to sit an crochet, while contemplating life!
Such a beautiful place to visit…..
The longest day…
This photo was taken after 11pm on 21st June, the longest day of the year. Despite being on this planet for 50 years already, it never ceases to amaze me that within the matter of a few months, we can go from living in near darkness from around 3:30pm in the depths of winter to still having light in the sky so late on in the middle of summer.
Having had lots of holidays north of the border, I am aware that the days are much longer up there, but this still impressed me!
I have a greenhouse!
One of my oldest friends is having a garden rejig which includes upgrading her mini greenhouse to a full sized greenhouse. That meant her old one needed a new home. So imagine the scene as, along with the help of my two eldest boys, we walked the greenhouse round from her house to mine (some of the journey was spent with me actually in it holding it up – arms above my head – in a Fred Flintstone feet through the bottom of the car style with one son at the front walking backwards and another son taking the weight at the back) it must have been quite a sight for the neighbours between our two homes. On a ‘normal’ day the walk is just over 5 minutes. It took a bit longer than that with a few breaks to rest our arms along the way. I had a giggle, even if the boys died a little bit inside at their crazy mother’s schemes….
Anyway, it is now happily residing up the side of our house (where the sun reaches in the morning and again, mid to late afternoon) and is home to three tomato plants and a sweet pepper plant. I shall keep you posted on any updates on their fruiting – fingers crossed!
A trip down memory lane
At the end of the month, Keele University celebrated its 75th birthday. It’s the place where I spent an incredibly happy three years, meeting life-long friends and the man I married. There was a special open day to celebrate the milestone and former students and local residents were invited along to wander round the campus. I took two of my boys down to see it for the first time. It was lovely to retrace the footsteps of my much younger self!
Keele Hall, where I spent many hours studying English Literature
My design in print
In a month of lots of lovely things, this was probably the most exciting… for the first time ever I got to see my own design in print in a magazine. I designed and made this canal boat art inspired bottle holder for Inside Crochet (my first design for them) and it even made it onto the front cover!!
It was such a thrill to see my design photographed by a professional and presented so beautifully – thank you so much Inside Crochet!!
And that brings, this latest Postcard to an end. But, before I go….
Anyone fancy a Summer Craft Challenge?
As I mentioned at the top of this post, my time is tight right now. I remember back in the summer of 2016, as my boys’ schools in Gibraltar broke up for the long summer break, I wondered how I would survive with three young men for a 10-week-long ‘holiday’. I decided to set myself a challenge that no matter how busy or hectic or tiring a day was, I had to carve out a little bit of ‘me’ time to be creative. It didn’t matter if it was just 15 minutes of crochet late at night when everyone was in bed, or a lazy afternoon hooking some granny squares sitting on a deck chair on the beach.
Each day I took a photo of my little creative moment and wrote a blog post each week to talk about what I was making. It really worked you know, rather than spending weeks too busy to ‘make’ and getting grumpier and grumpier as time went on, I managed to carve out a little bit of creativity and it worked wonders.
Tomorrow, school comes to an end for my youngest, and this year, for the first time since being a Mum, I have a job which takes me out of the house to an office and I have a bigger juggle than ever to fit everything in. No better time then surely to make sure I have a window of creativity each day to keep me on an even keel. So, I have thrown myself the gauntlet of attempting to create that space each day and document it as I go along. Summer Craft Challenge 2024 is a matter of hours away.
Care to join me? If so, please post the photos of your summer creativity and use the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and join the creative fun! I’d love to have your company on this summer adventure!
Until next time, look after yourself and enjoy your creativity!
Well, I didn’t do too well with keeping my Summer Craft Challenge posts up to date and consistent did I? Life got in the way and all of a sudden we’re over half way through September! So here is a whistle stop dash through the last 3 weeks of my summer craft challenge for 2023 because if I don’t post it, I’ll feel like I failed! I did, however post most days to Instagram so I’ll cut myself a bit of slack!
Here goes…
Week 4 : Saturday 12th August to Friday 18th August
This week began whilst still on holiday in Scotland (Glasgow to be precise) knitting socks, and after a long drive back home (without knitting or crochet that day) I ended up crocheting circles back at home in Manchester!
It was Granny Square Day on 15th August and I shared this Daisy Granny Square I designed while sitting next to some daisies beside the water in Argyll the previous week…
I hope to be sharing more about this square, along with some others I’ve come up with in the coming months.
Week 5 : Saturday 19th August to Friday 25th August
Work was nearing completion on my Potato Field Shawl this week including whilst watching the Lionesses in the World Cup Final. Plus I discovered this haul of Granny Squares when I opened a bag I hadn’t looked though for a while. I think I feel another project coming on!
Week 6 & a bit – Saturday 26th August to Tuesday 3rd September
And we made it! Schools went back for my youngest 2 on Wednesday 4th September – we survived the long summer break with creativity along the way. I also managed to completely finish my Potato Field Shawl. I’m really pleased with it. You can find the pattern details for it here my rainbow colours stripes were made with yarn bought at Yarndale last year from Cuddlebums Yarn.
By this point I had just turned the heel of the sock I was knitting – I’m pleased to say I got it finished in time for Eldest to take away to university with him. I used yarn by West Yorkshire Spinners in Peacock and followed Winwick Mum’s Basic Sock pattern. This is my third pair to date…. I know there will be more!
I’m not sure whether he’ll wear them in public but at least they’ll keep his feet warm in bed if he needs them!
Thanks for following me on my annual Summer Craft Challenge. It’s been fun and much needed respite in this my first summer ‘holiday’ back in structured employment. It’s been a juggle at times balancing work, children and sanity, but we just about got there. Creativity is almost always the answer for me when things get tricky – failing that there’s chocolate!
Hello there, this time last week I was driving north to Scotland so didn’t get round to posting before now… so here’s a look back at my last 2 weeks of crafting.
Day 8 : Saturday 29th July
It was Black Sheep Wools’ 40th birthday party yesterday & today, so I popped along to join the celebration.
Eek, there I am… I may have made one or two purchases while I was there…
It didn’t leave much time for making though…
Day 9 : Sunday 30th July
I just felt inspired to make a daisy, can’t say why – it just leapt off my hook!
Day 10 : Monday 31st July
I ended the month on a high, almost exactly a year after I started it, I finished my Dragonfly River MAL shawl by Heather at Keep Calm & Crochet On and Kitey The Yarn Whisperer. Isn’t it lovely? I have no idea why I left it almost finished for so long!
Day 11 : Tuesday 1st August
Sticking with the circular theme…
Day 12 : Wednesday 2nd August
A very uninspiring circle was all I managed today…
Day 13 : Thursday 3rd August
A very busy day today, work, housework and preparations for a family holiday (yay!) meant not much crochet time…
Day 14 : Friday 4th August
I’m trying and trying to square my circle but my brain won’t work and I’m not giving in and looking up a pattern. That’s enough for today.
Day 15 : Saturday 5th August
I didn’t manage much ‘craft’ today it was a long day of driving from Manchester to the west coast of Scotland. It was a day of firsts as I drove onto a car ferry for the first time!
Day 16 : Sunday 6th August
My crochet corner for the afternoon
I felt inspired by the Scottish sunshine in the garden of our holiday let to make a sunflower. What a fabulous spot! There’s a very good chance I won’t want to leave…
Day 17 : Monday 7th August
Sock knitting with a view today… our holiday let had the most amazing views.
Day 18 : Tuesday 8th August
It was such a beautiful day, I felt inspired by my surroundings and wanted to create a little crochet square to celebrate it. It also gave me the perfect excuse to visit a lovely yarn shop called Jinty & Baa in the village of Kirn near Dunoon to buy some yarn to make the water/loch section of my square.
If you ever find yourself in the area, I would highly recommend a visit. It’s really well stocked with yarn, fabric and other needlecraft supplies.
Day 19 : Wednesday 9th August
Sock knitting at Tarbet Castle
Nothing to see here… just an embarrassing mother sitting on a historical monument knitting socks 😂. A cruise on the Waverley Paddle Steamer brought us to Tarbet, and we climbed up to see the castle.
Tarbet Castle
Day 20 : Thursday 10th August
Sock knitting on the beach at Ostel Bay
Beach day meant sock knitting on the beach – ignore the grey sky – it was deceptively warm even the water was! It was beautiful.
Day 21 : Friday 11th August
Sock knitting at the Shinty pitch!
Our last full day in the Kyles of Bute before heading onwards to Glasgow. The boys decided to have a kick around on the neighbouring shinty pitch near to where we were staying (I managed a few rows before being roped in as goal keeper). I imagine this will be last of my spectacular backdrops for a while!
That’s it for this week, I look forward to sharing more summer craft adventures with you soon.
Hello there, here’s the first installment of my Summer Craft Challenge for this year. In case you missed my last post or are new to the blog, back in 2016, when we lived in Gibraltar and I was a full-time stay at home Mum to three young boys, I was staring down the barrel of a 10 week long summer school holiday.
Whilst I loved being at home with my boys, the prospect of entertaining them for 10 weeks filled me with slight trepidation, so in order to force myself to spend a bit of time each day doing something that gave me joy, I set myself the challenge of doing something crafty every single day. I started it, not knowing if I’d be able to achieve my target, but I did. I also amazed myself at how much I actually created.
So, each summer since then (apart from in 2020) I have repeated my challenge – some years have been better than others! Here is Week 1 of this year’s challenge:
Day 1 : Saturday 22nd July
I started off my day with some calm crochet before the storm that was about to be a 12th birthday party and sleep over…. (should read ‘not-much-sleep’ over). I sat in my pjs as the rest of the house was quiet and hooked up a few rows on the prototype of a crochet commission I’m currently working on.
I also managed some crochet while I sat and waited for the birthday boy and his friends to finish their Laser Quest session!
Day 2 : Sunday 23rd July
Sunday was a quiet one. Once our guests had departed and the house had been returned to ‘normal’ I spent a lot of time just sitting and crocheting (and not feeling guilty about it due to the lack of sleep the night before).
Day 3 : Monday 24th July
No time for a long lazy day on the sofa on Monday, back to work for me but at least it was a nice sunny evening when I took Youngest to football training. I took my project with me, sat on a bench with a couple of other football Mums and chatted while I hooked – it was very pleasant!
Day 4 : Tuesday 25th July
I can’t show you what I hooked on Tuesday as it’s for a top secret project but when I saw these two balls of yarn side by side I was sent on a trip down memory lane to my childhood and some chewy mints called Pacers. Do you remember Pacers?
Day 5 : Wednesday 26th July
Time for a bit of non-commission crochet for a change. I picked up this shawl I’ve been working on for a while, my aim is to get this completed over this challenge – there’s really not much left to do, but I keep doing a bit and putting it down – it’s taking forever!
Day 6 : Thursday 27th July
It was a super busy day full of Zoom meetings for me, then a hectic evening later so I knew my crochet time would be limited. I opted to crochet during one of the 15 minute comfort breaks in the midst of my working day – it’s all looking a bit black though isn’t it?!
Day 7 : Friday 28th July
I did such a lot of crochet on Friday but alas I cannot share it. What I can share is this cute bunny who was completed exactly a week ago ready to move in with his new family 🩵. I started him at a Crochet Sanctuary away day in March (the same one I made my Mindful Mandala at which was featured in my previous post), and I held off finishing him until his new owner had safely arrived – I’m pleased to say baby & and bunny have met and are getting on together just fine!
That’s it for this week’s Summer Craft Challenge, do you fancy joining in? If so, just tag any of your photos with #summercraftchallenge2023 on Instagram and we can all share our summer of creativity together.
Hello there, just popping in to say thank you for all the kind comments on my previous post, it’s much appreciated. 🩷
This is the ‘Mindful Mandala’ I made way back in March at a wonderful Crochet Sanctuary day. I didn’t post a photo at the time as we were in the midst of everything else that was going on. It was a wonderful day of yarny fun at a difficult time.
I don’t know about you, but on the whole, crochet really helps me when things are tricky. I often turn to creativity as a way of putting a positive spin on difficult days, and that’s why back in 2016, I set myself a summer craft challenge. I was staring down the barrel of a 9 or 10 week-long school summer holiday in Gibraltar with 3 young children to entertain and I was worried I might go a little bit stir crazy.
The challenge forced me to do something crafty every day of that long summer recess and it really worked. I ended up being far more creative than I would otherwise and that did me the world of good.
A few weeks back I was firmly of the mindset that I wasn’t going to do it again this year. Things were still feeling too difficult and now I am working a lot more so my time is very limited. But then I put my last blog post up about where I’ve been for the past 6-7 months and then I published a podcast episode and life began feeling a bit more like it’s ok to have fun now and again. So, with that in mind, and the fact school broke up today for Youngest (and earlier this week for No. 2 son), I guess now’s as good a time as any to kick off a challenge.
As from tomorrow, I shall endeavour to do something crafty every day of the school summer holidays as I have done every year since 2016 (apart from 2020 – owing to the fact we moved country etc!) and as I do it, I’ll document it on Instagram each day and once a week there’ll be a weekly round up here on the blog.
If you fancy joining in, you’d be most welcome to join me! If you do, just use the hashtag #summercraftchallenge2023 and we’ll see where this crafty summer takes us! 😊 No pressure at all – I may not manage every day myself – but I’ll have a go!
The Rock of Gibraltar painted by me at one of my watercolour lessons
Way back in the summer of 2015, I set off on a blogging adventure. Inspired by the likes of Lucy at Attic24 and several other craft bloggers, I decided that I would have a go at sharing a few snap shots of my life on the Rock. At the time, I had a the unique selling point that I was based in Gibraltar, and at that time, there were no other craft bloggers active on the Rock. I thought that even if no one was interested in what I was making, at least I could share beautiful photos of my sunny surroundings way down in the south of Europe.
The Upper Rock Nature Reserve
I felt compelled to share some of the quirks and beauty of where I was living at the time – a much misunderstood place from the outside. There is so much more to Gibraltar than the day trips from cruise ships and bus tours from along the Costa would have you believe. There’s much more than red phone boxes and fish & chips, British bobbies and Marks and Spencer in the sun. It’s home to a diverse group of people with origins from far and wide, the fortunate byproduct of it’s geographical location at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsular and just a short distance across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco and the African continent beyond.
The Europa Point lighthouse with the Strait of Gibraltar beyond
Soon I began sharing a series of blog posts called ‘A stroll around Gibraltar’ as I took my camera and later my phone along on walks around the narrow streets and back alleys of Upper Town and into the Nature Reserve of the Upper Rock – in fact my post about the ‘facts and figures of the Med Steps’ remains my most read post to date. I posted more than 200 Sunday Sevens posts and hosted a Friday Photo Challenge on Instagram one year as well.
The view northwards from part way up the Med Steps
I also used Postcard from Gibraltar to share what I was making, from the dressmaking and watercolour classes which I was able to attend once all three Little Postcards (my three sons) were old enough to all go to school, as well as a number of community crochet projects I joined in with from Yarndale worldwide appeals for crocheted bunting and mandalas to Eleonora from Coastal Crochet‘s Seaside Stashbusting blanket and Changing Tides blanket crochet-alongs.
My Seaside Stashbusting blanket inspired by Sandy Bay in Gibraltar
As our family went on trips around the place I would blog about our travels in my ‘A Postcard from…’ posts which included Rome, The Algarve, Carcassonne, and skiing in the Dolomites, as well as UK destinations like Manchester, Cheshire, and Suffolk.
A few photos from one of our holidays in Suffolk as I worked on an Eleonora Tully design from Little Box of Crochet for that year’s Summer Craft Challenge
Postcard from Gibraltar also opened doors for me and I began writing for an online parenting magazine in Gibraltar which now no longer exists sadly, I also got articles published in print for the Calentita! Gibraltarian food festival magazine. In short, Postcard from Gibraltar gave me the confidence to venture back out of my domestic set-up after many years being a stay-at-home Mum.
My Attic24 cosy stripe blanket at Europa Point
In 2020, along with everything else which was happening in the world, close to home for us, change was afoot. We found ourselves moving back to the UK after 11 very happy years in Gibraltar. It was a big adjustment, which wasn’t made any easier by the pandemic, but we survived! At the time, I wondered whether I should continue with Postcard from Gibraltar as it would no longer be ‘from Gibraltar’. I had begun my new podcast project ‘Making Stitches Podcast’ by then, and whilst it brought me very welcome creative distraction – especially during lockdown, I felt I would miss Postcard too much if I just finished it, so I kept it going in a slightly less regular, less sunny and blue skies kind of a way!
I may be in the north of England now but we do still get occasional blue skies! (Photo taken at Dunham Massey this week)
More than 2 years on from our move though, I think the time is right to say goodbye to Postcard from Gibraltar. I won’t be saying goodbye to it completely though. This blog and all of the previous posts will still be available to read and if you should search for Postcard from Gibraltar online, it will still lead you here. Postcard from Gibraltar is evolving, just as I have, and from now on, will be known as Making Stitches.
It felt right to adapt what I’m already doing to compliment what I have been working on with Making Stitches Podcast. In the last two years, that has gone from strength to strength and is now in it’s 6th Series with more than 50 episodes featuring interviews with creative people from many different disciplines including crochet and knitting (including my old friend Eleonora Tully from Coastal Crochet), dressmaking, embroidery, textile art, weaving, yarn dying and more. In addition to this, I have made a foray into crochet design myself with the launch of my amigurumi crochet patterns. My life has changed quite a bit from what I was doing back in Gibraltar and it’s time this blog caught up with me.
Looking south towards the Rock – photo taken on Alcaidesa beach
I will still post my monthly Postcards (because I would miss writing them too much) although I can’t guarantee I’ll be any more prompt with posting them (!) and I’m pretty sure I will have another go at a Summer Craft Challenge again next year, so in a way nothing has changed, just the name.
View of Gibraltar from La Linea
Thank you to everyone who has read my posts, liked them or commented through the years and a special thank you to those of you who have become friends through this medium too. Your support, although virtual, has been very much appreciated over the years and it’s that which has kept me going. Who knows what lies ahead?
It would appear that I have let things slide somewhat with this blogging lark! Here we are in October and I’ve just realised I never actually officially ended my Summer Craft Challenge 2022 – that will never do!
So here, an awful lot later than previously intended, is the final installment of my Summer Craft Challenge….
Day 30 : Saturday 20th August 2022
First half of my main summer project completed – the beginning of the Dragonfly River MAL by Keep Calm and Carry on Crocheting & The Yarn Whisperer. I found the slub yarn really quite tricky to get to grips with to start with, but once I got into a rhythm with it, it was fine. Although, that said I am really looking forward to the next section as it is all in the gorgeous aqua blues of the accent yarn used in the accents of this section I’ve just completed.
Day 31 : Sunday 21st August 2022
Sewing in ends is right up there in my least favourite jobs alongside ironing I’m afraid, but I embraced it and felt very virtuous once all the loose ends were tidied away today. This means I can now continue with the rest of my cowl without a guilty conscience. What’s more I even got so into it that I actually revisited an old project (my Crochet Sanctuary Christmas 2020 blanket CAL) and finished off all the loose ends on that too!
Before…And after!Now both sides are respectable 😂
Day 32 : Monday 22nd August 2022
Back on the Granny Square bandwagon!
Day 33 : Tuesday 23rd August 2022
The Granny Square grows…
Day 34 : Wednesday 24th August 2022
No crochet as such for me, just some tech editing for my Oakley and Agatha patterns I launched earlier this week.
Day 35 : Thursday 25th August 2022
It may have still been the summer holidays but some things continue – like music lessons. So while number 2 son made music, I sat in the car and made amigurumi!
Day 36 : Friday 26th August 2022
Sadly there was no craft today – I was too busy packing the two youngest of the family off on a trip and packing for myself and Eldest to go on holiday too….
Week 6
Day 37 : Saturday 27th August 2022
Three train journeys gave me loads of time to get hooking. Lots of progress was made on my Dragonfly River MAL en route between Manchester and……. Paris!!!!!!
Day 38 : Sunday 28th August 2022
Too much sightseeing for me today to manage any more than a quick row before collapsing into bed!
Day 39 : Monday 29th August 2022
My last evening crocheting dragonflies in Paris.
Day 40 : Tuesday 30th August 2022
Crochet, orangina & a Brie baguette on the EuroStar très French!
Four train journeys today… 1 Paris Metro, 1 Eurostar, 1 Intercity between London and Sheffield and finally 1 Trans-Pennine Express from Sheffield to Manchester and home = lots of hooky time.
Day 41 : Wednesday 31st August 2022
No exotic location for my crochet today, just back on my sofa at home!
Day 42 : Thursday 1st September 2022
Back to in-car crochet during music lessons again.
Day 43 : Friday 2nd September 2022
Whoops I may have accidentally started a new project….
Day 44 : Saturday 3rd September 2022
Can you guess the theme of my newest creation?
Day 45 : Sunday 4th September 2022
More pumpkin crochet for me – this time alfresco at a football match. It was a pre-season friendly which ‘we’ won 3-0!
And that brings my Summer Craft Challenge to an end for another year. Thank you for joining me on another yarny summer adventure. I may not have managed a 100% record for doing something crafty every day this time, but I gave it a decent try.
