summer

Summer Craft Challenge 2023 : Weeks 4, 5 & 6

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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!

I hope to be back again soon!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2023 : Weeks 2 & 3

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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.

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2023 : Week 1

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My first ever Summer Craft Challenge in 2016

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.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2022 : Weeks 5 & 6

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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.

Are you up for joining me next year?

Lindsay x

A Postcard from August 2022

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Hello there! I hope you’re well. It’s the very last day of the school summer holidays for us today… tomorrow Youngest heads off to Secondary school for the first time -eek! Also, since my last postcard post, we have had A-Level results which means that Eldest will soon fly the nest to University… not sure how I feel about that.

In the meantime here’s a little look at what we’ve been up to this last month beginning with something I completely forgot to mention which happened in July … I went to ABBA Voyage!!! How could I possibly forget to mention that?!!

ABBA VOYAGE

ABBA Voyage venue

I know I’m not alone in the fact I grew up with Abba as the soundtrack to my life, so when I saw last year that the new show was coming to London, I applied for tickets. I was hoping to take my parents with me but unfortunately a holiday they were meant to go on in 2020 got rescheduled to the same weekend so I ended up going with a couple of school friends – which was really nice. It was an utterly amazing experience and unexpectedly emotional. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes ABBA, and thanks to the rescheduled holiday, I’m going back to see it again with my Mum later this year too!

Waiting for the show to start…

Vitamin Tree

It was always a tradition when we lived in Gibraltar, that on our annual summer holiday back to the UK we would take a picnic to Marbury Country Park near Northwich in Cheshire and have a walk, play some football or frisbee and then call in for ice cream at the Great Budworth ice cream farm on the way home – sounds like a perfect summer’s day out don’t you think? Well, this year was no different, although we were down to just 2 Little Postcards as Eldest has had a job this summer and wasn’t able to join us for our outing. It’s such a lovely place – which I treasured for the Vitamin Tree I got when I visited.

Just look at the light.

There’s something about a British summer and the way the world looks here which you don’t get in the Med. I think it’s the way the sun shines through the deciduous leaves maybe. Anyway, it’s not something I really appreciated before we moved to Gibraltar and I wondered whether I would begin to take it for granted again now we are back in the UK full time. I can tell you that I don’t! It’s just gorgeous. I didn’t take any photos of the ice cream farm this time – but I did snap the sunflower maze which had been planted for kids to wander through. Don’t those sunflowers look so bright and jolly?

Exam results day

Exam results day. 30 years ago I came to this very same building to learn my fate and find out my exam results. This year I went along with Eldest. I never could have imagined at the age of 18 that I would be back again one day with one of my children to find out how they had done. I’m relieved to say the exams went well and he’s now preparing to head off to his first choice of university later this month.

PARIS!

I had an amazing long weekend away in Paris with Eldest to celebrate his birthday (belatedly) and his exam success. We went on the Eurostar (which was amazing) and packed such a lot into our few days. There will be a blog post to follow with some of our adventures in, so I won’t tell you all about it now. Suffice to say it was amazing to get away for a few days (as we didn’t have a big family trip away this year) although I was ready for a holiday when I got back after all the walking and fun we packed in!

And so it begins… back to the old routine!

And so it begins…. back at football training again last week and a pre season friendly match at the weekend ready for the new season beginning next week. And just like that we were back to normal.

I began writing this post yesterday, and am finishing it off this morning (Monday morning) after having waved Youngest off on the school bus for the first time to take him to secondary. I have two still at home today, but will have a quiet house again tomorrow. I’m off on a shopping trip now to get things for Uni – wish me luck!

I hope August was kind to you! Thanks for stopping by,

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2022 : Week 4

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So here we are again! Another week gone already. This summer is whizzing by and I want it to stop or the Little Postcards will be back to school and the leaves will be falling and we’ll be heading back into winter – nooo!

It’s been a big week in our house – we were awaiting A-Level results and I’m thrilled to say they were favourable and all is well. I’m hugely grateful that’s over and done with but am all too well aware it hasn’t been the best week for some.

Day 22 : Saturday 13th August 2022

Just look at that fabulous texture as the summer sun shines on the slub base yarn from @the_yarnwhisperer – making progress on my Dragonfly River MAL.

Day 23 : Sunday 14th August 2022

Crochet Sunshine anyone? ☀️

Sunny weather brings out the daisies in the garden! Trying to get something whipped up in time for #grannysquareday2022 tomorrow…

Pattern is the Flora square by Lucy from Attic24 and it’s really fun to make!

Day 25 : Monday 15th August 2022

Happy Granny Square Day 2022!

I was so caught up in the excitement of Granny Square Day that I couldn’t stop making them! Here’s Day 24 of my #summercraftchallenge2022 and it’s all about the grannies!

All of these Grannies are evolving into a cushion cover I think… I’m in love with the Daisy centres to the squares and they work up so fast too! Granny Square appreciation isn’t just for Granny Square Day you know! 😂

Day 26 : Tuesday 16th August 2022

And that’s them all joined up. I joined them initially, decided against my colour choices and placement, so frogged part of it, made another square and swapped the red one out. I’m chuffed with how it’s growing!

Day 27 : Wednesday 17th August 2022

So that red square which got jettisoned yesterday hasn’t gone to waste! Here it is surrounded by more granny clusters. Not sure whether it will be the back of a cushion or become a second cushion cover… I had been at sixes and sevens all day as I did a bit of this, then went off to do something else – I just couldn’t settle knowing that A-Level results were due the next day.

Day 28 : Thursday 18th August 2022

After the drama and excitement of an early morning trip to school to get some good news (thank goodness) I was back onto my Dragonfly River MAL. Getting closer to the end of part one… I’m itching to get cracking on part 2 – not long to go….

Day 29 : Friday 19th August 2022

Excuse the straggly ends… I promise I will weave them all in once I’m finished on this section of the Dragonfly River MAL! Those of you familiar with the MAL will be able to spot the mistake I made early on but decided I could live with… If my calculations are correct I’ve just got 7 rows left to go!

Thanks for stopping by to share my Summer Craft Challenge – it really is a lot of fun and keeps me busy making during the holidays when there are so many other distractions.

I hope it’s been a good week for you. See you next time!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2022 : Week 3

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Hello there, how are we at Saturday already? This was meant to be published last Saturday but there’s something about the school holidays when routine goes out of the window and I completely lose track of what’s going on! I have a feeling I may not be alone in this!

Here’s what I’ve been up to craft-wise lately…

Day 15 : Saturday 6th August 2022

Day 15 of my #summercraftchallenge2022 and thankfully I found some time for crochet at the end of the day! Progress is being made on this lovely #dragonflyrivermal project. I’m loving it! 💙💚🤍

Day 16 : Sunday 7th August 2022

You know when you realise you are only 2 rows off finishing a project but you can’t find the pattern so decide to wing it?! Well about to frog the last 2 rows for the second time… I’m off to look for the pattern! 😂

Day 17 : Monday 8th August 2022

There are days when football training is pretty bleak and miserable, but there are also days when it’s brill. Today was one of those days, sunshine, lovely parents to chat to and a spot of crochet in the evening sunshine ☀️. Making progress on my #dragonflyrivermal – I reckon I’m about a quarter of the way through. Still loving it!

Day 18 : Tuesday 9th August 2022

More alfresco crochet today! Our annual picnic at Marbury Park in Cheshire… I even saw a couple of dragonflies although they were too fast to photograph.

Day 18 of my #summercraftchallenge2022 was very pleasant working on my #dragonflyrivermal from @kcaco.uk & @the_yarnwhisperer in the sunshine & dappled shade of the Northwich Woodland.

Day 19 : Wednesday 10th August 2022

No time for crochet today… it’s be a day filled of utility sewing – name tapes and school trouser hems. I did give the neighbours a treat though as I dragged the ironing board out into the sunshine in the back garden so my long standing WIP and finally finished scarf/shawl could block in the sun! They’re used to watching me pose amigurumi dolls about the place, but they must’ve thought I’d gone properly bonkers to be contemplating ironing in the hot sun ☀️ 😂.

Yarn by @woollywumpkins
Shawl Pattern : Easy One Skein Crochet Shawl by @anniedesigncrochet

Ta-dah!

Day 20 : Thursday 11th August 2022

Nocturnal crochet for me this evening and back to the #dragonflyrivermal – Day 20 of my #summercraftchallenge2022

Day 21 : Friday 12th August 2022

Crochet in the garden this evening whilst admiring my new solar fairy lights… Day 21 of my #summercraftchallenge2022

And that’s last week’s crochet adventures complete! I’m off now to write the latest installment!

See you soon!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2022 : Week Two

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I can’t believe that week two of the school summer holidays is over already… where has the time gone?!

Here’s a little crafty recap of what I got up to this week – and despite having no plans to have a traditional summer holiday this year I even managed some beach crochet!!!

Day 8 : Saturday 30th July

Day 8 of my challenge was also day 1 of the Dragonfly River MAL from Heather from Keep Calm and Crochet On UK (@kcaco.uk) and Kitey from The Yarn Whisperer (@the_yarnwhisperer).

No dragonfly crochet for me yet, but a pleasant time winding my skeins into yarn cakes – aren’t they just gorgeous colours?! 💙💚🤍. I can’t wait to get started….

Day 9 : Sunday 31st July

Due to the hectic nature of things, I only had a few snippets of time to get crochet done. I’m being firm with myself and won’t let myself begin the #dragonflyrivermal until I’ve finished my current little person from my latest Up The Garden Path School Days pattern – once he’s off my hook I’ll be diving straight into dragonfly river believe you me!

In the meantime, here’s my dragonfly river yarn from @the_yarnwhisperer in all it’s beautiful glory (above)! Oh and a teeny tiny tank top too (below)!

Day 10 : Monday 1st August

Day 10 of my challengeand he’s finished! I had to somehow give him glasses and the only way I could think of doing it was by chaining embroidery cotton then sewing it into place. I’m reliably told by Youngest he looks nothing like his human counterpart. There’s nothing like kids to completely deflate your pride 😂.

Aside from that – it means that I’m free to get started on my Dragonfly River MAL!!! Rather conveniently I have two longish train journeys to make tomorrow so my MAL will be keeping me company!!!

Day 11 : Tuesday 2nd August

Manchester Piccadilly

Day 11 of my challenge and it was my first day on the #dragonflyriverMAL by Heather Keep Calm and Crochet On UK & Kitey from The Yarn Whisperer.

Coming into Birmingham New Street

Well I had 6 hours to kill on trains, so what better pass-time than this? Started at Manchester Piccadilly, frogged at Stockport, started again, then frogged at Macclesfield, started again and it was 3rd time lucky! Progress shots at Birmingham New Street & almost at Oxford!

Just outside Oxford

Final picture on my return trip – and I’m loving it! Not sure I’ll have as long to dedicate to it every day though!

Homeward bound

Day 12 : Wednesday 3rd August

Day 12 of my challenge didn’t see quite as much crochet as yesterday – just time for one row of the #dragonflyrivermal in the afternoon sun! ☀️

Day 13 : Thursday 4th August

Beautiful Lytham St Annes

Day 13 of my has been a beach day! I made crochet waves on the beach at Lytham St Annes in the sunshine!

Crochet on the beach

It was a super day organised by one of the mums at Youngest’s old school. There were loads of families there, lots of digging in the sand, football, games, hotdogs, amusements and summertime fun…. And a teeny tiny bit of crochet too!

Day 14 : Friday 5th August

Day 14 of my challenge was so busy I didn’t have time for any crochet sadly. But I did have time to drop this little chap off to his new home, so hopefully this counts. (Well I make the rules so l’ll say yes – but must do better tomorrow!)

The recipient was thrilled to bits with him despite the damning review from Littlest that he looked nothing like his human counterpart! So that was a job well done.

That’s all for this week’s installment of crafty shenanigans. Let’s hope the coming week is full of crafty fun too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A postcard from June & July 2022

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Sorry for the lack of postcard from June – it was a very hectic month with exams and school stuff in our house – very little of it photo worthy so I opted to tag a bit of June in with July’s postcard. So here goes…

Garden news

My front door pots

One of the joys of having a postcard from two months is that I can share the progress of my garden in that time. Last month I set about planting up two new pots to live either side of my front door – they looked a little sparse to begin with but blimey look how they’re doing now!

Also I love agapanthus, I have tried many times over the years, both in the UK and Gibraltar, to grow them but with rather lack lustre results. This year though, I was given some established plants by my parents who were thinning out their substantial agapanthus patch. Just look at these beauties – I didn’t expect them to flower after being disturbed and moved to my garden!

Football, football, football…

The calm before the chaos!

June was super busy for us with football. Our local club hosted two weekends of tournaments, youngest played in one of the home tournaments then another elsewhere the next week. The money raised from staging the tournaments, to which teams from across the North West of England come, means that they are able to keep the joining fee for young players affordable – some teams I have heard of charging literally hundreds for kids to join!

I was on bacon butty duty for some of it. I could still smell the bacon days later 😂.

From grass roots to top of the tree! Earlier this month I was lucky enough to take number 2 and number 3 sons to Old Trafford to watch the opening game of the Womens Euros – England against Austria.

Wow! What an atmosphere and their first game at Old Trafford. I’m so pleased I was able to do this and now they can say they were there at the start of the Lionesses Euros journey!

And then down to earth with a bump!

Nothing like sitting in a puddle on a deckchair on a very wet Sunday afternoon watching your 11 year old play! Utterly saturated!! We dried out eventually!

School play

Youngest’s school were able to put on their first school production in 3 years this year. Someone caught wind that I could sew so I was drafted in on the costume making. It was gorgeous fabric – rather like the type you would use for a wedding dress or bridesmaids dress which the school had been gifted. It was lovely to sew but not quite big enough for what they wanted… two cloaks with hoods. Sadly there wasn’t enough for the hoods and one sleeve was made of a patchwork of 5 different pieces but I got there in the end!

Foxy Loxy

We have a few neighbourhood foxes and they are so cheeky! Since we moved here 2 years ago I have encountered one or more on my evening strolls but blimey this one was cheeky. I was walking home one evening and stopped in my tracks when I caught sight of this cheeky money stretched out at my neighbour’s driveway! He / she sat there quite happily looking straight at me as I took photos and then vanished!

Crochet news

There have been a couple of crochet pattern releases since my last monthly postcard. Daisy (above) is my most recent floral inspired pattern and the pattern has yet again been illustrated by my very talented childhood friend Emma Jackson. She was inspired by the daisies popping up on my lawn!

You can find Daisy’s pattern here.

School days pattern

Next up was my ‘School days’ pattern which was prompted after I made a couple of crocheted school children for Youngest’s school summer fair along with a load of crocheted friendship bracelets.

I thought that maybe someone else might like to make a school child for their local school’s fundraising efforts or for a young person who’s about to begin their own school adventure soon.

You can find the School Days pattern here.

Podcast news

It’s been a busy couple of months for Making Stitches Podcast. There have been 5 episodes released in June & July. Clockwise from the top left of the photo above there was Joanne Scrace from The Crochet Project, Kitey aka The Yarn Whisperer, Sally Wilson from Caterpillar Cross Stitch, Emma Munn from Emma Knitty and finally Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum and Juey from Juey Jumbo Craft Tools.

You can listen back to any of the episodes by searching for Making Stitches on your favourite podcast app or via this link.

And that just about brings this latest postcard to a close. I hope June & July we’re kind to you and your August is going well too. The tension levels are rising in our house as the dreaded A-Level results day draws nearer…. Eek!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Take care,

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2022 : Week One

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Well folks it’s that time of year again when I challenge myself to do something crafty every day of the school summer holidays, take a photo of it and share it. It’s become a bit of an institution round here. Being a stay-at-home Mum, and especially when we stayed in Gibraltar where they have longer school summer holidays (8+ weeks some years) I clung to my craft as a little routine to get me through!

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my children, but often the things I like to do would get cast aside in favour of family stuff. But by carving out as little as 5 minutes some days meant I had a little slice of time in the day to focus on my hands and unknot my brain.

So, last weekend was the first of this summer’s break and I thought I’d pick up the summer craft challenge baton again and run with it… here goes:

Day 1 : Saturday 23rd July 2022

Why not start with a WIP I was working on in last year’s summer craft challenge? This Daisy hexie blanket was a kit from Yarn Lane. The pattern and most of the yarn is by Marriner Yarns but I’ve decided it looked too samey so am alternating the penultimate round with varying pastel shades from my own stash (predominately Stylecraft Special DK). We’ll see if my plan works in about six years’ time when I finish! 😂

Day 2 : Sunday 24th July

More hexies today, but done with bleary eyes. Do you spot the balloon? It was Youngest’s birthday very recently but as it was very hectic with end of term excitement on the big day, his party was last night – including a ‘not-very-much-sleep… over’. I managed to find a few moments before dropping off after the post party clear up for a bit of crochet!

Day 3 : Monday 25th July

Just before the end of term, youngest was invested into one of the local scout groups. I had been putting off sewing the new badges on for a couple of weeks but decided to crack on before the new school uniform began arriving with all the required name tapes and hem alterations. Not exactly ‘fun’ sewing, more untility sewing but more colourful than what lies ahead!

Day 4 : Tuesday 26th July

An odd day with appointments and shopping, but still time to begin another project! A little head for another school child to be gifted.

Day 5 : Wednesday 27th July 2022

Leg number one done after a busy day chasing round on the hunt for new school uniform!

Day 6 : Thursday 28th July 2022

And then there were two!

Day 7 : Friday 29th July 2022

And finally a body! Just needs his head, hair, tie & jumper….

I’m feeling rather pleased that I haven’t fallen at the first hurdle and have managed a complete week! Here goes for week 2…..,

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x