Sunday Sevens

Sunday Sevens #223 24.5.20

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Hello there, is it just me or are the Sundays coming around faster than usual at the moment? It only seems like the day before yesterday I wrote my last Sunday Sevens. Quite remarkable really considering what quiet lives we are living at the moment.

Anyway, just one day late, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens on Bank Holiday Monday (it’s a rather floral one seeing as it was Chelsea Flower Show week!):

Lockdown Crochet 🧶

I’ve not shared my Pandemonium CAL progress with you for a while. Here’s where I’m up to now, I’m a bit behind (a couple of weeks behind I think) but it’s been busy behind the scenes at Postcard Towers, so Crochet has been relegated. I’m pleased to say it’s made an appearance at last. I did the yellow and black v stitch on the 3rd anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing. I thought the yellow and black bee 🐝 colours were appropriate for that day.

Rainbows 🌈

I had a couple of trips into town this week and both times I parked in Midtown carpark. As I waited for the lift I spied rainbows on the floor. The sunshine was coming at the right angle through the louvred glass windows. I love it when I see them.

A walk around the Rock

Midweek I found myself on my own for a few hours and took off on an adventure I haven’t ever done before, to walk all the way round the Rock. It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk which took about two hours. I hope to share a post about it soon when I get the chance!

Where flowers bloom, so does hope

In autumn / winter last year I saw an Instagram post by the lovely Nancy (@avocadofairy) about a maker (@thepaintedanthology) who paints nice words on slate, pots and other items. I decided to buy one myself. Little did I know when I bought it how pertinent those words would be this year for us all; “where flowers bloom, so does hope” ~ Ladybird Johnson

Agapanthus surprise

I was doing a spot of gardening in our patio this week and to my great surprise I spied a gorgeous agapanthus bloom poking out above the bougainvillea. I have had bad luck with agapanthus over the years. I tried to grow them in the UK without success. I have lost count of how many I have planted since we arrived in Gibraltar thinking that at last the climate would be on my side here.

I had forgotten about this one out back and given up hope after it put on a rather weedy show. But look at it now! What a joy and a perfect compliment to the pink bougainvillea.

Jacarandas

My word Gibraltar has some beautiful jacaranda trees in bloom at the moment. I don’t know whether it’s been a particularly good year for them or whether I’m just noticing them more but there are so many dotted about town and they look gorgeous at the moment.

Podcast latest

Marisa Alcock aka Mariwish

This week’s episode of Making Stitches features my friend Marisa talking about her childhood here in Gibraltar and her love of crochet. You can listen to it here.

That’s it for this week on Sunday Sevens, I hope you have a good week.

Sunday Sevens #222 17.5.20

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Hello there! How are you this week? It’s been an extremely busy one for me. I was bitten by the cleaning / tidying bug – it’s a very rare occurrence. I did so much cleaning one day I walked 12,000 steps and hadn’t left the apartment!!

So much domestication has meant not much time for crafts but I hope to make up for that next week now I can sit back in a clean and tidy(ish) home! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Sunday family walk

Last Sunday we had a family walk up to the bottom of the Upper Rock Nature reserve. It was a lot busier than it has been of late. There were more cars to dodge and some people were stopping to chat too. It felt jarring to see after so many weeks of isolation and social distancing.

Med Steps escape

On Tuesday I escaped on my own for the first time since lockdown (apart from to walk to the recycling bins or go to the supermarket) and climbed the Med Steps. It was beautiful and full of wildflowers. I wrote a blog post all about it – you can find it here if you missed it.

Pandemonium CAL

I’ve hardly had time or energy for crochet this week. But here’s what I have managed… done rather big bobbles on my Pandemonium blanket!

Sunshine on a rainy day

We’ve had a few extremely wet days this week (think total stair rods /monsoon). Naturally as I was on a spring cleaning mission, I washed all the windows – big mistake! They were soon splattered with raindrops. But at least it meant I caught sight of this brief beauty.

Coo-eee! I can see you!

When I climb to the top of the Upper Rock I like to take a moment to look down and spot places of interest. From certain angles you can see the roof of the building we live in, the schools the Little Postcards have been to etc. When you’re up there, it’s easy to forget that there might be someone down below looking up at you. One afternoon this week, that was me. I was in my kitchen and looked up through the window to see three people up there looking down. It looks rather precarious from below though…

Winning at the weekly shop!

Now when you get up and out early to do the weekly shop and are braced to join the end of a long queue to get into the supermarket, there’s no greater sight than this….

Eurovision night sunset

Last night as we watched Eurovision (the not really Eurovision version) and as the sun was setting on what should have been the venue of the grand final, I looked out of the window and spotted our own sunset too.

Podcast update

This week’s Making Stitches episode features a chat with Carole Rennison from Yarndale about this year’s charity appeal. Pop over to Making Stitches to hear all about it.

That’s all for this week, I hope you have a good one. Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #221 10.5.20

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Hello and how are you? I hope you are safe and well wherever you are reading this. We’ve just completed week 7 of lockdown here in Gibraltar but things are slowly relaxing in terms of restrictions and that feels good.

It’s been a week of crochet, walks and a fun podcast about quilting! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Gibraltar plumbing…

So last Sunday afternoon our walk was cut short by a phone call from a neighbour to say one of our pipes had sprung a leak. Can you see the jet of water spray shooting upwards? Well that was our salt water pipe which fills the cistern to flush our loo.

The pipe’s only a couple of years old but because it gets direct sunlight in the mornings it’s perished the plastic. Plumbers are a bit thin on the ground in Gib at the moment as many trades people who work in Gibraltar come in from Spain. I found one eventually, but it took him 4 days to source a ladder tall enough to reach the pipe.

I know we speak a lot these days about the things we once took for granted before lockdown began, but there’s nothing like constantly filling your cistern with a bucket in order to flush that makes you reckon you’ll never take a flushing toilet for granted again!!

Thank heavens it was fixed on Thursday…

Sunset

I spied this lovely sunset one evening as I walked past the open front door. It’s nice just to take a moment to appreciate them when they come along.

Hat making workshop

I’ve been missing my weekly dressmaking lessons with my sewing teacher Dorcas lately. She hasn’t been idle during lockdown though, she’s been uploading video tutorials and selling patterns online. On Tuesday I took part in one of her online classes – and made a hat! It was upcycled from an old pair of trousers and turned out rather well.

If you fancy taking one of Dorcas’ classes online just visit Dorcas Fashion Academy on YouTube.

Paint job

While clearing out the shed, I found some paint, so decided to give our gate a facelift. One day for undercoating and another for gloss. I’m pleased with my work. FYI the paint splatters were on cardboard I put down – not the floor (I’m a messy decorator).

Lily in bloom

This beautiful lily, which lives beside our front door, came into bloom this week. I love it when it comes to life like this.

5K walk

There’s an appeal underway in Gibraltar to raise money for the Covid fund for the local health service. They are asking people to walk, run or cycle 5 km and donate £5. We did our 5k on Friday, the VE Day bank holiday.

It was a super, sunny afternoon and even Littlest did very well, in spite of his legs being a lot shorter than the rest of ours!

#finishedforfriday

A few weeks ago, Black Sheep Wools issued a call to action to help us work through our WIP piles (work-in-progress) I have one or two (ish) projects on the go including this jumper which has been in my WIP pile for about 18 months.

I didn’t manage to get it finished for that Friday but I got it finished for this Friday instead! I’m really pleased with it – it’s the first item of clothing (which I’d be happy to be seen in public wearing) that I have crocheted.

It was made from a Simply Crochet Magazine pattern using Stylecraft Linen Drape in Cranberry. I love it! Shame it’s not really jumper weather in Gibraltar at the moment!

It has the nice heart detail in filet on the sleeves too

Making Stitches Podcast

Also on Friday I published the latest episode of Making Stitches Podcast. This one is about a community quilt being made in lockdown inspired by a quilt made by female prisoners of war in Changi in Singapore during WWII. You can find it on podcast apps by searching for ‘Making Stitches’ or here.

That’s Sunday Sevens done for another week, I hope you are ok and managing with whatever restrictions you have had imposed upon you. I hope the week to come is a good one for you…

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #220 3.5.20

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Hello there! I forgot all about Sunday Sevens yesterday, so here it is a day late. I hope you are ok and managing with your situation right now.

Anyway, here goes:

A Sunday stroll

Last Sunday we went out for a slightly longer than usual walk. It had been a week since our last ‘proper’ walk other than a quick trip to the recycling bins or a 5 minute trip round the block. It was filled with wildlife…

A glimpse of a gecko
Griffon vulture being chased off by seagulls
Wild flowers by the Camp Bay waterfall

And finally a beautiful Passion flower…

Bank holiday walk

On Tuesday it was a bank holiday here in Gibraltar for Worker’s Memorial Day. After the minute’s silence at midday, we went out for a short walk up to the edge of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. The wildflowers were a riot of colour. It was a real treat.

A first!

When I went to the supermarket last week there was some flour for bread. So I had a go at making some for what I think is the first time since being at school. It worked!

Back to the shops

I headed back to the supermarket on Saturday. Last week it was rather grey and miserable at this time, this week, it was glorious. There was a bit of a queue to get in, but it moved quickly. Shopping was done and I headed home triumphant for another week.

I was inspired by Monty Don and co on Gardener’s World on Friday night. I have now planted lettuce and nasturtiums but run out of compost for the sweet peas (they may need to wait until next year!). I’ll keep you posted on their progress.

A walk to the Alameda Gardens

We took a walk to the Alameda Botanic Gardens this weekend. It was beautiful. We had missed it and were thrilled to see it was still open despite lockdown.

Pandemonium CAL

I’m loving the purple dragonflies at the top!

I didn’t manage to finish this week’s rows until last night as I have been concentrating on my jumper WIP I mentioned last week, but here’s my progress so far. I decided it was time for a rainbow after seeing so many beautiful rainbow inspired Pandemonium blankets online 🌈🌈🌈.

Podcast news

And finally, this week I released a new episode of my Making Stitches Podcast, and this one was with my lovely blogging friend Eleonora from Coastal Crochet. You can listen to it by looking for ‘Making Stitches’ on your favourite podcast app or here. Enjoy!

That’s all for this week, I hope it’s a good one for you. Take care x

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads & Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #219 26.4.20

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Hello again, I hope this finds you well where ever you are in the world. Sunday has come around again… it’s been a week of baking, crocheting and a new podcast has gone out into the world!

Baking part 1

Eldest made some truly scrumptious dark chocolate cookies last Sunday – they were perfection with gooey centres. Yum!

A long standing WiP

I was inspired by Black Sheep Wools this week to dig out a long-standing WIP (work in progress) and get it worked on. Well now’s as good a time as any. The challenge was to get it ‘finished by Friday’. I’m not sure which Friday, but I’m on my way.

The front of the jumper was wrong and unsalvageable it had to be frogged. I’m now almost back to where I started!

Baking part 2

We had a lockdown birthday this week. A Little Postcard turned one year older. The cake was rather nice, even though I say so myself.

A postcard of thanks

This week, households across Gibraltar received these lovely postcards to send to people we want to thank for helping during the pandemic. It’s free postage. What a lovely gesture.

A rare sight

So, I was brave and headed out to Morrisons for the first time since before lockdown yesterday. We’d managed so far with food deliveries from friends and neighbours while I was unwell and we were in isolation, and after that managed by just visiting smaller shops in town.

The thought of queuing for up to 2 hours just to get in just filled me with dread… but I decided enough was enough and I should go. And there was no queue!! What joy!

Even the wet weather couldn’t dampen my mood – hurrah! A fully stocked fridge again!

A short coastal walk

Yesterday I popped out on my own for a short walk down to Camp Bay. We hadn’t been for a couple of weeks and the Little Postcards were not interested so I had a slightly damp solo trip to the seaside for about 10 mins. It was short, but a treat nonetheless.

A new podcast is born!

If you follow Postcard from Gibraltar on Instagram, you may already know that on Friday the first episode of ‘Making Stitches’ podcast went live. It featured a chat with the two lovely ladies from the Crochet Sanctuary (Lynda & Lisa above). It was a fun chat about the Crochet Sanctuary and their current Pandemonium CAL.

If you haven’t heard it yet, you can find it on my other website makingstitchespodcast.com as well as on lots of podcast Apps including Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts. I’d love it if you gave it a listen. 😊

Talking of the Crochet Sanctuary ladies and their Pandemonium CAL, here’s my latest progress. Really not sure at all about my colour choices – there are some stunning ones on show on Instagram and Facebook. Oh well, time will tell!

And that, I’m afraid, brings this week’s Sunday Sevens to an end. It’s been a busy old week inspite of everything. I hope it’s been a good one for you, and you are coping ok with lockdown.

Take care, and until next time, bye for now x

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #218 19.4.20

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Hello!!! I hope this finds you safe and well. We’re doing fine now I’m pleased to report. Can it really be a week since Easter Sunday? I can hardly believe it. Although we have long days at home, the weeks seem to fly by. Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

Easter egg hunt

Last weekend we didn’t let the lockdown stop the Easter fun. We had an Easter egg hunt in the apartment. Eggs were secreted around the apartment, balcony and patio. It was good fun.

Spring migration

On Monday evening as we were eating our dinner I spied swirling black birthday streaming past our windows. I dashed out to get a proper look at them. I think they were black kites again.

Sunset

We haven’t had a sunset for a week or two in Sunday Sevens I don’t think, so here is Tuesday’s lovely sunset. We had some rather gloomy days this week, with grey skies and rain, so this burst of colour at the end of the day was very welcome.

Spooky storm

At 1:30 on Thursday morning as I was turning in for the night (I had been lost in a world of Netflix and crochet) I noticed the sky was flashing. I investigated by going out onto the balcony to see the most incredible silent and dry lightning storm. This photo was taken at 1:30am – it would normally be pitch black apart from the lights from the ships and across the Bay in Algeciras.

After watching it for a while I went to bed and couldn’t sleep for the noise of the rain which suddenly began hammering down on our roof. It was incredible – and still the lightning continued for a long while. It was very spooky to see the lights but no rumbling thunder.

Uno on lockdown

The inclusion of this photo is because I was asked to put it in. One of the Little Postcards’ attempt at a rainbow using Uno cards! 🌈 Incidentally out of 8 games, I lost every one!!

Evening walk

We have been good and taking our walks when it looks quiet out and about. One evening it was just before the 8 o’clock clap for key workers, and we had to hurry home to make sure that we were home in time!

On another walk we spied this lovely rainbow banner…

Pandemonium CAL

My Pandemonium blanket is growing by the week. I’m enjoying this so much as the pattern gets released twice a week 7 rows at a time. If you fancy joining in, you can find the pattern on the ‘All things Crochet Sanctuary’ Facebook page.

And that brings Sunday Sevens to an end for another week… almost. This week I launched a trailer for my brand new Podcast ‘Making Stitches Podcast’ you can find it on Spotify & Buzzsprout for now, hopefully it will appear on other podcast apps very soon. If you want to listen, you can also find it on my new website makingstitchespodcast.com

My thanks to Neil Warburton who has designed my fantastic new logo for the podcast – I think it’s lovely!

My first ‘proper’ episode will be coming out this week all being well. Thank you so much for stopping by. Stay safe and until next week, bye for now.

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #217 14.4.20

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Hello and welcome to another Sunday Sevens in lockdown… I’m rolling with the theory that all the days are merging into one another, so here’s Sunday Sevens on a Tuesday!

All clear

On Tuesday I had a call from the Gibraltar Health Authority to say that I am now officially no longer infectious. With the Dr’s blessing we went out for a walk – a short one. It was lovely to get out into the fresh air again after 3 weeks without leaving the apartment (I have spent time on the balcony though). Although it really tired me out.

There were just a handful of people down at Camp Bay below us enjoying a walk in the afternoon sun including a pint sized Superman in a red cape! Can you spot the sea swimmer too?

Rainbow of Hope

Buoyed up with the good news that we were Covid free, I thought I’d have another go at crocheting a rainbow. I followed advice to do a circle and fold it in half- it worked! It’s now up in our lounge window.

Pandemonium CAL part 2

I’m slightly worried that this blanket is going to end up looking like an explosion in a yarn factory but I’m trying to use one row of each ball of yarn I have in my stash. It’s going to be a rather eclectic colour scheme!

Foray into filming

Last week a lady I follow on Instagram put on a lesson about how to make a stop motion animation film. The lady in question is Eleanor Dobbs. She is a fabulous illustrator and is currently working on illustrating some Peter Rabbit books. Her paintings are adorable.

Anyway, I’m currently working on a project called ‘Making Stitches’ and I thought I’d have a go making a film. I hope you can see it ok – it’s my first time embedding a film in a blog post, so here goes…

Recycling at dusk

Our second trip out of the apartment came on Thursday for a rather pretty walk to the recycling bins – such glamour!

Good Friday walk

By Friday I was feeling a good bit stronger, so attempted a walk down to the seaside from our apartment. It was less than 10 minutes downhil to Camp Bay, it took a lot longer huffing and puffing back up the hill! A long sit down was required afterwards and a cool drink. This photo was taken from the pier you can see in the first photo above.

Easter egg hunt

Even though we are living through extraordinary times we thought we should still have an Easter egg hunt. Eldest took charge of hiding the eggs while I was on distraction duty. 25 tiny eggs and 5 chocolate farm animals were secreted on the balcony, around the apartment and on the patio. It was great fun and amazingly there was no falling out. It was a huge success.

I hope you are doing ok wherever you are reading this and that you have had a good Easter weekend

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Until next time, stay safe & well. X

Sunday Sevens #216 5.4.20

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Hello, I hope this finds you safe and well. It’s been another funny week. I feel like I’ve not really done anything and was surprised I managed to find seven photos from the last seven days to share with you. Here goes…

Swab time

Last Sunday morning I was phoned and asked to come to the drive through testing for Covid-19. I had phoned the helpline on Saturday – 10 days after calling the first time to report symptoms and after being told to self-isolate which we had done. It was a bit of a highlight being able to leave the apartment albeit for about 25 minutes in total.

It wore me out though. I needed to go back to bed afterwards to have a sleep! I haven’t had my usual energy at all.

Sunset

The compulsory sunset photo

No Sunday Sevens is complete without a sunset photo don’t you think? This was last Sunday’s view from the balcony.

Whoops, looks like I started another blanket…

So, last week I spotted that a new CAL or crochet-along had begun to be completed while we are all under lockdown. It’s been put together by the lovely people behind the Crochet Sanctuary and is called ‘Pandemonium’. If you would like to join in, you can find the pattern (which is released twice weekly) on the ‘All things Crochet Sanctuary’ Facebook group.

Don’t look too closely though… I did it a bit wrong and had to unravel slightly. 😉

Rainbows of hope

I thought I would jump on the rainbow bandwagon this week (this lockdown has helped me rediscover my crojo – had you noticed?). I saw loads of lovely patterns online for crocheted rainbows but thought I’d have a go at doing my own. After two failed attempts at an ‘arc’ which were wonky (and yes, I know I could just do a circle and fold it in half) I gave up and did a little flag instead.

Home learning

We have been very fortunate in that the Little Postcards have all had online lessons this week. The teachers here in Gibraltar have done a great job keeping their pupils engaged through online teaching. However before the lessons kicked in, Littlest had a go at growing carrot tops. They are coming on rather well. They will be given to Diamond, our house rabbit, for a treat once they’re a bit bigger.

Pandemonium Part 2

The second part of the Pandemonium CAL was released mid week – what a treat to look forward to! I’m really enjoying it.

It’s finished – at last!

My Catalan Bay blanket

In case you missed my post yesterday about it, I finished my Catalan Bay blanket this week. It’s only taken a year 🙈. I had to wait until Friday for the sun to come out to take a photo!

So, there you have it, another week on lockdown. As for the test results, they came back positive for Covid-19. I suspected as much, but I felt a lot better knowing for sure. It’s not been nice, but I am feeling extremely lucky to have had a relatively mild dose in the scheme of things. I am thankfully now on the mend, although I don’t think I’ll be fit for climbing the Med Steps again for a while even if it was allowed!

For now we remain in self-isolation but hope to be able to get out of the apartment sometime next week for a government sanctioned walk once we know the household is completely clear of symptoms. It’s strange how the things we took for granted just a few weeks ago now seem so precious.

We have some very good friends and neighbours who have delivered shopping and medicine to our door. Thank you so much for that – we’re very grateful.

Gibraltar has risen to the coronavirus challenge. Whilst we haven’t been able to witness the empty streets other than on our car journey to the drive-through test facility, I have watched the daily governmental briefings and seen news reports about the new Nightingale hospital facility at the Europa Point sports complex, heard about the volunteers who have come forward to help in many ways and joined in the clapping and appreciation for all our key workers at 8pm each night.

Thank you to all of you who have contributed to the effort, your work is very much appreciated.

Until next week, stay safe & stay at home x

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #215 29.3.20

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Hello there, I’m back. It’s seems like such strange times we are living through that they really should be documented. Here’s a bit of a Sunday Sevens-esque jaunt through the last few weeks Chez Postcard. It’s been a strange one I’ll give you that…

Homeward bound

Two weeks ago I flew back into Gib after a few days with family & friends in Manchester. I knew it would probably be the last time I would see them in person for quite a while and felt incredibly lucky to have had this time before everything went a bit odd.

Musical interlude

The beautiful Hallé St Peter’s venue for the concert

One of the reasons I went back to the UK was to support a friend of mine who’s son was launching his first album along with his vocal group. I think that if the launch date had been set for a few days later, it would have been cancelled because of the Coronavirus situation. As it was, the launch was sparsely populated with the older generation. Those of us in our 40s were probably the eldest there. A live stream was laid on so older relatives and ticket holders could still get to see the performance from the safety of their homes.

The group is called The Apex Singers and they are wonderful. Their music is sung acapella and their new album is called Hiraeth. It’s a collection of ancient folk songs from around the world with music from Japan, Scandinavia and closer to home too. If you want to listen to something totally relaxing which will whisk you away from anything that’s going on at the moment be sure to give it a listen.

You can see them perform on YouTube – just search Apex Singers and their website is theapexsingers.com I can highly recommend their music. Their album was ‘album of the week’ on Scala Radio the week after their launch and their musical director was interviewed on air by Simon Mayo. Hopefully they are destined for big things.

Spring migration

After my return from England we had a bit of lovely weather and as I gazed up into the bright blue sky I spotted dozens and dozens of black kites above my head. They came in waves and in huge numbers using the thermals to get across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco and further south heading north to spend the summer in Europe. Such a lovely sight and a reminder that life goes on regardless of what’s going on for you.

Sewing lesson

As things began to get affected by the Coronavirus situation, our lovely sewing teacher found herself in lockdown in Spain. That didn’t stop our lessons though, we did them remotely, each in our own homes and speaking via the World Wide Web!

My current project- a checked waistcoat

Empty streets

This was my last walk down Main Street it was early last week (over 10 days ago). It felt surreal walking along a street which is normally bustling with shoppers and tourists.

Little did I know that within a day I would begin to feel a bit unwell.

I don’t know for sure whether I have Covid-19 as I haven’t been tested yet. That’s been saved for the most vulnerable in society – quite rightly. As a consequence we have been in self- isolation ever since. (Thankfully the rest of the Postcard family have been unaffected. I’m relieved to say none of my friends and family in Manchester have shown any signs of infection either since I left them 2 weeks ago).

The Little Postcards fortunately have been able to continue with school work thanks to tablets & laptops and that’s been a real boon. The wonders of online video games also means that during down time they have been able to play with their friends online and still have a bit of community.

It’s at times like this that our own online community seems more important than ever.

Guilt free TV

While resting up (I’ve had symptoms of flu which whilst being rather unpleasant is nothing like what many people have experienced so I’m not complaining) I have had the perfect opportunity to watch lots of telly.

This show was about life in Robin Hood’s Bay on the East coast of Yorkshire. Such a lovely programme, such a lovely place and a very clever friend of mine helped make the show – well done Becky!

Crochet therapy

With all this time on my hands I have had the perfect excuse to catch up with my long suffering Catalan Bay blanket – it’s a Changing Tides blanket as designed by Eleonora from Coastal Crochet with a few bits added by me. Now I’m on to the border… the end is in sight.

I’m looking forward to writing a post all about it in the coming weeks.

Cheery blooms

Just before the lurgy hit I managed to buy myself a pot of hyacinth bulbs. Just look at them now – I’m loving the bright pink colour!

And that brings Sunday Sevens to a close for now. Goodness what strange times we live in.

Wherever you are, I hope you are safe & healthy. Lots of love from Gibraltar xxx

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #215 5.1.20

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Hello and happy New Year! I hope you had a good celebration. Are you still sticking to your resolutions or have you decided not to bother? I’m trying to get a bit fitter and have a few plans up my sleeve for projects this year… watch this space!

In fact, I’ve even been for a run this morning so I’m feeling rather virtuous!

Here’s the first Sunday Sevens of 2020:

Leaving on a jet plane…

On Sunday we waved goodbye to Mr Postcard and Gibraltar and hopped on a plane to visit my family in Manchester. It was a nice smooth flight filled almost entirely with the task of attempting to untangle the humungous knot I’d managed to get tangled in my Scheepjes Whirl. It took until New Year’s Eve to get sorted and required help from my brother and my Dad!!

A late afternoon stroll

On Monday afternoon we took a trip to one of my favourite places, Dunham Massey National Trust Park. I was rather stunned by the early dusk compared to Gibraltar – this is my first midwinter visit to Manchester in about 9 years!! The sunset did make for a lovely backdrop for the deer though!

New Year’s Day – starting as I mean to go on…

I impressed myself for getting out for a run on New Year’s Day – not my usual view of the Bay of Gibraltar but it’ll do just the same!

A wander around Manchester

Later on on New Year’s Day I jumped on the train into town and had a wander around in the cold! I even bumped into Miss Pankhurst which was a thrill!

Hitting those New Year goals!

I have so many unfinished craft projects on the go that I’m determined to get some finished this year. First one completed was this leaf pattern scarf from My Picot. I’m ashamed to say it’s been on the go for about 18 months and been calling me from the sidelines for ages. Well it’s done, and I love it!

Homeward bound

We flew back home to Gibraltar on Friday after a lovely, if brief, trip to Manchester. It was a fabulous few days and so nice to be able to catch up with friends and family. It was a stress free flight home, and I even got time to start work on my second WIP (work in progress) of 2020 en route!

After much squinting at Google Maps, me & Eldest think it’s the Devon coastline you can see in the photo above and Dartmouth in particular.

Home!

It was a corker of a day yesterday. Just look at that late afternoon sun reflecting off the water. Just the weather for getting my washing dried (oh the glamour!).

And that is Sunday Sevens done for another week. I hope it’s been a kind one to you. Back to school normality begins at some point next week for us, which is good in some ways and less so in others. Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Sevens was first created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.