Sunday Sevens #186 5.5.19

May 5, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Here we are in May already. I’m not sure I’m ready for it! We’ve had a funny week this week with two bank holidays; Monday for workers’ Memorial Day and Wednesday for May Day, so our routine’s been a bit all over the place! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

Bank holiday Monday

We started the week with a walk along the beach in Marbella. We made use of our time off on Monday to head across the border into Spain.

May Day

In Gibraltar May Day bank holiday happens on May 1st. There were a couple of events running. A Union rally in the Piazza and a pop concert in Casemates Square.

Upper Rock walk

I’ve not managed a trip up the Med Steps for a while, but I did manage a little jaunt to the Upper Rock this week. It’s so lovely to climb up out of the concrete jungle to nature again!

Crochet time

I have struggled to find time and inclination to pick up my crochet hook lately – there’s been too many other things to do. These extra bank holidays this week though afforded me some precious crochet time to crack on with the Changing Tides CAL from Eleonora at Coastal Crochet.

Sports…

I found myself at the Victoria Stadium twice this week for sports events for the Little Postcards. It never ceases to amaze me that they get to play matches, have school sports days and other events at Gibraltar’s national stadium with that amazing backdrop!

Grey afternoon

Things were a bit grey when I headed round the Eastside yesterday. It was very humid though… not sure I’m ready for the hot sweaty weather yet.

And that, I’m afraid is that. Sunday Sevens done for another week. I hope it’s been a good one for you, and that we week ahead is too. As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Sunday Sevens #178 10.3.19

March 10, 2019 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Hello and greetings from Manchester! I’m over for a flying visit to celebrate my parents’ Golden Wedding Anniversary. Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens!

Sunday stroll up the Rock

Last Sunday it was a beautiful warm spring day and we opted to take a wander up the Rock with the Little Postcards. It was rather busy with tourists, but we found little pockets of solitude and enjoyed our mosey through the nature reserve and then dropped down into town via Castle Steps and were about the admire the Octopus House and the new street art paying homage to Gibraltarian artist Gustavo Bacarisas.

Monday morning walk

I was out pounding the streets again on Monday morning, I had an appointment to speak to someone who lives in Upper Town and rather than catch the bus, I walked there. It’s nice sometimes to just wander, don’t you think?

Pancake Day

I don’t know about you, but I’m a traditionalist when it comes to pancakes, lemon & sugar is the winner for me. We had all sorts going on pancakes in our house on Tuesday!

Dressmaking class

The sleeves are on my jacket, and so are the linings…. hemming time now!

Leaving on a jet plane

On Thursday I left Mr P and the Little Postcards to Head home on my own to see my parents for their Golden Wedding Anniversary. I’ve been looking forward to this trip so much, to see long time family friends and family. We had such a lovely celebration dinner on Friday evening.

Ta-dah!

Last week, I could only show you a little bit of my freesia painting in Sunday Sevens, because I was painting it to give to my Mum & Dad and didn’t want them to see it before it was given to them. Here it is, finished. I can’t claim credit for the design (I used a Pinterest image for inspiration – the artist is TwoYShop). I really wanted to do a freesia wreath as they are one of my Mum’s favourite flowers and she had them in her wedding bouquet.

Time for crochet

I have a bit of a backlog of Little Boxes of Crochet to work on, and I thought this weekend away was the perfect opportunity to begin one while I’m away from all my usual distractions! Here goes, my first attempt at Entrelac!

That’s all for Sunday Sevens this week, I hope it’s been a good one for you. As always I’m joining with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Postcard from Gibraltar Review of 2018

December 31, 2018December 31, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ 4 Comments

Well here we are at the end of another year, it’s been a year of crafty and photo challenges, and on the whole a good one for the Postcard clan. It’s only now I’ve taken a look back at what we’ve done that I realised that we’ve packed a lot in! Here are some of my highlights from 2018…

January

I started the year off with a lovely walk up the Rock, those paperwhite narcissi were photographed on New Year’s Day. After enjoying participating in a photo challenge in 2017 under the stewardship of Sandra at Wild Daffodil, I decided to have a go at running one in 2018, so #postcardfromgibfridayphoto was born on Instagram and in Blogland. I also embarked on the Seaside Stash Busting Blanket CAL in January too. Little did I know what fun it would become.

February

February saw plenty more crochet and a fair bit of watercolour painting, along with the arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth to Gibraltar. The huge Royal Naval aircraft carrier was quite a sight to behold.

March

March, very fortunately for us was a month for travel, first to attempt skiing for the very first time in the Italian Dolomites – it was amazing, and second to take the Little Postcards on an Easter trip to the South of England.

April

We began April on Easter Sunday on the Jurassic Coast in Devon, then headed to London for a few days before heading home. It was a fun trip.

May

May meant Med Steps 5 Challenge, Gibraltar’s Comic Con and some lovely spring weather.

June

June brought with it the Calentita! food festival and my very first printed article in the Calentita! magazine. We celebrated World Environment Day and I had a go at Yarnbombing the Alameda Gardens!

July

Summer holidays we the order of the day in July (along with my now traditional annual Summer Craft Challenge). We headed off to Suffolk to help celebrate a big birthday for a member of the Postcard family. We traveled by plane, old trains and kayak! Which reminds me, we went to a fabulous country fair at Worstead, I really should get a post written about that…

August

August was spent in Suffolk, Gibraltar and visiting my family in Manchester. We watched acrobats and magicians in Gib and followed the Bee trail around Manchester.

September

Back to Gibraltar in time for school starting and the end of the Gibraltar Fair. We had National Day celebrations and the MTV Presents Gibraltar Calling Music Festival.

October

At midterm in October we headed off for a short break in Portugal. We’re so lucky to be able to drive to so many lovely places from where we live. This was also the month that I finished my Sandy Bay blanket.

November

November began for us in Portugal and ended with the Christmas light switch on with the fabulous Gibraltar Literary Festival in between. It’s a truly wonderful festival which happens right on our doorstep.

December

December saw the end of the Friday photo challenge I curated as well as a rather pleasant pre Christmas trip up the Med Steps…

Thank you to everyone who has followed and read my posts this year, it’s been lovely to know that there’s someone out there actually reading them! I hope that 2018 has been a good year for you and that 2019 is too!

A stroll around Gibraltar: No. 24 Med Steps & Upper Rock at Christmas

December 27, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ 3 Comments

It’s been a few weeks since I last took a trip up the Med Steps, fancy joining me? Look, there’s even new signs!

Last week, just before the schools in Gibraltar broke up for Christmas, I made the most of some child-free time and enjoyed the tranquility of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Just the tonic needed to recharge the batteries ahead of the final push of chaos towards Christmas…

As it had been a while since my last walk, I allowed myself to take it easy, stop and take lots of photos and just enjoy the moment rather than attempting to rush up there as usual.

I did something I’ve not done before… I went into both of the Goats Hair twin caves…

I’m so glad I did! What a view, perfectly framed by the cave opening…

I just love this ‘official’ graffiti.

What a gorgeous place we have on our doorstep, here in Gibraltar.

Everything was looking rather floral too…

Narcissi galore! They even colonized this disused military lookout post…

How’s that for a green roof?

Aah, those views….

The morning light was special that day, it even made the concrete lookout post look almost romantic…

The hills in Morocco were clearly visible across the Strait.

Everything was looking so fresh and verdant, such a difference to the parched brown scrub of a few months ago.

Clematis and other climbers were scrambling over the rocky walls which line the steps.

I just had to give the lavender a gentle rub on the way past, the perfume was divine!

One brief rest stop en route to the top, but not for long as I could hear voices coming up just below me, can’t have people thinking I’m a lightweight ;-).

Almost there…

And finally, at the top!

You can see how long I took, when I was at the caves, the sun was in the East and by the time I reached the top it was to the South!

As I began my descent towards town, I fancied lingering up there a little bit longer…

So instead of heading downwards, I walked along the road which leads northwards towards the cable car top station.

Looking down on Sandy Bay, reminded me of my biggest make this year; my Sandy Bay blanket.

There were plenty of apes about, waiting to see if they could get any rich pickings from the visiting tourists.

Still not quite ready to go home, I took a detour to the Windsor Suspension Bridge.

There wasn’t a soul about, I had the place to myself.

I really enjoyed my tranquil wander up the Rock, just what I needed to escape the to-do lists, tidying and shopping! I hope you did too…

Sunday Sevens #168 23.12.18

December 23, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ 6 Comments

Christmas is so close you can almost touch it, schools broke up here on Friday, and Christmas begins properly now. Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Farewell

Some friends of ours left Gibraltar this week to move back to England. We went to a little party in Queensway Quay last Sunday to wish them well and say goodbye. It’s a shame when people leave, but that’s very much the nature of this place within the expat community, it can be transient at times especially when people are brought here by work.

Med Steps

I had a lovely trip up the Med Steps on Monday morning. I could see the way the week was panning out (ie extremely busy) so I thought I’d better make the most of the window of opportunity and the good weather and get up there while I could. It was stunning up there and as I’d not been up there for a while I thought I should pace myself and walk up slowly, I took loads of pictures and was hoping to write a blog post all about it, but as I mentioned before – it was a bit busy this week so that didn’t happen. All being well, a Med Steps Post should materialise this week.

Bunny

Bunny Postcard aka Diamond hasn’t featured in Sunday Sevens for a while, so here he is chillaxing on the rug after one of his crazy evening run arounds. He’s a lovely little chap.

Sunset

On Wednesday we had a terrific sunset, we’d had a lovely day and it was rounded off with this amazing light show. The sky was on fire.

And twinkly lights…

And after the sun had disappeared on Wednesday evening, we had a crystal clear night. It was so clear you could make out the coloured lights at the entrance and exit to Ceuta port in Morocco as well as the red twinkly lights on the top of the wind turbines on the hills above Tangier.

Crafty frustrations

I haven’t done any crochet for ages and was feeling a bit frustrated this week, so managed a quick wonky crochet star in time for the Friday photo challenge. I have a backlog of WIPs and future projects to do… I’m hoping the Christmas break will mean I can get cracking with those.

Full moon

There was another clear night last night with a huge full moon. This photo doesn’t really do it justice but the moonlight on the sea was lovely.

And that, my friends, is the last Sunday Sevens before Christmas. However you spend yours, I hope you have a very happy one with your loved ones. Until next week, goodbye for now.

As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Friday photo challenge (Week 48) Wild

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Our rather famous ‘wild’ inhabitants here in Gibraltar just had to feature in this week’s photo challenge! What are they talking about I wonder?

My favourite place here has to be the Med Steps, and they are covered with ‘wild’ flowers in Spring.

Gibraltar Candytuft

It’s not just the Rock which has ‘wild’ inhabitants, we have beautiful dolphins in our waters too…

Next week’s Postcard from Gibraltar Friday Photo Challenge is ‘sunset’.

Sunday Sevens #161 4.11.18

November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Well it’s been a lovely half term week, we escaped to Portugal for a few days, and it was fab. Here’s this week’s Portuguese Sunday Sevens (well actually it’s Sunday Eights this week):

Hello Lagos

We woke up on Sunday morning to bright blue skies in Lagos, in the eastern Algarve. It’s a lovely seaside town which we visited for the day on our Portuguese holiday in summer 2017 and fancied seeing a bit more. There are a few pictures here in Sunday Sevens but a longer post will be coming your way soon…

And relax…

We did a few things while we were away, but it was overwhelmingly a holiday for doing nothing and it was delightful. I felt so relaxed and recharged, just what the doctor ordered!

Lagos Zoo

We took the Little Postcards to Lagos Zoo and were very surprised to see this pair of pelicans waddling towards us down the footpath! Where possible, there were no railings or fences, and it was great to see the animals up close.

Bad weather

While Gibraltar was being drenched with very heavy rainstorms midweek, we had bad weather too, but thankfully not quite as much rain as Gib.

Homeward bound

Our lovely time away came to an end and we hit the highway to head home. It’s always lovely to see the Rock come into view, so we know we’re nearly there.

Med steps and blue skies

It was gloriously beautiful day yesterday, I simply had to make the most of it and head up the Med Steps. It was like spring, and there were even narcissi out in bloom..

Instead of heading straight home as I usually do, I took a detour towards the Skywalk as it was such a beautiful day. I happened across a levitating ape!

That’s it for this week’s Sunday Sevens, back to normal from tomorrow as school restarts and we get back into a routine again. As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Sunday Sevens #158 14.10.18

October 14, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ 4 Comments

Hello and welcome to this week’s Sunday Sevens. We have had some rather windy and wet weather today, although nothing compared to what many people elsewhere have suffered this week. Hurricane Leslie was on a direct collision course with Gibraltar a couple of days ago, but luckily for us (but not for Lisbonites) it took a detour and hit land near Lisbon in Portugal.

As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series. Here’s what’s been going on in my world this week….

Med Steps on a Monday

It was pretty murky on Monday morning when I took a trip up the Med Steps. There were loads of apes about again. This little family group made me smile – there seem to be quite a few babies around at the minute.

Sandy Bay blanket

My Sandy Bay blanket post last week got some truly lovely comments. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and comment on the blog, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you made my day :-).

Pretty flowers

Before my parents left last weekend, my Mum bought me some lovely roses. This one, with the dark pink edges to its petals was my absolute favourite – it’s so pretty.

Watercolour class

The Busy Lizzie’s are finished. My next project is a little landscape…

A visitor

On Thursday evening Mr Postcard got the shock of his life when, as he was sitting by the open window, a mantis flew in and landed on him! It then moved to the curtains! It’s only the second time in almost 10 years that I’ve seen one up close like this – the last one (which was rather aged and brown coloured) landed on our washing line and stayed there for a few days before it died.

This one was caught and put back outside!

On top of the Rock

It was a stunning morning on Friday when I did the Med Steps, not a cloud in the sky, just vapour trails. It was really rather hot though due to the lack of cloud cover!!

Beautiful Marbella

Yesterday we took a trip along the coast to Marbella for lunch and a wander. It was a beautiful day, we ate tapas in a chiringuito on the beach and meandered through the old town. I stumbled upon this shop…

I wish I’d seen it before my ‘purple’ photo challenge entry last week!!

Thanks for stopping by, Sunday Sevens should be back again next week… I wonder what this week will have in store for us? 🙂

Monthly meet-up October: Tree

October 9, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

This month’s meet-up theme is ‘tree’. There are so many architectural trees on the Upper Rock.

We also have some trees which shed bark…

I’m afraid I can’t tell you what type they are…but they look rather dramatic.

I’m linking with Sandra at Wild Daffodil for this monthly bloggers meet-up.

Friday photo challenge (week 40) Purple & a super-duper summer round-up!

October 5, 2018 ~ Making Stitches ~ 13 Comments

This week’s photo challenge theme is ‘purple’, I spied this autumn crocus on my Monday morning walk up the Rock. But how about some purple stalactites? You can find them in St Michael’s Cave…

I spotted this purple Bee in Manchester, you can read all about the Bees here.

I just love a hydrangea…

And a little purple plant I painted at watercolour class…

So that’s this week’s photo challenge entry done, now to take a look back at what everyone else has been up to over the summer:

As things got a bit hectic at times during the summer I didn’t manage to do a monthly round-up, so here’s a mega round-up of some of the entries to the weekly Postcard from Gibraltar Friday photo challenge (the photos are from Instagram and were taken by other people taking part in the Postcard from Gibraltar Friday photo challenge), thank you to everyone who’s taken part!

Week 27 : Golden

A golden sunrise (above) and 4th July fireworks (below)

Margaret at The Crafty Creek joined in with this one, she included a golden retriever and some stunning shots of golden roses in her entry.

Week 28 : Favourite

Animals are always popular!

…. but if you fancy an adorable tale about a precious favourite toy, hop on over to Wild Daffodil.

Margaret has a lovely selection of favourites in her entry over on The Crafty Creek.

Week 29 : Button

Aren’t these button pictures cute? Sandra at Wild Daffodil made some beautiful crocheted buttons…

Week 30 : Seaside

Seagulls always bring the seaside to mind…

As does a funfair!

Sandra at Wild Daffodil shared a fabulous pebbly picture and poem for the seaside theme this week!

Week 31 : Garden

Our beautiful Alameda Botanical Gardens featured this week as well as the garden at Kensington Palace.

A lovely walled garden in West Wales features in Sandra’s post on her Wild Daffodil blog.

Week 32 : Steps

From Kuala Lumpur to Upper Town in Gibraltar….

….to paddy fields in Bali with The Crafty Creek!

Week 33 : Reflective

Isn’t this quilt stunning?! And that sky…

Over on her Wild Daffodil blog, Sandra featured the most stunning baptismal font for her entry for ‘reflective’.

Some gorgeous reflections feature in Margaret’s Crafty Creek post.

Week 34 : Stitch

This marvelous cross-stitched wolf has his eye on you…

Margaret’s beautiful silk ribbon embroidery is just breathtaking in her Crafty Creek entry for stitch…

Sandra at Wild Daffodil has been creating things since she was a child, and judging by her Instagram account she is a prolific crocheter, here is her ‘stitch’ entry.

Week 35 : Viewpoint