watercolour classes

Sunday Sevens #69 5.2.17

~ Making Stitches ~ 15 Comments


Hello there, believe it or not, this is the 200th Postcard from Gibraltar blog post! When I started this little blog back in the summer of 2015, little did I know it would still be going strong 18 months later or that I would start podcasting!

Thank you so much to you all for your likes, kind comments, and all round marvelousness. The virtual support I have received over the past 199 posts has been very much appreciated.

The past seven days have brought us another mixed bag of weather here in Gibraltar with strong winds and rain interspersed with some lovely sunshine. I hope you’ve had a good week. Here’s this week’s edition of Sunday Sevens.
Polluted sunset


We had a lovely sunset again on Sunday evening. Sadly though we couldn’t go outside to fully enjoy it. The toxic smell of chemicals from the Cepsa plant across the border in Campamento was so strong that it caught the back of my throat. Plumes of black smoke were seen billowing out from the chimneys at the oil refinery and blew right across the Bay.

Clearly in contravention of EU rules on pollution, the plant’s immediate neighbours must have been choked with the smell. So dangerous and so frightening. It’s no wonder that the number of people in this part of the world suffering from asthma is higher than the average.

Starting as I mean to go on…


This year’s Med Steps 5 challenge is just 3 1/2 months away so no time like the present to get fit so I can achieve 5 times round again this time! Monday morning was utterly glorious, so I left the unmade beds, laundry and breakfast dishes to go for a walk. The jobs were still there for me when I got home but I felt a whole lot better for it.

Gib & Rocksy

Do you remember Gib from Sunday Sevens #67 22.01.16? Well I thought he looked a bit lonely, so he’s got a new friend. This is Rocksy. They are the mascots for a new crochet group here in Gibraltar; the Gibraltar Crochet Collective. We have a Facebook page which tells you where we are going to meet each week if you fancy joining us.

Dressmaking class 

The pattern is drawn for my princess line dress in my dressmaking class, it’s time to get cutting…

More Med Steps


This photo was taken from the sitting position! Phew after doing the steps on Monday, my legs were a bit stiff when it came to Wednesday’s attempt…

Watercolour class

At this week’s watercolour class, I went back to the primulas I was working on last week and finished them off. They now have a terracotta pot to sit in and their leaves are finished. I’m pleased that I managed it without making a mess. I had to be talked into going back to this by my teacher  Deborah M Lawson but I’m glad I did.
And finally…


Do you think someone had a bit of fun at work one day??!

I have walked down this path quite a few times… this week I walked up it for a change and spotted this!! Is the stick man walking like an Egyptian or just doing the funky chicken do you think?

Thanks for stopping by! Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog.

Sunday Sevens #60 4.12.16

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Hello there. Just the one blog post this week I’m afraid. Last week was such a busy one for me with four blog posts, one of which included my My first ever Podcast! So this week I took it easy and had a little break. The feedback I have received following the podcast was just amazing. Thank you to everyone who contacted me to say you had listened to my first attempt, I really appreciate you taking the time.

I have been using my time this week very wisely, doing research and planning for the New Year and what it might hold for Postcard from Gibraltar. I have to say I’m really excited about it and look forward to sharing it all with you next year.

Back to this week, and here’s episode 60 of Sunday Sevens…

Sunshine after the rain


We’ve had rather a lot of rain lately. Although we have had a couple of dry days this week, the weather has been rather dominated with leaden grey skies and the wet stuff. On Sunday evening, after a very damp day we were lucky enough to glimpse this little slice of sunshine just before it disappeared behind the hills across the Bay.

Christmas lights

In the middle of November, Gibraltar’s main Christmas lights were switched on, however, they aren’t the only Christmas lights we have here. On Monday evening, it was the turn of the Ocean Village marina to have a big switch on. Beforehand there were performances from a school choir and some Disney princesses amongst other things.

Went along for a little while to soak up the festive atmosphere. Homework prevented us staying for too long and we missed the big moment. On our way back to the car, these rather pretty lights caught my eye. They look rather nice below Moorish Castle.

 

Best seam ever!!

I am so proud of this little seam. It’s at the back of the princess-line top I’m making in my dressmaking class. The invisible zip is now half inserted in below it, so it’s moved on a bit since this photo (although not without a great deal of tacking, unpicking and resewing). I have come to the conclusion that I really don’t like putting zips in. They are tricky little blighters, so I am basking in the success of the seam for now and trying not to think about what lies ahead…

Bunny update 

You may remember two weeks ago I wrote a post about our new lodger The adventures of Blizzard the bunny. Well, I thought you might like an update on her situation. She is now no longer known as Blizzard, that name seemed a little bit too masculine, so she now goes by the wintery moniker of Snowflake. 

She seems to be getting on well with our resident Postcard Bunny. Their cages have been moving closer together and Snowflakes habit of thumping the ground is happening less and less. And man can she eat? She’s an eating machine. The pair of them can get through a big bag of Kale in a day. That’s on top of the carrots, hay and straw…

She really has become like part of the family very quickly. Next week, she will return to the vets for a second scan to check for any babies and for her jabs. After that, we will be able to put them both together in neutral territory and see how they get on. Wish us luck!

Watercolour class 

After the completion of my beach huts painting, which has been going on for months it seems, my watercolour teacher suggested going back to florals for a change. In the first year or so of our lessons, flowers featured very heavily in our subject matter and I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed painting them. I’d never attempting painting a Christmas cactus before. The lesson flew by and although what I produced isn’t my best work, I really enjoyed it.

Podcast excitement 

One of the main reasons why I decided to have a go at podcasting was after listening to several really inspiring podcasts myself. One of them is the Blogtacular Podcast with Kat Molesworth. In each episode, she speaks to well established bloggers and creative people about their lives, and why they do what they do (sorry Kat, I’m not explaining this very well!). 

In the middle of each podcast, Kat answers a question from one of her podcast listeners and guess what? This week she answered mine! I nearly choked on my Friday evening glass of vino when I heard it. What a way to start the weekend… You can listen to it here: Blogtacular Podcast Episode 017.

Christmas came early

Mr Postcard has been away on a business trip for part of this week and came back home with an early Christmas present for me. I have wanted a yarn bowl for ages and ages and he brought me this beauty back from Our Handmade Collective in Leeds. It’s gorgeous, don’t you think? It was made by Thrown in Stone. It’s been put to good use already as I’ve been experimenting with some cotton trying to make some lacy squares.

That’s all for Sunday Sevens this week. Thank you so much for stopping by, and until next time, I hope you have a great week.

Sunday Sevens was created by Natalie at Thread and Bobbins blog. It’s a weekly blog series which gives bloggers the opportunity to feature seven photos from the past seven days. If you would like to join in, pop over to Natalie’s blog to find out more.

Sunday Sevens #58 20.11.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 4 Comments

Hello, and welcome to my latest edition of Sunday Sevens. I hope you have had a good week. I’m slightly later posting this today as I have been to a football match already this morning! More on that in the next edition.

Without further ado, here’s this week’s offering:

Remembrance Sunday

It doesn’t matter where I am, but every Remembrance Sunday at 11am I am transported back to being a Girl Guide and standing to attention with my friends at our local parish church during the 2 minutes silence. I have no direct relatives (that I know of) who fought in the either of the World Wars or since, both my grandfathers were involved in war duties at home. It is such an important time to be still and remember the sacrifice made by so many people for our benefit. In the light of recent events and the precarious nature of world politics, it seems even more important to remember what’s gone on in our not too distant past and hopefully not make the same mistakes again.

Super Moon

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram will have already seen this photo, but I had to include it. On Monday night, Mr Postcard rushed out after dark with the Eldest to see if they could spot the super moon, they did and on their return urged me to go out and see it too. A short drive from our home and I was at Europa Point. I can honestly say I have never visited this part of Gibraltar after dark and it was weird to be adjacent to a play park we regularly visit but at night time and without children! It was so busy there – I presume it was because other folk wanted a good view of the super moon too.

So here is my attempt at capturing it, it was quite difficult. I’m a bumbling amateur when it comes to using a camera and I’m sure people who know what they’re doing would have been able to manage a much more sophisticated version! I’m rather pleased with it though…

Dressmaking class


Apologies for the uninspiring photo but it’s just to illustrate that at last my lining & outer section of my princess-line top have been joined. It’s been a long slow process but at last I feel like I’m getting somewhere 🙂

Watercolour class

Progress is also being made at watercolour class. Slowly, slowly my beach huts are edging nearer completion. I’d been having difficulty deciding how much detail to include in the middle of the picture, so my teacher told me to turn the original photo upside down to get a better perspective – it really works!

Glum Friday


I didn’t have the best day on Friday, I seemed to be in a bad mood when I woke up and despite a lovely impromptu coffee with friends, the blue mood persisted. Can’t explain it, I just wasn’t happy. The mood of the day wasn’t helped by the post office losing a parcel I’ve been waiting for with great excitement for 2 weeks or the fact it took us over 50 minutes to queue our way out of the new multi-storey car park on Friday night….

Festival of Light


The reason for us all being in town in the car on Friday night was to see the Gibraltar Christmas lights switched on in the Festival of Light. The Countdown to Christmas has officially started – eek!

Pokémon cards


Do you have Pokémon cards in your house? I do. They have become a bit of an obsession of late for Middle and Littlest Postcards. They had been promised that good behaviour would result a trip into town on Saturday to buy a few more packets.

Such was the level of excitement, they couldn’t wait to get home before ripping them open, so on the steps to the Parliament building they were opened and admired! Pikachu and Chespin are favourites in the Postcard family and both turned up in this haul so for them it was a very successful trip!
Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins. If you are a blogger and would like to join in, pop over to Natalie’s blog to find out more.

Thank you for joining me this week, I hope you have a good week ahead. Until next time, goodbye for now!

 

Sunday Sevens #57 13.11.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

Hello again, wow, it’s been quite a week with everything that’s been going on on the global political scene. I can’t help but feel uneasy about what the future may hold for us all, but I’m staying away from politics and looking at the smaller, positives that have happened this week for us. Here goes….

Med Steps in the November Sunshine

View across the Strait of Gibraltar from the start of the Med Steps
On Sunday afternoon after we had returned from our mid-term break up the coast, and after I had finished unpacking and got the first load in the washing machine, I headed off on my own for a lovely walk up the Med Steps. It was such a stunningly beautiful November day and it was a crime to stay indoors. The younger Postcards were more content to stay at home and reacquaint themselves with all their stuff after a week away so I made the most of the peace and quiet.

It was the first time I’d attempted the Med Steps for ages and it took me a while longer than on previous occasions because I kept stopping to look at everything. Unlike back in the spring, when everything looked so luscious and green, a lot of the vegetation was crisp and brown after the long, hot Mediterranean summer days but here and there there were little shoots of fresh green sprouting through and even some dwarf narcissi.

As I reached the midway point, I was greeted with this stunning view back towards the north.

 

Crochet-on-the-go

Monday meant one of the Little Postcards returned to school but the two other had an in-service day. The lovely sunny weather continued on from Sunday and after the joys of ironing and putting away of clean laundry, we headed down to Europa Point for a bit of fresh air. After a scoot around the park, they found a new friend to play football with. While they were happy having a kick around on what could be the most southerly football court in Europe, I enjoyed a spot of crochet in the sunshine. (I can’t call it a pitch because it’s made of concrete and surrounded by chain link fencing…. so surely it’s a court?)

Dressmaking class

Tuesday morning and all three of the Little Postcards were in school for the first time in two weeks (thanks to  a virus and then mid-term) and I headed back to my dressmaking class. At last, after weeks of planning, pattern cutting, fabric cutting, pinning and tacking, I got the sewing machine out! I completed the princess-line seams on the lining and then promptly ironed the bust seam flat and reduced it from a 3D piece of fabric to a 2D one…. whoops.

The morning after the night before.

So, on Wednesday morning, we awoke to the news the America had nearly elected a new President. By the time we were on the school run, the result was pretty much sealed. In tumultuous times, I find it’s sometimes good to just stop and take a deep breath and realise that life goes on. The world kept turning and the boats were still out in the Bay.

Watercolour class

It’s been three weeks since my last watercolour class and I’ve missed it a lot. Us students often joke that our teacher should charge us more for the therapy we get from her classes. Work continued on my interpretation of the beach huts in Southwold. Slowly but surely I’m getting there…

Blue skies

We really have been blessed with the weather this week. You can’t help but feel positive when the sky is as blue as this can you?

Stunning sunsets


The lovely clear weather has resulted in some lovely sunsets for us too. This one was last night. Although the sun’s been shining away, you can’t help but notice it’s November as there’s a distinct chill in the air once you are out of the sunshine. 

We often joke that you can very rarely sit out on our balcony because it’s either too hot or too cold. In the summer time it’s like sitting on a spit roast when the sun’s shining on the front of the building, in autumn and winter, once the sun drops it’s suddenly really chilly. I know, I know, I’ve turned into a softy… you wouldn’t think I’d been brought up and spent the first 30-odd years of my life in the north of England would you?

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog. Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you have a good week ahead.

Sunday Sevens #52 9.10.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

 

Despite the fact we are well into October now, it’s been very warm again here in Gibraltar. As I sit at the dining table writing this, I have steam coming out of my collar!!

This week has been a rather busy one for me, there’s been nothing in particular, just lots of different stuff going on, so there was no midweek post from me this week. I hope you’ve had a good week, whatever you’ve been up to. Without further ado, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Across the Strait

This photo kind of sums up the weather we’ve been having for about half of this last week. I took the photo on Sunday afternoon when we took the Little Postcards to Europa Point park to let off a bit of steam on their scooters. You know when they are bouncing off the walls that you need to get out and exercise them like dogs!! The sky was crystal clear overhead but in the distance across at Morrocco there was a hazy mist which looked like someone had taken an eraser to the bit where the mountains touch the sea!

So for most of this week, in the afternoons  it has been clear, bright and hot (especially when standing outside the school gates waiting for the bell to go!) but the mornings have been misty and town was sitting under a heavy Levanter cloud with gusty winds whipping up the dust.

Dressmaking class


Sewing continued on the sample top I’m working on in my dressmaking class. The photo doesn’t show it to advantage as the back is still unfinished and open. Part of the exercise for this sample is to make up the front, then remodel the arm holes and neckline. This is before the remodelling takes place.

In addition to working on my sample top, I have also been making a skirt for my Mum who has been over visiting at the moment. A straight skirt with a small slit at the back and in a colour to compliment her new winter coat is underway. After several fittings and alterations, I am now about to machine stitch the side seams and hand sew the hem. Hopefully it will be ready for her when she returns before Christmas.

Watercolour class

After two weeks of pencil sketches, I finally got around to mixing some paint colours and worked my current project at my watercolour class this week. I just love the brightly coloured beach huts at Southwold, and wanted to work on a painting to reflect that. I’m working from a photograph taken by Mr Postcard of a stretch of predominantly blue and white ones, but have used a little artistic licence and injected more colour based on photos I took on our visit in the summer. I’m really enjoying painting this one. 🙂

Sea mist


We had everything crossed on Friday evening. After dropping my parents off at the airport to fly home, we returned to find our home had been engulfed by a real pea-souper of a sea mist. Just as their plane was due to land it got thicker and thicker.

Miraculously the plane landed. The two photos above were taken 30 minutes apart. The first one is of a tree about 100 metres from our apartment – there was no point taking one of the sea, it would have just been grey!

I’m very pleased to say that Mum and Dad made it back home safely and we look forward to seeing them again just before Christmas.

Autumn leaves


It’s October, and of course that means autumn. I do love autumn in the UK in a kind of bitter sweet way. It’s such a beautiful season with the colours of the leaves on woodland walks but it also spells the end of summer and all the fun which that season promises. Back when we lived in England, I kind of dreaded winter with the grey damp urgh kind of weather it could spell for weeks between the odd beautiful crispy frosty day.

One benefit of living here in Gibraltar is that although we do have seasons, they aren’t quite as noticeable as in England. Summer is undboubtedly hot and sunny and winter is often damp and grey but not quite as cold and depressing as I remember English winter days to be. That does mean though that spring and autumn aren’t quite as obvious as what’s experienced in the UK.

I remember feeling a bit homesick that first autumn after we moved to Gibraltar and I just couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was. Suddenly it hit me, the vast majority of the trees here on the Rock are evergreen and that meant there are very few leaves to crunch through and collect with little people. Autumn always used to mean Sunday afternoons spent at one of our nearest National Trust sites or parks collecting sticks, conkers and brown, red and golden leaves of all shapes and sizes to bring home. That just isn’t an option here.

In recent years though, a few new trees have been planted here and some of the ones in Commonwealth Park (which was built a couple of years ago) are deciduous. It was so nice to sit under the browning leaves on a bench for a while yesterday as the Little Postcards played football. We were all in T-shirts and shorts so it’s not really like autumn, but it was nice to pretend.

A new crochet project


After finishing my sixty million trebles blanket last week, I was free to crack open some of the lovely new yarn I bought at Yarndale a fortnight ago with a clear conscience. The gorgeous mohair and bamboo Louisa Harding Yarn I bought from Esgair Fibres had been calling me from my stash and really needed to be worked on as soon as possible! I’m using it to make a shawl/scarf for when the weather here turns a little bit fresher. It’s so lovely to use, the constantly changing colours which change even within just one treble stitch are gorgeous and it feels so nice between my fingers as I hook up another row.

 
PS : just one more thing…

A couple of people asked to see the finished picture that I posted two weeks ago from my watercolour class, here it is, mounted and ready to go to its new home in England.

 

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

(Natalie, if you’re reading this I hope you’re ok! You’ve been very quiet lately.)

Sunday Sevens #51 2.10.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 4 Comments

Let the sewing begin!

Three weeks into our dressmaking course and we have finished with the pattern drawing and cutting and we are now in the process of constructing a sample top. Because it’s a sample, we are just using curtain lining material to make it, hence the rather boring photo. I’m eager to get this finished and move onto the next ‘real’ project.

Bunny bombshell

Bunny Postcard had a trip to the vets this week. We had been meaning to take him for months so that he could have some vaccinations to allow him to play out in our back patio. Now the weather is beginning to cool a little bit, we thought he might like to have a hop about outside. The first thing the vet said when she saw Bunny was ‘Oh what a lovely girl’. I thought nothing of it, thinking clearly she’s made a mistake…

Once the full medical was done, including checking his heart, ears, eyes and teeth, the vet cottoned onto the fact that we had never actually officially been told Bunny’s gender. Well the big news this week is that Bunny is officially a girl! It’s taken a bit of time for that news to sink in in certain quarters, but I’m thrilled to know that at last I am no longer the only female in the Postcard household!

Suspension 

When I flew back from Yarndale last weekend, not only did I bring with me a suitcase full of yarn and wonderful memories, I also brought my Mum and Dad with me too. They hadn’t been to see the Windsor suspension bridge yet so one afternoon this week, while the Little Postcards were still at school, we took a walk up the Rock and along the bridge. I have to say, since my last visit, a discernible creak has developed as you walk from one side of the gorge to the other which did put me slightly on edge. The view is still as stunning as ever from there though.

Not much painting going on…

Inspired by our summer holiday in Southwold back in August, I decided that my next paining project should include some of the beautiful beach huts you see along the seafront. Last week I spent the entire lesson trying to sketch out the huts freehand, and not using a ruler. Unfortunately due to the composition of the photo I’m using and it’s perspective, even when just one line was out of place, it made the whole thing look wonky and a bit rubbish.

This week after a quick refresher lesson on perspective, horizons and eyelines, my teacher very kindly gave me some tracing paper to get the skeleton of the picture down onto the paper so that at least next week I can start painting. Shhh, don’t tell anyone I cheated 😉

Interesting keyhole



I went exploring over the border in La Linea on Friday morning looking for yarn shops (not that I need to buy any more after Yarndale last weekend mind you). I had heard there were some and that they sold nice stuff. Thinking ahead to Christmas presents and such like I thought it was worth following it up.

Almost next door to a really lovely yarn shop, this most unusual keyhole caught my eye on the front door of an old building. There’s some really lovely architecture amongst all the late twentieth century and more modern apartments and shop fronts if you keep your eyes open. Next time, I need to take my camera with me….

Cake anyone? 

Yesterday, if you were in Gibraltar town centre there’s a good chance you were  ‘encouraged’ to part with your cash for raffle tickets and cakes for the Scouts. As two of the Little Postcards are in Scouts, there was a bit of baking going on this week for the annual cake stall fundraiser. My fairy cakes aren’t in this picture, they were hidden down at the other end of the stall… I photographed the pretty cakes instead 😉

Rainbow hope blanket completed


Begun on the last day of August (the very last day of the school summer holidays) and completed on the last day of September – it’s taken me a month to complete my contribution to the Sixty Million Trebles project. The blanket I made will join hundreds of others and be joined to make the worlds biggest ever blanket. It will be used to yarn bomb a site in London before being unpicked to make ‘normal-sized’ blankets which will go to charities in the UK and Syria.

The project is being run to raise awareness about the plight of the sixty million refugees who are displaced from their homes around the world at the moment. It will also raise funds for the cause too. It’s hoped that sixty million treble stitches will be crocheted to represent all the people who have been driven from their homes. Where ever my Rainbow Hope Blanket ends up, I hope it brings some hope to whoever receives it. This 36″ square blanket adds 10,656 trebles to the current count of almost five million.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Nat at Threads & Bobbins. For more information about it, and if you would like to join in, why not  pop over to her blog.

 


Sunday Sevens #17 7.2.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 21 Comments

Back to class 

  As all the little postcards returned to school this week fit and well, I was able to return to my sewing and watercolour classes. Home furnishings and dressmaking didn’t yield any inspiring photos this week so I only have watercolour represented here today. Inspired by the photos I’ve been taking for my Stroll around Gibraltar posts I have decided to have a go at painting some of the things I’ve been snapping. In this photo I was trying out different techniques including cling film, wax, bubble wrap and salt to get watercolour effects for my current painting. So far it’s going well but I want to wait until it’s finished to show you. 😉

A big noisy plane  At football training this week we were entertained by watching this huge RAF plane take off. It was enormous, the photo doesn’t do it justice. The noise was pretty awesome too. How on earth it got off the ground – I have no idea!!

 Fairies at the bottom of our patio? 

On a trip to hang out the washing this week I spied a couple of cheeky toadstools which had popped up in one of the flowerbeds on our patio. As they are associated with cool damp weather, winter/spring is a good time for them here as the autumns tend to be pretty dry.

Hot pink!

The bougainvillea on our patio’s doing well too at the moment.   

Blossom’s out
And just look – the orange and lemon trees are blossoming! We have just 3 or 4 flowers open so far but the smell… Ahh it’s divine! 

Europa Point in the sunshine
Saturday was a beautiful day again and we took the scooters out for a trip to the park at Europa Point. Our eldest opted out of the trip so that meant I was able to use his scooter and joined in the fun!!We scooted round the park, past the lighthouse and along the promenade above the crashing waves below. It was great fun and of course ended with ….

 Ice cream! 

It would have been very rude not to, don’t you think?? I can personally vouch for the chocolate variety – it was delicious! 

I hope you have had a good week. Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & bobbins.