A special Sunday
Last Sunday was a rather special day for me, on a personal note, one of my best friends (who used to live in Gibraltar) came back to visit with her family for half term. Despite being on a flight at the crack of dawn, failing to land at Gibraltar due to 80km per hour winds and the plane being struck by lightning they successfully landed at Malaga and got the bus down to Gibraltar to meet up with nearly 30 friends for a great (late) lunch at Queensway Quay marina. It was so lovely to have the old gang reunited and there were a few emotional moments. The photo above was taken as we left the marina to head home between the storms!
Aside from that on a Postcard from Gibraltar note I had my most successful day yet. My post from last Saturday, about Gib Talks went bananas on social media locally and my viewing figures went through the roof. I woke to find I already had 39 views that day and that grew every time I looked at my phone to the hundreds!!! Thank you to everyone who has supported me on my blogging journey so far and hello and welcome to anyone who’s new to Postcard from Gibraltar, it’s lovely to have you along for the journey!
Curtain 3 completed!
I’m very pleased to say I’ve managed to make up any lost ground in my Home Furnishings course and in this week’s lesson I started and completed a curtain! It was a standard tape topped curtain in a very bland sample material. I have already bought the fabric for my next project and I promise it’s a bit jazzier than the previous three off-white offerings as I’m bored of that colour now.
A new week, a new skirt
As soon as one skirt had been completed on my dressmaking course it was time to crack on with the next one. From gathers to a full-circle skirt. This week’s lesson saw no sewing at all, instead there was measuring, drawing, cutting out and sticking. Firstly I had to redraw the pattern for a plain simple skirt to my own measurements, then adjust it to make a full skirt. That’s my carefully drawn out pattern sliced into strips like a grass skirt and then fanned out and stuck onto a bigger piece of paper. Also in the picture is the material I’m using to make it. I love this fabric, I bought it from a reduced / special offer basket at a fabric shop near my parents’ home before we moved to Gibraltar – that makes it coming up to 7 years old. I liked it so much I was frightened of making a hash of it. Now I can make my skirt with the help of an expert dressmaker, and not just bodge it together on my own – I’m so glad I waited!
Watercolour florals
After finishing my door painting last week, I decided to take a floral break from architecture for a change. I’m happier with the top 2/3 of this painting of fuschias than I am with the buds at the bottom, but it made a refreshing change before I get architectural again next week. I think I’ll try a window next.
A bit of flower power
Our bougainvillea is doing really well on our balcony at the moment. It’s been such a grey and damp week weather wise, but this shot of magenta is a real pick-me-up as you walk past!
Founder’s Day 
Yesterday, Gibraltar’s Scouts & Guides joined together to celebrate International Founder’s Day & Thinking Day. It was so nice to see all the different sections of the groups out in force. There was a lovely ceremony attended by dignitaries including the Governor of Gibraltar and his wife, who are the patrons of the Scouts & Guides on the Rock. The young people had been due to parade along Main Street, as is the tradition on Founder’s Day, but strong winds meant that part of the event had to be cancelled sadly.
Stormy seas 
Those same winds made for spectacular scenes on the Eastern side of Gibraltar and at it’s most Southerly point, Europa Point. As we drove along the coast we could see the sea was very rough and stopped to admire the huge breakers crashing into the cliffs. The road was soaked by the spray and you needed the windscreen wipers going in order to see where to drive! It was very dramatic although perhaps a little scary to see the true power of the sea.
I’ve got a thirteen year old student who comes for a two hour lesson every week in pattern drafting – she’s just learning the cut-and-spread method of designing and that it is one of the most common design techniques. Well done on your curtain sample and your watercolour painting. I love your painting style.
Thank you! I’m loving my dressmaking classes, it’s been something which has scared me for years!:-)
How DO you find time for these interests and hobbies in between your family commitments? Amazing. Love the fuchsia painting, from memory and my interest in gardening I would say that fuchsia buds have pointed tips, perhaps that would make a difference?
Thanks Diana, I am in a very fortunate position, my boys are in school almost all full-time and I don’t have a (paid) job so I have the luxury of some free time on week days. I don’t like to waste time, I like to be doing things. Some people would argue I should spend that time doing housework but creating things is what really floats my boat. I do the bare minimum on the housework front and then get my needle, crochet hook or paintbrushes out!
I have a notice on my door which says “A clean house is the sign of a wasted life” and a fridge magnet which reads “My house was clean last week. Sorry you missed it” !! I learnt how to sew at school, not pattern cutting – we used purchased patterns, how exciting it was to wear something one had personally made. However I was not confident enough to make something for someone else so, when my mother wanted a dress made from material she loved we went to a dressmaker (in Winchester where we lived prior to coming to Gib) but even at 16 I could see the awful mistakes she made. She was not happy to have a teenager tactfully point them out to her! A similar thing happened years later in Gib. with the “dressmaker” telling me I would rot in hell for saying the skirt she made my mother was big enough to fit an elephant! All this talk of sewing makes me want to unearth my machine! I wonder if it still works?!
Oh Diana, you must get your sewing machine out again and have a go! 🙂
Just realised my surname is misspelt .- my mistake – will correct it on this reply but how do
I do it so it’s permanent?!
I’m afraid I’m the wrong person to ask – I’m such a troglodyte- it’s amazing I’ve got this far!!! Try looking on the WordPress settings? Sorry I’m not much help!
Who is the little man hitching a ride on your fuchsias?!
Do you mean the black bit? I was just copying it from the exercise I was doing – haha I didn’t realise it looked like a little man!! 😀
You’re taunting me with another bougainvillea shot aren’t you?
What a great shot of the crashing waves you took.
I nearly bought a ready to wear circle skirt yesterday when I was out shopping with a friend. It was a really good style and I was very tempted to try it on even though it was just over 100euros :o. However, when I had a closer look, it was very poorly finished for such an expensive skirt – I probably would have bought it if it had been 40 or 50 euros but not over 100. Once you start dressmaking you notice these things! I will now look out for a pattern in a similar style and make it myself.
Oh I’m sorry… I couldn’t resist it just looks so good at the minute! 😉 the waves were just stunning and a bit frightening, there were some people standing closer to the edge but it gave me the willies and I had to leave!
You are so right – now I know how to do some of the dressmaking techniques I can spot bad workmanship and that puts me off buying things. Unfortunately that does then mean the ‘to make’ list gets longer and longer!!
Another busy week. You don’t half pack it in. Glad your friend managed the meet up. What a horrendous journey they had. Your painting is stunning and I love seeing your curtain samples K xXx
I know- some weeks seem very busy at the moment. That’s good though, keeps me from getting bored and eating things I shouldn’t! 😉 My friend did have an awful journey but she and her family seemed to have a good time while they were here and I’m glad to say, they had an uneventful trip back home in time for school starting back tomorrow. It was lovely seeing them all. X
You’ve been busy! Love the watercolour. Well done on good stats too. It’s a nice boost when that happens (not that it happens to me all the time!).
Thank you – it does give you a boost to know there’s actually real people out there reading my posts!! I wasn’t just talking to myself! 🙂
Great spot for watching crashing waves
Oh it was, there was quite a crowd there watching the spectacle!
Fab images this week, can see why that pink cheers you up. Have you ever read Heaney’s Storm on the Island poem? Your storm images really reminded me of it.
Thank you! I haven’t read the poem, I shall go and seek it out now 🙂
I have a great sewing challenge ahead of me – a set of Blackadder II costumes to make within two weeks for the Gibraltar Drama Festival (performing 17th March)! If any of you ladies would be willing to come and help, I’d be very grateful! I’m looking at adapting existing clothes and curtains, and although I have a lot of ideas, my practical skills are somewhat lacking, so I’d love to have a team to discuss methods with. It’s really scary – but what a challenge! The show must go on!
Wow – that’s a tall order Angela!!! I’m afraid I have no free time at all at the moment, but I will ask around at my sewing group and get back to you.
Your fuchsias are lovely, well done with the Curtain. I think your skirt is going to be lovely.
Thank you! I itching to get started on my skirt….
A very busy (and wild?) week. Your photos are stunning! The bougainvillea are true show stoppers, aren’t they? Can’t wait to see the finished skirt, it looks so intriguing!
Thank you – it was rather wild at times!! I love the bougainvillea at the moment it’s gorgeous. I think it’ll be a couple of weeks before the skirt’s finished – I’m making headway but slowly! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂