IHSW August 2015

Hello dear friends and followers,

it has been a really hot weekend, most likely the last one like this for a long time...
I took lots of time to sit outside in a shady place and stitch to my little heart's content. Friday noon I started here:

 It is a design from a spring issue of Cross Stitcher called "Locked on you" and I really enjoy working on it. On Sunday afternoon I finished the top half and now it looks like this:

The first photo is much more true to the actual color. I hope to be able to finish it soon, because my fingers are already itching to start some Christmas project.

What are you all up too stitching wise?

Greetings from good old Austria!
Silvia

THE ALPHABET CLUB - LETTER "A"

Hello dear friends and followers,

I joined The Alphabet Club hosted by lovely Chiara over at "The Grey Tail".

It is a fun idea, we post a letter each month, starting with "A" and get creative with it. I chose to post words in my mother tongue, Viennese German. Those of you who speak standard German, be warned: This may look like a completely different language to you sometimes! ;-)

So here is my word for this month:

ACHTERL

You can hear the word spoken here. I would pronounce it a little different, the speaker is definitely not from our region, but it gives you an idea.

There is a lot of wine grown around here, both white (Grüner Veltliner, Riesling...) and red (Zweigelt, Blauburger...) one and many winegrowers have small wine bars that are open for a few weeks every year, named Heuriger. There the wine and the food (only cold dishes allowed) are rather cheap and it is the perfect place to spend a warm summer evening. You usually order your wine by the amount of an "Achterl", which means 1/8 of a liter. If I would like to order a glass of red house wine I therefore would say "A Achterl Rot, bitte" (the "A" means "Ein" = "One" in Viennese German, so this month's letter alone would also be a word).

I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody else posted, hope you all have fun with this idea!

Greetings to all of you, I am off to the next Heurigen! ;-)

July SFS 2015-B report

Earned: $30.00
Spent: $3.35
Budget: $25.00
To be carried over to August: $ 51.65

Hello dear friends and followers,

time for my monthly report on Stitch From Stash. As I enjoyed a two week holiday at home, I was able to do a little more stitching than usually, which really boosted my budget.

Here is the finished HUG pillow that earned me $ 16.00:

I also finished a cover kit from a magazine, a lizzie*kate design called "My To Do List" and a Christmas design by Stoney Creek (has been a UFO for three years with about a third of it stitched and was finished only yesterday). I will show you pictures of these two finishes when I have finished them into a standup and a framed picture. So stay tuned for these two lovely projects :-)

Summer greetings from Austria,
Silvia

A HOT finish

Hello dear friends and followers,

hello from a really HOT summer day here in Austria. With 35 °C there are only a few things that can be done properly: Swimming, taking a shower and of course some stitching in a shady place with lots of ice cold drinks.

I love summer weekends and was happy to get some stitching done, because now I can show you my latest finish:

It is HUG by Emily Peacock (as some of you already guessed) and has been my major Stitch From Stash project for the last three months. All that is left to do now is some sewing, but that will have to wait for a cooler day. Sorry, the quality of the picture is not too good, but it was taken by DH from his sun bed with his mobile :-)

Wishing you all a big glass of ice cold lemonade and a cool place to enjoy your stitching!
Silvia

SFS 2015A Report - June

Earned: 0
Spent: $ 102.75
Carried over from May: $80.27
Budget: $25.00
Leftover budget: $2.52

Hallo dear friends and followers,

I am VERY proud of me, the last month of Stitch From Stash is over and I managed to stay within my budget perfectly!

I did not manage to have a finish this month, but it was time to do some stash shopping, as I would lose it if I did not spend it. Losing stitching budget? - No way!!

So I did a little shopping on the internet:

I have been after this wonderful chart and the accessory pack for a long time, but always was concerned about the price. As there was enough budget left, I finally bought it! It is Beautiful Finishing 14 "Autumn Box" by The Victoria Sampler.

As Christmas will be here before we know it, I also stashed up on Christmas-themed goodies:

Both kits are from Dimensions. The kitten seems to be discontinued and I managed to get my kit at nearly 50% off, which fitted my budget perfectly.

I hope you are all having a sunny and stitchy weekend!
Silvia

IHSW June 2015

Hello dear friends and followers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend, some of you maybe enjoying IHSW, just as I did. I am one day late posting what I was working on, but I have a good excuse: Yesterday DH and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! We went out for dinner and had a good glass of wine.

Here is where I started on Friday afternoon:

Despite taking (and passing with the marks "excellent"!) a saxophone exam I had been practicing for the last few weeks on Saturday, I managed to get some stitching done and here you can see where I left it on Sunday evening:

This also is my current Stitch from Stash piece, which I hope to finish in early July. Watch this space for a picture of the finished piece! :-)
Sorry the pictures are a bit dark, but we are not having too much sunshine at the moment, I hope that summer will be back soon again.

A lovely week to all of you!
Silvia

MAY SFS 2015 A - Report

Spent: $ 4.50
Earned: $ 4.00
Carried over from April: $ 55.77
Budget May: $ 25.00
To be carried over to June: $ 80.27

Hello dear friends and followers,

it is that time of the month again, and although I have not been able to finish more than one small project, I have been a good girl and did not spend much either.

The $ 4.50 were spent on threads for an ongoing project and the $ 4.00 I earned were for this cutie:

Only six months to go until Christmas season is beginning!      ;-)

Hubby and I were on holidays and came back only yesterday evening after an eight hour drive from this wonderful place:

We spent some lovely days at Lake Garda together with friends of ours and three inflatable canoes. We paddled from one café to the next and I have to say that my trousers seem to have shrunk a little...

I hope that you all are having a good time with lots of stitching going on!

Best wishes to you all,
Silvia