Archive for the ‘Racaire’ Category
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27
Aug
2010
Cute things which I found recently…
I love small second hand shops and even if I don’t find anything interesting which I would like to buy, I enjoy having a look through all available things and to search inside of boxes and to explore the things hidden on the shelves…
I think it’s the scent of dust and old things and the experience to explore and to search for treasuries and then to try to get it for the very best price – the feeling to get a great bargain – and I found plenty nice bargains in this shop 
…some books at my first visit and some very cute items during my second visit
…and, like always, I can’t resist to share my cute ‘bargains’ with you
Isn’t this purse cute? Wooohooooo! 
It was a great idea to empty the box with the small purses and wallets and to have a look at every single purse – I immediately fell in love with this lovely small purse.
The purse is made of very soft leather and it contains some German “Pfennige” from the pre-EURO time *lol*
There was also a box with lovely old gloves but unfortunately I couldn’t find any gloves big enough for my hands… *sigh*
…but this time Fortuna was on my side and instead of gloves I could find another 2 lovely pouches which I decided to rescue:
…I had to repair the chain of the white pouch but that was a rather simple repair work – now I will wash the pouches by hand to get rid of possible moth eggs, dust,…
…and I also found this lovely hatpins:
…some hatpins which I could use for the following hat – looks like it was just waiting to be found by me
btw. my sweetheart bought 2 tickets for the Max Raabe & Palast Orchester concert in the “Konzerthaus” here in Vienna in November – my birthday present – …I love Max Raabe!!! and my poor boyfriend is always very happy to find a birthday or christmas present for me – that’s really not easy because he don’t shares my hobby concerning the embroidery or the love for the medieval time – I think this hat is a good start for my outfit for this very special concert evening
…and we are still not finished – I got this nice necklace for free – it was already broken into three parts and because I had to repair it, she put it on top of my pile without making a price for it… woohooo… yeah, I could repair it in just a few minutes…
…and last but not least I found this funny… aehhhhhhhh…. hmmmm… bead-thing… the saleslady thinks it could be the bottom decoration of a lampshade… but I think, if I find a nice fabric in a matching color (and a dress pattern), I could sew a gorgeous “Charleston” dress with it as a decoration of the bottom hem… we’ll see…
…and I also got some books, but I think that will be another posting 
24
Jul
2010
my new wireless keyboard :)
Because I used to have my laptop near the couch at the couch table, I decided to give up my writing desk und to enlarge my boyfriends writing table with my desk – he is working quite a lot at home at his computer in the evening and I prefer to use the couch table and the dining table…
ok, to cut a long story short – he now has a “L” shaped writing table in front of the window for his computers, we bought also a good office chair for him and I moved with my HP docking station and my laptop to the couch table…
Needless to say that the most difficult thing was to find a place for all my things that I had on and under my table *lol*
Today my sweetheart decided that he wants to make his working place at home more ergonomic – lowered the height of the table and took my external keyboard to use it with his laptop…
…but with my laptop in its docking station its easier to write with an external keyboard and therefore I insisted on getting a replacement…
…and that’s what I got from my sweetheart:
Microsoft Tastatur Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000
A very nice and small bluetooth keyboard with an extra portable number pad – slightly curved – I am really very pleased and happy that he took my old and rather big keyboard away Sweetheart, have fun with my old keyboard – I definitely will have fun with my new one!
25
Jun
2010
photos – Greece / Santorin – part 1 (Kamari & Thira/Fira)
It took me some days to read my eMails, unpack my luggage, … but today I managed to sort out more of my photos and to upload the first part of my Santorin photos besides the photos taken at the prehistoric museum – btw. I hope you enjoyed my museum photos
We stayed at the “Hotel Sigalas” in Kamari and had a very nice room including balcony and sea view, the shingle beach starting right in front of our balcony… therefore we decided to stay most of our time at our balcony – underneath the awning – it was quite comfortable and better for me because I easily get a sunburn or a sunstroke…
…and my boyfriend enjoyed the landing planes very much – our hotel was the last one at the beach and situated at the entry lane of the airport of Santorin – we are fans of the airpower event (every two years in Austria – Zeltweg) and had no problem at all with the ‘noise’ of the landing planes
After the first two evenings we also discovered a nice tavern at the seafront – Saliveros – a greek style tavern with very good food for reasonable prices
I uploaded some photos taken at our hotel and the beach in front of the hotel, some photos taken in Kamari… and – we also rented a car for three days – we took also some photos while visiting Fira/Thira and also some photos in Oia/Ja and at the Kap Akrotiri and from the terrace of the Santos winery (all photos besides them of taken in Fira/Thira will follow in the next photo parts)
hotel & beach:
hotel cats:
Kamari at night:
Fira/Thira – Ypapanti cathedral:
Fira/Thira:
13
Jun
2010
…away for one week – 14.-21. June… :)
My boyfriend invited me to join him for a holiday in Greece and I really couldn’t resist
…this summer we will explore Santorin – hopefully the volcano there will continue its sleep while we visit Santorin
Good bye for one week – I hope you enjoy reading my postings of the last days and also the following photos taken at our last holidays in Greece – Kos/2009 & Kreta/2007, Kreta/2005:
1
Jun
2010
…my new blackberry cover and again some needle lace / Nadelspitze :)
Recently my favourite cover for my blackberry died because of everyday use – rest in peace! I’ll miss you…
I don’t like the blackberry covers they provide with the blackberry because I also use my blackberry instead of a “mp3 player” – I love to listen to music – and the basic cover isn’t made for it…
…therefore my brain started working until the final idea stroke me like a thunderstrike – to take the basic cover and just to alter and pimp it until it suits my needs.
Ok, here my blackberry and the mentioned basic blackberry cover which I got when I bought my blackberry – it looks quite new because I didn’t use it very often.
Working from the stash – I always wanted to make something out of this red fabric and this was a great opportunity. I just cut off the upper edges of my blackberry cover and also some fabric.
First I sewed the edge of the fabric to the edge of the cover and with a second line of stitches I built up a new edge with the fabric – with the second line of stitches this “new” border can take on more tension than without…
btw. this fabric frays like hell – I still try to get rid of the leftovers of this project all over my couch *lol*
I just used a ‘normal’ Satin Stitch to join the front and back edges at the sides, some chain stitch to cover the change between the fabric and the satin stitch.
Nevertheless the “naked” cover didn’t appeal to me and I decided to try some needle lace and to use up the rest of this cream colored thread – more about the needle will follow in separate postings.
Normally – referring to the descriptions for needle lace in my old books – the basic thread for the needle lace is sewn on along the edges to a basic material and than the needle lace is worked – yeah, I have to admit I am a rather lazy girl and wanted to finish this project asap, to be able to use the new cover, and thought some needles could work as well… Working on the needle lace with all the needles wasn’t easy because the needles tend to catch the working thread, but I am rather pleased with the fast and nice progress – I think the filling (3 different techniques) doesn’t look bad for the very first try
…btw. here a close up:
…and a photo of the final result:
…and here my new blackberry cover – I love it!
While working on my cover I discovered that I just cut enough fabric that the upper part would make a perfect closure – the chain stitch on the closure next to the edge makes the edge stiff enough that it can easily be pulled over the right upper corner of the blackberry. I struggled a little bit with the other corner until I got the idea to make a small link (with a pearl) to help me to pull the left edge of the closure over the left upper corner of the blackberry – I very fast got used to this ‘system’ and now this is my favourite blackberry cover
21
Mai
2010
Nailbinding – 2nd try – my “Winter Pumpkin” ;)
I have to admit – I did it again *lol* – another nailbinding try
I had some of this lovely wool – Lana Grossa “Baby Alpaca” – 70% Virgin Wool Merino extrafine & 30% Baby Alpaca – left from my very first nailbinding project “Embroidered Nailbinding Hood” and I thought I should try to memorize the technique by working at another nailbinding project…
It looks like a pumpkin and I thought it would be funny to add two small leaves in the middle – now I have my very own cute and cosy “Winter Pumpkin”
Caution: Nailbinding is quite addictive!
21
Mai
2010
cooking – my favourite recipes – “Frischkäse-Torte” with fruits
I want to thank my good friend Elisande very much, who pointed me to her favourite recipe for a “Frischkäse-Torte” at the “Bei uns zu Hause” website.
About 3 weeks ago I tried this recipe for the first time and now it is also one of my favourite recipes
…and also Kareina like it very much while staying here in Vienna and asked me for the recipe – therefore I thought it could be nice to post it in my blog to let also other know about this very good tasting cake – especially because Summer time is near and I think this is a great Summer cake
…btw. here a photo of my last one
“Frischkäse-Torte” with fruits
200 g Löffelbiskuit / lady’s finger
170 g Butter / butter
600 g Frischkäse, Doppelrahmstufe (ich ersetze ca. 50% mit Mascarpone)/ cream cheese, full fat? (I replace ca. 50% with mascarpone)
300 g Joghurt / yoghurt
3 EL Zitronensaft / tablespoons lemon juice
6 Blätter Gelatine / leaves gelatine
75 g Zucker / sugar
fresh fruits for the topping
g = Gramm / gram
The recipe is for “Philadelphia” cream cheese, but I think this “Philadelphia” cream cheese is just too expensive in relation to ‘normal’ cream cheese and therefore I decided to use ‘normal’ cream cheese instead – some sorts of this ‘normal’ cream cheese taste a little bit salty but that’s fine and supports the sweet taste very good, especially because I replace about 50% of the cream cheese with Mascarpone.
For the bottom:
crumble the sponge cake into very small crumbles. Melt the butter and mix the melted butter with the crumbles.
Put baking paper into the spring form (bottom and sides). Put the butter-crumble mixture on the baking paper on the bottom and press on with your hand or a tablespoon until you get a nice bottom.
For the cream cheese filling:
mix cream cheese with yoghurt and lemon juice (I take a little bit mor than just the 3 table spoons). Put the gelatine leaves into cold water for about 5 minutes and then press it out again. Heat it up with 150ml water and the sugar until the gelatine dissolves completely. Speedy mix it into the cream cheese mixture. Fill the cream into the spring form and let it rest for at least 3 hours!
Fruit topping:
You can decorate the cake with frish fruits before you serve it. I prefer to add a kind of “Torten Gelee” for fruit cakes on top of the fruits, that you can get in shops here in Austria – I think it’s just a kind of gelatine topping for fruit cakes – it helps me to finish the fruit in advance and protects the fruits from drying-out, it the cake won’t be eaten through the next hours and/or not eaten up at the same day – we (=2 persons) need about 3 days to finish up this cake
Banana, kiwi and frozen berries, like at this photo, are a quite nice combination for the topping, but my favourite one is: strawberries and kiwi
18
Mai
2010
my new website is online…
Finally my new website is online now! Woohoo!
It took some time but I think it looks much better than the old website – definitely more colorful – and the new CMS is much easier to handle too Furthermore I also checked and updated my handouts – they are again available now, just at another place
7
Mai
2010
I love retro! …and gifts like this :)
Some time ago I called Anna, a good friend of mine, if she would like my pimped up pullover, because it’s a little bit too small for me and even if it looks nice, I didn’t feel comfortable – especially since I started to train my arm muscles for heavy fighting and my arms don’t fit into the narrow sleeves anymore now.
…and Anna asked me if I like clothes from the 70′s – she has a cloak with a dress and also a ‘Trenchcoat’ size 42 that maybe could fit me if I would like to wear it – I accepted her nice gift and here are the photos:
…and here pictures of the “Trenchcoat”:
Anna, thank you very much!
7
Mai
2010
Cheap Skirts found at the “Tauschzentrale” :)
I found this two skirts at the “Tauschzentrale” (swap center / Mariahilferstraße, near the Westbahnhof) – the white one for 8,50 € and the other one for 3,50 €
I really love the white one and I thought the one with the stripes is just too funny and cheap not to take it with me .
The white skirt fits perfectly and I really love it. The skirt with the stripes has some small holes in the fabric but I think it just looks too nice, funny and retro that I couldn’t resist – I think I will cover its holes with some embroidery.
6
Mai
2010
Needful things – lunch box :)
On Sunday I found a nice modern red/black lunch box & lunch box bag at the shop of the MAK – designed by “black+blum” London. It reminded me of the my stay with Gyles and Melisande in London – it seemed to me that many Londoners have their lunch at a park sitting on the gras and enjoying the sun – I was really surprises how many people manage to find a place to sit on just a small section of gras – really amazing – unfortunately I only took one photo that just give a slightly impression of what I mean:
Ok, I am now prepared for my next stay in London – I have my very own lunch box now!
…btw. you can find my photos taken in London here and the museum photos taken in London in my Flickr Museum Collection.
27
Apr
2010
…new logo for my website… :)
I wasn’t 100% satisfied with my first try and built up the logo a second time with the same pictures – I think it looks much better now and I hope you like it too
The logo is based on my ‘masterpiece’ – my Wallhanging project – I can’t imagine something that could represent my embroidery, style and ‘art’ better than this project…
I really love this kind of style and the colors – they always cheer me up and make me smile
27
Apr
2010
fyi – website update :)
Some of you maybe already found out that I took my website down – I started a new website based on Joomla recently but my boyfriend decided that Typo-light is a better system with more possibilities and now I have to play with a new system…
I am afraid that setting up the new website will take some time but I couldn’t stand my old one anymore – I will let you know as soon as the new one is available
27
Apr
2010
…nice weekend :)
We had wonderful weather this Sunday – having a walk through the park of Schönbrunn, a nice dinner at a restaurant and last but not least we fetched three pieces of cake – ‘Trüffeltorte’, ‘Cremeschnitte’ and a ‘Punschkrapfen’ – to enjoy them at home, I love cakes – ‘Torten’ and ‘Mehlspeisen’ and as far as I know Vienna is known for its great cakes, as well as for many other things… but unfortunately they are not the best idea if you want to keep your weight…
Todays weather was awful again and I am very looking forward to have another walk through the park of Schönbrunn in the sunshine…
8
Apr
2010
Etsy or Artfire? :)
Some years ago I made small pouches,… and sold them for my very own travel fund to be able to travel to more events than I normally could attend… Recently I spoke with a good friend of mine and she asked me why I don’t sell some of my things – maybe at artfire or etsy… and I think that’s a good idea – this way I could support my travel fund and maybe buy more books about embroidery and look out for old pictures of embroidery and techniques I haven’t discovered till now – I really like this idea – now the questions are:
- artfire or etsy? I think I prefer artfire…
- pouches, needlerolls, Pelican/Laurel/… roundels …? Klosterstich, Refilsaum, German Brick Stitch,…? What shall I do?
*hmmmmmm*