Alsace

I haven't been stitching much recently, life has been very busy and sometimes sad.  At the end of September, we had our Guild retreat in Ellenton, Florida, and that was a fun weekend.  I did do some stitching then of course, but there is nothing yet to show from that.  I set up some applique, started a new pieced pattern, and generally enjoyed the company of like-minded ladies.
I am sharing a few more photos of our trip to Birkenhoerdt in September, most of these are from Alsace/Wissembourg, plus  a few villages surrounding our own. The time for these flowers has passed now, and the late autumn is bringing colder weather. 

Our adorable little house, just can't resist taking pictures.  I am hoping to put up shutters once the grouting has been redone.  I was thinking that the plaque in the middle would make shutters impossible, but I have seen some that fold back on themselves if there is only space on one side, so I will be looking at those.

St Gallus - "Ana Selbdritt" about 1500

All the above photos are impressions of Wissembourg

Gleiszellen

September on the wine route ....

The grapes are glorious right now

View from our upstairs hallway

I found a small chest and old wash jug and bowl for the guest restroom

Our village church had the 150 year anniversary of its consecration, so all was decorated in the diocese colors of yellow and white.  I planted two old sandstone pots like this

We love our little house !

Wissembourg

Wreath of dried flowers bought at a farmers' market on the last day

Last week we spent some time in our house on the southern wine route in Germany, and also helped our son get organized for his new degree program at the FH Aachen, campus Juelich.  Despite being a hectic week, we did do some fun things, and just enjoyed being out in the beautiful late summer weather.  So here are a few impressions of house and some local villages last week:

Decorating Progress

 Nicole has made me this wonderful cross stitch monogram which she framed in a white, antiqued frame which goes beautifully in our small cottage.  She does such perfect work, and is very particular about how she does things, and this picture proved quite a challenge because of its size - she explains about it here.  I placed it in a small alcove in our living room wall, and gave it an antique child's head sculpture for company (it is a family piece inscribed Christmas 1908 in German).  I think they look good together.

In these two pictures you can see we are making some progress in making our rooms more livable.  I am not the best decorator and wanted to keep everything light and in natural colors.  I will be making a few bright pillows I think for contrast, and of course a boutis or two will have to find their way here as well.

 For the second bedroom we opted for a rattan sleeper sofa, this room gives onto a roof terrace which is just so pretty with the forest right behind.  We thought we would like to sit up here from time to time.

And as always, I love the view from my bedroom window at the front of the house.  I like to hear the Church bells chime (which they do every 15 minutes, and on the hour, 24 hours a day !)