german embroidery inspiration

while scouring the internet for some embroidery inspiration today I found this beautiful old German stitching. The translation is "The bells of my home town gently call me back to the green valley".
I thought it was so beautiful and it made me long for a simpler time when there were green valleys and time for stitching. My grandmother was German, an avid stitcher, crafter, crocheter and quilter. I wish today I could sit with her, stitching and talking. What a nice day that would be. No iphone, tv or internet to distract us. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Well, off for the long weekend...and some stitching on the back porch!

Happy Stitching everyone!!
-Brooke

Candlewicking? who knew?

Yet another new embroidery lesson since I began this job--Candlewicking. I admitadly had not heard of it, but now that I have the knowledge I will share :) This is what crafters do.

Candlewicking is a form of whitework embroidery that traditionally uses an unbleached cotton thread on a piece of unbleached muslin. It gets its name from the nature of the soft spun cotton thread, which was braided then used to form the wick for candles. Motifs are created using a variety of traditional embroidery stitches as well as a tufted stitch. Subject matter is usually taken from nature - flowers, insects, pine trees, and so on, Other traditional motifs resemble Pennsylvania Dutch or Colonial American designs. Modern designs include colored floss embroidery with the traditional white on white stitching. (thank you Wikipedia)

Well now that you know too, here is the project I am working on this week. A little updated version of candlewicking...tell me what you think.