Schwalm Eyecandy

    It's been months since I last posted, but that doesn't mean my hands haven't been busy!  Not long after my last post, we had a death in the family, and not long after that, my baby girl broker her arm, playing at school.  :(  She is all healed now, and thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any long term damage to her arm. . . still it is very hard to think about.

    Also, every Summer, my family, and I perform at Bristol Renaissance Faire on the weekends.  We live in Michigan, but the faire is in Wisconsin.  So every Friday, from June until September, we pack up our little car with all of our costumes, and drive 4 hours, where we pretend we live in 1574 in the town of Bristol, England.  My family play townspeople, and I play a Fantastikal (a fairy).  Hence, my profile picture.  That is me all painted and costumed as HollyHock, a flower fairy.  In recent years, however, I have played Sea Foam, the water fairy.  :)

   So, this is the short explanation of where I have been these past months.  My personal life has gone back to normal (thankfully), the trees are bare, and the weather is turning cold.  There is nothing I enjoy more in the cold weather, than a hot cup of coffee, cocoa or tea, sitting in front of a fire, and doing some needlework, so there will be lots of posts and photos to come.

 Over the summer, I purchased a wonderful book about Schwalm embroidery by Luzine Happel.  It is called the Basic Principles of Schwalm Embroidery, and I highly recommend  it to anyone who wants to learn Schwalm Embroidery.  The directions are well written, concise, and there are photographs showing every step of stitches and techniques. . .it leaves no questions or confusion on how to do the techniques (which are plentiful).  The book comes with a pattern for a tea or table cloth (depending on how large you cut  your linen), and Luzine takes you step by step through everything.  Starting with fabric and thread choices all the way to how to care and launder your finished piece.  I started the project in July, and finished it last week.  

   Luzine suggests that you use a 36 count linen, but since I did have some experience with Schwalm, I used Alba Maxima Legacy linen, which is approx. a 40 count.  For thread, I used DMC coton a broder in sizes 16, 20, 25 and 30, in white, and also DMC Cordonnet Crochet Cotton in size 70 for the hems.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.  

Luzine has a blog and shop with lots of books and tutorials on the Schwalm Embroidery technique.  I visit it quite often.  Her blog is filled with fantastic tips, photos and inspiration.  You can visit her blog here.  I plan on purchasing a few more books from her very soon.

I hoped you enjoyed the photos, and will visit again tomorrow. . . Over the summer, I also made a few crochet jewelry pieces.  I will be sharing photos of these, as well as announcing a Blog Giveaway.  

'Til tomorrow, Happy Stitches!