Friday 31 March 2023

Heartsease

Having abandoned snowdrop stitching in favour of Oxburgh last month, I was determined to do something floral for March in our CCC. We invited a friend for a meal whilst his wife was away - and he bought me a lovely bowl of violas. Violas have been growing in the wild here in the UK for centuries - and from them we have the cultivars which we can buy in the garden centre and they are also the forerunners of the larger pansies. 
He advised that I should keep the bowl inside till the frosts had passed, so there they were, on the coffee table, bringing much joy.The blooms were so delicate and tiny, some barely one centimetre across. I looked into their story.Throughout history the viola has had many names, including heartsease, love-lies-bleeding, Johnny-jump-up, and pansy.
An old Herbal I read says It was formerly in much repute as a remedy for epilepsy, asthma and numerous other complaints, and the flowers were considered cordial and good in diseases of the heart, from which may have arisen its popular name of Heartsease as much as from belief in it as a love potion.
The name love lies bleeding is said to refer to the inseparability of the pain of living and the love of Christ. The poet Christina Rosetti speaks of this in her poem Balm in Gilead - she is struggling with growing older, with the awareness of the stuff that is wrong in her life, and realises that divine love, and the Good Friday/Easter story brings her heartsease, and peace of mind, 
Heartsease I found
where love-lies-bleeding
empurpled all the ground
I ignored my computer stitch programme, and just drew out a picture of one bloom and did everything 'the old way' with pencil and paper. I enlarged it to fit one of the sections of the fabric. And I restricted myself to a handful of five colours.
Kirsten and I have marked out our sections with running stitch borders. I counted wrongly, as I thought the horizontal green line was the top of the section. 
I'd completed three petals when I realised my mistake! The green lines were edges and the centre line. I shortened the stem of the bloom, and added four rows of stitching above and below to 'balance out' the flower in the centre of the section. I used running stitch, chain, feather stitch and herringbone.
These rows remind me of the sampler in my school needlework book. I must try and find that, I am sure it is here somewhere! 
Shakespeare was fond of violas- in Midsummer night's dream, they are used in Puck's love potion, and Ophelia in Hamlet refers to Pansies for thoughts [a pun on the French pensees]
Waiting with great anticipation for Kirsten's parcel...



16 comments:

  1. I think Heartease are referred to in the English Country garden song.
    They are lovely little flowers! Your stitched one is very attractive!x

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    1. You're absolutely right - the first three flowers mentioned in that song are 🎶daffodils, heartsease, and phlox🎶 As a child I thought they were singing“ flocks" (of sheep) Which confused me...

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  2. Such pretty flowers! I really like the flower you stitched and the borders set it off nicely.

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  3. Beautiful stitching and thank you for sharing the story of the viola. I can see a tiny one in a pot it the garden-it’s a survivor of the plants that were delivered from the garden centre in 2020 at the height of Covid. It comes every year and I just leave it there as a symbol of the strength of nature to survive despite human intervention. Catriona

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  4. English Country Garden was my late uncle John's favourite song.
    He was a very keen, and expert gardener, with flower gardens, fruit and veg gardens at home, and three allotments.
    If it could be grow in this country, John could grow it!
    Every time we visited them, we came away with mountains of fruit and veg, fresh or home preserved.
    He's much missed, mainly because he was one of the kindest, gentlest, loveliest people I have ever met.
    He and my auntie met on Good Friday 1953, married six weeks later, and were happily devoted to each other for the next 62 years.
    No-one ever heard either of them say a cross word, even their two sons. If ever there was a marriage meant to be, theirs was it! X

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    1. Oh what lovely memories. Three allotments is pretty impressive!! My Auntie Peggy married her beloved Ron in 1953 - they had 52 happy years together. Thank you for this comment 👍❤️

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  5. Thank you for the heartsease piece, lovely x
    Alison in Wales xx

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  6. The parcel is in the postbox as of 30minutes ago!

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  7. That's a lovely piece of embroidery! I have always adored "Johnny Jump-ups" and when I find them in the lawn I dig them out and transfer them to a flower bed or a pot.

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    1. Apparently in some parts of England, they are called Johnny-Jump-Up-And Kiss-Me" !!

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  8. Lovely!

    Hugs!

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