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...