Roland-designs , Virginie's blog.

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday 27 September 2015

1837 religious embroidery


     There are a lot of antique needlework items to be found for sale on the internet, flea markets, and  antique markets. And while I would love to collect all of them, I try to limit my selection to items that are un-usual, or that have a personal touch to them.

1837 French embroidered picture


    This is the latest addition to my private collection, it’s a French religious embroidery of a bare footed woman kneeling by an altar. An interesting detail in the picture is a pair of shackles that are hanging on the wall behind her.

     Is she doing her communion, or taking her vows as a nun ?

    Her name was Adelaide, and the date on the picture is the 7th of September 1837.

    Around the picture are the words ‘Le temps est maître de tout il n'est rien dont il ne vienne a bout

    It translates as : ‘Time is master of all, and there is nothing that does not come to an end’.

    The embroidery is very fine, worked in tiny, tiny cross stitches. The frame is old, the picture is dirty and faded, but that is to be expected in a needlework item that is over 178 years old. 

Adelaide, le 7 September 1837

Notice the tiny stitches



 .......................................................................................

Garden news

    It’s autumn and time to bring in my plants one at a time, I do keep my eyes on the weather report as the first frost will mean the end of the gardening season and a rush to bring every flowering plant indoor. 

Busy-Lizzies cuttings, and parsley to be frozen for winter use.

      Busy-Lizzies (Impatiens walleriana) are not so well adapted to the Norwegian climate and do not do too good indoor either, so every year I take some cuttings and let them take roots over the winter. It’s a simple way of having plenty of plants for the next year, without the inconvenience of having to protect and store large plants over the winter months. 


    Every year I plant Pansies, sometime here, sometime there, I usually let the plants die out on their own and many go to seed, so it is only natural that once in a while you get surprise ‘bonus’ flowers. This year I had notice several small Pansy plants growing in different places, so I left them in peace and to my delight I’ve had yellow, purple and white pansies popping up in many unexpected places.


Little bonus Pansies in a Perlagonia pot

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful piece of stitchery - but cross stitch is not my thing! I've done it, but only when I absolutely needed to! Lovely addition to your collection though. Loved the idea of keeping plants going with cuttings - and the unexpected sproutings of those you'd forgotten about. Happy planting1

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love tiny stitching! I need to send you a pic of the petit-point on linen family portrait I made when Chantal was born.

    ReplyDelete