Friday 20 November 2009

Blooming Blossoms

Right, long time no update!
I have been surprisingly busy with work lately (Yeah-money! Booh-no posts!), but I thought I should put a few more pics up in the interrim. The below are both cross stitch on natural linen, done with two strands of MEZ cotton.
This sampler is mainly victorian borders from several old books and patterns I had. It was meant to fit into a frame I had (see inner border), but it just kept growing, so it turned out fairly big.



The second one is actually framed and hangs above my parents' sideboard. It's one of those victorian sentimental pictures with a hidden message. And no, it's not "Help me, I'm being locked in the tower and forced to embroider till my fingers bleed.". Starting at the bottom with F for Flieder (lilac) and going clockwise around the wreath, the initials of the flowers spell Freundschaft (friendship). Aw, bless...


3 comments:

  1. Oh, I like this wreath very much! Do you have any idea, what is the flower after the tulip and before the rose?

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  2. Hi Julia,
    thank you for your comment. As I said in my post, the initials of the flowers spell out the word "Freundschaft" which is German for friendship. The flower you mean is the start of the word, "Flieder" or lilac in English.
    Hope this helps,
    H.

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  3. Thank you so much! This wreath is presented in a book "Berlin Work Samplers and Embroidery of the Nineteenth Century" by Raffaella Serena, an Italian expert and collector of all the applied arts. This very flower she identifies as "Fabrita" in english or "Fabritia" in itallian. I failed finding the translation of this word, but this flower is very like lilliac. May be Raffaella is mistaken and this flower is really the second lilliac (the first one goes before tulip)?

    Sorry for my english :)

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