Adeline, if I may call her that, rather than Mrs Willian Roseborough, lived in Owen Sound which is a small town and farming community on Georgian Bay. This is the eastern part of Lake Huron. She and William were married on Christmas Day in 1877. They had a potato farm and retired from this in 1905. Adeline was killed in a motor car accident in 1940 at the age of 82.
Apparently, Adeline was an artist and a stitcher as well as being a farmers’ wife and mother of nine children. The stitched photo above is entitled Adeline’s House.
Faith, a friend, neighbour and quilter, invited our embroidery group over for tea and to see her great grandmothers embroidered pictures. We were impressed and curious about the two very unusual embroideries that Faith inherited.
Getting photographs was difficult due to them both being glassed for protection and window reflection. Below are close-ups of Adeline’s other embroidery.
The picture above contains a lot of trees which are stitched in different ways.
Trees and sky. Blue trees? But they so effective against the neutral and horizontally stitched sky. Take a close look at the detail.
This is lower in the picture but gives one an idea of how it was stitched. We think that the fabric used is tapestry canvas. Adeline used casual straight stitching to achieve texture and detail and a dramatic effect.
We also think that the thread is wool which would have been more readily available than silk. The dyes could have been natural. Without taking the framing apart, we have no idea if the threads have faded with time. It was stitched in the 1930s when Adeline would have been in her 70s.
There are two birds standing side by side in the foreground. The stitching of them is quite different from that of the remainder of the picture. Could they be storks?
I hope that your computer will allow you to enlarge these photos.
Stitching friends! What do you think? These are puzzling and interesting historical treasures.
As an artist, Adeline may have prepainted the canvas herself. If it was a kit from any source, I have never seen anything like this before and I have been around for a very long time.
Your comments and ideas would be most welcome by myself and by Faith.
Hint for posterity.
Write relevant details on the back of your work or include information for future generations. We would have appreciated answers straight from Adeline herself instead of guessing this and supposing that.
Here’s hoping to hear from you!
Thank you Ann. This is delightful. I am hopeful that there will be some replies.
Thank you Faith. I also hope that there will be replies. These are such different and intriguing pieces of embroidery and I hope someone, somewhere, out there, will be able to give us some information on it. Ann
Please see the stitchwork by my great Aunt Adeline on my blog link below.
Stewart, Thank you for sending me the photo of your piece of stitching from Adeline. I will publish it if I may. It is so totally different from the ones that Faith has. Adeline was a very talented lady.
Thank you Ann, I really enjoy your posts. Always such interesting stitching involved.
Hello Christina, I am so glad you enjoyed seeing Adeline’s embroideries. She was a very talented and creative stitcher as you will see from the next post. Thank you so much for taking the time to write to this blog. Your interest is much appreciated.
Ann
Hi Ann Am enjoying you website even though I don,t stitch I have passed on the site to a stitching friend and shr has ordered your book . Have a great summer We are in and out from the cottage Marg Irwin
Marg, Lovely to hear from you. If you send me your friend’s’ email, we will put her on the mailing list. Very glad to hear that she is purchasing my book. Which one? Both are excellent reference books and full of new ideas on how to use basic stitches creatively. Sales are steady I am glad to say. Very gratifying for the author.