Saturday, August 21, 2010

She Squandered Millions

I took my stitched carriage couple piece apart and took it to the framers (say that 10 times fast). Here's a behind the scenes look with at least one clue to the time period.

The age around the mat is easy to see once I removed the frame.

As expected, the linen was laid flat.

I had wondered about the dark color peeking through the lace openings. There was a partial label in the center that indicated an 8"x10" opening. Looks like this came with the frame, but it's a very thin, slick piece. Not sure what this layer is made of. Not paper. About the thickness of carbon paper. Any ideas?

The best clue, though, was awaiting. I had to laugh when I got to this final layer. This colorful piece was the back piece of cardboard.

I was so impressed and surprised by how beautiful and well-preserved this final layer is. The colors are so pretty. Looks like this backing was cut from a larger movie (?) poster. Any ideas? It was certainly fun to peel back time and end with such a surprise. But more importantly...

I laughed out loud when I read the text. Was the original framer the cross stitcher? The cross stitcher's husband? Was the humor intentional? Regardless, the message certainly endures across the years!

2 comments:

Heidi said...

I love this find! I love the simplicity of the stitching. I got a gift from a quilting friend of a piece similar to this with a saying to go with it. This is so pretty that it needs to be stitched again. I would love to reproduce it.

I was glad to see that you were back on Blogger again. I had checked in once in a while and missed you. It was so nice to see you on my own blog again.

Hugs from Holland ~
Heidi

mainely stitching said...

That's such a funny story behind the project (and just for the record, I love the design). :D