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Sunday, December 03, 2006

Its About Time... Framing!

Back in December of 2003 I finished Peacock Tapestry by Teresa Wentzler. Its one of those pieces, that's truly a labour of love because its such a pain in the ass to stitch! It has a million blends, quarter stitches, and lots of confetti! I was determined to stitch it for my new (at the time) house. So I did.

I had a good idea it would cost me two arms and a leg to have it stitched... so it sat in my bag of finished un-finished projects. And it sat, and it sat. Until this year! Christin was a real sweetie and as an early Christmas present she had PT stretched for me at our LNS. Then again, it sat and it sat. Waiting for me go get some molding and frame it.

Saturday we both had to go out to my supplier to get some stuff framed up before Christmas (actually my stuff were for people at work, not anything I had made). Christin had a couple of Christmas pressies. While I was there I finally picked out something for PT. I had decided that the piece was ornate enough that it really didn't need mats or a fancy frame. Most of the PT's that I've seen framed over the years have been "over done" with a million mats and ornate gold frames. I knew I wanted a simple line in a nice dark wood. The first corner sample I pulled off of the wall was what I came home with.

Today I put the frame together... it did give me a little grief... actually I had a bit of a hissy fit... put everything away and went and took a shower. But its done now and it looks fantastic hanging above my bed! I am so happy I went simple!


Peacock Tapestry is a perfect example of how expensive custom framing can be. A couple of years ago I took it to a framing shop and had them put together an estimate for me to get this framed... I was looking at about $450.00 to get my poor PT framed. What did this weekend's framing adventure cost me??? Well the stretching was a gift.. and even if I had paid for it, the stretching was only $60.00. The 9ft length of molding that I bought... that cost $20.25! So in total to frame my PT that cost $80.25! It leads me to ask why the markup is so high if you go to a professional custom framer?

I haven't really had time to stitch this weekend, but I will shortly...

12 comments:

stitcherw said...

PT is gorgeous, and I love the frame you picked out. Simple really does set it off great, what a wonderful finish to finally have Finished and up on your wall.
Sue

Karen said...

It's beautiful Dani! Great framing job, too! :)

claudia said...

That is a gorgeous piece of work!

Anne S said...

I have to agree with you, PT looks absolutely stunning in that plain frame - best framed job I've ever seen of it! Beautiful :D

cathymk said...

Just stunning!! Congratulations Dani!

jymisgurl said...

It's gorgeous! Congrats!

glamlawlib said...

That's truly an heirloom piece, it's stunning. The frame sets it off perfectly. Love yr blog BTW :)

Melissa said...

Dani-your Peacock Tapestry is stunning. You did a beautiful job framing it.

Michelle said...

I am so glad that you finally framed this. You did such a beautiful job stitching it that it deserves to be hung on your wall! Love the frame you chose - just perfect!

Terri said...

Congratulations Dani! Quit the accomplishment getting it stitched and framed :) Happy holidays.

Jenny said...

Congrats on your framing finish! PT looks great! :)

Loretta @ Stitching the Night Away said...

That framing class you took has definitely paid for itself ;)

Congrats on getting PT finally framed!!! *cheers*