Cross stitch rug?

This is cross stitch, right? Any ideas on what the person behind the needle is replicating? It looks like something vaguely familiar with the flowers/plant life.

Also was it common for these to turn out in this shape? Like not a perfect rectangle, kind of on an angle? Photo of the green piece was pulled of web and shows same shape. Seems like a mistake?

 

It reminds me of the old stickers, Glanzbilder in German. They were popular in the fifties or sixties or so. This looks way older to me so maybe the stickers were replicating an earlier trend. The ones in the screenshot are called Blumenelfen, flower fairies in English. Weren’t fairies so popular in late 19th century that a fairy hoax was taken for real in England?

 

Needlepoint, not cross stitch.

Debora

 

I think you mean the early 20th century faked photos of the "Cottingley Fairies". It was a fun project by two girls:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies

 

Yes, that one! I thought it was earlier since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was deceived by it & he’d been dabbling wit spiritualism etc since the late 19th C.

 

They appear to be flower maidens. I see carnation, iris, rose, tulip... And is that a lily? Dunno what the yellow one is; hard to see.

Debora

 

The yellow-orange one in the top row might a day lily or a tiger lily. The blue one in the middle of the top row— a bluebell? The yellow one in the middle of the second row —tulip?

 

I saw a tulip. But think you're right re bluebell.

Debora

 

As Debora said, simple needlepoint rather than cross stitch. Because all of the stitches are worked in the same direction it tends to skew the canvas, particularly on a larger piece such as this.

 

It needs to be re-blocked:

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/block-needlepoint-canvas-with-ease-2479370

 

These needlepoint kits were a "thing" in the USA just after WWII. The lady of the house made them as cushion or pillow covers while listening to the radio or later watching a TV show.

 

This one's European and a bit earlier, I'd think.

Debora