Hardanger tablecloth started

When I wrote about this tablecloth I mentioned I had some more red fabric. Well, to be concise I ordered 10m of it once. For the tablecloth I used 2,5m, which means I still have quite a lot of it. Recently, I started doing another 2,5m tablecloth - this time I wanted to have some border embroidered and this is what I'm working at now. It looks quite nice. I don't know what to embroider in the center of it, yet. Probably, I'll use these stitches as well, so the center matches the border.

Last week, we had a warm, sunny weather - almost summer one. So, I thought it would be good idea to stitch outside. Well, it turned out I didn't do much but I managed to lose the needle somewhere in the grass. The good side of it is that I took these photos, which is - I think - enough compensation for the lost tool.

I realize it looks boring to see new posts that look like the old ones - red fabric, red thread, red tablecloth. But I have some plans to start learning long and short embroidery and to show the progress of learning here. Though, knowing my amount of free time that may not happen as soon as I'd wish. Please, please be patient :).

Hardanger tablecloth {completed work}

Finally, I finished Hardanger tablecloth. When I look back in my posts I started doing this one in May, so it took me 1/2 year to make it. The tablecloth measures about 1,3m x 2,4m and it has the embroidery in the centre. As it is so big, the emmbroidery looks tiny, but in fact it required quite a lot of work to finish it.

I have always the same problem with stitching that I think it will be something fast and simple and it turns out quite the opposite. But hey, we're not doing this to make the time records, right? I spent good time working on this one and this is what counts.

I still have this red fabric in my stash, so will make more of such goodies, but this time wil need to think of other pattern. I'm also planning to make some sort of border around the edges.

And I just finished this tablecloth in time to link it to Celebrate Color that finishes this month.

Work in progress

The tablecloth I've been working on for some time is almost on the finish. I have one square left for needle-weaving. The original pattern I wanted to do changed slightly over time. I thought of doing all squares the same with greek cross filling but as I started the first one routine took over and without thinking I did something else. So I was in a way forced to make changes, but still the center square will be with greek cross.

I'm also thinking whether to add some sort of border to the edges of the tablecloth. I wanted to keep it simple so I thought of 3 squares in the middle only but now I'm wondering if to add some more embroidery.

And once it's done I'll have to think of some better photographer than me! This fabric is red, threads are red and I have no idea how to make it look the same on the photo as it is in real.

Mistakes happen

Recently I started new Hardanger embroidery, but a mistake happened. There is a lot of thread counting when you start hardanger, as you have to place the pattern somehow on the fabric. And I did it twice, made sure not to make a mistake...but I did. When I saw what was wrong, I only thought this couldn't go right, how the heck did I count those threads the first time? Here's something for you so you might say - how did she count those threads? The left side is the good one. Those squares should meet right as the navy blue line is. As you can see on the right side they obviously couldn't meet.
But, when you stitch you have to be veeery patient person - so am I. I calmly removed the threads and started all over again. Live.

First Big Hardanger Project

After a couple of small projects that I used mostly as a way to learn Hardanger there's come a time to do something big. Tablecloth 217cm long and 146cm wide. I took the pattern from DMC leaflet, however I modified it a bit. The modification though meant simplifying the pattern, otherwise I'd have to spent ages doing it. Either way, It takes me too much time even when I got rid of some patterns.



All the kloster blocks are done, now it's time to do the part that in my opinion requires the most patience - that is cutting the threads and finishing it with needle weaving. There's many of these little squares that need to be cut out and now I doubt if I finish it by the end of this year. On the other hand, now when I see how this tablecloth will look when it's done I have more and more enthusiasm to finish it as quick as possible. I want to have it on my table finally!


Traditionally Hardanger is made on white fabric with white threads as well. However, once I saw the project with two-coloured threads and it made me feel - this is it. This project is a variation about pale and dark violet. And I recommend to anybody that works with Hardanger to play with two colours as the effects are really nice. So far I've always chosen to do the kloster blocks (thicker thread) with the brighter colour and the insides (thinner thread) with the darker one. Though, maybe it would also be interesting in reverse.