UFOs, Hardanger, and Russian Literature

So, you may remember my goal to take things off of the UFO (UnFinished Object) pile. I have this nasty habit of hating to do “finishing work” on items.  That…and my terrible habit of having several crafting projects going all at the same time.  I do that with books too.  I used to have at least 4 books going at the same time, but as I’ve gotten busier, I try to limit myself to 2: 1 fiction and 1 non-fiction.  That way I can read whatever I’m in the mood for.  Unless it’s a piece of Russian literature, and in that case it belongs in a category of it’s own because they take way too long to read.  Anna Karenina took me 4 years.  I can always depend on it to cure my insomnia.  I owe any sleep that I got in my first and second pregnancy to Anna.

Anyway…back to UFOs.  Yesterday I was doing another sewing lesson with Silje.  More on that later this week.  The point is that I normally alternate between knitting and sewing, and since I’ve been knitting so much lately, all of a sudden the sewing bug has bitten me again.  I’ve actually picked up Silje’s quilt again.  I used to joke when I started it that she would be 8 when I finished it.  Now I’m hoping it’s done by the time she’s 8.  Who knows, maybe it will be a graduation present.  Or wedding.

 

During this whole “back to sewing” phenomenon, I’ve been on a mission ever since we got back from vacation to get this house together already.  We’ve been living here for 3 years? or so and there are pictures that never got hung up.  There are things to be done!  I am nearly done decorating the 3 season porch, and just in time for the seasons we actually use it.  I was thinking that the end tables could use a little cloth or something, and then I remembered that I had started a hardanger short runner a few years back after my mother in law gave me a little pattern book and all the fixings for working the craft after I repeatedly said I wanted to learn how to do it.  (It’s this gorgeous style of Norwegian embroidery.)  I’m so making more hardanger things…someday.  It’s on the list.  Maybe somewhere around number 30 or 40 on the to-do list, but at least it’s on the list.

The whole piece was done except for cutting around the outer edges.  Then it got put in the black hole in my sewing room called the UFO pile, and has now resurfaced after years of being buried in there.  So, yesterday I took out my little embroidery scissors shaped like a birdie, and cut very carefully around the edges while I actually watched a t.v. show.  It’s not perfect, but first attempts at a new craft rarely are, so I won’t beat myself up about it.  I love it, and it works perfectly in the room.

Well, it at least goes with the white, ivory, and green color scheme I have going in the room.  I would prefer it to be against one of the green tablecloths, but it’s the wrong size/shape and I already have things for the centerpiece.  Then again, I think making some pretty hardanger pieces in more of a square shape for the tables in there would just be perfect.  Adding it to the list…

I showed Knut my finished work, and he looked at me in shock and said “when have you had time to do this?”  (I actually spent most of the day cleaning closets and general decluttering/decorating/cleaning of the house these last few days.  Not to mention, I’ve been doing lots of ‘finishing’ on a diaper order due at the end of the week.)  I told him that I actually did it a few years ago, and it was just waiting for me to cut around the edge.  He laughed.  Yep, that’s me.  At any rate, when I was working on it, we weren’t even living in this house, and I had no where to put it in our old house, but knew that once we reached our permanent home I’d have an opportunity to use it.

So there you go.  Look at what I “just” whipped up last night.