There are times when I think I really should rouse myself from my photo-taking lethargy and aspire to be of those Really Awesome Bloggers who knows how to stage every photo perfectly, with the embroidery perfectly situated in a perfect setting, perfectly finished and perfectly perfect.

Instead, I usually grab my needlework finishes in pictures at about the moment of finishing. It’s the excitement, the relief of reaching the end of a project, I suppose.

With the Hungarian Redwork Runner, I had dreams of setting a beautiful table, replete with flower arrangements, candles, good dishes, and – down the middle in all its redwork glory – the Hungarian Redwork Runner, starched and pressed and pristine.

Instead, I draped the piece over my trestles with a bunch of other projects and snapped some shots. Then I flung it on a piece of furniture and snapped some shots.

And that’s what you get today!

I started this particular piece back in the fall of 2012. I called it the Hungarian Redwork Runner, although it isn’t properly Hungarian redwork. The design is Hungarian in origin and the Hungarian braided chain stitch is heavily featured in it.

From the beginning, it was a grab-and-go project, the kind of needlework project I could take with me if I were going anywhere, and that I could grab and add a few stitches to here and there, whenever time allowed or the inclination struck.

The project began with this embroidery pattern, which I altered into this embroidery pattern, which I further altered into this embroidery pattern, which is the one I used.

You can find all the details about the supplies and stitches used in the Hungarian Redwork Runner Project Index.

It’s really a pretty “basic” project as far as stitches are concerned – there are only two in the embroidery part of the project – and there are only two types of thread used.

The whole thing was worked in hand, without a hoop or frame, which made it easier for transporting about hither and yon.

The runner is finished with a regular hemstitched hem worked on an area of five threads withdrawn from the fabric and hemstitched on both sides of the withdrawn threads. There’s only an inch wide hem around the whole piece.

Here it is, laid out on a chest of drawers so you can at least see it all in one shot (more or less).

Before it’s used, it’ll benefit from a good pressing to eliminate the ripples and wrinkles from holding it while stitching the hem.

It will not benefit from further association with that cheesy red vase…(sorry, Mom!)

Some time, in the future, when the occasion demands, it’ll end up on a decked-out table, and I will take some pretty pictures of it. Christmas sounds pretty good!

In the meantime, though, you know it’s finished. The shirking is over. The deed is done.

A special thanks – very much! – to Mike Parr, who provided the original designs from Lilly’s Legacy, which you can read all about here. You can find the rest of the Hungarian designs in this series available here.