Wow, you're almost done! That's so exciting!

That's so cool! I'm pleased to read more of the story behind this, I follow you on Instagram. :) Honestly, if you hadn't pointed out the less than centering of the first motif, I wouldn't have noticed it. Actually, I don't think I do notice it. Are you going to line the linen, since there are holes? How do you plan to deal with that and the pillow insert? Enjoy the stitching!

After being too tired to stitch all week, I finally finished the last blue cross tonight, filled in three of them with yellow, and got a bit antsy. Started my (modified) border to see how it would look. I think I would prefer it with the red on the inside closest to the blue crosses, but it would mess up the rest of the pattern if I changed it, and it's fine enough to me as it is. I look forward to being finished with this! It was very fun for a beginner to linen, but I did get a bit weary of making blue crosses. Looking forward to planning my next project...

Thanks very much. I figured removing the serged thread was the un-lazy answer, but wanted to be sure. :)

I love the border! How exactly do you neat stitchers make the backside so uniform? My work is all over the place, I can't seem to settle on going simply from left to right. My impulse is to use up the entire length of floss I've cut, and that leads to a funky looking back. TIA! :)

Could you list the weight of the hardwood hoops in oz or grams? I've been finding that my hands fatigue, and am interested in the hoops, but probably not if they're heavier than what I've already got. Thank you!

Well, heck, I love your version of Sorry We're Dead!

Thank you for the compliment and the encouragement!

Thanks for the encouragement!

Very inspiring to see it finished! This is on my to-stitch list. It's so adorbs.

Thank you for clarifying!

You know, the lovely thing is, I have no idea what errors you made, and it is a lovely looking piece. :)

So pretty! Forgive me since I'm new in town, if you already posted what fabric you're using... what fabric are you stitching on?

Hopefully you have figured something out that works for you. I am a total beginner but I have already noticed what a few people have said, that figuring out the best path to stitch is an exercise in logic. I noticed this right away and I really liked it. I personally have taken all of the advice that the basic kit instructions say (various manufacturers), and I begin to stitch from the middle of the design (found by folding the fabric in half one way and then in half the other way), because if you start from the center of the design and work outward from there, it's very easy to count, and your design is centered. Once the design is centered, I think it is easy to decide what elements to work on and what path to take in your stitching, because you have to make a decision based on the length of your thread. If you want to do all of your left to right stitches before you cross them with your right to left stitches, then that informs the path you stitch, whereas if you decide that you want to work your length of thread into as many completed Xs as possible, then your stitching path will be a bit different, and shorter. I certainly am looking at my pattern and deciding on the path I want to stitch before I stitch it. I am all for completing as much of the pattern in one area with one color before switching the color. Based on a quick glance at the photo for this pattern, I would have started in the center, and then gone from there, most likely completing sections of the bands (gold, then teal, then gold, then teal, and so on) from center to top, and then from center to bottom, before moving onto the red diamonds. Then I would have stitched the red diamond outline in its entirety before moving onto the next red diamond outline (doing the little green line first) and so forth, from center to top and then center to bottom. Then I would have filled in the diamonds in the same pattern of movement, and then I would be back to stitching the bands of gold and teal. Hope that makes sense and helps either for this project or your next one, or that you've already figured it out for yourself. You can always start something new and then go back to it with fresh eyes and more experience and practice. :)

Wow, that's so beautiful and amazing!