One of the many things I had forgotten about cross stitch is that when you are done you are supposed to stitch around the finished sections in order to outline them. This helps define the various sections of the stitching and sort of makes them pop out. Normally, you do this at the very end I believe, but I wanted to see some progress so went ahead and stitched around the sides of the skirt as well as the bow on either side of the skirt. Before doing this, especially since some of the thread is white (yes white thread on white cloth), I had a hard time seeing what I had actually done so far. This helped define the areas I had completed and gave me the push to move on stitching the design. Now, I’m moving up to start stitching her shirt.