SBQ: Rules
Well, in my attempt to answer one of these a day, here’s the next one. I’m really enjoying answering these questions, actually!
Do you have rules in the way you stitch? (i.e., Do you start in the middle? Do you determine which blocks to stitch first? Do you always start from the top or the bottom? Do you have special paths to prevent wasting thread?)
I always, always, always start at the centre of my piece. Sometimes I’ll find the centre and count out a ways to start at the top of where a colour starts, but that’s really as crazy as I go. I also generally always stitch all of one colour before switching to a new one. I like the feeling of being able to mark off one colour as completely done before moving onto another. If it’s a huge piece I’m working on (like Alluring, for example) sometimes I’ll finish one part — like the bottom of her robe — and finish all the colours in that before moving onto another section.
I’ve never actually stitched anything really large, so I’ve never had to choose what page to start on, or anything like that. I imagine I might just start at the top left and work from there, but I’d have to know I had a lot of breathing room for framing space and all that before I trusted myself enough to try it like that. Really, though, I don’t have any hard and fast rules. I stitch the way that makes sense to me.