Cross-stitch: Norwegian motif - my best one yet!

"Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. 

Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery. "

~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Cross-stitch.. that lovely needlework technique which I am passionate about.. I can never seem to have enough of it.

And here is one fantastic piece, my best one yet!  



I took more than 3 months to complete this one !! 




The pattern is a Norwegian/ Scandinavian one, and while the original design was in black on white aida, I chose a maroon silk thread on a cream/offwhite colored aida for this piece.

The pattern consists of bands of back stitch and cross-stitch motifs.

The middle band is the most complicated one and takes the longest to finish.

The other two prominent bands consist of rows of Scandinavian style flowers/snowflakes.