Needlework WiP: "VS 4 Elements: Earth" Band 8 set up

This band is cutwork - drawn thread and then embellished hemstitching.   The finicky part of this type of stitch is the set up.   You have to draw out a section of thread and then lace in a replacement thread in the border of the area that you are going to do the hemstitching on.   If you do it right, it looks like the linen was woven with a void in the area you will be embellishing. 

I love doing this type of work and this linen (Cashel) is very nice for this.  The only tricky bit is that the threads in this linen are singles, so they can fray and occasionally will have slubs and thin places.   I've been known to remove a thread or two from the borders to get a replacement thread that doesn't have any issues, but this time, all four of the threads that were withdrawn and rewoven worked perfectly without any issues.   On to the hemstitching!