Frustration

I'me very busy trying to draft a pattern for quilting a hand  embroidered tablecloth I bought at the thrift store for $1.00.  This is meant to be a practice piece, as I have a beautifully hand embroidered, fine linen tablecloth that I received as a wedding gift many, many years ago, that I would like to preserve in some way.  So far, I've found that the embroidered motifs, with the thrift store piece, are not well spaced to over the surface, making any sort of cohesive design difficult.  I had anticipated running into issues with this project, which explains the need for a practice piece.  I've also found that the fabric used in these pieces can make of break them. I had thought this might have been a coarse linen, but it behaves more like real cheap cotton, shifting and moving while I'm trying to work with it.  I had never considered stabilizing it, and probably wouldn't have, had I thought of it.  I'm now at the marking phase of the project, and have discovered that I'm still having to compensate, as I go along.  This wasn't entirely unexpected, and the design overall, took this into consideration. I just hadn't anticipated the degree to which it would become an issue.

I shall persevere.