Help me please!

[BlueBallsandBaubles]

For the last 7 ish months I have been doing a cross stitch for my nan's 80th birthday (which is in January) and I have gone wrong somewhere (not sure where) some bits are too far in one direction.

I am not really a cross stitcher, I did a few when I was younger (only ever at my nan's as she taught me) and don't know anyone who can help apart from my nan but I don't want to have to ask her as it's her present.

Does anyone have any tips for checking where it has gone wrong? I have counted all of the obvious places but they seem right

[disclaimer] I know nothing about Cross Stitch.

Can you work backwards from the mistake(s) and find out that way?

Doesn't, I was going to try that, then I had a terrifying thought, what if i start to undo it and find that the mistake is at the beginning and pretty much have to start from scratch and then run out of string/thread (whatever it's called)

The mistake may be at the beginning but if you are only a stitch or two out, you'll just end up with the whole thing shifted across wouldn't you? Is there anything important on the edges?

I'm only going by what Ive seen of my mothers cross stitch efforts :)

Well it of two hedgehogs infront of a cottage with a fence, and as it stands somehow the hedgehog is too close to the fence so will be missing half his head

An unusual roadkill cross stitch...?

That would be funny but no, the little hedgehog has flower behind back and grandma hedgehog standing at open door, although you have possibly come up with a new form of art ..... Roadkill art

Unpick the headless hedgehog and move him further forward. It may not be quite the way it should look, but I'm sure your nan will be delighted.

when you started did you take a garish piece of cotton and do a running stitch to bi-sect the fabric... usually the middle and then every 20 spaces, when I am embroidering I tend to use different colours working out from the mid-point and then draw a line in the appropriate colour on the chart. It makes it much easier to count to wear stitches or colours should be.

Oops... that should have been "where the stitches or colours..."

How much of it is in the wrong place? I'd be tempted to finish the hedgehog and lose a bit of the fence if you have to, but this might not be practical, depends on the design. What is the name of the design, and who makes it? Or, is there a link where we could see what it SHOULD look like, and are you able to post a pic of what you've done, so we can maybe see how best to proceed?

I've done a fair bit of cross stitch, including rescuing someone else's work where she had done the same as you have.