With My Needle Quaker Hornbook Progress

I joined Stitcher's Hideaway's With My Needle Quaker Hornbook stitch a long...it's been a while since I've stitched last, so this is the perfect little project to get going again...
I've been using a magnifier to help with the 36 count Vintage Examplar fabric...and for the thread, I'm using Cresent Colours Hand dyed floss in Tartan Plaid...I found the listed Malady's Teal to be not cheerful enough with its gray instead of the blue tone I was expecting, so switched it out.
After stitching, the finished piece is to be adhered to the above hornbook which has holes along the side for the stitcher to store floss or thread on.
The alphabet is done with one strand of floss over one thread of the fabric, while the motif to the right is done with one strand of floss over two threads of the fabric. At 36 threads per inch, it's pretty small, but I have my magnifier and my petite needles.

So far, so good, except for when I first basted around the edge of the piece with the red thread...I thought it was going to be a consistent four over four, but in some spots it was three, while in still others it was five! Oops! So had a false start, but glad I did the basting since it helps with the placement of the design's stitches.

I'm happy to join this stitch a long!! It helps to motivate me...and keeps me on track!