Kona cotton (pre washed) is what I used too. Except I used a full width of the fabric, marked off the squares, pt a dot at the middle of each square with a washaway marker and just kept moving the hoop forward? Saved alot of fabric and stabilizer. You did a great job! Have you washed it yet. Would be interest how the embroidery looks using the fusible interfacing. Hope to figure out how to post a picture of mine. Its not trimed or bound yet and orobably wont be gor awhile. Actually Im not going to use a traditional binding but rather a facing.