There is only white fabric. You stitch the rest of the background.
Diane

This appears to be quite a complex pattern. If I counted right there are 53 floss colors,at least two borders and lots of back stitch. That aside, it is a beautiful project and would be worth the time and effort, if you feel up to the challenge.

This is a lovely piece of cross stitch by the color that appear on it. I am going to give you a secret which I didn t know about before I started. You start from the middle of the fabric. fold the fabric like a napking and the middle is the inside corner. So you tarted from there on the pattern there is alway a small arrow from up and down around the edge of the pattern. Follow both of them up and down and there they will meet and this is the start corner. U can follow a lot of informations from you tube too. It will teach you all about that hobby from A to Z. Good luck.

Not sure she's a newbie, just not sure what she's seeing in the photo... 😊