First I made the shell of the turtle. I started with 5 rows of
Square Stitch. You can also use a variation called Stack Stitch. For this project, you would work 10 rows of Stack Stitch, consisting of a set of 5 beads, stacked against the next row. If you use this stitch, you will be working the rows from side to side. The beading is then switched to
Brick Stitch for the remaining rows. You can also use
Square Stitch and do the 5 central rows lengthwise instead, if you are more comfortable with that.