I’m traveling, y’all, that’s why my posting is off schedule.
I resolved my trunk color debate: I am keeping the gray tones (dark, medium, light), but I switched to a darker gray for the shaded side of the trunk. I think the darker color on the left side of the trunk is a real improvement. I added the pink and purple flower on the lower left, too.
Now I have a new color decision to make. See the flower clusters with the petals done in buttonhole stitch with tan floss? I’m debating what color to make the top. I started with dark reddish-brown in satin stitch, but I’m not sure I like that. I could use dark ochre (the next photo). Or the orange color I used earlier. Or the brown in the last photo. Or some other color entirely! I could also replace the tan petals with another color, but I’d prefer not to pull stitches out. What do y’all think? Ideas?
embroidery for ducks 
Actually, I like the reddish brown the best, but then I would go with the brown. The ochre and tan seem, to me, too similar to the existing petals. The whole piece has so many contrasts in the individual flowers I would think you would like to keep it that way.
Ditto!
I wonder if part of the problem with the color choice for that flower is partly due to the fact that the flower to the right and above it, is worked in the same browns also. I know that you don’t want to unstitch, but I wonder if you need to put more color in that portion of the design. This portion of the design has an emphasis on naturals/neutrals due to the gray on the tree trunk. The rest of the design is worked in more “colorful” colors. You could include these colors up in this portion of the design by working this motif in one of the color families used elsewhere in the design.
Hannah,
Fabric colour look different in each picture..I think first and second pics shows the real colour of the fabric..to me brown in the last picture suits best..
You need to keep up the counterchanging of colours, so I would go for the brown, or maybe a mid-to-dark green. Lakshmi is right, the different ambient colours in the four photos make it hard for us to advise you!
Yes, well, I had so much trouble getting the lighting right I eventually gave up and said these photos will just have to do 🙂
Looking at the photos the one thing I notice right away is how colorful your piece is the tan color either needs to go or stitch over it with some yellow and then the orange will look perfect.
That darker grey line in the trunk is great! It stops the trunk from receding into the background so much.
I personally like the golden brown for the cluster flowers (different to everyone else).
I think it will cause the surounding flowers (in blue/purple and green) and the red flower tops to ‘pop’, whilst tying in the flowers to the trunk a little because, although they are totally different hues, they have a similar tone. (ie different colours, but same sort of level of shade). Then again, I am looking at a computer screen.
Since The UnBroken Thread mentioned her love of colour cards, suddenly I need colour cards for all the threads I use! Picking colours from computer monitors is so hard!