I worked two more leaves trying to incorporate y’alls suggestions and hints from the introductory post on this needlepainted flower (it’s also now listed on my Projects page).
As you can see in the close up photo of my new leaves, I’ve tried to work the colors much deeper into each other this time. After I worked the top leaf I realized that the illustration didn’t match my shading. They should be shaded light-to-dark not just from the outside leaf inwards, but also from the tip to the base of the leaf. So I tried to incorporate that into the last leaf.
For comparison, here is a photo of the first two leaves I worked (and I just noticed I forgot a line of split stitch on one of the branches). I’m learning a lot! Good thing there’s so many leaves.
Do y’all have any more critiques/suggestions for improvement? I have two more leaves to go! (Ignore the rosebud, I need to restart that one.)
embroidery for ducks 
You are doing brilliantly! The bottom leaf has some beautiful blending and shading in it.
Varying the start points of your stitches even more will soften the colour changes. Some stitches in your third or fourth shades can extend right back into the first shade here and there.
thank you!
The lower leaf in your first photo is just perfect IMHO, and there’s a noticeable difference between the leaves in the first and second photos. Like you said, Deeeeeep.
What stitch/thread did you use to get such raised stems?
It’s DMC floss and split stitch. I think it just looks raised due to the extreme close up nature of the photo.
Given that you are embroidering very small leaves with a relatively thick thread I think you are doing brilliantly. To get really naturalistic results you need to use a very thin thread and several subtly gradated shades of the one colour. I tend to embroider using silk thread that can be split down to a very fine thread and also dye my own threads so that I can have a palette that exactly matches my vision. This is not an option open to everyone and DMC certainly provides a large range of colours from which to choose. It’s just a matter of very careful thread collection. Keep stitching. Improvements come every day and the joy and meditation of stitching is food for the soul.
PS I enjoy your blog immensely. It is written with such a genuine enthusiasm that it is hard not to be infected by it. Congrats.
glad you like my blog! I have sent you an email.
You’re making great progress. The only thing I would suggest is to spend some time looking at leaves in different lights, to see how the tones change. That will help you create the effects you want in stitching.
yeah, i find past classes in drawing are helping a lot. But I’m a little rusty, so I probably could use a refresher 🙂