I spent the whole day today focussing on filling in half of the large (very large) leaf. First I outlined part of the leaf in slip stitch, keeping it just on the painted design edge. Then you begin long and short starting your stitch inside the leaf and plunging behind the split stitches.
There are no other stitches to learn – you simple continue going row on row following on from your initial long and short stitches. The only difference is that after the first row the new stitches are always brought up in the previous stitches and the needle plunged into clean fabric.. Progress is very slow and by the end of the day every green thread on my canvas looked exactly the same! After a days stitching this is where my piece is at…
Apparently tomorrow I can work on the other half of the leaf – yay, more green! I have to admit I am a little jealous of some of the other students pieces of work – particularly those with lots of vibrant colour!
Happy stitching everyone.
sweetfallenangels 
It may seem slow but it’s going to be beautiful! Lovely stitching 🙂
Thank you.
My advice – The dark darks will be your best friends on this piece. They are what will give you the’3d’ look that creates the realism. Be brave and go dark where appropriate! It’s looking good!
I think it looks wonderful so far! Hang in, the color will come!
I second Sally’s comments about darks. It’s easy to lose your nerve with really dark darks, but they are really important.
I think you need a bit of distance and then to look again and see the picture as a whole and not just the cm you are working on.
Wonderful subject and really lovely stitching. It’s a really interesting piece.
Thank you so much.