Wrong to right - whew!
This looks better, doesn't it? Allowing for the different color of wool I've chosen, it's more like the photo of the original.
My work is above, the original is below. You can see the difference the thickness of the yarn makes in the final look of the stitching. Heathway yarn is a finer spin so the stitching is more delicate.
What helped me most was seeing the shape differently from how I first looked at it. It's a leaf that's been folder over and curled under slightly. It also helped to blend the colors more - speckled - so the division wasn't so stark. Your feedback helped me - thank you! This whole section is the part of the design I like the least, but now I'm happy with it and can move on. Whew!
The little leaf that's on the top is long and narrow and also needs to look folded over. The stitch direction and shading on this was more clear so I didn't have such a struggle to get it right. The split stitch that I used to outline the shape before beginning the long and short shading is done is two different shades of yarn: darker on the top edge and lighter on the bottom. The bottom edge of the leaf is shaded using random stitches of the very lightest blue and I didn't want any dark thread showing through.
As I was working on the bottom leaf, Steve mentioned to me that he thought it would look better when the whole area was finished. Looking at the photo below, I can see that he was right. In context the shading works just fine. And the light blue random stitches add a bit of "light" to the bottom edge of the narrow leaf. It's a great use of color that I wouldn't have thought to do.
The last part of this section was the trellis work, which I just love doing. It's worked in two colors - one light fawn and a dark shade of blue. Thinking through where the lines of the grids should go in the little open are on the top right of the shape was fun, a bit like a puzzle. The final tough was adding the stem stitch on the outside edge.
Now it was time to stand back and survey my work from a distance. It's a lot of stitching, but, as you can see, the piece is still far from done. This really is just the far right branch in the design and the bulk of the work is still left to do. I'm glad about that, though. I really enjoying embroidering this design and can't wait to get back to work! Thank goodness it's the weekend!