Outlander Ensemble: Stomacher Embroidery Update

Trying to get good photos of anything in my sewing room always proves to be impossible... Anyways, here is my progress on my embroidered stomacher so far for my planned Outlander ensemble. I had forgotten how long embroidery takes, which has been trying my patience, but I really enjoy the actual process of embroidering so that makes up for the time suck of it all.

The first of the big leaves is finished. I used chain stitch for both the outline and to fill in the shape with gradated shades of green. The swirling stems of the leaves are all done in chain stitch too. The smaller leaves are outlined in split stitch (similar in look to chain stitch) and the filled in with long and short stitch to shade them. I'm not exactly sure how I want to fill in the thistles yet. I know I'll just use long stitches for the purple "fluff" part of the flowers, but I think I'll try some sort of padded laid work for the round bulb bit of each flower. I'd love to add a few spangles (aka sequins) somewhere too but we shall see.

Seeing as we are having a snowy week here in Colorado, cozying up with a mug of coffee, QI on the ol' laptop, and my embroidery sounds like just about the perfect way to spend an hour :)