A little satin stitched leaf

The Royal Persian Blossom project has quite a few satin stitched leaves with stem stitch veins running up the center.  The first four turned out really well so today I'll show you how I stitched them.Some of you will remember my first failed attempt at satin stitch flower petals. I had decided that since the petals were so small I didn't need to outline or pad them. Wrong - O! Satin stitch just lays better if the shape is first outlined and then padded, especially if one is using thread finer than wool.This time I was reluctant to pad the leaf since I needed to work a vein up the middle and didn't want to stitch through all those layers. I started by outlining each leaf with split stitch - the usual way to begin when working satin stitch.I then started at the top point of the leaf and put in three stitches; one in the center going down to the top of the line for the stem and one on either side, just next to the line for the vein. Then I alternated straight stitches, working one on the left, then one on the right, then the left and so on, always taking my needle down just next to the line for the vein.As I moved down the leaf shape, I crowded my stitch a bit next to the vein so that the angle of the stitch could change to reflect the curve of the leaf.When I came to the part of the leaf that is quite curved, I put in short stitches that were slightly tucked under the previous stitch to help change direction.I did one of these short stitches on each side and then did a long stitch going again right up next to the vein line. I continued to work this way as I progressed around the fat curves at the bottom of the leaf.When I reached the very bottom, the final stitches were quite short and tucked under the previous stitch a bit so that there were no gaps in the satin stitch.Lastly I put in the stem stitch, working from the bottom of the leaf to the top. I didn't pad the shape but it worked fine. Since the wool thread has quite a bit of luft (air in the spin) and is "fatter" than silk or even cotton, it didn't need padding. There are 8 more leaves to do so I'm really pleased this technique worked so well!Do you have any tips of tricks for satin stitch in combination with stem stitch? Or any other stitch?