Royal Persian Blossom

I have mixed feelings about finishing the Royal Persian Blossom project. The overwhelming emotion is pride and a close second is amazement; pride that I finished it in a reasonable amount of time and astonishment that I stitched something that was rather difficult.The first post about this piece went on to the site on August 10, 2011. I must have started stitching not long after that date so the whole piece took just under 7 months. Of course, I didn't work solely on the Royal Persian Blossom piece for all that time. I did stitch a little every week and some weeks quite a lot.Looking back at the all the different parts of the piece, I think my favorite parts were the long and short shading. There was a lot of long and short shading in this piece but each area required a slightly different approach. By the time the entire thing was finished, I felt confident that I could work just about any space in long and short shading.The first challenge in the Royal Persian Blossom was the bottom of the spray stem and the leaf, both below. The curves and the direction of the stitches made it tricky. Working in that tight curved area was tough and I remember that I had to do it twice.By the time I came to the last small bits of long and short shading on the anthers, I knew how to proceed for the best results. I stitched the lightest gold parts first, then came up through the lightest gold part with the medium gold and finally up through the medium with the darkest gold.The Heathway wool has been a complete dream to work with. I love the colors - especially the Old Gold - it just glows in the sunlight. I like the finer texture of the Heathway wool and I'm pleased to say my estimate on how much I would use came in just about right. I have some left, but that's a good thing,right?Quite a few embroiderers have mentioned here and on other sites that they would work this piece in different color combinations. I'd love to see the design stitched in other colors.Now I must decide what to do with it: a pillow or framed? Right now it's still on the slate frame, standing in my workspace, covered during the day to protect it from any dust. I remove the cover in the evening when I get home so I can just look at it as I work. Sometimes it catches me by surprise and I think to myself "I did that? Really?"To everyone who gave me tips and encouragement along the way, thank you! It was a collaborative effort!