Trevelyon's Gold Cap - First Stem!

I'm sure you've all noticed I haven't been around for a while. We traveled to the USA for our annual trip to see family and friends. It was w.o.n.d.e.r.f.u.l. I had 4 weeks of being immersed in the love of my family.  Although I left with my laptop and good intentions, in the end it was more important to spend every minute with family - not to mention that I got just about zero stitching done while I was thereWe've returned home now and I'm "back in the groove"! I missed stitching and time to "uberleg".  (If you don't know about this, go to the home page and scroll down until you get to the part of the page with black background. Read "Uberlegen"The leaves of Trevelyon's Gold Cap are all finished, filled in with various chip work, laid purl or seeding. Now I'll  be adding the stems. Usually I would do this in reverse order - stems first, then chip work etc. Second because the stems, which are laid passing thread and twists, are far less likely to be damaged than the chip work or couched purl threads. However, since this is the prototype and I was impatient to see how my choices for filling the leaves would look, I did things in the reverse order!Above is a photo of the passing thread which has been couched down using waxed gold silk towards the top of the design. I made the decision to overlap the passing thread, rather than go under the fabric at the points where the design crosses. I think it works really well!Almost all of the rest of the stems will be done in a twist from a supplier in the UK called Golden Hinde. The thread is called Antique Twist and consists of two strands of black and one of gold. For the center stem I used a length of Grecian Twist in the middle and a piece of Antique Twist on either side. It gives the design a solid center and accentuates the vertical line of the whole design.Most of the stems you can see in the photo above will be embroidered using the Antique Twist, except for the curlicues at the bottom of the design. Those will be gold passing thread again.It's coming along nicely but, I must say, I'm dreading all the plunging and tying off on the back that the rest of the stems will entail!