Phase 1: The Final Elements on the Bamboo Stalk

After I had couched down enough katayori for the bamboo stalk to allow me to finish the background elements, I started working on those. Since my last phase 1 post, I still had one more set of bamboo leaves, one plum blossom, and one bunch of pine needles to finish. I started with the bamboo leaves, stitching them in 1.5F without padding (because it's so hidden in the background):

That far right leaf gave me a lot of trouble. I redid it twice, and I'm still not fully satisfied with it, but I have accepted that this is the best I can do right now. The space is so small that I just can't get the angle of the stitches to look right, no matter how I place them. But I was better pleased with the other leaves:

Those look pretty good to me, and I think my one-point open space is pretty good overall. There is one stitch that is not quite right on the second from the left leaf, but I don't think it bothers me enough to take it all out. If it does, I can always redo it later. 

While working on this leaf, the most shocking thing happened. I broke my number 5 handmade needle:

It just suddenly snapped in half. I suppose I must have been putting too much pressure on it, but I've never broken a needle in my life before now. I believe there is some Japanese festival associated with broken needles, so now I will have one to contribute. 😂 Hopefully it's a good omen. I could use one in 2021.

Anyway, with the bamboo leaves done, I could finally move on to that plum blossom behind it:

That lower right petal also gave me some grief and I redid most of the stitches numerous times. It's just tricky to fill in half-covered spaces and keep the stitching angle consistent. But I think it looks pretty good overall.

The very last element on this stalk (besides the stalk itself) was this little clump of pine needles on the right:

I did fewer purely gold pine needles on this one and mixed 0.5F of the green silk with one strand of the gold for several pine needles to make the transition more subtle. I like it very much and think it works quite well for this lower part of the bamboo stalk.

Here's everything I've completed so far:

I think it's coming along beautifully. I'm really pleased with the colors. I'm still unsure whether I should replace the middle gold bamboo leaves and make them green instead. I'll think about it a bit more and see what Mary Alice recommends.