Botanical Sketches in stitch - update

Ooh yes! I've made it before November sneaks in. (Whaaa November already??)
I'm very pleased to say I've managed to keep up my 'challenge' of stitching a botanical sketch each week (though that could all change as I've one day to go and I've still to do this weeks one.. aherm).
I thought it would be nice to gather the little sketches that have been stitched so far in one place (and help keep me motivated!).

Rowan

Oak Wand

Conker ( from Horse Chestnut )

Fern

I've discovered a few things through doing these stitched sketches so far. I know that stitching is sloooooow, but it can become almost painful when a simple line that would take milli-seconds to sketch takes several minutes. It's fine if i'm not working within a time constraint,but to make this challenge do-able my aim was to fit the sketch in an hour. I didn't manage that on any of these pieces except the oak wand,the longest being the fern which took me 3 hours. 

I took some photos while stitching the fern, which you can see below. The photos are not the greatest as it was evening time (I was sitting on the sofa watching a film). You can see the running stitch which I use as a quick way to stitch the shape of the line and work from, as it's all free hand stitched.

I'd like to make my stitches more loose, and I miss using colour.

I'm going to play and see how I can add some colour to the mix and still keep things 'quick' and sketchy. I shall be back with more soon :)

Have a lovely weekend xx