Getting sick of stem stitch

I've moved on a bit with the Water Violets and fish design, but still wading through all the copious stem stitch on the underwater fronds! Still plenty to go.... I'm hoping that I can get most of this design done within the next week as it's the main wedding gift from one couple to the other and is also the simpler to work. Slightly depressing that a few commenters liked this design and didn't say my own was nice. Sigh. Still Ms Stevens has considerably more experience and knowledge of nature than me, so I can't expect too much more!!=)

As many will know (and be experiencing themselves), winter has hit here. It's pretty unusual for snow to start in November. In fact, it's only the last 2 years that we've really had old-fashioned winters again in the UK - the last I remember was when I was about 15 in 1986/7. These were taken through our living room window about 5 minutes apart this morning. Snow was actually falling in the first shot, but not enough to show up. Good studying and embroidery weather!! Glad we did the shopping on Monday and that we don't have to go out until tomorrow evening. There is an advantage to not having got work yet!!=)