Started as part of the #quietqueerscraftalong being run by @knitboop on Instagram. I'm so happy I joined in, this was such a delight to work on!
I bought this as a kit from Junebug & Darlin', and was very happy with the kit purchase and pattern. The only complaints are I could have used a little more guidance on the backstitching (as it's not something I've done before), and I found the thread that came with the kit (which I used for some of the greenery) was cut way shorter than I'd like, so I was constantly forced to rethread earlier than desired. Otherwise a really well written pattern, easy enough to follow (though perhaps the legend used for the pattern could have used a bit more contrast between stitch and colour notation - a few times I had used the wrong colour simply because they weren't differentiated that well on the pattern, I needed to squint and have good lighting to see which was which), and the kit itself is very nice quality and packaged nicely with recyclable or reusable packaging.
I learned that I still LOVE cross stitch (had to pace myself and not hurt my joints!), but hate backstitch and hate doing the french knots as much as I love how they look! I have a feeling this won't be my last, as it's been so nice having a project I can do anywhere - I've worked on it at home and at the hospital during my day-long infusions, when my IV isn't in a spot that prevents me using my hands. (I really missed this not being able to knit much - the cross stitch was so much easier on my joints!)
Aside: I had a bunch of Cosmo embroidery thread in my stash and used that for most of the project, and using it side by side with the couple colours of DMC that came with the kit, I could really tell the difference - the Cosmo is SO MUCH nicer! Much silkier, has a nicer sheen and less fluff, and generally sews a bit more smoothly. Will definitely stick with the Cosmo if I ever need to buy more. (I got it from The Workroom in Toronto via mail order.)
Also, my saving grace was finding some silicone needle grippers, which I wore on my three main fingers on my dominant hand - I have neuropathy in my fingers and previous hand sewing has been impossibly painful, but the needle grippers made such a difference! I found them via a shop on Etsy - just search "needle gripper".
I used a different set of colours for the flowers from my embroidery floss stash to make it in pinks that remind me of some gorgeous peonies I had a bouquet of last year. (Individual thread colours used can be found in sidebar.)
I also made some small modifications to the colour and placement of stitches for the greenery (for botanical accuracy, and then on the larger leaves because I had some white gaps after outlining), and left out the leaf veins as they didn't look great over the colour I used.