Heavy Chain Stitch: Poppies

I found the pattern for this Poppy embroidery piece in one of the old Embroidery binders that my Mum picked up for me from an Op Shop a few months ago. I finally took some time to look through them, and thought this looked like a challenge. It was originally for a set of place mats and napkins for the table, but seriously this took me so long and I only made one, I cannot imagine doing this 12 times over.

The entire pattern is stitched using the "Heavy Chain Stitch" which looks like this
This was my very first attempt at this stitch, but I think it looks so great. It is so much bolder than many of the other stitches I have tried, and it gives the design more definition and fullness. I think I will be using this stitch a lot from now on. If you are into embroidery you should definitely give this stitch a shot, it is actually pretty easy!