Short Stitch holding, Wedding Ring Pillow

I did the temporary holding stitch, at 1 cm intervals, and finished the Short Stitch Holding (SSH) for the blue section. I was not able to maintain a consistent angle, so for the light brown section I decided to establish the angle using temporary guidelines that the SSH will follow. I'm using Clover Size 50 silk thread for the SSH, and to thin it out, I'm removing one of the 3 strands.

A concurrent project I'm starting is a Wedding Ring Pillow for my son's wedding next April. I had some problem getting started with the design, so I made a first attempt that was used as a starting point for discussion. The ground is dupioni silk, with spider roses, stitched leaves and french knots and beads. I initially added some crystals that turned out to be too much; the color is also too white. 

The next version should be reasonably close to the final piece. The design was made using a compass, with bubbles representing the motifs. I will make one more prototype before finalizing with silk threads and ribbons. The font will be the same as the wedding invitation (which hasn't been decided yet).