Embroidered felt Autumn leaves

I'm busy looking for crafts to work my way through my felt stash, and I decided that as the weather is slowly beginning to turn somewhat autumnal that I would make some embroidered felt leaves for some Autumn decoration. This is also the first of my ten craft projects that I want to complete by the end of the year.

At first I was going to make something similar to my felt heart garland using smaller leaves, but I couldn't face all that cutting out, especially because leaves are so intricate! So I made some larger leaves to display in a bowl on the fireplace, and embellished them with embroidery and tiny beads. Each one measures about 10cm in height.

I was greatly inspired by a couple of designs that I found online. First were these gorgeous Felt Fall Leaf Ornaments with a digital pattern available to purchase on Etsy. Mine aren't nearly as beautiful as these, they are just perfect! Secondly these Embroidered Felt Oak Leaf Brooches from the brilliant Bugs and Fishes, which has a detailed tutorial and pattern for the oak leaves. For my leaf patterns I searched for leaf outlines and traced them from my computer screen. 

I did all the embroidery freehand so they aren't very neat or symmetrical, but I like to think that they have a rustic feel to them! I tried to use a mixture of colours in the felt and the embroidery thread and each one is backed with a piece of grey felt. I had a lot of fun making these and I really like having them out on display.