Ta da! The finished inset applique piece. Complete with insertion stitch between all the felt squares, the top green bar of goldwork leaves, and the twig hanger...painted gold folks.

This piece incorporates a number of different techniques. 

• First, the leaf shapes in the squares were cut out of both background and green felt.  The green felt was put into place with a sheer curtain fabric behind as a foundation to sew on.  This is called inset applique. 
• I sewed the two sections together with embroidery floss and then surface embroidered the veins. 
• Then I applied Japan gold around the edges of the squares with couching stitch done in silk thread. 
• Next it was time to do some quilting following the contours of the leaves.  I did this in silk and rayon threads. 
• Then it was time to add beads. 
• After sewing on the beads I carefully cut the sheer backing apart.  Up until that time, all four squares were on one piece of cloth.  I cut the backing, folded the edges under and neatly stitched them in place. 
• Then I connected the squares with a basic insertion stitch done in brown embroidery floss. 
• Next I did the goldwork leaves on the top green bar.  I used silk thread to couch the Japan gold. 
• Then I picked up a twig off the ground, baked it in a low oven for an hour to kill anything on or in it, and painted it with gold fabric paint (it was the only gold paint I had). 
• After that dried, I attached it to the piece using Kreinik gold cable done in insertion stitch as well.

While this will probably not be a show stopper, it was definitely a learning piece and a lot of fun to do.  It was very time consuming though, and I imagine my technique won't impress 'professional' stitchers.  Still, I like it and call it a success...though I'm not sure I'd hang it in my house!