Simple, crooked stitches

I have been working on a new Lovely LuLu pinup doll but it has been pretty slow going. I decided to try a new fill-in stitch for the heart and it hasn't been easy or very successful. As usual things are turning out a little crooked.

I picked up a copy of this new book, Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray, this weekend and discovered the stitch in there. I've seen it before but couldn't quite figure out how the stitching pattern worked. It is called the Long and Short stitch and couldn't be more simple. The stitch is suppose to look more like this:

Maybe my next try will be a little more successful. Either way, I think the heart is turning out pretty good. Having it completely filled in may take more time but it makes such a statement!

P.S. I highly recommend the Aimee Ray book. It is easy to understand and has some great embroidery projects too. Not to mention her designs are so great!