I was NOT finished! (Am I ever really?)

After showing the Facebook critique group and going over it with friends and family, then going back to a critique group, I came up with this:

final before 

final after

The very first reaction was that the colors were lovely, but very dim. I needed to brighten the whole composition (and ultimately I agree with this move, however I now need to go back to the first illustration to make sure everything is consistent) The second reaction what that most people could not see the "Stitch stitch stitch" which is what I was afraid of. I still need to clean up those "stitches" a bit before calling it a final. 

Lesson: If you think your illustration is finished, it's probably not finished.