An experiment - Spiral Rose

I have a lot of applique quilt block designs in my folders and books. I was looking through them and thought it might be fun to try and embroider some of them instead.
Here's my first attempt using 3 strands of variegated DMC floss #48 and basic running stitch.
I like how the plain side is turning out but at the moment feel that the block side design is overpowering the stitching. I'm also having issues getting the stitches to stay even on both sides.

The design is called "Spiral Rose" and can be found in "Machine Applique A Sampler of Techniques" by Sue Nickels.