On 18 ct canvas, I used DMC Variegated 106 for the "Japanese Maple" strip and DMC987 for the background. DMC 500 is the cuff.
As is my wont, I misread the directions and, thinking the background Ms. Perry stitched on her model was in a variegated, I searched my stash in vain for a green variegated or overdyed in a particular shade of gray green and failed miserably. It wasn't until I was stitching the cuff that I realized she used two shades of green in the background. Oops!
So maybe mine isn't a Japanese maple but the sugar maple in our backyard that invariably has one branch go bright orange red in the fall weeks before the rest of the tree changes color...