Ha Paul
that's a great first attempt, as you can see by Rays example, taking it through inkscape to trace the bitmap makes all the difference and of course allows you to change the outline colour to red. The only thing I would say is to work on those islands a bit.
But yes excellent work,I have only been making patterns for about 2 years and that was all from the help of the members on this site, so keep it up and keep asking.
Dave