Shadow work & li'l bit of Kantha embroidery

The quota of festivals for us Indians have come to an end.The year end is approaching and so is Christmas.I've been breaking my head over what Xmas gift should I send to a friend of mine in the U.S. It should be unbreakable,lightweight,should represent Indian culture and shouldnot be too common-whew!! Time is running out and Iam blank!!

On the stitching front, I did manage to finish the blue on blue shadow work.I did the leaves using the Indian darning method- back stitch the outline first and then weave the thread in and out through the stitches.

I badly wanted to capture the blue shade of the cloth-hence this pic :)

A close up..

I did something else too.. Here's the pic

yeah.. it's my attempt at Kantha embroidery.The pattern too is typical to kantha and represents a tree.

For those who are unfamiliar,Kantha (pronounced kaatha) is a type of technique used in making quilts using rags (old clothes) It is a 'poor man's technique' and uses running stitch.Of late,any embroidery which uses running stitch to outline and fill the pattern is called Kantha.

My next step would be to fill the leaves and trunk with running stitch.I want to try the fill with another color -may be a lighter green for the leaves. Not too sure how it would end up.

By the way, have you ever seen anyone carrying a handkerchief with a tree pattern? -if you haven't - then be prepared..if you see a very beautiful lady(heh,heh) carrying the above piece, do come and say hello..coz its gonna be me... ;)