Navar work / Kamal Kadai and Weaving stitch

Time for a new post!!! And a new block on the bedlinen!! Well, this time its not much of a block, couple of flowers actually. Here they are...

These are the flowers which connect the half circles of the floral wreath at the top and bottom .They are the only flowers which I've repeated throughout the design. I've used the very famous needle weaving style popularly known as Kamal Kadai or Navar work . This method is also known by the name polka spider / Tenerife/Nanduti in other parts of the world. I've also used another needle weaving method called the Queen Anne stitch or the weaving stitch for the leaves on the block above. Here's the tutorial for weaving stitch

The shape of the flowers are a little different from the usual floral pattern shown in this Kamal Kadai tutorial . I adjusted a little by increasing the number of foundation stitches from the center to all sides of the petal.

There's just one more block left ,but to stitch that block I need to practice my long and short stitch. I've already started with Mary's Long and short stitch lessons,but the results are not very encouraging.

First of all, I didn't have the exact shades listed there, so I went with my color sense ( which could be real bad at times) .Besides,one needs to experiment,right? I did check the flickr group of these lessons to see if anyone was as adventurous as me...I didn't find any :( Most have gone with the colors mentioned in the lessons.

Secondly, did you notice my mistakes? I've marked with black lines on the pic - the direction of my stitches have gone haywire (thin lines) .The thick dark line shows where I should have stitched with darker shade . Anyways,Iam off to start the next lesson - may be the performance will be better next time.

See you soon, my dearest friends..

Love ,luck and sunshine,
Deepa