Speaking of Star Octagon...

Last week, I reminded you about Star Octagon on TBT.  It is a great stitch and it is also a great case study for skipping a row.  As you may also recall, I recently shared a stitch that found its magic in skipping a row, specifically the Alternating Cashmere variation.

I tried the same approach on Star Octagon...and loved it.

I like the empty centers.  It's a great way to show off the beautiful painting on so many of today's hand painted canvases.  However, they can be filled with Upright Crosses, a Rhodes stitch, or even more beads.  The space will tell you what to do.  

This stitch would work great on water, a sky, a bird's chest or wing, many pieces of clothing...even grass (with a cross-stitch in the center instead of a bead).  There are a lot of possibilities.  

Unfortunately, there is no stitched sample on Instagram this week.  Instead, to keep the stitching theme going on Instagram, I posted a picture of my cat, Lola, helping me stitch.  She's very good at helping.  Just ask her.  

These stitch diagrams, along with all other #whimsicalwednesday and #smallspacesunday stitch diagrams, can also be found on a Pinterest board here.

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If you like what you see on this blog, want to learn some very creative decorative stitches, and how to put them all together, whimsicalstitch.com sells stitch guides for Melissa Shirley Designs and Zecca Designs.  28 guides are currently available and more are in the pipeline.

Enjoy!