You have no clue a. what a great pun that is and b. how lucky I am for students who stitch fast and well.

It’s a great pun because today’s stitch is from an outrageous orange bird on Este MacLeod’s Summer Birds (distributed through Melissa Shirley Designs). In addition, if I hadn’t had this photo (from said student who stitches fast and well), we may not have had a blog post today. I have a guardian angel who stitches! (Truth be told, I have a few. And I am very grateful).

The stitched sample uses Petite Very Velvet (light gray lines), Trebizond Silk (black lines), Gloriana Floss (aqua lines), and Bead Dazzle Beads (turquoise circles). It’s a purposefully dramatic stitch to draw attention to this gorgeous bird in the left corner of the canvas.

Consider this stitch for a dramatic coat, bag, or blanket with a Kreinik 1/16” ribbon for the gray lines, Vineyard Silk or silk floss for the black lines, and a contrasting metallic in a smaller size (like a Petite Silk Lame or size 8 Kreinik) for the aqua lines. Finish it off with a bead and, voila!, perfection. I would love to see this with contrasting colors in any combination. I have another version of this diagram without the bead that I’ll share in the upcoming weeks. It’s a slightly more modest version of this that illustrates the interest that even more layering adds. (Ooooh, I hope that builds some sort of intrigue).

This stitch diagram, 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 and Stitch Concepts for Melissa Shirley Designs, Zecca Designs, Sandra Gilmore, Purple Palm, Maggie, and Patience Brewster, and many more. Click here to see the newest guides and click here to see the entire collection.

I hope you have the perfect spot for this stitch!  Please enjoy!  

A Note about Diagrams
I use color in diagrams to make them as clear as possible.  The primary function of different colored lines is to illustrate a stitch sequence.  For example, layering of colors demonstrates you add them in that order.  They can also provide ideas on how to integrate additional threads (one line for each color).  Or, you can use the same thread for all color lines.  That's where I encourage you to use your imagination for the space you are stitching!