“What is a weekend?” is one of my favorite lines from my favorite character on Downton Abbey. My local version is “What is a Wednesday?” Sorry for the delay, but here I am!

The stitched sample is a sky on a medium-sized piece with size 12 Finca Perle. Technically, it’s a small stitch but the area between the diagonal-ish columns requires a larger area for the pattern to fully kick in. I selected this stitch because I wanted the sky to have some motion and drama (hence the angle) but wanted to keep the beautiful painting underneath visible.

This stitch is a good way to add direction to water, a pathway, a wall, or a patch of snow (say at the toe of a stocking). For water, you may want to alternate the columns between two metallics to add even more dimension. Consider using a solid metallic and an overdyed ThreadWorx metallic to make it interesting. For snow, my go-to thread is Flair as it absorbs the color under it, making the stitch even more interesting. And my last (kind of crazy) idea is to replace the tiny diamond between the diagonal stitches with a single bead over two rows on the vertical.

This stitch diagram, along with all other #whimsicalwednesday and #smallspacesunday stitch diagrams, can also be found on a Pinterest board here. Be sure to follow whimsicalstitch.com on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

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 has books (!) for you! Mary’s Whimsical Stitches Volume 1 is a contemporary how-to collection of more than 250 stitches for stitchers regardless of skill level. The book includes updated and sequenced diagrams from this blog, all-new stitches, and a chapter on the basics of needlepoint. For more information, visit here. Volume 2 debuts in January 2021.

whimsicalstitch.com also sells Stitch Guides and Stitch Concepts for Melissa Shirley Designs, Zecca Designs, Sandra Gilmore, Purple Palm, Maggie, and Penny MacLeod, 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! Have a wonderful #whimsicalwednesday!

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!