I’ve been playing with oblique diamonds a lot lately. Vertical or horizontal columns of oblique diamonds make a great background or wall stitch. Combine them and you have an adorable flower grid!

The stitched sample is a moon from Plum Stitchery’s Silent ornament stitched in size 8 Kreinik on 18M. To minimize visible threads, I stitched the columns one side at a time from top to bottom (or left to right) and returned up (or across the canvas) to complete the diamonds.

This stitch will be great for water with the same Kreinik or Petite Silk Lame. It will also work well for clothing, especially an elegant dress, with silk floss (black lines) and the addition of a seed bead over two rows in the center of the empty 2X2 squares. Consider filling that 2X2 square with four beads for a really glamorous look for one of Alice Peterson’s art deco ladies!

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.

IIf you like what you see on this blog, there's more: 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; Mary’s Whimsical Stitches Volume 2 features chapters on Balanced, Beading, Diagonal, Layered, Oblique, Small, and Straight stitches.

Also, you can download for free the first chapter from my first book which covers basic needlepoint stitches and stitch compensation techniques along with new top-line information on needlepoint materials and tools, how to handle threads, and other helpful needlepoint resources.

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!