Remember the Lattice Jumble Sampler that somehow morphed out of the Stitch Fun series? It’s been a little while since we visited it, but I thought I should let you know that it’s finished.

But…. there’s more….

Just a brief update on the Mission Rose embroidery project – enough of an update to change perspectives on proportions.

See, the embroidery on the rose so far has been a little deceptive. The long & short stitch shaded center and inner petals, now that they’re finished, give the rose a rather compact look. The central flower that’s supposed to be the focal point seems like it’s rather small and lost in the middle of those big leaves down below and that the looming bud above.

But now that the outer petal “turn overs” are underway, the perspective changes a bit. For example, the lower shaded leaves seemed to dwarf the rose before, but now, we can see that they won’t look quite as large when the whole rose is complete.

Remember these darling needle tins from a couple weeks ago?

Sometimes, when choosing ground fabrics for different types of embroidery, working up small samples to compare results is a good way to discern better from good. Often, once I work up a sample, choosing the better ground fabric for an intended project is much easier. But sometimes, I found out that either fabric will do fine – which is the case here.

To decide between two different types of linen for embroidering monograms, and especially for shadow work monograms, I worked up two samples, one of which (monogram M in shadow work) I’ve already shown you.

Today, let’s look at a different monogram worked on a different linen, but with the same threads and stitches.

Remember the book Home Sweet Home by Carolyn Pearce? I reviewed it when it first came out, and it proved to be quite a popular book – so much so that it sold out and whether or not it would ever be printed again was uncertain.

Back to the Mission Rose embroidery project here! The rose is coming along….

Oyster stitch is an isolated embroidery stitch made up of a twisted chain stitch wrapped with a regular chain stitch, to form a chubby roundish-oval stitch that works well for petals and the like. I’m pretty sure it’s called oyster stitch because it resembles the shape of an oyster shell.

I like oyster stitch, but I don’t use it too often on its own. Lately, though, I’ve taken to stringing oyster stitches together into a line of oyster stitches, so that they look like little buds.

For today’s Stitch Fun tutorial, I thought I’d show you how to make some oyster stitch buds, using oyster stitch as a line stitch.