Button Hoop Sampler

Doe-c-doe has a wonderful floral pattern with lots of circles for displaying buttons, so of course I had to make one for myself -- cream wool on taupe linen:

My first thought was to use a variety of stitches, including buttonhole and the pretty laced backstitch for some of the circles:

But it looked too busy.  I then tried stem stitch for the outer circles (having used split stitch for the inner ones):

But the combination of the twist in the thread and the direction I stitched resulted in a ropey look I didn't like at all.  So I went back to split stitch, and that really was the best look:

The finished hoop is on the wall with some other button projects.  A yo-yo and button nine-patch from a long-forgotten quilting book:

A button wreath from a long-forgotten craft book (my memory is great!):

And a framed display of three vintage mother-of-pearl buttons given to me by a sewing buddy (thanks, Maura!):