The second time around

It's been a busy week: the column for the upcoming Needlepoint Now issue was approved and the next column submitted, plus an order to paint and another trunk show to get ready for. But I've made a little headway on the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse canvas, beginning with the lighthouse itself.

The first time I stitched this, I used DMC cotton floss in Scotch stitches for the tower. Here I've switched to white DMC #5 perle cotton in diagonal oblong cross stitches over two threads, with the canvas turned 90 degrees. Now I still have the look of bricks but in a much more appropriate scale for the size of the building. The perle cotton also provides a higher profile so the tower will stand out better against the sky.

The sky, too, is getting a change: instead of the diagonal mosaic stitch I used originally, I'm needle-blending this time. Starting at the top of the canvas with four plies of DMC floss #3755, I worked basketweave seven threads deep, staggering the bottom stitches. I've started the next row across with three plies of DMC floss #3755 and one ply of DMC floss #3325. I'll be back with another photo when the sky is completed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My day started off on a sweet note: a box of chocolate pecan turtles was waiting at my place at the breakfast table! Hope your day is warm and fuzzy, too!

I stitched this one-of-a-kind pillow several years ago for an ANG discussion list Valentine's exchange. Threads included Sheep's Silk and Silk & Ivory in various solid and variegated pastels, accented with Kreinik gold metallic. The canvas was finished framed on the front and backed with ivory silk and corded with moss green.

You could make a pillow like this easily enough by outlining a series of hearts on blank canvas, then raiding your stash to fill in the centers with a number of different stitches.

A lighthouse revisited

Once upon a time, I was a monogamous stitcher: I'd never start a new project until the current one was finished. Those days are long gone! I've found that it helps my sanity to have a small project at hand while I'm working on larger pieces under the radar screen.

My newest small project is a canvas of Bass Harbor Head lighthouse in Maine (the photo here is of my model). A friend of mine used to live close by the lighthouse and has fond memories of it--a watercolor of the lighthouse hanging in her home was painted at the exact angle as my canvas. So I'm stitching it a second time for her, but not the way I stitched it originally! That was back in 1999, when new threads, both natural and synthetic, were making their way into the market. My taste and ability as a stitcher have evolved, too, and are reflected in my choice of stitches as well as threads.

Bass Harbor Head lighthouse, at the southwest corner of Mt. Desert Island, marks the entrance to Bass Harbor and Blue Hill Bay. Perched atop a granite bluff 56 feet above the water, the 32-foot-high brick lighthouse has been operational since 1858. Its distinctive red light, automated in 1974, is made possible by a plastic "shroud" over the Fresnel lens, and can be seen for 13 nautical miles. This little gem is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

I think it will be fun to see what changes and what remains the same as I rework this design almost 13 years later!

Eye candy

I love to see how other people interpret my designs! Just this week, I received a photo from Lucia in Arizona, who had stitched Mission San Carlos del Carmelo from my Missions of California series.

Lucia did quite a bit of needle-blending on this canvas: mixing different shades of floss for the stucco facade of the mission as well as combining one ply of a darker shade to three plies of blue floss for the sky. Didn't she do a fabulous job?!

This mission canvas is among the selection sent to Old World Designs in Menlo Park, California, which opens a trunk show of ABS Designs today through February 25.

Fellow designer and stitch guide collaborator Sue Dulle is gearing up for St. Patrick's Day by stitching my Leprechaun cylindrical ornament. You can watch her progress at www.sudukc.wordpress.com.

Cute as a button (or two, or three....)

I'm doing a happy dance--Geoffrey is finally finished!

Smart dresser that he is, Geoffrey is sporting a springy striped tie worked in basketweave and tent stitches with DMC Satin Floss #SB5200 and #S552. His pocket handkerchief was worked in a diagonal mosaic stitch with DMC Satin Floss #S552.

Yesterday, I finally made it to the local fabric store in search of buttons, and hit a bonanza. I'd been dissatisfied with my attempts to stitch buttons for Geoffrey's vest--neither the stitches nor the threads approached the look I was aiming for. Problem solved! I found these wonderful teeny buttons at the fabric store, and actually managed to sew them on straight. His weathered gray coat buttons blend in nicely with the gray of his chalk-striped jacket.

Still plugging along

At long last, Geoffrey's vest is finished. He doesn't have any buttons for the vest yet--I need to do some button shopping for his coat, and want the two styles to be compatible. But at least you can now get the full effect of the houndstooth pattern.

I've also finished his shirt, continuing the tone-on-tone striped pattern from the collar, using three plies of white DMC floss.

I shipped out a trunk show today to Old World Designs in Menlo Park, California (www.oldworlddesigns.com), which will extend from February 4 through February 25. So with not much remaining to be stitched on Geoffrey, I'm hoping to be able to finish him pretty quickly!

Collared!

I was snowed in yesterday, so spent all morning and much of the afternoon painting canvases. But in between the Patriots-Ravens playoff (yeah!) and the Giants-'49ers game (boo!), I managed to finish Geoffrey's coat.

After working a little more on his vest, it became clear that this gentleman needed a crisp, white shirt! The collar was worked with three plies of white DMC floss in rows of basketweave three threads wide, alternating with a row of stem stitches.

I still have a fair amount of stitching to do, but I think I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel!