In search of summer Down Under

It's hard to think warm thoughts when 2-1/2 foot snow drifts are piled up against the front of your house. So on this first full day of winter, I'm headed Down Under as an armchair traveler to celebrate the first full day of summer! My last lighthouse design for 2009 will be Macquarie Lightstation, the first lighthouse constructed in Australia, located in Vaucluse, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales.

Less than a year after the First Fleet arrived in 1791 to settle New South Wales, a flagstaff was erected on this site. The first aid to navigation, a wood and coal-burning apparatus in a basket mounted on a tripod, was lit in 1793.

The first lighthouse structure was commissioned in 1816 by Lachlan Macquarie, governor of Australia from 1810 to 1822, and completed in 1818. Its designer was the famous convict architect Francis Greenway, whose work so impressed Macquarie that the governor granted Greenway a pardon. The designer's warning about the fragility of the sandstone with which the lighthouse was constructed soon became evident: as early as 1823, large stones fell away, and iron bands were placed around the tower to prevent further shifting of the building materials.

In 1883, a new lighthouse--virtually identical in appearance but constructed of sturdier materials--rose next to the original structure, and the two towers stood side-by-side for several years before the original tower was demolished. The original lens was automated in 1976, and the lightkeeper dismissed in 1989. But the Macquarie Lightstation's characteristic flashing light still shines with a range of 25 nautical miles across Sydney Harbour into the Pacific Ocean.

Farewell to Port Dalhousie

Another lighthouse is finished--Port Dalhousie in St. Catherines, Ontario. This makes lighthouse #87, but who's counting?

I stitched the water last night in a horizontal diagonal cashmere stitch to provide a hint of movement. To keep the water behind the lighthouse in the background, I used DMC cotton floss #312, while the water in the foreground was worked in one shade darker--#311. The difference in color adds a bit of depth to the overall canvas.

What's next? I'll have plenty of time to contemplate that today--there's upwards of a foot of snow on the ground and the flakes are still falling. I'd take a photo, but the windows are snowed over so you can't really see outside--think of the Ice Palace in Dr. Zhivago. If only Omar Sharif would stumble in now, we could have a rousing game of bridge!

Only the water remains!

Finally--I finished needle-blending the sky for Port Dalhousie! I used three successive shades of DMC cotton floss--#3841, 3325, and 3755--and, since I was working from the horizon with the canvas turned upside-down, ended at the top with four full plies of #3755.

I then completed the lantern room with DMC floss #3848, with #3847 for the shadowing. The beacon itself was worked in tent stitches using Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002.

All that remains now is to select floss from the same blue family of DMC floss and stitch the water!

One week 'til Mele Kalikimaka

The best of intentions tend to get knocked into a cocked hat at this time of year! Under normal circumstances, I would have finished needle-blending the sky on the Port Dalhousie lighthouse days ago--but I'm still slogging away. With only one week until Christmas Day, I thought this might be a good time to wish a Happy Holidays to my friends and readers in Hawaii.

This little mini-sock design, Mele Kalikimaka--Merry Christmas in Hawaiian--is based on the gorgeous quilt designs that Hawaiians have created over the years. The floral framework was satin-stitched in Trio "Really Red" for the flowers and Petite Very Velvet in tent stitch for the leaves. The "quilted" sections are framed Scotch stitches worked in white DMC cotton floss.

It's a pretty simple combination of threads and stitches, really, but I think it's effective when worked in the traditional colors of the season!

The wearing of the (teal) green

The first thing to be stitched on the Port Dalhousie lighthouse canvas was the tower itself. The siding is best described as vertical clapboards, so I worked this with DMC white cotton floss in alternating rows of tent stitches and vertical gobelin stitches over two threads.

Then I couldn't resist: I had to add a little of the teal green! The best color match was DMC floss #3848, which I stitched in a series of gobelin stitches to form the door. The base of the lighthouse was worked in a Nobuko stitch, with shading provided by DMC floss #3847 in tent stitch around the ladder and handrail.

On to the sky, which I'm needle-blending from the horizon up with the canvas turned upside-down. I started with four plies of DMC #3841, adding one ply of DMC #3325 in a 3/1, 2/2 combination so far.

I hosted the December meeting of our local needlework group yesterday--an atmosphere not conducive to needle-blending, with little plies of floss lying around--so I switched to DMC #5 perle cotton to work the foundation of the marina upon which the lighthouse sits. The concrete deck was formed by a gobelin stitch over two threads with #644. The blocks of stone underneath it were worked in a Scotch stitch variation in #414 perle cotton framed by #413 perle cotton.

Now that my social obligation is over, I can go back to needle-blending the rest of the sky and return to my favorite teal green floss to finish the base and work the lantern room!

A lighthouse of a different color

How do I select a lighthouse to adapt to needlepoint? Sometimes it's the historical significance of the structure that intrigues me. Often I'm asked to work up a design because that lighthouse has personal significance to a customer. But when a friend sent me a photo of this one--Port Dalhousie Front Range lighthouse in St. Catherines, Ontario--the color scheme really grabbed me. I'd never seen a teal green and white lighthouse before!

The Front Range lighthouse and its sister Rear Range lighthouse, now decommissioned, are located at a marina in Port Dalhousie, which marked the northern tip of the Welland Canal from 1829 to 1932. The Welland Canal aided navigation by connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and allowing ships to bypass Niagara Falls. The Front Range lighthouse was commissioned in 1879 and, by the turn of the century, had become a popular destination for tourists from Toronto.

When the Welland Canal's northern terminus was moved to Port Weller in 1932, tourism at Port Dalhousie waned. Both lights were automated in 1968; the Rear Range light was deactivated in 1988 and put in use in 1999 by the Niagara College Sailing School. Under the supervision of the Canadian Coast Guard, the characteristic white light of the Front Range lighthouse--my next project-- still flashes today.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Our Lighthouse Tree for 2009 is finally decorated!

Adorning the tree are 80 needlepoint lighthouse ornaments--and maybe 83 by Christmas, since I'm awaiting the last of the finishing to arrive. The ornaments represent 26 states and three Canadian provinces: from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, and from Los Angeles, California, to Jupiter Inlet, Florida.

Atop the tree is a starfish--after all, we do live on Cape Cod!

Three more canvases didn't make the cut-off for Christmas finishing, but that means I have a leg up on next year's tree. And maybe I can squeak another lighthouse in before next year!