Trees!

I love stitching trees! Probably, in part, because I'm very fond of green, but also because they can be stitched in any number of ways.

For the St. Marks lighthouse, I chose one of my favorite threads--Thread Gatherer's Sheep's Silk, a silk/wool blend--and one of my favorite stitches--Nobuko. Having already stitched the sky in a needle-blended basketweave, I was looking for some contrast in texture for the trees. The "Green Leaves" Sheep's Silk is an overdyed thread, which provides automatic shading as it plays out of the needle.

The roof of the lighthouse keeper's house was worked in DMC floss using a gobelin stitch to mimic the tiles on the actual roof. More floss was used for the trunks of the palm trees, and Sheep's Silk "Moss Green" formed the single line of grass at the shoreline.

I'm on the home stretch with this lighthouse, so better get back to stitching!