One down, ? to go

I'm quite pleased with myself: it's not quite the middle of March yet, and I already have one ornament stitched for 2011 gift-giving!

After adding the horizon line using DMC floss #422 in tent stitches, I started in on the water. Here I've needle-blended, turning my canvas upside down and working away from the grass with four plies of DMC floss #312 in basketweave. After five rows, randomly staggering the bottom stitches so as not to create a line, I switched to three plies of DMC floss #312 and one ply of DMC floss #322.

I continued in this fashion, subtracting one ply of the darker floss and adding one ply of the lighter, until I'd reached the horizon using four plies of DMC floss #322. Using the darker color at the shore line, fading to the lighter color at the horizon, gives the illusion of depth even in this small space.

Since I didn't have the right shade of red for the outbuilding's roof in #5 perle cotton, I used a full six plies of DMC floss #3777 in slanted gobelin stitches over two threads. The last step was to add the date, using Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #221 in tent stitches.