Warmer now!

Nigel's tweed jacket is all finished! I was surprised to find I'd used very little thread for the skip-tent stitches in Felicity's Garden "Truffle" and "Fawn." A 40-yard skein seems to go a long way!

I still need to decide how to work the buttons: with real buttons sewn on, as I did for Neville, or to stitch them.

To reward myself, I resumed work on the sweater. All the "Sky Blue" diamonds have been stitched and I'm close to finishing the "Blueberry" diamonds, too.

So now the plan of attack is to finish the sweater and give poor Nigel some trousers!

Half a coat is better than none

At least Nigel's left side is a lot warmer now!

I started work on the body of Nigel's tweed jacket, using two shades of Felicity's Garden--"Truffle" used in the sweater and "Fawn."

The tweed look is achieved with a skip-tent stitch, in which you work rows of tent stitches on every other canvas thread with one color, then come back and fill in the missed stitches with the other color. In the top left of the photo, I've begun stitching the "Truffle" in diagonal rows on the warp (vertical) threads of the canvas. The completed jacket on the right shows the weft (horizontal) canvas threads stitched with the "Fawn."

I then went back with the Petite Very Velvet used on the lapels to work the top of the pocket and button holes in slanted gobelin stitch. I'll continue work on the jacket in the evenings while I paint again by day!

Skipping around

I started filling in the diamonds of the sweater, using Felicity's Garden "Sky Blue" and "Blueberry." Because Felicity's Garden is a heathery-looking thread, it gives the sweater the soft look of real Shetland wool. I added a few diagonal lines of the pattern using Felicity's Garden "Brown Raccoon."

I was making good progress on Nigel's Argyle sweater when it occurred to me that I had several other areas with a lot of brown in them yet to stitch. So, for now, I've left the sweater half-done and moved on!

Instead I worked on Nigel's jacket lapels, using Petite Very Velvet V648 in basketweave. So far, so good.

There's still a lot of jacket left to stitch, so I'll try to keep my needle away from the sweater and concentrate on getting at least half of the coat done!

Working from the neck down

Work on the "Nigel" canvas began with his shirt, a tone-on-tone stripe pattern. Using three plies of DMC floss #827, I stitched rows of basketweave four threads wide alternating with a single row of stem stitch. The shadow was worked in tent stitch with DMC floss #813.

For Nigel's sweater, I used Felicity's Garden "Truffle," a light-weight silk/wool blend. The ribbing at the collar and hem were worked in Kalem stitch, while the rest of the tan background was stitched in basketweave.

With this much accomplished, I can now start filling in the blue diamonds of his Argyle sweater. At least Nigel is a little warmer now!

Neville's little brother

Those of you who subscribe to Needlepoint Now magazine, and who have received your copy of the September/October 2011 issue, may have already met "Neville." He's the faceless but dapper model of my "Savile Row" design that I used to show how easy it can be to replicate fabrics and patterns in needlepoint.

Neville was so much fun to stitch, I decided to work up another design highlighting traditional menswear fashions.
Unlike Neville, however, who measured in at 11 inches square, his little brother--Nigel--is only five inches square and fits in the top of a Sudberry House "Betsy" box. I can't think of a more stylish way to organize all that loose pocket change spilling over the top of a man's dresser!

Nigel is a combination of a stitch-painted canvas and a line drawing: a lot of the pattern will be stitched into the open areas. I'm looking forward to stitching this project and hope you'll stop by to check on my progress!

Tucked away for safe-keeping

With all the surrounding foliage in place, the Port Pontchartrain lighthouse is finished.

Since my last post, I worked on the wall behind the lighthouse using two shades of brown Burmilana. The top, bottom and vertical members were worked with two strands in a slanted gobelin stitch. To make the wall bricks less prominent than the bricks at the base of the lighthouse, I used only one strand of Burmilana in a diagonal oblong cross stitch with the canvas turned 90 degrees.

The grass was worked in a diagonal mosaic stitch with Sheep's Silk "Green Leaves Dark." The bushes to the left of the base were worked in Sheep's Silk "Dark Moss" in a diagonal vertical cashmere stitch.

For the tree on the right, I used Impressions #5060 in a diagonal oblong cross stitch with the canvas in an upright orientation. I wanted just a little dimension for the vines growing on either side of the tower. One strand and one wrap of Impressions "Moss" gave me just the tiny little French knots I was looking for.

I'm pleased with the way the various shades of green blend with the blue of the sky. It may be shaped like a dumbbell, but I think Port Pontchartrain is still an attractive lighthouse!

A little experimenting

You've heard the expression, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? When it came to stitching the sky for the Port Pontchartrain lighthouse, I just couldn't leave well enough alone!

The photo I used to adapt the lighthouse to needlepoint showed a stunning sky--one I thought would be fun to try to duplicate. At the top was an intense blue, which highlighted the oxidized roof perfectly. The darker blue quickly transitioned to a medium blue, which stayed fairly constant in value until it lightened at the horizon.

I also wanted this lighthouse to really stand out against the sky, and had already helped it along by stitching it in DMC #5 perle cotton. To accentuate its profile even more, I decided to "ply down" the floss in the basketweave background from four plies to three.

So I started at the top of the canvas with DMC floss #3755, working my way down to half-way through the railing under the lantern room. Then I started adding in DMC floss #3325 in rows five threads deep. Most of the center section of sky was worked with two plies of DMC floss #3325 and one ply of DMC floss #3841. By the time I reached the horizon, I was using a full three plies of DMC floss #3841.

I found that three plies covered the painted canvas adequately--I'd duplicated the look of the photo pretty closely and the lighthouse definitely does "pop"!