Ending the year in Australia

Macquarie Lightstation is finished well before New Year's Eve!

I finished the tower itself, working the dome in the foreground in a satin stitch with white DMC cotton floss. Underneath the dome, the two rows of molding were formed with gobelin stitches over two threads. The ornament on top of the dome was stitched with an oblong cross stitch vertically, followed by another oblong cross stitched horizontally on top of the first.

I then added shading with DMC ecru floss and windows worked in a spring stitch with DMC floss #318. The weather vane, railing and fence in front of the lighthouse all used black DMC rayon floss to add a bit of shine without the glint of a metallic thread.

The roof of the cottage to the left of the lighthouse was worked in a slanted gobelin stitch over four threads with DMC floss #838. The foundation of the lighthouse was stitched with DMC floss #414, and grass was added with Sheep's Silk "Green Leaves Dark."

All that remained was the tree, which I had thought to be a deciduous variety. Luckily, before I French-knotted myself into deep trouble, both DH and Judy Harper set me straight that it was a pine tree--specifically, a Norfolk pine from Norfolk Island off the east coast of Australia. So I stitched it with Impressions "Pine Forest," in slanted long stitches following the direction the branches were growing and turning my canvas 90 degrees where necessary. The trunk was formed in tent stitches with Felicity's Garden "Fawn."

Macquarie Lightstation makes the twelfth lighthouse I've adapted to needlepoint and stitched in 2009--not too shabby for a year's work! Only twelve more to go, and I'll hit 100!