The lighthouse tree

Each year, we put up a tree between our family room and kitchen.  While in the previous two years it's been decked with cylindrical ornaments, this year we're back to lighthouses!

I designed the first lighthouse ornament in 1997 to surprise our youngest son who had a collection of lighthouse models.  Fifteen years later, there are 99 on the tree, representing every state in the U.S. that has a lighthouse, plus representatives from four Canadian provinces, Australia and Argentina.

Hopefully I'll be able to reach 100 U.S. lighthouses in 2013!

A lighthouse for Sally

I've been sharing vicariously in the vacations of fellow stitchers for more than 10 years now, beginning with a lady in Michigan who sent me her summer vacation photos of some wonderful lighthouses that she asked me to adapt to needlepoint. My most recent request came from Sally in Florida, who shared photos of a journey of a lifetime!

Last December, Sally traveled to Ushuaia, the capital city of Tierra del Fuego province in Argentina, to board the National Geographic "Explorer" for a 10-day cruise to Antarctica. It was in Ushuaia that she first saw penguins up-close-and-personal and snapped some wonderful photos of a very distinctive lighthouse. Would I adapt it to needlepoint, she asked. After some research, I agreed, and here it is!

Les Eclaireurs lighthouse sits on an islet off Ushuaia, with the Martial mountain range to the north and the Beagle Channel to the south. Its name, appropriately, translates from the French as "the enlighteners." But because Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, the people of Argentina refer to this structure as El Faro Del Fin Del Mundo, or The Lighthouse at the End of the World.

The conical brick tower, 33 feet high and 10 feet wide at the base, was first put into service in December, 1920. Its white flashing beacon is now automated, operated by remote control and powered by solar panels. The islet upon which it sits is uninhabited and the lighthouse itself is not open to the public. There are no windows in the structure, and its only access is by a single door to the right of the tower's base.

The orange splotches nestled among the rocks at its base are actually dried vegetation. Rising behind the lighthouse is the snow-capped mountain range, making this my second lighthouse with snow in its scene. So do come back and cool off as I stitch what probably is my most exotic lighthouse to date!

Along the shores of Lake Erie

This armchair traveler is headed for Erie, Pennsylvania, to visit one of three active lighthouses in the state. A sand bar along the Lake Erie shoreline forms a peninsula, dubbed Presque Isle, or "almost an island," by French explorers and traders, which has given this lighthouse its name.

Presque Isle North Pierhead lighthouse, completed in 1857, was not the first station to serve navigation in this region. In 1818, Erie Land lighthouse was constructed on a bluff overlooking Erie Harbor, and a beacon was placed on a pier at the harbor entrance in 1830. A storm in 1855, however, caused a ship to crash into the tower and destroy the beacon.

The design of the 1857 lighthouse, pictured here with its distinctive black band, is unique among U.S. lighthouses surviving today. The two-story, cast-iron structure, built at a cost of slightly over $5,000, was fitted with a fourth-order Fresnel lens displaying a fixed red light.

The lighthouse was relocated to its present site in 1940. In 1955, a modern flashing red light replaced its original lens, which is now on display at the Erie Maritime Museum.

There's a lot of sky and water to work on here, so I'd better get stitching!

Another lighthouse finished

The East Chop lighthouse is finished! After needle-blending the sky with DMC floss in basketweave, I finished the tower itself and moved on to the greenery.

To maintain the illusion of fog in the background, I chose a lighter shade of green--Impressions #5061--for the tree on the left, working it in a vertical diagonal cashmere stitch. The deciduous trees on the right were stitched in French knots with Sheep's Silk "Green Leaves," using one strand and one wrap for each knot. The bush in the foreground was also stitched in French knots, this time with Impressions #5000--a darker green--with two strands and one wrap per knot. Using two strands here made the bush look more pronounced, adding to the visual depth of the whole canvas.

The small bush at the right below the water was worked in a simple satin stitch with Silk & Ivory "Ivy." The path around the lighthouse foundation was worked in gobelin stitches with some Matte 18 I found in my stash, and the fence was also worked in gobelin stitches with DMC #5 perle cotton.

The overall effect of this canvas is of a lighthouse captured on a foggy day--just what I was aiming for. Even clear blue skies can get boring after stitching as many lighthouse models as I have!

Another lighthouse finished

Sanibel Island lighthouse is complete! The trees were stitched with one strand of Impressions #5061 in a vertical diagonal cashmere stitch. The grass was worked with two strands of Wildflowers "Jade" in diagonal mosaic stitch, and the bushes in front of the house are French knots in Sheep's Silk "Green Leaves."

For the sand, I wanted a stitch that mimicked the rivulets that occur when waves wash up onto the shore. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in a book, so I grabbed a doodle canvas and some DMC #5 perle cotton and started to experiment. The stitch I've used here is best described as a series of three gobelin stitches over three canvas threads, with the next set of gobelin stitches worked directly over the first set. I'm sure there's a name for this stitch somewhere, but for the sake of simplicity, I'll call it the "sand and snow stitch," as I think it would work equally well to create realistic snow drifts.

Lastly, I re-inserted the cross braces for the lighthouse tower's skeleton supports, once again using two strands of DMC satin floss doubled over in the needle. I tacked these stitches several times on the back of the canvas to prevent any slippage down the road. I can now add this little model to my stockpile of canvases ready to go to the finisher!

Back to Sanibel Island

I decided to stitch the sky for Sanibel Island lighthouse in basketweave, using a needle-blending technique with DMC cotton floss, as any other stitch would prove too troublesome to compensate around the lighthouse's steel supports. Starting at the top of the canvas (photo 1), I stitched several rows of DMC #826, using four plies of thread and staggering the bottom row every other stitch. My formula for needle-blending was:

Row 2 - 3 plies DMC #826, 1 ply DMC #813
Row 3 - 2 plies DMC #826, 2 plies DMC #813
Row 4 - 1 ply DMC #826, 3 plies DMC #813
Row 5 - 4 plies DMC #813 (photo 2)
Row 6 - 3 plies DMC #813, 1 ply DMC #827
Row 7 - 2 plies DMC #813, 2 plies DMC #827
Row 8 - 1 ply DMC #813, 3 plies DMC #827
Row 9 - 4 plies DMC #827 (photo 3)
Row 10 - 3 plies DMC #827, 1 ply DMC #828
Row 11 - 2 plies DMC #827, 2 plies DMC #828 (photo 4)

You'll notice that I've stitched over the cross braces of the steel supports which I had so carefully stitch-painted! I also stitched the cylindrical tower of the lighthouse in gobelin stitches, using DMC #300 floss, to give it a more substantial appearance. When the rest of the canvas is stitched, I'll go back and lay straight stitches in an X pattern to re-insert the cross braces. I have my charted design to work from in positioning the stitches, but someone wishing to stitch the lighthouse this way may find it easier to make a copy of the canvas before beginning work to have a future reference for stitch placement.

A limitless sky

After my last post, in which I introduced my new Sanibel Island, Florida, lighthouse ornament design, I received a question from Pierrette Pattyn. She asked what my ideal lighthouse would be, if I could control all the elements of the design. Her question really got me thinking, and prompted me to go back into my file of lighthouse photos to review what I had done.

What struck me most was the way in which I had approached stitching skies. Probably my favorite is the one I did for the Portland Head, Maine, lighthouse as an insert for a Sudberry House pencil box (top left). I stitched this sky in basketweave over a solid blue canvas using four shades of blue DMC cotton floss. Starting at the top with the darkest shade of blue, I "built in" clouds, varying the cloud layers by alternating light and dark shades of blue from the same family.

I was able to use this technique again in stitching the New London Ledge lighthouse in my home state of Connecticut (top right). Because this canvas was designed for a Sudberry House bookend, I had more room to play around with the sky. For the Bass Harbor Head, Maine, bookend insert (bottom left), I used four different shades of blue DMC floss but layered the shades randomly in basketweave, with the darkest shade at the top graduating to the lightest shade at the horizon.

And, just to keep myself humble, I've posted a photo of a "lighthouse ornament gone wrong"--Heceta Head lighthouse in Oregon (bottom right). The lighthouse itself is accurately represented, but my choice of stitch--jacquard--in a solid shade of DMC floss is a prime example of messing up a canvas by using a decorative stitch that isn't the slightest bit realistic! My only excuse for over-engineering this canvas is that I did it in 2002, and I've learned a heck of a lot since then!

Now I'll go back to needle-blending the Sanibel Island lighthouse sky, so you can have something to look at in my next post!

Biloxi's light still shines

The Biloxi lighthouse is pristine again, using DMC floss for the body of the iron-clad structure in basketweave stitch. In fact, except for the trees and the grass, the entire canvas is stitched in DMC floss.

For the trees, I once again chose Sheep's Silk "Green Leaves," but this time in a diagonal cashmere stitched vertically. I used this thread before for the St. Marks lighthouse, in a Nobuko stitch, and once again it came through with instant shading as well as texture. The grass is stitched in Wildflowers "Jade" in a diagonal mosaic, using two strands. This thread is over-dyed and could lend itself to streaking in a diagonal stitch. But it's also a bit on the thin side, so if you pull two threads from the skein going in opposite directions, you'll have more than adequate coverage on 18 ct. canvas and eliminate streaking at the same time. The over-dye blends into itself and gives a more even appearance.

Next up: a visit from a designer colleague.

Let the light shine!

St. Marks Lighthouse is finished!

The fronds of the palm trees were stitched "free hand," using one strand of Impressions "Jade," and the bushes were worked in French knots with Wildflowers "Moss Green." The ground at the shoreline was worked in a gobelin stitch with Felicity's Garden "Fawn." I like using Felicity's Garden for natural elements because it produces a soft, heathery look.

The water, frankly, gave me fits! I had originally intended to work it in a Kennan stitch, using two shades of blue darker than the sky, with a little green added. Several attempts, using different shades of blue and green floss and in different numbers of plies, were abysmal. The stitch just looked too contrived, producing stripes where I would have preferred waves. As DH pointed out, "Nature doesn't work in straight lines."

Untimately I relied on a tried-and-true stitch--diagonal cashmere worked horizontally--to produce exactly the effect I was looking for. I blended two plies of DMC #517, one of the darkest shades in the same color family as the sky, with two plies of #501, a darker blue-green. The result is a body of water with a wave pattern stitched in and an irridescence one would normally find on the water's surface on a sunny day. Once again, the technique of needle-blending came to the rescue!

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!

Painting a Florida sky

Beaming myself to a Florida lighthouse is certainly a toasty idea on this crisp Cape day! We've been snowed in for a few days, so I've taken advantage of the weather by stitching like crazy.

There have actually been four St. Marks lighthouses. The first, constructed in 1831, was so shoddily built, it was reconstructed the same year. It suffered the common fate of foundation erosion, and was succeeded by a third lighthouse-- which was destroyed by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The one we see here was built in 1867 and today is surrounded by a wildlife refuge near Tallahassee, Florida.

I've stitched the sky using a needle-blending technique (see previous post) in basketweave. And now that the lighthouse itself has been stitched, again using DMC floss in basketweave, you can see how the variation in the sky makes the white areas really pop.

Working my way down the canvas, I'll add the trees in the background and give the adjoining lighthouse keeper's house a roof.

Needle-blending a sky

There are any number of ways to stitch a sky in needlepoint. Some prefer to use decorative stitches; others, like me, espouse the K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple, stitcher). How to approach a needlepointed sky depends on two factors: the amount of sky relative to the rest of the canvas; and the complexity of the subject matter it surrounds.

I've stitched 76 lighthouse canvases to date--some well, some not so well. Learning from experience is a good thing! I've found that the more complex lighthouses, either in terms of decorative trim or color, require a more subdued sky or background. Lighthouses that are relatively plain and/or all one color can benefit from a little spice in the background. This "spice" can be from an overdyed thread, a decorative stitch, or--in the case of the St. Marks Lighthouse project, a technique called needle-blending.

Needle-blending is a simple yet economical formula of combining strands of floss to imitate an overdyed thread without the diagonal "streaking" problem that occurs when an overdyed thread is stitched in basketweave.

For instance: I use 4 plies of floss as a rule when stitching on 18 ct. canvas. The color family of blue that I chose for the sky begins with DMC #3761. By checking with my DMC color card, I find that the next closest shades in the same family are #519 and 518. So starting at the horizon on the canvas, I stitch four plies of basketweave in #3761 straight across, in sections about five to six threads deep, making sure to dip down a stitch or two at random intervals. The next section across, I use three plies of #3761 and one ply of #519, again dipping down a stitch or two across this section.

The formula continues, with two plies of each thread, and then one ply of #3761 and three plies of #519, until I'm stitching four plies of #519. The next section, I start mixing in the #518 with the #519, in a formula of 3-1, 2/2, and 1/3. By the time I'm getting close to the top of the canvas (remember, I was working from the horizon up), I'm using four full plies of #518. In addition to basketweave, this needle-blending technique can be used with other non-directional stitches, such as Nobuko.

I've shown three examples of stitching a sky. On the left is Michigan City (Indiana) East Pier, with a basketweave background in a solid color of floss. Center is Milwaukee Pierhead, with the sky stitched in a needle-blended basketweave. And on the right is Chicago Harbor, using a Nobuko stitch in needle-blended floss.

Now I'm off to needle-blend the sky in basketweave for St. Marks Lighthouse!

Move over, Pepper!

Yesterday, I was itching to stitch my newest project, and went looking for the stretcher bars to mount it. Occupying pride of place on those self-same stretcher bars was Pepper, the cheerleader, my newest entry in the "Penguins on Parade" series.

Poor Pepper had been sidelined for lack of pompoms, and I had even made a trip to my LNS some time ago to obtain the necessary threads. So I pulled out my assortment of Paternayan wool--wow, how long ago has it been since I've used this thread?--and proceeded to stitch pompoms in a single strand of red, white and blue wool in French knots. Definitely a tight squeeze, but how fluffy the final product!

Next up on the stretcher bars, courtesy of DH, executive vice president of stapling, is the St. Marks, Florida, lighthouse.