A cloudless sky

With such an expanse of sky behind the Sand Island lighthouse, how could I resist needle-blending?

This time I turned the canvas upside-down and began at the horizon with DMC floss #775 and #3841, two plies each. Stitching in basketweave six threads deep, I followed the following formula:

Row 2: DMC floss #755-one ply; DMC floss #3841-three plies
Row 3: DMC floss #3841-four plies
Row 4: DMC floss #3841-three plies; DMC floss #3325-one ply
Row 5: DMC floss #3841-two plies; DMC floss #3325-two plies
Row 6: DMC floss #3841-one ply; DMC floss #3325-three plies
Row 7: DMC floss #3325-four plies
Row 8: DMC floss #3325-three plies; DMC floss #3755-one ply
Row 9: DMC floss #3325-two plies; DMC floss #3755-two plies
Row 10: DMC floss #3325-one ply; DMC floss #3755- three plies

By this time, I'd reached just below the gallery of the lantern room, and finished off the rest of the sky with four plies of DMC floss #3755. Notice how the gradual darkening of the sky emphasizes the height of the lighthouse itself.

It should be a lot easier stitching the tower, since at least half of the sky was worked by the light of a window only, thanks to a power outage from Hurricane Irene!

A lighthouse on the proverbial postage stamp

Many lighthouses in the U.S. have endured over time despite the ravages of man and nature. A good example is Sand Island lighthouse in Alabama, located approximately three miles offshore the main entrance to Mobile Bay. The first lighthouse to be constructed on this site in 1830 stood on property totaling more than 400 acres. Since then erosion has stripped away the land surrounding it to less than one acre.

The original lighthouse was replaced in 1837 and again in 1858, when Army engineer Danville Leadbetter supervised construction of a brick conical tower. Topping nearly 200 feet, this lighthouse was the tallest on the Gulf Coast at the time.

During the Civil War, Union soldiers commandeered the lighthouse, using it as a lookout to spy on the nearby Confederate Army. This action miffed a small band of Confederate soldiers, who in 1863 made good on the promise to blow up the lighthouse by igniting 70 pounds of gunpowder at its base. The leader of the group proudly reported its success to Danville Leadbetter, who had become a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.

A temporary wooden tower was eventually replaced in 1873 by a brick tower 132 feet tall, built on 171 pilings and overlaid with 12 feet of cement. Attempts to stem further erosion began in 1889, when nearly 2,000 tons of granite were deposited at its base, with 6,500 tons more added 10 years later.

Several lighthouse keepers and keepers' dwellings were lost to swirling waters before the station was automated in 1921 and finally deactivated in 1932. Finally stabilized by the granite at its base, the lighthouse stood empty when its lens was removed in 1971. It wasn't until 2003, when ownership of the island and tower was transferred from the federal government to a group from neighboring Dauphin Island, that restoration of the lighthouse could begin and continue to this day.

Do come back to check my progress as I reconstruct the Sand Island lighthouse on canvas!

Stitch guide news

Readers of Needlepoint Now magazine may recognize this canvas: a ring-bearer pillow project which I completed in the July/August 2011 issue. I'm excited to report that a stitch guide is now available for the painted canvas, courtesy of designer/teacher Sue Dulle (www.sudukc.wordpress.com).

The nine-page guide with color photo includes diagrams of all the stitches used as well as a "road map" for their placement. Thanks, Sue, for the great job!

A tree grows in Baltimore

The Baltimore row/alley house is finally finished!

I popped in the last window shade on the far right--three plies of DMC floss #543 in a horizontal interlocking gobelin stitch, and was then ready to attack the tree.

To make nice fluffy French knots that would make the tree stand out from the building, I chose Silk & Ivory "Broccoli." I added a few tent stitches at the base of the tree using DMC floss and the tree was done.

And what do I work on for my next project? I'm leaning toward another lighthouse adaptation--what do you think?

Window dressing

I've been ticking off all the little details on my "to-do" list for the Baltimore row/alley house, and I'm almost finished.

To recap, let's start with the lamp post. This was stitched with Kreinik #16 medium braid #005 and #5520. Why medium braid, when I generally use #12 tapestry braid? I find the finer weight in dark colors, particularly black, to be a little too thin in certain applications.

With all of the lighted areas of the windows completed with DMC floss #745 in a satin stitch, I started in on the window shades. I wanted to emphasize that each of the three sections on this block is an individual housing unit, so I treated the shades for each differently. On the left, I used two plies of DMC #842 floss in a horizontal interlocking gobelin stitch. For the center unit, I worked alternating vertical rows of tent and stem stitch with three plies of DMC floss ecru, with a horizontal row of stem stitches at the bottom.

Two plies of brown Burmilana formed the doors, with the transoms worked in tent stitch and the doors in slanted gobelin stitch. For the tree trunk, I used three plies of another shade of brown Burmilana, again in slanted gobelin stitch, to be sure it would stand out sufficiently from the bricks behind it.

One more window shade, the leaves of the tree, and the tiny bit of ground at the base of the trunk remain to be stitched, and this project will be a wrap!

All bricked in!

TA DA! I finished stitching all the bricks on the Baltimore row/alley house. I used up a goodly chunk of the second skein of Sheep's Silk "Lingonberry," but I didn't count the bricks as I went along. I'm a committed stitcher, but I'm not totally crazy!

I'm continuing past the base of the tree working the sidewalk in Nobuko stitch with DMC #5 perle cotton #644. And to reward myself, I began stitching the window sashes in shadow inside the previously-worked frames using DMC floss #415 in tent stitch.

While I'm itching to stitch the little lamp post, I need to decide first what thread I'm going to use. There are still a lot of little details to work out on this canvas, but at least I feel I've reached a major milestone!

Plodding along

It's been hard to find time to stitch on the little Baltimore alley house lately. Sometimes I feel like one of those Chinese acrobats who used to keep seven plates spinning on top of bamboo poles. The second he had the seventh plate spinning, he'd have to go back and give the first plate another twirl!

So when I finished bricking in the center unit, it's not surprising I got a little carried away! I filled in two of the darkened basement windows with a satin stitch using DMC floss #414

I then moved on to the sidewalk under the partial unit on the right. This is being worked in a Nobuko stitch with DMC #5 perle cotton #644, a pretty good match for cement.

I haven't rummaged in my "foliage" bag yet--for some strange reason, I keep all the threads I use regularly for grass, bushes and trees in one plastic bag. I need to pick just the right shade of green for the leaves on the tree and make sure I have enough. If not, I'll need to run over to my LNS--I owe Barry a dozen Nutcracker Suite ornament canvases anyway!