Decking the horse with holly

Where has August gone?  There's been too much painting and not enough stitching this month for my taste, but I haven't given up on my Toyland Rocking Horse canvas!

I decided to concentrate on the garlands of holly decorating the horse and the bottom of the rocker.  The holly combined two shades of green Burmilana:  two strands of the darker green in tent stitch for the veins and two strands of the lighter shade in satin stitch for the leaves.

Before working the holly on the rocker, I needed to finish the two packages between the duck and the toy soldier.  The silver package was worked in a diagonal mosaic stitch with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #001.  The purple package received a gold bow in satin and tent stitches using Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002.

Next up:  stitching the rest of the rocker itself between the gold decorative trim.  Encroaching gobelin is a slow stitch, but I shall persevere!

A satisfying moment

Stitching has been slow lately, with a lot of painting to do and a column to get ready.  I finished the gold line at the bottom of the rocker with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002 and filled in below it with the Burmilana in tent stitch.  I then resumed work on the background with Vineyard Silk Classic "Tea."

Am I ever glad I chose the Nobuko stitch for the background!  I could probably work this stitch in my sleep and find compensating along the curves to be a breeze.  Nevertheless, when you've been working down two sides of a canvas and finally reach the bottom, there's that moment of truth:  will the sides meet in the pattern evenly?  The answer is YES!

I just used up the sixth skein of Vineyard Silk Classic and still have two more skeins waiting in the wings, so no problems there.  It's amazing how much mileage you can get with this thread--like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going and going!

Now, where was I?

It's been a while since the Toyland Rocking Horse canvas has appeared here--it's been waiting on the back burner for other more immediate projects to be finished.  This is what it looked like when I resumed stitching.

As you can see, I've made an effort to catch up with the background after the Vineyard Silk Classic "Tea" arrived to work it in the Nobuko stitch.  And there's quite a bit of background, indeed!--the design area is 17 inches high and 19 inches wide.

The rocker also takes up a fair amount of space, so I've been alternating my stitching between the background and outlining the bottom of the rocker with Burmilana #3506 in basketweave.  I had to pick up some Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002 for the gold highlights on the rocker.  Some of the gold line along the bottom just isn't visible anymore--it's possible that it's worn off, since this canvas is 20 years old.  I want to stitch the gold line and the areas outside it, so filling in the encroaching gobelin stitch inside the gold lines is easier to do.

Highland Lighthouse, new and improved

Sometimes when you're on a stitching roll, you work straight through until the piece is done.  Such was the case for the Highland lighthouse canvas, which is now already to go for the class in September!

DMC #5 perle cotton #B5200, 310 and 415 provided the tower, with a smidgen of Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #221 for the beacon.  The fence was worked in DMC #5 perle cotton #318.

The outbuildings were stitched in DMC cotton floss:  #349 in a slanted gobelin stitch for the roof, Blanc for the siding, #415 for the shadowing and #414 for the windows.

I didn't have enough grassy green variegated thread in my stash, so I decided to make some, using one strand each of two green Burmilana shades worked in a diagonal mosaic stitch.  Dark green Impressions in French knots formed the little bush in front of the fence. 

There's only one more non-blog stitching project to complete before I can get back to my rocking horse!

Two skies, side by side

I finished stitching the sky behind Highland lighthouse (left) using the needle-blending technique.  The same four values of blue--DMC floss #3755, 3325, 3841 and 775--that I used for the Nobska lighthouse sky (right) are at work for Highland.  The spacing of the needle-blends is also the same:  12 rows down from the top, followed by eight rows of consecutive blends down to the horizon.  You'd think the two skies would be identical, but they're not.  Why?

When you combine three plies of one value and one ply of another, and let them play out as you basketweave, one of those values will predominate over the other.  This "luck of the draw" produces a slightly tweedy effect, which will change every time you stitch.  The only constant you'll see is when you're stitching with a full four plies of any value. 

Another lighthouse "remake"

The second lighthouse that needs to be updated is Cape Cod lighthouse in Truro, Massachusetts, almost at the tip of Cape Cod.  The first of its kind on the Cape, it was also the seventh lighthouse to be built in the country.  Its nickname, Highland Light, is derived from the high ground upon which it was situated.

Truro was founded as "Dangerfield" in 1700 because of the treacherous waters along its coast.  To safeguard mariners, George Washington signed a bill in 1796 approving $5,000 to build a 45-foot wooden, octagonal tower set 500 feet back from the bluffs.  Lit in 1798 and rebuilt in 1831, the structure suffered from deterioration due to wood rot.

In 1857, a new 66-foot tower was completed and fitted with a new first-order Fresnel lens that produced a flashing white light every five seconds.  Three outbuildings were also constructed for the lighthouse keeper and his two assistants.  The lighthouse was automated in 1987.

Like so many other lighthouses, which have fallen prey to erosion, Highland Light was in peril of falling into the Atlantic Ocean.  The clearance from the cliff of 510 feet measured in 1806 had by 1989 dwindled to 128 feet.  After raising $1.5 million, the 430-ton tower was moved in 1996 to a safer distance of 453 feet from the cliff using I-beams greased with Ivory soap.

I'll be needle-blending the sky behind Highland Light, just as I did for Nobska lighthouse. 

One down, one to go

The "new and improved" Nobska lighthouse is finished, with the addition of the keepers' houses and the grass.

Roof shingles were worked in tent, slanted gobelin and satin stitches with DMC floss #817 and #347 for the shadow.  The windows were outlined with white DMC floss and filled in with DMC floss #414 in Scotch or cashmere stitches.

To get just the right shade for the cedar shingles on the sides of the buildings, one of the ANG Cape Cod chapter members, who lives near the lighthouse, made a "drive-by" to check it out.  She reported back that a combination of two plies each of DMC floss #627 and #3782 was the closest match, so that's what you see here!

Another blend, this time of two Burmilana greens, created the grass, using a diagonal mosaic stitch.  It looks like the groundskeeper did a very neat job of mowing, don't you think?