Setting the center scene

Stitching the center scene of a Sailor's Valentine first helps to get me "in the mood," and this one is no exception. And some of the colors I've used here will give you a hint to the flowers that will grow in my nautical garden!

Since this section is only 25 threads wide, most of the stitching was done in basketweave, with a few exceptions. The roof and stoop were worked in slanted gobelin stitches and the bushes at either side of the door are French knots.

I'm almost done with my canvas painting, so I hope to be able to spend more time on this little design as the week progresses!

In the interim

A lot of work has been going on in my little corner of the Cape this week. First, there's the painting: a lot of Nutcracker Suite ornaments have been dancing off the painting table, with lighthouses following in hot pursuit. Then there's the stitching: two projects for future issues of Needlepoint Now. And let's not forget the researching: I've identified five new lighthouses that I'll be adapting to needlepoint in the next couple of months.

I'm not much of a shopper, and even less so during summer months when throngs of people discover that what I call home is a beautiful place to visit! So the Brant Point Sailor's Valentine sits patiently in a corner of my studio, waiting for its starfish. In the meantime, however, I decided to go ahead with another idea I had, and for which I do have all the materials needed. Here's another Sailor's Valentine, a three-inch size, featuring a captain's house in its center scene.

Like my other Sailor's Valentines, this one, too, will feature some shells for surface embellishment. But these shells will be nestled among flowers, to create a garden with a nautical twist around the outside of the valentine. So do come back and watch my progress!

A Fourth finale--sort of

I finished Eldred Rock lighthouse, or so I thought, until I took this photo and discovered two missed stitches! But with a houseful of guests and Fourth of July festivities to occupy me, I decided to run with the photo anyway and pop those two stitches in when the dust settles!

For the water behind the lighthouse, I needed a low-profile, horizontal stitch for an area only five threads wide. Fitting the bill was a horizontal interlocking gobelin stitch, for which I used three plies of DMC floss #3755.

The grass was worked with Wildflowers "Jade" in a diagonal mosaic stitch. I used two strands, cutting the lengths as they came off the skein, then reversing the direction of one so streaking of the variegated thread would be minimized.

The rocks had me stumped for a bit. I knew I wanted to use a diagonal vertical cashmere stitch, but the shade of Burmilana I'd planned on using was too brown and the gray Burmilana I had on hand was way too light. Scouring through my stash, I found an unopened skein of gray Medici which, had it been a human, would probably have been old enough to drive. The Medici was almost identical in weight to the Burmilana, so I combined one strand of each to produce just the color I was aiming for. French knots of Sheep's Silk "Camouflage" formed the vegetation growing in the rock crevices. It's the outcropping just right of center missing the two stitches!

I used the same horizontal interlocking gobelin stitch for the water at the base of the rocks, increasing to four plies of floss for a more solid look. Less than ten minutes of work, and this lighthouse will join its scores of buddies!

Happy Birthday, America!

Raising the roof

Moving on to the Eldred Rock lighthouse itself, I reached another "layer" in which to add to the depth of the canvas. Here I used DMC #5 perle cotton, a tad heavier in weight than the Impressions I used in the tree line, so the profile of the lighthouse would stand out from that area.

The black on the lantern room and the red roof were worked in a combination of tent and slanted gobelin stitches. The white areas were worked in basketweave. The beacon itself was stitched with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #221 in a vertical oblong cross stitch over two threads.

Next I'll be working on the far shore line, the water behind the lighthouse, and the grassy knoll upon which it sits. I'm not sure how much stitching I'll get done over the holiday weekend, but I'll give it my best shot!

Depth perception

Despite its diminutive size--5 inches tall and 2-3/4 inches wide--the Eldred Rock lighthouse canvas poses a definite stitching challenge. There are six "layers" to this design, and the choice of threads and stitches for each is critical to establishing an illusion of depth.

I began first with the snow on the mountain ranges. When viewed from a considerable distance, snow doesn't "twinkle"--it appears as a flat white surface. So I stitched it, not with a metallic, but rather four plies of white DMC cotton floss in basketweave. I then filled in the upper and lower mountain ranges with four plies of DMC floss #334 and DMC floss #312, respectively.

On to the sky, which I wanted to look as though it disappeared behind the mountain ranges. After testing out my theory on doodle canvas, I stitched the sky in basketweave using two plies of DMC floss #3325. I wasn't aiming for "light coverage," which I personally think to be inappropriate for this type of design, but I wanted a less "beefy" look when contrasted with the density of thread in the snow caps of the mountain ranges. The two plies of floss covered the already-painted area nicely but provided a subtle transition from the sky to the mountain areas.

Moving down to the tree line, I wanted to gradually increase the profile of stitches compared to those of the mountain ranges. I chose one strand of Impressions #5061, a misty-looking blue/green color appropriate for trees still in the distance, in a diagonal vertical oblong cross stitch. I'll complete this area when I've stitched the white of the lantern room. Then it will be time to work on the lighthouse itself!

Heading Northwest

While my Brant Point Sailor's Valentine continues to simmer on the back burner, I decided to move on to a different project: adapting another lighthouse to needlepoint. Several months ago, Jan Fitzpatrick (www.threadmeadley.wordpress.com) sent me some lighthouse links to investigate. We both agreed the red-roofed beauty shown here would be ideal to represent the State of Alaska!

Eldred Rock is the oldest original lighthouse building in Alaska and one of the most remote in North America. From 1867, when Alaska was purchased by the U.S. from Russia, to the late 1890s, there were no lighthouses in the area to provide navigational aid. Then in 1898, the steamship Clara Nevada went down close to the rock, with 75 lives and 850 pounds of gold lost, bringing the need for lighthouses to the attention of the U. S. government.

The beacon of this octagonal, wooden structure was first lit in 1906. The original third-order Fresnel lens is now housed in the Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center. The lighthouse was decommissioned by the U. S. Coast Guard in 1973 and has been operated remotely ever since. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. A committee organized by the Sheldon Museum continues to lobby for the restoration of the lighthouse .

I never thought I'd be painting a lighthouse canvas with snow-capped mountains in the distance, yet here it is! So do check back in to see my progress in stitching this Alaskan landmark!

Progress on another front

What a crazy week! My Webmaster arrived on Sunday for a visit from Kansas, and we've spent all week updating my website. Scary--it hadn't been updated since January of 2010! And I'm equally awed by how prolific I've been since then!

So, if you have a minute, check out www.absdesignsonline.com, and see all the canvases I've been blogging about for the past 18 months! There are two new categories: Nutcracker Suite and Clocks. And I think we caught up on the Missions, Penguins, Christmas, Halloween, Nautical, and Lighthouses, too!

Onward and upward to new, exciting things to add!