This started out as a solid white cottage design. I was thinking about Christmas at the time. I thought it would be nice on a tree or in a window. After it finished sewing and washed out ,even though it was beautiful, I still wanted it to have color. Specifically flowers and vines. Hence the addition of the yellow windows and botanica.
~~ Links to purchase Cottage Gardens is at the bottom of this page ~~
Of all the cottages I’m made to date this is my most ambitious. It all started with a simple watercolor image of the pot with a couple of sprigs of green growing up on it and a big door of wooden planks. I never planned to make it this elaborate and not even in my dreams did I consider it could be.
I never know how my freestyle designs will turn out because they are not planned. I start with a simple image and literally design all the rest of it freestyle on the screen of my computer within my digitizing software. The design evolves with each day into something I can hardly believe it could be. This one took me 4 weeks off/on with the last week turning into 20 hour days as it was becoming a bit long in the tooth, even for me. Not to mention that I have other designs I’m anxious to make.
I ran across this free artwork a few years ago. I didn’t know if it would be well received or not. So I have hung onto it. This is actually the first cottage I made. There is so many details, hence all the thread changes. But it is worth it!
Life is But a Dream
This is my first two-story cottage with my dream landscaping. It was a rather plain house artwork but it was pink which of course drew my attention. I spiced it up with my dream colorful landscaping complete with grass, shaped bushes, and a beautiful balanced tree in full bloom.
I added animal and bird buttons to these sew outs because I like them this way. Find links to these special buttons by typing the word button into the search box located in the upper right corner.
Remembering my mom’s purple alliums I created my machine embroidery version in the front flower bed. I remember carpets of colorful phlox in nearly every yard back home in Virginia every spring so I made the pink and purple phlox carpets on the ground of the front flower beds.
The overflowing flower box on the second floor is a dream come true for me as I have never been able to grow a flower box this great. So making an embroidery one is an assurance I can own one this beautiful with a plus that it will stay this way all season long without all the work year after year.
The trailing flowers and their vines are again a dream arrangement I have always wanted but no green thumb around here except on my computer playing with nothing more than my embroidery digitizing program and my imagination.
The front railing on the left side I left open especially for a kitty button to be placed as well as a grassy area where other buttons can be added with pets to enjoy. The tree is plenty spacious and open to add button birds. A chicken or two…or three…running around in the yard would be nice.
Included in each collection are all the elements and the house. PDF instructions included.
I had several people ask for the Cottage Love design in an 8 inch size. So I ran a poll to find out if many people wanted an 8 inch version of the Cottage Love design. I can sew an 8×11 inch design so decided I would make one landscaped to fit my hoop plus an 8 inch cottage by itself.
Continue reading Cottage Love 8 inch and Landscaped Designs Plus Elements
Making Lace? Stitch it right the first time. Always keep a spool each of white and charcoal Wonderfil Invisafil 100wt on hand to fill those bobbins and up your embroidery game.
"When people ask for time, it's always for time to say no. Yes has one more letter in it, but it doesn't take half as long to say."
Narrated by the author
"The conception of people acting against their own best interests should not startle us. We see it occasionally in sleep-walking and in politics, every day."
― Richard Condon,
The Manchurian Candidate
