Patience, patience!

Yesterday I had the framework of the May cottage of the Month finished... I had made a list of  potential monthly themes in early January to see if I could think of enough, and also to try to make them correspond with the season--
so April was HOPE because we are hoping for spring, and May was PATIENCE, because we have planted our seeds and are waiting for them to sprout. Little did I know they would be far more appropriate than I thought, as we are hopefully and patiently (or not so much) waiting for this crisis to pass.

Originally, I was thinking of the "Fruits of the Spirit" cottages when I started this, but there are only nine of them, and some of them I don't agree with... for instance, there was no "self-control" exhibited when I decided to run three stitch-a-longs at once. (Stitches of the Sea, Cottage of the Month, World Tour of Embroidery) or frequently none embraced when visiting the fatquartershop.com. Does anyone else have that Sunday School song stuck in their head, though?

The Fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace.... 

patience, kindness, goodness.

The Fruit of the Spirit is 

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If you live by the Spirit let us keep in step, 

keep in step with the Spirit...

And just note that "self-control" is LAST anyway!

So here we are with the framework of the house:

Then, it's time to fill all the leftover spaces
to the brim with "cute stuff."

It's hard to make a dog in 15 cross stitch blocks... I checked with my daughter to make sure my new elements looked okay and she correctly named a swing, birds, clouds, and a weathervane. She called the hanging baskets "dream catchers" but I can live with that.

Yesterday, the Scottie dog was running rampant all over the design. I am proud to say I did not lose PATIENCE but instead made him a friend and a doghouse and they both settled into good spots.

When I started with Fairy Frost fabric for the first wintery cottage, it did cross my mind that it might not be appropriate for summer cottages, but now I'm thinking instead of frost that sparkle is now a dewy spring morning-- I still love it!

 The cherry blossoms are out!

Has anyone notice that each design has a large backstitched element? This one has a cherry blossom... at first, I was just trying to break up the border and fill some extra space, but now they are one of my favorite parts of the design! I was thinking of just doing a set of twelve "Unusual Elements" as a set at the end of the year.

We are almost halfway through the series and that has been plenty of time to dream up sashing ideas... I'm thinking of climbing florals with maybe a bird tucked in here or there. For the cornerstones, maybe suns? or maybe the birds go there? They will be fun to draw and I'm hoping to get them done over the summer. Think "happy."

That leaves the outer border... I was really thinking of this as a "virtue village," and I was thinking of the Bible verse, "whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things." So maybe a shortened version of that around the edges, or if you are totally over machine embroidered cross stitch, keep your eye out for a lavish floral print for your borders as the year progresses. Your thoughts are welcome.

I do like those verses though-- so appropriate for any faith--but the number of hoopings required might test both my patience and my self-control at the same time.

May Cottages of the Month out by the end of the week...

Happy stitching everyone!

xox

Carol