Thatched Cottage by the Pond

Some people choose a kit for the colors. Some choose it for the hours. If you choose this one it will be for the roof, because thatch is nothing but texture, thousands of small direction changes, and it is the most absorbing stretch on the canvas.

Underneath it, stone walls run with climbing roses and a rambling flower garden crowds the front of the house in colors that barely repeat. A small wooden footbridge crosses the pond in the foreground. A cherry tree blooms pink along the lane, and behind everything the hills go soft and pale as they recede. The pond is still enough to hold all of it a second time, upside down.

What makes it hold up over three weeks is that it never asks for the same kind of work twice in a row. The thatch is texture, the garden is constant color changes, the pond is long flat runs you can lay down while half-listening to something. When one part turns tedious you move to another part of the canvas.

The details

• Finished size 40 x 50 cm (approx. 16 x 20 in)
• Full coverage, square drills, which sit edge to edge for a crisp mosaic finish with no gaps
• Pre-printed, pre-glued canvas sealed under protective film, with a color-coded symbol chart
• Full set of color-sorted square drills, with a few spare of each shade
• Drill pen, sorting tray and wax caddy
• Numbered color legend matched to the symbols on the canvas
• Care: keep the film over the areas you are not working, and settle each finished section under a clean book
• Frame not included; the finished canvas is ready to mount or frame as you like

Straight talk

Roughly 20 to 25 hours. Square drills have to be set straight or the grid goes visibly crooked, which suits a newer maker who does not mind slowing down and still holds the attention of someone who has finished a dozen. Keep the numbered legend beside you rather than across the room; the symbols are how you pick up exactly where you stopped. Peeling the whole protective film off at once is the one mistake worth avoiding, since the adhesive underneath dries out.

The roof will take longer than you expect. It is also the part you will want back once it is done.