I hear again and again that people don't like January. I think for a lot of people, the holiday bustle is over, the credit card bills are in our mailboxes, and the dreary winter weather sets in. But I LOVE January. I put the Christmas decorations away, vacuum and dust and make the house fresh and new again, and I settle in with some cocoa and some good DVDs and spend some great time stitching.
Good weather helps, though. Last year at this time, we were buried in record amounts of snow, so much so that I couldn't get out of my driveway, much less down the street. Our little city was so overwhelmed that the plows only cleared the main roads, and our residential streets were left unplowed. This winter, so far, has been quite the opposite. The last few days have been in the mid-forties. My dog, Scout, has spent most of the day so far lying out in the grass enjoying the sun.
Oh, and did I mention... January is my birthday month? I do not have a birthDAY. I have a month. You can blame my husband for that. He finds little ways to spoil me all the time, but more so in January. I have always loved having a January birthday because if there is something special I really wanted for Christmas and didn't get, I still have an opportunity just a month later.
I apologize for not posting again sooner. Wow... it's been a whole month. You have been on my mind, though, all of you who took time to post such nice comments. My current cancer treatment, an oral chemotherapy drug, has a yucky side effect called "hand and foot syndrome." The extra chemo ends up in my hands and feet, and if I expose them to really hot water (washing dishes, bathing) or if I walk a lot, the capillaries burst, releasing that chemo into my skin. The result is really dry, peeling, cracking skin. So, my fingertips have had little "fish hooks" next to my nails, which, oh baby, makes cross stitching SO. MUCH. FUN.
Not.
The thread catches on one of those little fish-hook-like pieces of dry skin, and before I realize it, the needle has become unthreaded or the thread is tangled or knotted. Joy.
Thankfully, Bath and Body Works had a huge clearance sale, and I loaded up on a bunch of shea butter body creams. I've been pampering these hands and feet, and it has made a difference.
Enough about that. On to the stitching!
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| "Cottage of the Month January" by Country Cottage Needleworks, stitched on 32-count lambswool linen with DMC, Classic Colorworks and Weeks Dye Works threads. |
I have so much to show you, but only one project framed and ready. It's my January cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks. I love that little snowman! I finished this while visiting my mother-in-law at her ranch in central Idaho. I didn't have my Ott-Lite with me (love that lamp), so I was struggling with low light and fish-hook, dry fingers. Those little French knots on the snowman really threw me. Between the thread tangling and the knots looking terrible, I ended up taking them out twice, and I finally had to move into the bathroom, where the light was better, and finish making those little knots while sitting on the toilet! Haha...
I hope your January brings you lots of time to work on projects! I have loved getting to know you through your wonderful comments and emails. If you have a blog, please tell me in your comments. I read all of the comments, and I would love to get to know you better.
Happy 2018!
