Slower than Molasses in January

I suspect this is an expression that does not spring readily to the lips of today's youth, but I heard it often in my childhood. In my parent's generation, molasses was common in the kitchen--to add sweetness and B vitamins to porridge and baked goods--and in the barn, as a supplement to animal feed. In a farmhouse without central heat, or an unheated barn, the molasses would congeal in the winter and pour verrrry slowly, hence the expression.

We have been in the deep freeze, weather wise, for the past week or so, and on a subconscious level everything slows down to a molasses like pace. The main concern has been to keep warm, in the necessary dashes from house to car, and to avoid the temptation to cancel all obligations and curl up for hibernation.

I've been working on the quilting for the Watt & Shand piece, and it is proceeding slowly as well. It's a largish quilt, so there's a lot of area to cover, and I'm stitching it rather intensely. I'm not complaining; I enjoy the process and the pace of it. With every few square inches of stitching, there's minute decisions to be made about where to go next and how to arrange the patterning., and that's a lot of fun. And it changes the look of the piece so much; it simultaneously blends all the small patches into a whole, while highlighting the small motifs within the patches, and makes the digital images "pop".

The cabin fever has not abated, but I'm working on my coping skills.