Well, I haven’t said a lot here on Needle ‘n Thread about National Embroidery Month.

Yes, February is National Embroidery Month! Yay!

The thing is, I don’t really get into the generic naming of months or days for the awareness of things. Like “World Nutella Day.” What does that mean? Are people supposed to eat more Nutella that day than any other day of the year? Or are they just supposed to be aware that Nutella exists? I already struggle with the fact that Nutella exists! I don’t need to be reminded!

Does it really matter that November 6th is National Basketball Day? Or that March 1st is National Pig Day? Or that May 4th is Star Wars Day? If more people knew that January 23rd is Handwriting Day, do you think they’d have better penmanship?

And, really. Do you want the world to celebrate National Naked Day?

If I tried really hard, I could probably elaborate many reasons why I don’t get into these kinds of things. Among them, I might mention their arbitrariness, their (often) superficiality, their lack (in most cases) of clear foundation or reason for existence (Count your Buttons Day? National Absurdity Day? Tell a Lie Day? My mind boggles!), and, when it comes to things, the little inkling that they smack of marketing ploys. I bet more Nutella is sold at the beginning of February than any other time of the year.

And while I can get behind the notion of a more intensely embroidery-focused day or month, the fact is, every month is National Embroidery Month in my mind. I’m always asking myself how we can make others more aware of the art of embroidery, how we can pass the art on, how we can preserve it, enhance it, spread it, explore it…

Still, all that said…. ok! I’ll bite! It’s National Embroidery Month, after all! And to celebrate it – as it draws to a close – let’s have a give-away!