Bookmarks and Embroidery

     I haven't done any quilting for the better part of a year.  But, last week I sat down at my sewing machine and made a few patchwork bookmarks.  They're usually my warm-up for bigger projects.  While I was making the bookmarks, though, I came to the realization that, other than being cute, they're practically useless. 😟  People just don't read like they used to.  If they read, it's online or they may listen to audio books.  Mostly, they watch videos.  Even some schools are tossing the books aside in favor of virtual learning.  Sadly, it seems that bookmarks are becoming obsolete.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     A few months ago, my friend Cheryle shared her progress of a baby quilt she was making for her first grandchild (who arrived January 22nd!).  She embroidered squares featuring woodland creatures and they were adorable: 

     Here's what her final layout looked like:

     Her embroidery inspired me to dig out my old box of cross-stitching supplies.  Other than showing my daughter a few simple stitches, it's been close to twenty years since I've done any real needlepoint.  And I've only ever done cross-stitch.      

     As I dug through the box, I also found some unfinished projects.  There were two that had a really good start and wouldn't take much to finish up.  So, I decided to use them as a warm-up and then transition into learning how to embroider.  You'll see them in my next post.