Hand embroidered dinner napkins

A four-set of dinner napkins hand embroidered by me as a part of a Christmas gift this year. I’ve crafted most of my gifts (a by-product of still getting on my feet financially post-grad), but these are far and away my favorite. Embroidery is time consuming and precise, but creatively fulfilling. The options of creative choice are much more obvious than knitting (although I’m much newer to knitting, so forgive my ignorance!), while the container for the craft helps avoid the paralyzing thought, I could make anything.

I find that technique makes any craft (defined as to make or produce with care, skill, or ingenuity; or skill in carrying out one's work) more accessible and welcoming. Anything can be learned, as opposed to the ever illusive “talent”. With enough research, thought, and applied practice, any craft can be mastered. If I wake up one day and feel the urge to keep bees (as I did this morning), I am confident that through research and using the skills I’ve acquired and maintained throughout my life, I could do it and successfully.

Or perhaps I was told I could do anything a few too many times as a child.

Either way, today I am grateful to be self-sustaining; to have a mind that thinks I can make that, and hands that like to keep busy.