The Bookmark Collectors’ Virtual Convention starts tomorrow at 8 am, PST. It is so exciting to be part of something brand new! I love the people who are making this happen: they are fun, adventurous, hard-working, enthusiastic, willing to take risks, and creative and smart enough to handle whatever happens. It’s a first; no one knows what will happen, and it doesn’t matter; we’ll run with it.

That I ended up in this mix is serendipitous. Who’d have thunk? But I like it here, and I plan to pull up a chair and stay a while. I’m getting heaps of ideas for embroidered bookmarks and am eager to stitch some of my own–not pattern models or class models, but one-of-a-kind bookmarks of my own…fancy, complicated, interesting.

Learning the history of other kinds of bookmarks makes me curious about the history of embroidered bookmarks. I didn’t get responses from the embroidery historians I contacted, so maybe I need to do some research on my own.

The galleries, forums, and vendor pages for the show are up and running for pre-show viewing. I want to attend the presentations tomorrow, so I’m getting a head start on these. I just discovered this oh-so-clever vendor: In My Book. They create beautiful bookish greeting cards that recycle into bookmarks! Each of fifteen bookmarks finishes the sentence: “In my book, you’re _____.” Each one calls to mind a number of people to whom I’d send that particular one. Very fun!

According to the In My Book website, the cards are sold by the ZJ Loussac Friends of the Library shop, so I can get these cool cards and support Anchorage libraries simultaneously. Maybe your library or a local independent book shop has them, too.

I’m off to the convention!