One message from the Bookmark Collectors’ Convention that really hit home for me is that bookmarks, and all objects for that matter, have stories. This was the subject of Deanna Dahlsad’s presentation, but then it was further demonstrated by Laine Farley’s presentation and Don Baldwin’s presentation.

Maybe the story starts at the point where you pick it up:

• you decide to stitch a bookmark for the 2010 Bookmark Challenge
• you discover a pattern in a needlework shop in Metairie, Louisiana, when you visit for Mardi Gras, and you stitch it for the 2010 Bookmark Challenge
• you see a sculpture at an art show that makes you think of your Great Aunt Gertrude who reminds you of your sixth grade teacher who gave you a bookmark when you memorized The Walrus and The Carpenter, and so you stitch a bookmark with a walrus for the 2010 Bookmark Challenge and hope it goes to a sixth grader

Or, more likely, maybe the story started long before you entered the scene, and you just don’t know it, at least not yet. Laine’s presentation on researching bookmarks revealed the story of a man who ran a funeral home in the early 1900s.

Think about the stories the bookmarks we’re creating will have:

• why you’ve decided to participate in the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy Bookmark Challenge (organizer of the Challenge threatened you?),
• how you selected the pattern and materials (fabric from a prize you won at a stitching retreat?),
• the stitching and finishing process (while witnessing history be made at the Olympics?),
• the donation to a shop or guild or participating group (attended a tea party to hand it in?),
• the delivery to a library (your needlework was placed on display for the whole town to see?),
• the prize/award/gift given to a young reader (who has never won anything in his life and worked really hard for the chance to win the bookmark you created?).

Where the story goes from here is anyone’s guess, but it will go on. Not only are we creating bookmarks, we’re creating stories.

Do you have an embroidered bookmark with a story? If so, I want to hear from you! Contact me at mail AT funkandweber DOT com.