Day 37 of the Summer of Martie--with Fish!

Okay, not really fish, but the finished redwork quilt panel from Monday's post, which of course features a fish:

This is the next block-in-progress, a turtle:

Note that I sign each piece. Always have done, always will, even when I'm stitching a set of tea towels. It breaks my heart when I see embroidered linens in thrift and antique stores with little hint of who put all that love and work into the stitching, and when it was done--in the 30s, when materials were dear? In the late 40s, when the country was jubilant? The early 60s, with a brood of baby-boom kids demanding attention? Funky 70s? Neon 80s? It takes a special kind of person to have the patience and perseverance to finish any piece of needlework, and I'd love to know just the tiniest bit about by whom and when the work was done. It's even more important now, with embroidery machines rampant and the art rather dying out. A pre-programmed design into a computerized machine, down to the thread colors to be used, put into the world as "creative handwork" makes me heartsick. I'd rather see a clumsily executed piece of simple hand embroidery over a slick professional-looking licensed-character machine-made piece any day. Handwork is heartwork. There you go, the title of my next book. ;D