While I work with particular embroidery stitches, I always find it entertaining to think about the stitches.

One of my pet musings: Who was the first person to stitch This Particular Stitch? What instigated it? What happened next?

It’s not a novel thought. I’m not the only person in the word to wonder who was the first to do This Particular Everyday Thing. Charles Lamb, after all, pondered out the roasting of pigs in a whole dissertation!

But I do wonder about such things. Who, for example, first paired strawberries and cream? And what genius followed that by adding a bit of sugar and vanilla… and then froze it? Who put peanut butter and jelly together for the first time and found it good? (Or my mom’s incomprehensible favorite, peanut butter and mayonnaise?)

I ponder these types of questions about stitches. And while I could never tell you who came up with the two stitches we’re going to talk about today, I can guess that both stitches must have come about simultaneously (it only makes sense!), and that the original stitcher must have enjoyed a very smug satisfaction with the results.