Many Bulgarians returned to their homeland during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their number or how many of them have decided to stay in the country after the crisis remains unknown as there are no statistics. Either way, we have reason to believe that a great deal of them were motivated to settle in Bulgaria. Such is the case of Jasmina Atanasova. After finishing her education in the USA, she stayed there for about 20 years. Now Jasmina has returned to Bulgaria and together with her husband and two children are building their new life here. The young woman could talk endlessly about her connection to her homeland, but words are hardly needed for that - it's all there in her Bulgarian embroideries.

Her interest in Bulgarian traditional embroidery began eight years ago. Jasmina was expecting her first child. Back then, embroidering tapestries was a form of meditation for her, a way to organize her ideas, as she says herself.

It so happened that the master of traditional embroidery Irene Velichkova-Yamami came to San Francisco, California, where the young Bulgarian lived. Irene organized an embroidery circle for the Bulgarian community and Jasmina joined in, driven by the desire to learn the embroidery techniques used by her ancestors. Thus, in the United States, Jasmina Atanasova learned to do a very specific embroidery that is often used in Bulgarian folk costumes. She later discovered that the tablecloths preserved in her grandmother's chest were made using the exact same technique. "It is very enjoyable because Bulgarian embroidery brings a very good vibe," Jasmina Atanasova tells us and continues: "You learn very quickly when you're shown embroidery by a professional, but it's also important to be eager to learn. As we, Bulgarians say, you don't learn a craft, you steal it. So one doesn't need much to get the hang of it. Irene Velichkova-Yamami left each of us a sample and I continued to practice on it. Until then I had embroidered mostly tapestries, which are also as big as paintings, but now I want to devote myself entirely to Bulgarian embroidery because it is so colourful.”

Jasmina says that even in the limited spare time she has, she doesn't watch TV but sits down to stitch. She has plans to arrange an exhibition of a kind with the embroidery designs typical for all the regions of Bulgaria. "I want to put them in a frame and they will literally shine in my home," she tells Radio Bulgaria’s Gergana Mancheva.

"I've had moments when another mother and I have sat in the park, embroidering and talking - those are magical moments. For me, embroidery is more interesting than being on the internet. I've also met women in the US who knit but are still fascinated when they see Bulgarian traditional embroidery. It's all a matter of willingness to learn, I've seen Japanese women embroider beautifully in Irene Yamami's workshop, and not infrequently men get into embroidery too. Once you're into it, it doesn't matter what gender or what profession you have - it's a hobby, it relieves you of stress and keeps you from bad thoughts."