poolside stitching

Today at the pool, as the kids and I sat on a bench and had our post-swimming lesson snack, I spotted a pair of boys on a lounge chair nearby. They looked like typical boys you see at the pool - probably about nine or ten years old, skinny, tanned from swimming, barefoot, short hair, dressed in swimming shorts - except for one thing: they were both working diligently on something in embroidery hoops. Each had his own hoop and package of needles, plus a small, rather tangled, mound of thread in different colors atop a crumpled beach towel. Presumably they were passing the time waiting for their own swimming lessons to start. From where we were sitting I couldn't tell what kind of stitches they were doing (cross stitch? embroidery?), and I didn't want to interrupt their concentration. I can't help but wonder what sort of motif a young boy would bring along to stitch at the poolside, though I suppose it could be anything from superheroes to butterflies. They ran off before we left (to swim, I'm guessing) and I would have sneaked a peek if I hadn't gotten distracted looking for Daniel's goggles in the lost and found.