Embroidery (Sticken, not Stricken): What’s so great about it?

I only embroider by hand and only use cross-stitch. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much gone out of style. But I find it fascinating how a real picture slowly emerges from little dots (= little crosses). You can embroider any design you like, even photos (which are made up of individual pixels, after all).
I’ve never embroidered with a machine. For one thing, I don’t have a sewing machine that can embroider, and besides, I feel like the “art” of it gets lost somehow. (I feel the same way about knitting machines, by the way).
You can embellish so many things with embroidery: doilies, towels, baby clothes... But little embroidered designs are also great for greeting cards. Here, for example, is one I embroidered for a friend to celebrate the birth of her baby: