Teacher's gifts

As I said in the previous "need ideas" post, this was my daughter's third year with her current teachers Mrs. V and Sra. T...

She loved having Mrs. V as her teacher, and I am so glad it worked out that she would stay with her for the full three years. Mrs. V is leaving the school to start her own Montessori Preschool close to her home, which was a 40 minute drive from this school. It will be sad not to have her around next year, but I totally understand and support her decision to leave. I wrote her a note explaining how having her as our daughter's first teacher gave Mike and I a sense of Peace. She has really been a great source of inspiration, ideas, and reassurance for us these past three years - especially given the various phases our daughter has moved through - in school and personally. I am sad to see her go, and know it's not likely that we'll see her again.

After looking at several ideas, I decided to make her something she could use in her new Montessori classroom... it's a Peace Wall hanging. Something she can use hanging by her "Peace Table" (a place where the children go to work out classmate disputes and arguments).

The bird and branch design are from Lynnette Anderson's stitchalong 'Noah's Ark' I pretty much just drew it quite a bit larger onto my linen and stitched it using colors similar to the ones she selected. Her designs are really great - check out her site at the above link! The finished Wall Hanging is about 8x10". I stitched it on blue linen, then bordered it with a beautiful batik fabric I had in my stash. I stitched around the outside edge with a blanketstitch just to give it more of a homey look and continue the handstitching details. I hope she likes it and is able to use it.

For Sra. Troncoso, I really couldn't come up with anything really personal, but I decided she could use a new tote bag - and this one is perfect for hauling things around or taking shopping. She is staying at my daughter's school next year, just moving into a First Grade Immersion classroom. She has been great teaching the kids spanish, and working with them during lunch time. She is such a sweet woman, and I hope her transition goes smoothly next year!