A Stitchy Thank You to the Grown-Ups Who Help My Girls Thrive
Every year, I try to find a heartfelt way to thank the wonderful adults who support my daughters at school — and 2025 was no different. For Teacher Appreciation Week, I made seven handmade gifts: four cross-stitched Stitch People portraits and three hand-embroidered hoops. These pieces are a small token of my immense gratitude for the teachers, therapists, and paraeducators who play such a big part in my girls' lives.
I was definitely in a time crunch this year, but I’m so glad I made the time to stitch for these incredible humans. They support and nurture my girls in so many ways — and I hope these little hoops helped show just how appreciated they truly are.
Let’s take a closer look at what I made this year:
🧶 The Embroidery Pieces
This year, I chose to create hand embroidery pieces for these three incredible women because they’ve each already received Stitch People portraits from me in previous years (2023, 2024). My daughter has been in the same special education class for the past three years, and these educators have been alongside her every step of the way. I wanted to honour that continuity with something fresh and personal.
Each hoop features the recipient’s name stitched in a flowing script —some in soft pinks, others in deep purples— surrounded by delicate floral designs. The flowers range from tiny pink roses to cheerful yellow-centred purple blooms, with leafy greens adding gentle movement. Stitched on crisp white fabric and framed in natural wood hoops, the trio complement one another while each remaining unique.
It felt really refreshing to return to hand embroidery after some time away from it, and I’m hoping to channel that energy soon into designing new embroidery patterns. You can browse my current collection here.
🧵 The Cross-Stitched, Stitch People Pieces
The other four pieces I made this year were bust-style Stitch People portraits featuring the recipient(s) alongside either of my daughters. These were all stitched on white 14ct Aida fabric and framed in wooden hoops, each personalised with names and the year "2025" underneath.
There’s something so fun about capturing each person’s personality with tiny details. One of my daughters; Charlie, is wearing her usual bright yellow headphones — a detail I couldn’t leave out, of course! Several of the figures have glasses, everyone has different hair lengths (including a ponytail), and a variety of top colours from purples and greens to classic grey.
I love how each piece manages to reflect the real-life people they represent with just a few stitches and a pop of colour. They might be tiny, but they’re full of heart.
And speaking of chaos… while packaging one of the pieces to mail it out, I realised I’d misspelt my daughter’s therapist’s name. Oops! 😅 It was such a sinking feeling to spot the error after all that work!
But thank GOODNESS I finish my hoops the way I do — it meant I could easily cut the running stitch, unpick the incorrect part of the name, fix the mistake, and re-do the hoop without too much trouble. (If you’re curious how I do set up my hoops, I have a whole blog post about it here). Crisis averted — and now I’ve got a perfectly spelled “after” photo to share instead of a cautionary tale!
This year, two of the gifts needed to be finished early due to unexpected scheduling changes, so I handed them over the week before Teacher Appreciation Week officially began. A little chaotic—but still heartfelt & worth the effort!
It’s always a joy seeing how these tiny stitched figures come to life with just a few ×'s, backstitches and careful embroidery stitches for hair.
Want One Of Your Own?
If you'd ever like to talk about commissioning a piece like one of these —whether it’s a Stitch People portrait or a floral hand embroidered hoop— I’d love to chat.
You can request a quote or place an order here.
