1st TUSAL! And a Pic of Jane before ISHW

Bonjour mes amies!!

I hope I find you all well and happy.  I have to say it's been quite the week here in the city! I have been working with some lovely groups of children that have made me smile all day.  I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to work with such lovely little souls.  Even though I don't have a contract, it's nice to go and teach at the schools you have taught at before because the children get to know me and then I get little hugs!! Sometimes when I leave work I want to skip to the bus stop but stop myself because I'm not 12 anymore!! Although I do sneak in a skip here or there :D

So before I head out to babysit my little cousins, I wanted to show Jane pre-ISHW so there can be a progress pic for Monday.  I, ehhem, still haven't replaced that colour yet, but I will! It's just that Michael's is out of my way and I have to make a special trip.  It's okay though because I have been putting in some of the grass and just having fun with the sampler!

As for my last query about how the girls made their designs, I found an interesting article about American Samplers (not sure how to upload the pdf file).  To sum it up, since it's a large article, the girls were usually taught by teachers in schools.  The purpose, as I'm sure you know, was for the girls to practice stitching so they can use their skills to adorn linens, clothing, etc, for their future homes. The designs were either inked on by the teacher following a template, or done by freehand.  Then the girls would stitch over the markings.  Some may have created their own designs while using templates that the teachers provided them.  The materials the girls used varied according to their status.  The poorer the girl, the poorer the materials, the richer the girl, the richer the materials, like silks and fine linens. You get the idea! Here is a link to a list of the motifs the girls used in their samplers.  It's really neat to read up on what each symbol means!!

The wedding heart is completed and I love it! I should really stitch one for me and my hubby!! It will be framed by next week.  The colour is really quite beautiful! Some of you mentioned that I should use the lace for the design, but the pink is a lot more rosier than the pink I used for the design.  I will use the lace for something else. Here is the link for the design: Needleprint. It's the design on the upper right hand corner.

I also stitched a really sweet little design for my friend's birthday but since she reads my blog, I can't post it yet!!
Without further ado, here is my Tusal "jar".  I haven't found one yet so I'm using a pretty white dish.  I've noticed that there isn't a lot of orts even though I stitched quite a bit.  I think it's because I'm very thrifty with my threads!!

Wow.  It really looks like I haven't stitched at all?! Those pale pink bits is from the heart, the blues from the snowman and the dark bits are from Jane.  Odd.  I thought I had more!
Here's a pic of a beautiful candle my little brother bought me for Christmas.  He picked it out himself, which is quite amazing! It's handmade in Prince George!!

(I am horribly behind blog reading, but will try to catch up tomorrow!)

Take care and Hugs for all of you!!

EDITED: Oops, just looked at the dates for the TUSAL and I'm two days early!!