A finish, a party and the Double Dutch's are framed!

Gosh, where has the time gone??  I have been meaning to post something for the last 2 weeks and yet every day has gone by and no post.  Seems as though the hurrier I go the behinder I get!  So lets take a step back into the past and start with what I intended to post about 2 weeks ago.  I have a finish!!!!!!  Forest Snowfall is all done and it is just too cute.  I have chosen a shabby white frame for it but haven't had the time to get it stretched yet with everything else I have had to do.  But you can see it anyway in all it's stitched if not framed glory.

Right after I finished Forest Snowfall, and I mean right after, I opened up my gmail and found an email from Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers.  You might remember that she is designing a retreat exclusive for the shop I work at and lo and behold there was a chart attached to the email.  I was so excited to see it and OMG she did a wonderful job on it!!  It ties in beautifully with the theme of Fear the Frog.  Of course I had to shove the Inn at Fox River Mill to the side and start stitching on it immediately and last night I got it all done.  I love it.  I wish I could share it with you all but I can't. Not until after retreat anyway.    But I really wanna show you (she says in a whiney voice)!  We have met our minimum goal now for retreaters but there is still room in case you were thinking about attending.

My nephew Ben turned 6 last week and my husband ( a 6 year old at heart) decided to build Ben a submarine for his birthday.  And I'm not talking a model.  So for the last couple of weeks he's been gathering supplies and making drawings and doing secret things down in the basement, all in anticipation of Ben's birthday party.  He built this submarine with a working periscope, red lights inside (cuz that's how it is on a real submarine.  You see better with the red lights because it makes your eyes dilate larger.  So says Dan anyway) and Dan wanted the sub to have a torpedo launcher.  About a week ago as Amy and I were watching TV, here comes Dan with some PVC pipe, a dowel, some springs and a piece of styrofoam made to look like a torpedo.  The man was ready to test his launcher.  I got the camera.   We were either going to make history or I was going to record an epic failure, I just wasn't sure which.  I'll let you decide which it was based on the expressions on the mans face.  I about wet my pants laughing when I saw the pictures. Please click on the pic to get the full experience!

Fail Fail Fail...yep, you guessed correctly, it was an epic failure.  He finally threw everything to the floor in disgust and went the Nerf gun route instead.  At this point in time I had yet to see the submarine.  I was quite happy living in a state of blissful ignorance.   I knew my sister wasn't going to be pleased with this "little" gift so when Dan announced he would need to borrow a truck to transport it to her house I knew we were in trouble.  She was going to kill us.  Even though I had nothing to do with it, I knew I would be in trouble for not stopping Dan.  Amy on the other hand was quite happy to be a co-conspirator and went with her father to deliver the gift prior to the party.  Her job?  To distract any and all people in my sister's house so Dan could get the thing down to the basement without being seen.   A mission that was accomplished without any mishaps.  That evening we arrived for the party and Ben came running up to tell us that Caitie (the younger sister) had spilled the beans and he knew there was a rocket ship in his basement.  To which Dan replied Nuh-uh just like the grown-up that he is.  Ben wanted to immediately head downstairs but his mom ixnayed that idea and said he had to eat first.  Soon enough it was time to open presents.  Dan had wrapped up the nerf gun and a Captains hat along with some official looking documents saying Ben was going to be sent out on secret missions.  Here's a shot of him with his hat on. 

Captains Hat and Nerf Gun

My mom reading Ben's Commission Papers

Then it was time to head downstairs.  You would have thought it was a real submarine by the reaction from Ben.  He thought it was the neatest thing.  Dan had even thought to print large pictures of destroyers and set them up as targets for Ben to shoot at (so as to avoid shooting the younger sister and having the Nerf gun taken away).

The sub in our basement-Periscope up

Ben, tuckered out after the party

In the end, Mel didn't kill us.  She wasn't happy about the gun but she did call the next day to say her kids had been in the basement since 7 that morning playing with the submarine and the targets.  For her kids, that's a record!

And I can't end the party talk without sharing a couple of other pictures.

Ben, Amy and Cait

 You have to see the picture of my dad playing with Ben's new Bruder truck.  He was rolling it back and forth and checking out all the bells and whistles!

I finally had a chance to get the 3 Double Dutch's framed.  I had a customer in the shop last week that made a comment about how you don't mat samplers and then she looked around and said, well most people don't.  It got me to thinking.  Is there a hard and fast rule about matting a sampler?  To my knowledge there is not. But please if you know of one, let me know.  Not that I would necessarily quit matting samplers, cuz I have never been one to follow rules but it would be nice to know if there is.   All of this to say, I matted 2 of the 3 Double Dutch samplers. LOL!!

Mary Ann and I are leaving for Nashville in the morning. It's a 13 hour drive without stops. Gonna be a loooong day.  I am mostly ready but still have some last minute things to do and I need to decide what stitching project to take with me.  We sometimes sit in the lobby and people watch while stitching which means no ott light.  No ott light means I need to take something fairly easy to stitch or at least something with  bigger stitches than 40 count.  This is a problem.  Most of my projects are on 36 or 40 ct.  So do I start something new???  I just don't know.  Guess I'll figure it out at some point before morning arrives!

I need to finish up supper and then I need to go run an errand or two before Revenge is on tonight.  So you all have a great weekend and I'll see ya soon.

Take care till next time!

Julie