Happy Father's Day!

Hi Folks!  To all the Father's in the world, I would like to wish you a very Happy  Father's Day!  And I would like to say I feel very blessed to have known some great Father's in my lifetime, my Dad and my husband being two of them.  So thank you for being great examples for your children, for providing and caring for us all these years, and for being great companions to your wives.  I miss my own Dad...and hope he knows how much I still admire him and love him.

  

Well, summer is officially here in my household.  DS is finished with school for the summer and is already heading out to a church camp in Florida today.  Look out Big Stuf...here he comes!  This will be his 5th year attending Big Stuf.  The kids have a blast and come back charged up for the Lord.  I'm always blown away by the leaps my son makes at these camps and love to hear the stories of how the Lord touches the kids.  I'm gonna miss my buddy while he's gone though.  Lately we have been doing a lot of things together, and I have to say, I love the person he has become.  He still does some silly things but the maturity I see growing lately just blows me away.  I'm so thankful for all the positive influences in his life, his Dad, his Pastors, and the mentors at our church.  It surely takes a village!

The following week, DS will be off to a missions trip to Mexico.  I have to say I'm a bit anxious about this, but am trusting my son to the Lord, and again, can't wait to hear how the group ministers to those in need there in Mexico.  Will you join me in prayer for the teens and adults going on this trip and those going to Big Stuf?  I love watching the Lord in action through his people!!  I only wish I were well enough to go with them!

Things have been a bit crazy lately, between work, doctors appointments, spending time with my son and getting him ready for these two trips I feel like I'm stretched beyond my limit.  Hopefully I can take a breather now that my son will be out of town.  I'm working on getting a stitch day together for some friends here in July.  I really MUST clean my house, that is my biggest hurdle, but hopefully I've given myself enough time (a month to the day!).  You'll see pictures after the event!

I haven't had much time to stitch, but I did work a bit on another crazy, a 15 sided biscornu.  Now, I started stitching it together and when I had only 3 sides left, I discovered I had made mistake.  I've seen these biscofluers before, but I really was trying to make a round biscornu.  I've decided to just go ahead and finish it as it is, and maybe make another one in the future.  Someone suggested I have a give away...I'll think about it, I have to say, it's my first 15 sided one and I had some issues trying to stitch the darn thing together, I'm not sure it's worthy of a giveaway.  Here are pictures of my progress.  I haven't stuffed it yet, but maybe if I get half a second I may try to finish it in the next couple of days.

I also finished the big project at work.  The frame wasn't made when I took these pictures, and I didn't have my camera with me for the last picture, but you can imagine it with a 1 1/2" flat black frame around the outside, can't you?

Here are the different steps.  The mat I used in the middle pictures was for placement of the top mounted guidons and coins, and then became blocking so I could "float" the top mat creating some depth between the mats.  I hope that makes sense...LOL   If you look closely you may see the guidons are a bit uneven.  The stitching drew the fabric in toward the middle in some areas, then whoever made the guidons did not make the legs even nor were they the same size.  As I tell folks, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.  Trying to get them to lay flat AND be even inside the rectangle was impossible, so I did the best I could.

 I threw in some pictures of our mat cutter with the mat board still in place.  We put some debossing on the areas next to the flag to even up the dead space in the mat.  The computer screen shows the layout of the mat before cutting/debossing.  

You didn't think I did this stuff by HAND did you?  I'm really in awe of the artists that can do that, but I'm just not that good.  I thank God daily for that machine!!  Programing a design takes a bit of time, but once it's done, cutting takes about 1 - 3 minutes depending on the complexity of the design.

It was a pretty big design when it was finished, the inside dimensions measured 41 1/4" by 35 1/2".  Thankfully the boss cut the glass, and someone else made the frame, I did everything else from start to finish!  I wish I had a picture of it in the frame, the black frame truly makes a difference.  So, there you have it.  It was a three day project, taking about 6 hours to complete.  When my boss asked if it met their expectations they said it went way beyond.  I love it when you have a satisfied customer!