Stitch and school's out

I started stitching all those pennies together last night. I'm using Valdani thread that's a combo of black and dark brown. I'm really, really liking the way it's turning out. It's just the right thickness of thread for this part. I haven't decided on what kind of backing to use, but I'm thinking a thicker thread to sew the backing. Something that will show up, but not be too bold. Maybe a dark brown DMC size 5? When I get to that part, I'll look over the isle in the store to see what I like.



Schools out! Here are my three 8th graders: Matt, Andrew, and Rachel. My 4th grader is James. Can you believe I actually got them all in a photo? James spent the afternoon running around the neighborhood with some other boys. They were playing with pop guns. I'm sure the neighbors love hearing the sound of pop, pop, pop for a few hours! I got Andrew to cut the lawn today. Matt had to point him to the correct machine, as Andrew was going for the snow blower instead. I'm sure he would have figured it out eventually!

Any bets on how long they will sleep in tomorrow morning?????