Building on the Shores

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you all had a great 4th weekend! And hopefully some stitching done too! We spent the day out at my BIL's house. They live a couple houses off the St. Claire River on a canal near Anchor Bay. It was a beautiful day and the fireworks were spectacular! Given that Algonac is a very small, sleepy town, it was amazing the fireworks display they put on. The day wasn't too cool or too hot. Really perfect. There is just something so laid back with that town - the beautiful Victorians and small cottages - you really feel like you've gone far away - reminds me a lot of Northern Michigan, which is one of my favorite places to vacation.



Construction on the Block #5 of Shores has been at a snail's pace. No real stitching time this week. In fact, a lot of what I got done was last Monday night and last night. Obviously, I'm way behind schedule. This block was suppose to be done by the end of June. I'm still loving it, but it seemed to take forever to get the bricks and mortar in.

I did have one happy dance this week. I got Adam and Eve back from the framers:




I'm not a particular fan of Michael's for framing, but they had a 60% off sale, so I decided to give them a whirl (I like to save a buck whenever I can). I'm really pleased with the job they did. Now that one is put to bed, so to speak, I'm really itching to work on Ann Medd (given that there is an A&E in that piece). She's been calling loud and clear, but the thought of pulling her out fills me with a sense of anxiety because she's do big. But maybe I can find some time to put some stitches in. My whole problem is that I always go for the BAPs and not much in the way of small things.

The rest of the week was just plain, 'ole busy. DS does volunteer work through his high school with an organization called Kids Giving Back (looks good on his college apps, don't you know). His requirement this week was to work the fireworks in town. No stitching was done that night as he had to be there at 4:30 to 5:30 for set up and then from 9:30 to closing to take down (they have a tent where they solicit donations for the works that they do in the community). Needless to say, I was kind of stuck sitting there for six hours because of the traffic. And I forgot my stitching! UGH And it rained the entire time. Another UGH! Luck was on everyone's side though and about 10 minutes before the fireworks were to begin, the rain stopped and the fireworks went on. What we don't do for our kids, right? I'll so love it when DS gets his license - although, on second thought, I'll probably worry myself to death.

I did manage to pick up another couple pairs of scissors this week. I'm kind like an obsessed person with these now. One pair is just a cheap pair of floral scissors I found at a needlepoint store and the other ones are a pair of Gingher Biancas.


The scissors frog is filling up:


I definitely need to find some time to make some fobs. I've got a couple patterns lined up and I'm going to beg Terri for some beading lessons, but it's all going to have to wait until the fall I'm afraid.

I did manage to make a quick run this weekend around everyone's activities. Dawn at Holly Hills Primitives had this tea cart on her blog a couple of weeks ago, and I knew that I had to have it. She was holding it for me and holding it, and I couldn't find the time to get up there. Finally yesterday I just said "I'm out of here" and drove up to get it. My grandmother had one of these carts to display her tea cups. When I was little, I used to love to go into her dining room and look at all her pretty stuff (her house was a very feminine cottage type house - decorated in the style of what we call shabby chic these days). When she passed away, my Evil Aunt took off with the cart (along with a multitude of other things, but I won't get into that). I got most of the tea cups, but haven't had any real place to display them. Some were in the bottom of a large bird cage I had, but the rest were scattered around:


I just love it. It's really a flower cart but it looks very much like the one my grandmother had minus the pot holders on the top. It needs a little cleaning up and I may give it a new coat of paint.
I have to thank everyone for their comments about my traffic ticket. I called the Court to see what the damage was going to be and I was told, "$125.00 and 2 points"! WHAT! I have set up a court date. Seeing as I have an unblemished record and there was a reason I looked away from the light (my cell phone rang - DS was hurt in gym class that day and I thought the school was calling me and telling me his injury was worse that they originally thought), I'm going to fight it. At least hopefully get the points taken off. Everyone tells me maybe Mr. Cop won't show up and they'll throw it out. We'll see what happens!
Well, that's it for now. Have to run and catch up on a bunch of errands. Hope everyone has a great week and finds some time for stitching.