2 Blocks and...Canada?

Oh, hi, again. Same old, same old. (Is this blog getting boring?) I don't have any projects to show right now except this one. But I did get two blocks done this week. So only two to go.

And here they are in the whole quilt setting:

I just need to fill in those two bottom corners and stitch the nine super blocks together, and then the fun of figuring out how to quilt this beast begins. 

In the meantime, we decided to take a little international trip. Emphasis on little. As the crow flies, we live only about 120 miles from Canada, but it's a bit of a rigmarole to get there. As the crow flies it's shorter but takes a long time (country roads and some stop-and-go traffic in cities), and by major highways, it's a longer distance (same amount of time, though). I think I can count the number of times I've been to Canada on my fingers--maybe the ones of one hand. But yesterday was a gorgeous day, so we decided a trip out of the country was in order. We took the shorter way.) 

We went to a little town called Marine City on the US side of the border. It's adorable, with water (the St Clair River, which runs from Lake Huron toward Detroit), a rescued lighthouse (that had at one time been falling into the river), antique shops, a quaint quilt shop, Victorian buildings, a cute penny candy shop, and an awesome fish restaurant. 

There is also a ferry to Canada. It holds a few vehicles and as many pedestrians that can fit, and on foot you can take the 5-minute ride for $2 a round trip. (A big part of the traffic back and forth is people carting beer from the duty-free store. It's cheap beer--not even the expensive kind of craft beer, so I don't really get it, but it must be a deal because there were some guys on their 3rd or 4th trip of the day.) On the Canadian side is the tiny town of Sombra, Ontario. It also has a few restaurants, shops and a cute little park along the river. So we took the ferry, went for a walk in Canada, and then went back to Marine City to browse the shops and eat a yummy dinner. What a wonderful day! I saw lots of things in the antique shops--two spool cabinets, a fiddle base Singer treadle machine, a gorgeous table, and a chest that would have been great for storing fabric. But I didn't spend any money, and just came away with a smile for what I had seen. I didn't even buy anything at the quilt store. I feel guilty about that. I should have supported that business, but it was such a surprise to come across it, and I didn't have any idea what I wanted. If I ever go back again, I'll make up for that. 

So, if you're interested, here are some pictures from our international adventure, plus one of my painted daisies. Oh, and one more piece of news. On the way home, we visited my son and daughter-in-law (who just happen to live between us and Canada) and they showed us the latest ultrasound of our next Grandbaby (Yippee), who is due in October. Guess who will be making another baby quilt? (Now, isn't that incentive to get the Big Quilt done and out of the way?)

Rescued lighthouse now in a city park (Important: Quilt store in the background.)

Entering Canada

Cute little park in Sombra. If you look closely, you can see the ferry returning to the US.

Freighter gliding by

Oddest site in Canada: This crocheted afghan was hanging in a huge old tree. It had been there so long, a small tree was growing through it. We looked it up on the internet. Apparently it was from a yarn bombing 4 years ago!! 

Ferry coming back to pick us up. Those guys standing there are the beer haulers with their hand carts.

Get your beer here.

Adorable quilt store. It had a gorgeous mitered wood floor and miles of fabric.

Old city hall in Marine City. It's being restored to use as a community center.

Painted daisies are in full bloom.

So that's my Week in Progress. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm linking up with Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday, Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday, and Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social. Buttons are on the right. 

I hope you are having a beautiful week.