August 28, 2011

True Stories

Of five people in my house right now, I'm the only one awake.

Leaving our daughter (in capable, loving hands) for a week feels terrifying and kind of like a second honeymoon at the same time. I've never wanted medication for my anxiety until this week. It will be fine, I know, but...that's why I'm the one still awake.

I intended to have a few scheduled posts for you while I'm gone, but, much like weaving wool dreads into my hair, it just didn't work out. The party will go on all the same!

I did manage to precook three pounds of bacon to see us through the week. This is maybe enough to have bacon at every meal, and our house will now smell like bacon until the end of time.

We used to have two cameras in this house but today we discovered that one is missing. My husband swears it's buried in my sewing room, and he's probably right. He'll be carrying the remaining camera at burning man which means we'll come back with 800 pictures of sunsets and sunrises. I'll try to get him to snap some of Black Rock Stitchery happenings in there. Total count: 252 blocks!

And, finally: I was once an extra on ER when I lived in Chicago, and got to spend ten minutes chatting alone with George Clooney on an el car. Totally off topic but I've been wanting to tell you about it for a while now.

Have a great week everyone!

August 18, 2011

She wanted to sew


 We tried fabric and needle, but...OUCH! So we got new supplies.


Permathreaded a yarn needle with yarn.  


And let her sew her "spiderwebs".


Seeing that needle in her little toddler fingers just melts my heart.

Thank you for the enthusiasm for the Double Disappearing Nine Patch! We've been burning through tissues and NyQuil over here, so sorry I haven't been able to respond individually to all your kind comments. Below, some recent additions to the Black Rock Stitchery. We have 210 blocks now, enough for seven quilts. You all are amazing. Thank you.


One block from every package I've recieved since the last photo I posted. I wrote down the names but can't find them now!


August 15, 2011

Double disappearing nine patch

If you enjoy this post be sure the check out the improved tutorial!


The name kind of says it all! I made nine patches.


Cut them in half both ways.


Then used those blocks in the corners of new, larger nine patches.


Then cut those up the same way.


I like that it looks more complicated than it is.


I think the potential for secondary patterns is broad (see the pinwheel in the white in the block below?). And depending how you orient your blocks in the second nine patch you could end up with completely different looks.


These blocks were small but I also tried some with charm squares. If you start with 5 inch squares, you will use 7 inch squares for your second nine patch, and end up with a block that measures 10 inches, for a 9.5" finished block. Have you tried this before? Is "double disappearing nine patch" the right name or is someone out there calling it something else?

The Black Rock Stitchery is heading to Nevada in two weeks! I decided to have a drawing for a fabric store gift certificate from among everyone who donated, as a thank you. If you have a block to send, please pop it in the mail this week. We are almost to 200 blocks, wow!

August 08, 2011

Casting about

A series of pictures from my design wall.... (There are hops growing all over my windows so the lighting is going to be awful until we harvest them!)

 This was what I tried first. A little bland. Hmmm...

 Welcome to New Mexico

 All it needs is a pegasus.

 I kind of like it, but not sure what it's saying.

 Odd. 

  Better, but...not quite.  

 Bingo.

It'll need some tweaking but this is where I'm going.

Black Rock Stitchery update: 146 blocks! My grandma Mary Ann is even participating! And I am learning all about sewing with fun fur.

August 02, 2011

A trip to the tile store

We're home improving again. Shopping for tile is so much more fun if you're thinking about quilts and quilting patterns when you do it.















This last one in particular would make such a great quilting pattern!