The Black Hole

In Los Alamos, there is a place (a very scary place) called The Black Hole I didn't take many photos of it because it gave me the shivers. Just one photo. Anyway, if you click on the green link above, you can see what Wikipedia says about it.

Quoting from Frommers,which we should strike against due to what the founder says about Arizona, but I digress...quoting from Frommers The Black Hole is "an engineer's dream, a creative photographer's heaven and a Felix Unger nightmare". I guess I align myself more with Felix Unger in this instance. The place was filled to the gills with junk/junque. Gas masks, books, tools, clothing, computer equipment, stereo equipment and pretty much anything and everything else.

Here is the only photo I took:

Another couple of projects done and a rant

Have almost completed two more projects; a Christmas table runner (completed) and cutwork napkins (2 down, 2 to go).

The table runner came from angel fabric that I have been saving for quite awhile. I didn't want to chop it up in little bits because I wanted the angels to show. Finally found a table runner pattern in a book that used a big gob of fabric in the middle. I was going to save this one for myself but think I will put it up at the holiday boutique and see what comes of it.



I have also done some machine embroidery that I have never done before. It's called cutwork and it's done by cutting out some of the fabric at a certain point in the embroidery in order for there to be holes in the design and a more lacy kind of design. I'm really pleased with it but was in a real quandry because I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily, nothing was screwed up. This particular design has machine quilting in the fabric that is left in the design.





Now to the rant:

What does this warning sign exactly mean?





What I think they are trying to tell me is that I can't make anything from the fabric and sell it or even give it away. Somehow, they are telling me they are licensing me to make something from the fabric that is for me and for me alone. This infuriates me! Exactly how are they giving me a license? Just by my having bought the fabric, I am now being told how I can and will use it. I didn't agree to this license and didn't even see it on the selvage until I was pressing it. How exactly are they going to know what I do with this fabric? This is not even Disney fabric or its ilk. How do a bunch of African ladies on fabric and a bunch of bright colors allow this company to tell me how I can use it?

The fabric I buy and what I am going to do with it should be left up to me and me alone (in most instances). This fabric is going to be made into a whole different item and may not bare any similarity at all to what it was initally.

A couple of people have challenged these trademark bullies. They are not lawyers so I don't put 100% stock in what they say on their website but I think they do espouse the more logical reasoning behind copyrights and licensing and apparently, they have won several lawsuits against the biggies like Disney, et al. In addition, my sig. other is a patent attorney (although not practicing)and he has pretty much said the same thing whenever I have questioned him about this kind of thing.

Another gripe along these same lines is when they tell me how many items I can make and sell using one of their designs. Exactly, how are they going to know how many designs of theirs I have made. Grrrr!!!

Another item(s) for the Holiday Boutique

Here is one placemat out of four that I will try to sell in November. Very, very simple, not much to it at all but I like the colors a lot. The finished placemats would go perfectly with Fiestaware in my humble opinion.




The photo below shows the handstitching attaching the binding to the quilt back. I have never liked the way I have stitched the binding in the past so I searched the internet and lo and behold, I found videos of finishing the binding. I like this much, much better. This is a macro photo so shows the stitching but from farther away, you can barely see it. Happy times for me as I am a self-taught quilter mostly from books but I could never find a book that described the stitch to use.

Along the enchanted circle drive

Northern NM has one of the best scenic drives in the country that takes you from Taos through Questa, the Red River, Angelfire and Eagle Nest. Very, very pretty country. It was raining the day we went but that didn't take away the beauty. In fact, we took the drive twice; once one way and then the other because it was so nice.

Being very set in my ways, I have no plans on living anywhere but Arizona but there are several places I could live in New Mexico and around this area would be one of them. I don't do cold very well so would have to somehow ajdust to that.

I had to work a few days in Questa for a lawsuit filed against a mining company. I finally made it back there on this last vacation.

The Great Pumpkin

Here is my latest project; a Halloween table runner. I'm going to put this up for sale at the holiday boutique and I'm thinking potential buyers will want the price reduced since Halloween will have been several weeks past. But I really don't think I should sell it at a reduced price because it's brand new "straight out of the box" so to speak. What say you?

Going to the Chapel

Santa Fe is filled to the gills with old churches. The San Loretto Chapel is one of them. It was built in 1873 and patterned after the Sainte-Chappelle church in Paris.

San Loretto is famous for its circular staircase that apparently amazes architects and engineers alike. It makes two complete 360 degree turns with no central support or other visible support. There is a mystery surrounding the person who built this staircase and the lore says it was either Jesus or St. Joseph. Somewhere I read they finally determined it was a French master carpenter. Anyway, the chapel was beautiful and the staircase was cool. It was hard to get photos of it because it's closed off and you can't get too close to it.


The photo above is a photo of a photo showing the stair case before rails were added.