Wandering Wednesday - BAMPFA

 

This year on Black Friday we ventured up to Berkeley and went to the really awesome exhibit, Routed West: 21st Century African American quilts in California at BAMPFA (Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archives). I'm not going to share all the pictures I took, there's way too many. But here are some closeups of things I noticed or really loved.

These super cheery color choices with the curves and stripes was a really fun combination.

This block is very beautiful, I think it would have to be done by hand piecing.

A great example of finding a print you really love and then basing a quilt design off of it.

Each square stuffed, sewn shut and then sewn together. I loved the worn-in blues in this one, it look so cozy and comfy.

This particular yellow is just so beautiful with these fabrics. I don't think I've seen triangles and then curvy triangles used with this Sunflower block, so very pretty.

I just loved the orange used for this one, so vibrant along with the string pieced circles.

I don't know if it's this block or the fabrics used, but the spiky parts look curvy to my eye. It's very interesting and now I want to try a block like this.

I want a tile floor or a rug with this pattern and these colors, just so excellent.

I've never seen a hexie quilt arranged quite like this, much less the print hexies are string pieced as well!

And right outside at the corner intersection, the stop light post is covered in BAMPFA stickers. What a terrific exhibit, and if you happened to miss it in person, I really recommend the exhibit book. It has great pictures of the quiltmakers and a lot of historical information.

Seat Repair

I have this great pillow from Cushion Lab that I use with my sewing room chair. Even though the chair is on the new side, the cushion wasn't cushy enough for me. The pillow cover has a great grippy surface on the underside so it stays put.

Unfortunately the studio assistants also enjoy it and poked some holes in the jersey cover which then tore quite badly along the seam. The pillow is still in great shape (especially for a memory foam pillow), and thankfully it's got a removable cover, so it's worth the time and effort to repair it. I got it wrestled off and set up for some repair stitching.

I chose to use a piece of this nice soft grey pomegranate print. It turned out to be pretty easy to sew it on, and I didn't stitch through all the layers, which was my real worry. It seems to be working out well so far, we shall see how long it lasts in its repaired state. Especially with the cotton quilting fabric vs. the stretchier jersey.

 

Advent Adventure

 

I saw a few quilt-related advent calendar type things for sale this year, but I decided to buy myself a birthday present and try out the one from Global Fiber Shop.

All those intriguing polka-dot envelopes filled with FQs!

First things first. A really nice print!

Ooh this one is pretty too.

Wait, another pretty print and a notion was included too! So far, so good on the fabric picks, all will work for me. 

Cupro and More

I tried my best to avoid any Black Friday buying, except for my LQS's sale. Harts Fabric is always 

 fun for getting clothing fabrics, and they had a new one called Sandwash Cupro (which auto correct just changed to Cupronickel!?) The description of the fabric was intriguing so I decided to try some and go pick it up in person. While there, I fell prey to the W.o.W. fabrics and other white prints to use in the Lupine Mystery quilt.

I love that they suggest buying a matching color of thread in their online ordering. This color is Cognac.

This is one of those fabrics because of the surface treatment of "handwashing" means it catches the light very differently. Look at that color change! Hopefully this isn't a "nap" fabric that you have to match up so that it's all going in the same direction of your garment. It's a flowy, beautiful feeling fabric, so I'm looking forward to wearing it.

From Folkwear, a pattern for a tunic, a Sashiko kit, and a Clover buttonhole cutter.  And from Amazon, two more Clover notions that were recommended on SewShare. A Hot Hemmer, and a pattern cutting guide. Both of those will get a tryout when I make the tunic. And then from a recent museum visit, the show catalog which is a big beautiful giant book: Routed West: Twentieth-Centruy African American Quilts in California.

Palooza Sashing

 

A great Bamq Sew Day, and I brought along all 42 of the Patchwork Palooza blocks and background fabric for the sashing. It took a while to cut out all the sashing pieces. I sewed one piece on the right hand side of each block, including the chain blocks.

Then I moved onto working with the cornerstones, the ones I'd cut out months ago were 2.5" but the pattern calls for 2". Just a little trimming.

I sewed one cornerstone to the end of a piece of sashing. Now to cut out some more cornerstone pieces.

This is the coloring page for the Patchwork Palooza quilt, and I dutifully colored mine in as I made the blocks over all the weeks. Which is pretty useless actually. This is more for when one is planning out the arrangement of colors in your quilt. I also could printed out by accident the quilt design plan, which I also didn't follow. It's going to be my own choices from here on out as far as where each block ends up.

More Oxbow Progress

 

Made a little more progress on the Oxbow Tote. The zipper end got a little fabric tab sewn onto the end. The bottom of the bag got reinforced and cut down to size. The exterior pocket and its lining were sewn together at the top..

The interior pocket was sewn onto the lining. Some of the other people working on this bag pattern did interesting things with this pocket, like dividing it up, making it clear vinyl, putting a zipper along the whole top of the pocket, or inset into the center of it with a separate pocket. A whole lot of pocket possibilities.

Oxbow Working Group

L

Several of the BAMQ members working on making our own versions of the Oxbow Tote, got together for a little mini sew day to work on our bags. It was so fun to see where everyone was in the process, some just beginning to cut it out, some doing the very last steps. It was also great to see the fabric and webbing choices, all so different. 

Working in a group setting is so helpful, especially if you're all working on the same project at different stages of completion (and bag-making mastery). It also can mean that if you forget something crucial, someone else will let you use some of the interfacing they actually remembered to bring along. Thanks, Sue! Reminder to self: Pay It Back!

I was really happy to get to work some more on mine and to advance several steps through the pattern thanks to the help of seeing the steps either done, or being done with my own eyes in person. Sometimes I think that's how I learn best, because video classes aren't always shot exactly well. Not commenting on the Noodlehead one that comes with the pattern which I still need to watch. Another note to self: watch the video!

Block Unit Beginnings

Well, I'm actually starting in on the first clue for the Lupines & Laughter mystery quilt. Matching sets of four hourglass blocks of pink, blue and white.

I'm trying a couple of different methods to see which is most accurate for me. So far, so good.
 

Wandering Wednesday - Big Basin Redwoods State Park

 For the first time since the CZU fire in 2020, DH and I actually went for a hike in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. We drove through it last year, but didn't stop. You have to reserve a parking spot (some of the parking lots are inaccessible), there are no facilities (they all burned down), there's no running water and only chemical toilets (the pipes and facilities burned) . It's so different there now, you can see the remains of all the campgrounds and picnic areas. All the fences and bridges are brand new looking wood.

After getting over the shock of how the infrastructure looks now, we found the trail we were looking for. 

And across the brand-new bridge.

So many mushrooms and fungus were getting to work processing all the downed trees. Here's Rosy Brown Waxy Cap (according to the iNaturalist and Seek apps)

Hairy Curtain Crust!

Fairy Fingers!

False Puffball!

Witch's Butter

The red of the redwood underneath the brown/black outside bark is such a surprising color.

I'm glad that they haven't "cleaned-up the whole forest around the trail. It's good to be able to interact with the remnants of the burned trees that aren't ever going to regrow.

But then a little further on...this made me cry. A completely burned stump, the tree trunk fallen and burned. But there's several 6" high sprouts right off of the stump.

Some of the big trees didn't make it. 

California Quail are back out in force.

Really glad we went for a hike, I feel inspired by this forest that I live in. It's carrying on, keeping going, even growing, despite the setbacks and near destruction.

December To-Do

Here's how my design wall looks on the first day of December. It's quite different than many of the preceding months of this year. The finished Old Town Mystery quilt top is now carefully folded up and off of the wall. Also no longer on the wall is the Jane Sassaman class project, Sour Grace, which is now boxed up and awaiting the next step. 

In the foreground as usual is the scrap box I've been working from to make the weekly Patchwork Palooza blocks. Next to the box is the bag with the in-process Oxbow Tote. on top of the box is the Stamp Quilt, Temperature Quilt, in the brown tote is the BAMQ BOM fabric pull and completed blocks. 

All of the completed blocks for Patchwork Palooza are arranged over on the left of the wall. Still pinned up on the right is my not as recently returned from being shown quilt, “Our Mistake.” All the other projects are recently recovered from a smashed pile that I pinned up just to look at. Some are from the 2024 Project Quilting or other classes.

On to the final To-Do list of 2025.  I'm continuing on with using the not-so-very-new configuration of my to-do list below, as it more closely follows the database categories that I use to keep track of all my work-in-progress. I'm keeping the Design and Finished section going forward. Note: the use of 🥏👽  by a project name indicates that it's on the 2025 UFO Finishes challenge list of six projects that I committed to finishing at the beginning of the year.

QUILTS

Design & Begin

Pantone Project - work on a overall design, either in EQ8 or up on the design wall.

Lupine & Laughter Mystery Quilt - keep making units as mystery clues are revealed.

BAMQ BOM - make monthly blocks of varying sizes.

Continue Assembly

Patchwork Palooza - add sashing/cornerstones and assemble top

Keep working on Sour Grass Grace from Jane Sassaman class.

Old Town Mystery Quilt - make a backing & binding

AG Stamp Quilt - continue to make more blocks using the final group of fussy-cut stamp block centers from Tula Pink fabrics.

Continue the piecing of Selvedge Candy (maybe the name) quilt originally designed for the 2025 MQG challenge.

🥏👽 Sew the last 6 columns and sashing together of the 2023 Temperature Quilt together to make the quilt top.

🥏👽 Bohemian Wife -  Sandwich this and start quilting it

                                      

Quilting

leaving this category right here so I don't forget to use it next time

Final Steps 

🥏👽City Sampler- the long-armer is still working on it!

HANDWORK/BAG/CLOTHING PROJECTS 

Make a Cotton Candy pouch for myself.

Make a Charlie's Aunt wool purse for myself, first felt the wool from Pendleton Mill.

Oxbow Tote - Continue the assembly. 

Toned-Down Circle Sampler - now that I have the appropriately sized grey background felt, arrange and appliqué the circles, start embroidering.

Y.E.S. Coat - continue making pieces/blocks. assemble on foundation, cut out lining pieces from the fabric that I dyed

Snake In The Garden - Finish hand stitching

Kawandii - Finish hand stitching/assembly

Hey! This Is All Finished!

I'm still leaving this category here so I don't forget to use it next time I finish something

Again, no actual finishing happened during this past month. But, I worked on nine out of eighteen to-do projects. It's good to keep progressing on many fronts. Keeping on keeping on....