Snuffle Mat

 

At the BAMQ December meeting/Sew Day, we had a swap which I hadn't managed to make anything for. It was fun to watch even though I wasn't participating. There ended up being one thing left by one of our new members, Eleanor. She was so sweet to gift me with it. It's called a Snuffle Mat. This is for a dog, you hide treats in the flappy pieces of fleece, flannel and other fabric. Then they snuffle around and "hunt" for the treats. Meg loved it. She was done so fast I didn't have time to take a picture!

I had to flip it over to see how it was put together. It's such a great re-use of jeans. The whole thing is easily washed as well. Here's a video on how to make a different type of snuffle mat.

Davenport Trees & Sky Stitching

I was actually wandering on a Wednesday, yesterday that is. So, here's the stitching that I did while I was away. Two more lengths of variegated blue embroidery thread have been added to the sky in Snake In The Garden while I waited for my plane to board.

It was a rainy and windy morning in Spokane, so I was very glad I was inside stitching.

Also, strangely, there were birds indoors at the Peet's Coffee in the airport. They were nesting up above on top of the giant monitor screens that display great outdoors scenery. You know, like where the birds are actually supposed to be. I can't imagine they get enough calories out of the scone crumbs on the floor from Peets.

And this time, during the visit, I got to stay in the fancy old hotel, The Davenport, which was all done up for Christmas. Isn't that such a lovely tree?

The second floor was hosting a raffle fundraising event for the Spokane Symphony, so I went upstairs to check it out and got a great view of the big central lobby tree.

There were nine fully decorated trees (that's the LEGO one above) that came with "major prizes", actually they were prize packages worth $1,000's. It was quite a to-do, was absolutely packed with families in the evening, but still very fun to walk around and enjoy.

 

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.