Berkeley and San Francisco Fabric Excursion

 On the advice from my reader from Sophie Junction, today I went and visited StoneMountain and Daughter Fabrics, in Berkeley, CA.  After 30 years, this store has a wonderful collection for quilters and seamstresses alike.  They have one of the better collections of wool and linen I've seen (and I've looked for both in the Seattle area.)

They also had some fabulous ethnic fabrics.  The ceiling of StoneMountain has two wonderful long crazy quilt-like banners streaming across it, as well as fabulous quilts and an unusual kimono hanging from it.

 
 After leaving Berkeley, we headed back to San Francisco,and visited an art supply & fabric shop in the Haight-Ashbury district called "Mendels & Far-Out Fabrics".  My girlfriend, Uvonne Jones-Most, is a painter, gourd artist, and glass maker.  She referred me to Mendels, as a place to find unusual textiles, as well as incredible art supplies.  Uvonne told me that Mendels stocks such unique products to appeal to the diverse population of San Francisco and the Haight neighborhood.

Well, she was right.  Feathers, glitter, all sorts of sparkley fabrics, fake fur in every color, hand-made papers, and more.
Stocked to the gills, it's almost impossible to NOT find something that you'd like to play with!

 I'm hoping to visit Dharma Trading Co. tomorrow, if I can fit it in with my family visits.

Heading to San Francisco for Valentines

My dear friends are celebrating their Silver Wedding anniversary on Valentines day next week.  As I was one of the bridesmaids in their wedding, I'm packing the family up and heading to visit them in San Francisco for the party.  While I did live in the city for a short time, that was half a lifetime ago... so it's hard to decide what all we will do while we're there.

I'm looking now for a few good options on the fiber or quilt frontier in the Bay Area to explore.  I was very sad to hear of Kasuri Dyeworks of Berkeley CA closing several years back.  I still have some of the remarkable fabrics I purchased from them.  I also just missed the Museum of Craft and Folk Art (SF) which closed at the end of 2012.

So here are some options I've found:

San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles  This sounds like a good prospect, although the upcoming exhibits don't really sound like they are totally up my alley.

The Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles (Berkeley)

Art Fibers Fine Yarn (San Francisco)

Dharma Trading Company Store (San Rafael)  This may be a bit too far, but I love buying my dyeing supplies from Dharma.

Anyone have experience with any of these places (positive or negative) or have a place in the San Francisco Bay Area that they'd highly recommend?  I'd love some guidance and promise to share whatever I find!