I think I am recovered from school - whew.
AND I have finished cleaning the first floor but I have not completed the purge or taking things to the various donation places.

While working on the first floor, I was also working on another Klimt quilt for Elisa of Scotland. Yes, this is third one and I used the larger left of sections of fabric to put multiple borders around a center panel. It finished the top and back about two weeks ago and took it to the quilt shop for it's assembly. I picked it up last Wednesday.  I then spent all day, yesterday, making the binding, squaring the quilt and then putting on the binding. It shall be shipped in a week or so.  Enjoy the pictures

I guess I was more tired than I thought. I am still sleeping 8-11 hours a night UNLESS the *Fuzzy Alarm Clock* wakes me at 7-ish, and those days I then go back to bed a few hours later for a few more hours of sleep. It should be noted that I am not normally a napper.

For the first week I was off, I started work on a scrappy Klimt quilt for Elisa of Scotland. I bought another panel and then using up the left of fabric from the other 2 quilts (yes I bought too much) I was able to sew a twin sized quilt top. Then using the left over backing fabrics and some larger scraps, I was able to assemble the back which has to be 4" per side larger than the quilt top. I made it work!!! There are pictures below. It's now at the quilt shop and should be read in 3 weeks.

As I said in an earlier post, I think, I am now cleaning the house. I actually started the 2nd week I was off and I alternated days of cleaning with the quilt sewing. I have done the front entryway; the living room; dining room; kitchen; pantry; laundry area; and bathroom. The cleaning consist of dusting shelves, wiping counter tops, putting things away, cleaning the oven, sorting things in the closets, cabinets and such and then taking the stuff I don't use to either the library, Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity re-sale store. I have now made three trips.

Friday I started the studio and I am almost half way done with it. Yesterday I went knitting and today I will finish the studio. THEN the main floor of the house will be done.

During the summer, when I took the Easy Peasy Japanesy quilt in to the quilt shop to be quilted, I came across the Klimt fabric. I knew it would be the next quilt so I started buying fat quarter and full yard cuts along with one of the Klimt style panels which was a cat. I knew I was starting school soon so I set it aside for my Winter break project. 
Winter break started on December 13 and that's when I sat down and finalized the block for the quilt which would be for the couch in the family room. I my plan was to everything on 2", 4", 8", or 12" sizes of 4-Patch, Half-Square Triangles, Ohio Stars, Hour Glass, and Flying Geese. Below are all the pictures of the progress. 
I also planned on using some of the extra blocks to create a center panel for the backing. That soon got away from me and I ended up with a second top which is a "quilters casserole". AND I have enough fabric to put together a lap quilt for Elisa of Scotland... which she will get sometime next year.

I missed writing in June, sorry about that. 
Here's a recap of the month - 

• The grief hit me really hard last month and so I spent a lot of time just sitting, missing Erich and crying.
• Other times I spent on the cleaning/purging/reorganization of Erich workshop which is now done. 
• I went to the Tobin Center to see a lecture by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, my second time, and treated myself to a nice dinner beforehand. I paid extra to attend the after Q&A session; there were some very good questions and of course answers too.
• I took the quilt I made in May to the quilter and got it back; it's now on the couch to snuggle under while watching TV. Then I made another quilt which is now at the quilter. I have been collecting Asian themed fabric for 20 years and I thought that since I need a new quilt for my bed why not use ALL the fabrics. I went with a scrappy pattern called Turning 20 which uses 20 fat quarters but I had not only fat quarters but YARDS so I used fabric from all of it and ended up with a King sized quilt.  See the pictures below 

Now I cleaning my studio which has been sitting idle since the start of the pandemic. It's important this get done NOW - see the news below.  Before and after pictures will be posted when it's done. 

Now for the big news. 
I am now in the Class of 2028 at Texas State University - San Marcos.
I am going back to school to get a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) in Studio Art with an emphasis in Metals.

I investigated this when we moved here, for when I retired, but of course some much has happened over the past year it just got delayed. I started to pursue it at the beginning of the year -I I filled out the application, I wrote 2 of the 3 optional essays, and then had my H.S., B.S., and M.S. transcripts sent in. Then there was a delay because the M.S. transcript never arrived and I had to have it sent again with verification of receipt.  Three weeks later I received the email that I had been accepted (now you can understand why I am getting the studio in order).

I will be a 3/4 part-time student with 3 classes in the Fall/Spring semesters and 2 classes in the Summer so I can still finish in 4 years but have more free time to take care of me, my hobbies, and the house.  

​I start classes at the end of August. 

In 2021 my niece a.k.a "The Wonder Baby" got married and I said I would sew her a new quilt as their wedding present which you can read about here. 

When I assembled that quilt and I changed up the design a bit I ended up with extra blocks and since I was feeling guilty about the delay for that quilt I decided to make a bonus quilt for their couch.  After assembling the quilt top I had lots of half square triangle left over so I sewed them together for the backing - hey why not be an over achiever even more than you already are!

I also decided that I would quilt it on my sewing machine... Then it was onto the binding, washing and it has been Boots tested and approved.

First the HEAT.
Yes it's been a record year for temps over 100 and add to that the high humidity and you have horrible weather.
When we lived in California we could have temps upward of 110 but with the low humidity it was hot but tolerable; not so here. Now, we have not hit 110+ but we have had a stretch of 104 - 106.  I mostly stay inside and keep the lights off until around 8 pm; I do the laundry, run the dishwasher, or some cooking all by 10 am. This helps keep the house cooler and having the A/C set to 76 I would like to think that I am helping NOT max out our electrical grid.

I have finished cleaning the quilt fabric closet as well as the family room which has my sewing corner. During that I found 3 quilt tops I finished 4-5 years ago but never layered and sewed to make quilts PLUS there are the unfinished quilt blocks for Kira's "Wedding Quilt". 

With the heat I am holding off cleaning the sun room (off the family room) and my metal studio both of which are NOT air conditioned and are despite having windows open to allow a breeze.  I will tackle them in September when it cools off, if it does by then.

I decided to finish a quilt from one of the quilt tops I have that is scrap fabric from other quilts and sewing projects. It's for a chair thus it is only the width of it but it is long so it drapes over the back and down the front; this quilt was to started to replace the prior chair quilt that literally wore out after being used for almost 15 years!

Last Friday I removed the paper (from the piecing), ironed the top, pieced the batting to give me the length, and found a large piece of fabric (in the quilt fabric closet) so it's one whole piece for the back. I then laid it all out on the floor and pin basted the layers together. Saturday I started sewing by doing the straight line horizontal quilting, Sunday I did the vertical quilting and yesterday, Monday, I bound it. I HATE binding a quilt and since I have not bound a quilt in over 10 years this was a bit of struggle but it's done. The quilt is has now been wash and shall be placed on the chair I now use for watching TV (it was Erich's chair). 

Next up, finishing Kira's quilt.

It's been 4 years since I went to the Houston International Quilt Festival (sorry no blog post). This past week, the festival was happening and I made arrangements with my friend Joan to go. 

​I was up at 5am and out of the house at 5:30 and drove to Joan's arriving at 6am. She was ready to go and so we hit the road! Three hours later we arrived in Houston and stopped for a cuppa joe and a snack before heading over to the convention center. Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home. I was asleep in bed by 930 pm, tired but happy.

As we were heading to the ticket booth a woman, who was a vendor, handed us some free tickets as she had some of her complimentary ones left over - that saved us $15 each. After a quick bathroom break, we entered the exhibition hall and went over to the far right side so we could go up and down each row in order. 

The number of quilts in each category was, at times overwhelming and we decided to browse the category and only focus on the quilts that caught our attention. One category that we 100% passed on was a challenge. The parameters were the quilt size, the same fabrics and subject. We passed on it because the major fabric was PINK and the subject was Princess Diana which both of us felt we could not look at 50 of them!  

There were two other things that got to us

• the first being the use of rhinestones and sequins as accents (I have an example below).  I asked at the info desk and I was told it started about 5 years ago and "thankfully" it was waning. I was also told that if the quilt has glitter, it is rejected!
• the second item was what I call "pictures on fabric" - I am not talking about quilts that are pictorial and made from lots of fabric that is pieced, appliqued, over stitched, etc. I am referring to digitally printed images which are the entire quilt top that are then quilted.

Overall it was a great show.

Below are some of my favorite quilts. Near the bottom, some of the pictures are from two sided quilts.

Today I finished sewing the second color bar on the 50+ quilt blocks; I cut the fabric strips over a week ago but did now sewing anything since my current episode of trigger thumb (a story for another time) was acting up. 
So now it is time to cut more strips of white and sew them which will happen over the weekend.

Earlier this week, I cut the white fabric for the next set of block pieces. Today I sewed and ironed them; all 52 blocks; 50 plus 2 extra. I am now 2/6th of the way through sewing the blocks. I have laid out the grey (gray?) and will cut those pieces tomorrow and possibly sewing.

This week I started to cut the fabric. I like to cut as I go that way I am moving around and not doing the same thing for hours on end. 

I started by cutting the 50 center squares and the fabric for the first bar (gold fabric); I did this Wednesday evening. Today, I was going to meet friends for a long walk and breakfast but since it's been raining it became a sewing day. After sewing the first gold bar, it's time to iron; then cut the strips for the second bar; then sew the second bar and then iron again.

Next up cutting more white and the gray/heather. That will happen later today and I will sew that set tomorrow.