I sent in my dna for 23&Me. Turns out I'm 81.6% Ashkenazi Jew, 14.7 Middle Eastern and then bits of other things. (From what I am reading, the portion of Middle Eastern DNA is typical for Ashkenazi Jews.

I never really knew where I came from, never asked, because no one in the family ever talked about the good old country. Probably because the old country wanted them to leave. I don't really know, I need to do some research and pay attention to more history. But I do know that my greatgrandparents probably were have lucky to come here, or they would have had a 2/3 chance of being "deported" and then murdered by Hitler.

Before Hitler, there were about 9 million Jews in Germany, then they murdered 6 million of them. My great grandparents, I am pretty sure, had already left, my grandmother was born here in 1914 if I have it right.

I've always thought of myself as "culturally" a jew, but really not a religious one. And really never thought about what THAT mean either.

Here's something from Wikipedia

"Culturally, an Ashkenazi Jew can be identified by the concept of Yiddishkeit, which means "Jewishness" in the Yiddish language.^[104] Yiddishkeit is specifically the Jewishness of Ashkenazi Jews.^[105] Before the Haskalah and the emancipation of Jews in Europe, this meant the study of Torah and Talmud for men, and a family and communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men and women. From the Rhineland to Riga to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, and spoke Yiddish in their secular lives. But with modernization, Yiddishkeit now encompasses not just Orthodoxy and Hasidism, but a broad range of movements, ideologies, practices, and traditions in which Ashkenazi Jews have participated and somehow retained a sense of Jewishness. Although a far smaller number of Jews still speak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, in styles of humor, in patterns of association. Broadly speaking, a Jew is one who associates culturally with Jews, supports Jewish institutions, reads Jewish books and periodicals, attends Jewish movies and theater, travels to Israel, visits historical synagogues, and so forth. It is a definition that applies to Jewish culture in general, and to Ashkenazi Yiddishkeit in particular."

Here's the whole wikipedia entry; 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews

Interesting, huh?

Goddess of the Last Minute Studio 216 at the Hot Shops

I know that blog posts are supposed to be more pictures and less text. Mine isn't.

Here's a shot of the studio in the afternoon. Those windows are on the west wall, and direct light doesn't really pour in until late in the afternoon. 

The studio is 15x30', so I have my APQS Millie set up at the west end, by the windows. I had Dave Jones, who has been an APQS dealer for years move it from my house in Third Lake, to my studio in the Hot Shops, in Omaha. He took it apart, trailered it to Omaha, set it up again and serviced it. 

Dave suggested I buy an Uninterupted power supply, to condition the power to the longarm.  I got one for about $70, and I'm discovering it is well worth it. I haven't had a power outtage, but I need it for the smooth power it delivers. 

The other day, I was listening to an Audible book, using bluetooth and an inexpensive bluetooth sound bar. The sound kept cutting in and out. I thought it was the phone, but when I moved the speaker and plugged it into the UPS, the sound stopped cutting in and out. 

The UPS is on the floor next to the Millie on the right. You can't see it. 

I have two Iris Six Drawer storage units sitting behind the longarm, my collection of thread spools are distributed into the drawers. I need more. I want all my longarm thread and tools along that window wall, on the outside edges, so I can access everything while standing on the free motion side of the machine. So, most of the time, I'll be facing away from the window, with the light coming over my shoulder. There is an old radiator there, which may or may not give off enough heat, I'll see this winter! I usually run hot, so it might be fine. In any case, my Millie is happy to be out of my basement and in the sun. 

The size of my studio is 15x30' and I'm on the second floor. There is a freight elevator, but you have to manually open and close the door. I can't reach the handle to close the door on the second floor, so I can go up, but not down, unless someone is around to close it for me. I tried using a pliers to grab the loop, but it slipped out of the handle (ikea) and it fell down the shaft. So, I try to take the stairs.

So far, I have three folding banquet tables, 30x72" each. I'm going to add another, so I'll have room for 8 students to take free motion quilting classes on domestic machines. And also a dye class. And some fusing classes.

Here's what the studio looked like at the end of the day yesterday, standing at one corner behind the longarm. I just finished that quilt top that is right above the blue chair. It's pale in the picture, because you are seeing the back side of it, with the paper from the fusible still on. I will fuse the whole top to a piece of fabric to make a stable surface for quilting on the longarm. The quilt towards the right corner of that 16' long working wall has been in progress for a while. 

I dye all my fabric, and use fusible applique to create the designs. Then I free motion quilt them on my longarm.

 I'm teaching three days of fusing classes in Houston this year at Quilt Festival, the first two days are sold out! Space in the third day appears to be open.  Each class will have several patterns to choose from, that aren't available anywhere  but my workshops, and many new patterns will debut there!

I'll be teaching at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival next February, and patterns will be there too!

I bought a used Bernina 770QE from a friend, I plan to fire that up tomorrow, I'm making a sign for the door of my studio. 

Thanks for visiting! Come up to Studio 216 if you are in Omaha at the Hot Shops Art Center! If I'm there, the door is open and you are welcome to come in, hang out and look at my quilts!

Studio 216 in the Hotshops Art Center

I just started renting a studio in the Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha. It's a very interesting building and I'm really excited about it. The building houses something like 80 artists in 50 studios. I could be wrong on this number. I believe it was originally a mattress factory, which is appropriate for a quilter with a longarm.

Right now, I'm a part time resident of Omaha, living in a loft at The Greenhouse, which is kitty corner to the Old Market.

I keep discovering new things I like about Omaha, which is fun, because I've lived in Third Lake for almost 30 years now, in the Chicago area, for over 50 years. So, with the exception of the Cubs winning the world series, not many surprises.

Anyway, this week was my first at the Hotshops and I spent Monday through Thursday getting some if it set up, and then Friday, working on a quilt.

Here is some of my progress so far:

The main entrance to the building. I will find out the artist of the glass sculpture.

The entrance to my studio so far. It's the door on the left, that's my quilt. The giant dollar bill was painted by dAR the artist to right of me. She has a huge space and does great paintings. 

Setting up my sewing cabinet

Designer Tack panels, similar to Homasote, but less dense. Made out of recycled wood, not  plastic. I used 10, 32x48" sheets to create a working wall that is 80" high by 15 feet wide. 

Brian helped me pin 90" wide cotton batting along the top of the working wall, using corsage pins.
Then he went back and covered the batting with cotton muslin that was 96" wide, running the selvedge horizontally.

I will go back and neatly pin the vertical edges and the bottom against the Designer Tack panels when the fabric has relaxed and I can spread it all out smoothly.

 In the meantime, I pinned up some pattern printouts and a two yard piece of fabric I dyed last week during a demo at Stitches Midwest. 

Still a little disorganized and still not much in the space. But I have more to do.

Please stop by if you are in the area, I won't be back for a few weeks, so message me at Robbi@robbieklow.com  if you want to see my studio. Otherwise, the building is really interesting and worth a visit!

I plan to eventually have my APQS Millennium here. I'm not planning to rent it out, or quilt for others at this time, but I do plan to offer free motion quilting classes in my space, either on the longarm, or on domestic machines. I have some ideas to offer during the College World Series of Baseball, which is a block away.  And the HotShops are adjacent to several NEW hotels. So the area is getting more and more interesting. And we're a few blocks from downtown. And two blocks from the basketball arena! We saw Queen during our July trip to Omaha.

I'll be here more and more this winter.