Paducah, KY

  We could hardly wait until April 18th arrived this year so that we could head east to Paducah, KY and the AQS Quilt Show and it has now come and gone. 

  A week ago we were enjoying supper with friends at Logan's in Paducah and later attended the Ricky Tims show, which was great!!!  The music he played Friday night was beautiful and his stories hilarious. 
  He gave a one hour program at our Guild 11 years ago.  Hmmmm, I wonder if he would come again for the same price???? 
 Friday was our final day in Paducah, as we packed and left for Colorado the following morning.  We had a wonderful time and some more good memories were made. 

 

  One of the most interesting things we saw while attending the show were the restrooms outside the Pavilion or Bubble, as I referred to it.  These were "Royal Restrooms", NOT the regular port-a-potties one sees strapped on a trailer hauled from place to place. 

   The inside of these special restrooms was very impressive.  Thought I would skip the obvious part one would find in such a place and go to the luxury side of the place. 

  I had to purchase some bread from Kirchhoff's.  Actually we purchased a lot of bread from there.  We never ate lunch there though and it is one of my favorite places to eat lunch.  I did find out that the "Stranded Cow" went out of business.  They had some excellent sandwiches.  One place we did eat was Patti's.  It is located southeast of Paducah in Grand Rivers, but it is well worth the trip.   We love the pork chops they make.

  We enjoy walking around the settlement and checking out the various stores they have.  I think the wind chimes they sell at one store have to be a favorite.  The foliage and flowers were beautiful.

 

  I ate at the Whaler's Catch when I was in Paducah in 2008.  The food was just as good this time as last.  I had crab cakes, probably again too.  We don't have too many of those in Colorado, so I eat them when we are at special places like the Catch.  We ate outside on the lower deck, first for that and it was a lovely evening. 

  One of our first stops was the Finkle building downtown.  I had a good visit with Judi at her booth, Mamaws Hand dyes.  Marc held things down while we visited. 

  Then off to the Museum.  The place I was very

anxious to visit as Hollis Chatelain's Imagine Hope Exhibit was there.  I was so excited to see all of the pieces together in one place along with the photographs that accompany the pieces she has made.  If anyone should get a chance to view this exhibit, jump at the opportunity.  It will be at the National Quilt Museum until May 25th of this year. 

  We saw a number of other beautiful quilts there, especially those darned miniatures.  I would go blind trying to make one of those, but they are intriguing. 

  This is the view of one of my favorite spots on I-70, the east side of the bridge that allows us to cross over the Missouri River.  It wasn't all that inviting on Saturday when we crossed over it.  In fact we drove in heavy rain through most of Missouri on our way home.  I guess that is why they have so many more trees than what we do out here on the plains, more water, lots more water.

  We met a number of interesting people along the way this trip.  On our way to Hermann, MO, one of our regular stops as the Stone Hill Winery is located there and we needed to purchase some of those delicious garlic dill cheese curds.  Maybe a little wine too.  We stopped and talked to a farmer who was getting ready to work the field in order to plant soybeans.  We had been debating what they were getting ready to plant, so we stopped and asked.  I think we surprised him. 

  Renee and I ran into a gentleman when we were on our second bread buying trip at Kirchhoff's.  He was very interesting to talk to.  Judy and I were needing some fresh air after we were in Hancocks of Paducah for a short period of time that first evening.  We were sitting on the bench and met a woman who gives rides to quilters around Paducah, at no cost.  It is her hobby the week of the Quilt Show.   I might mention that Hancock's is one of the MUST stop at least once places, during a trip to Paducah.   At one booth we met a woman who was born in India, but has lived in this country for 35 years.  Her family has made block printed fabric for 7 generations.  The information she shared with us interesting.  She is one of those people who keep me coming back as she loves what she does. 

  

  I finally put all the items I purchased on the trip away today.  Not very timely, but I finally had time.  It was a great trip, I hope we will be able to make a few more in the years to come.

SPRING!!!

It is springtime around here.  Where some parts of the country are ahead of schedule, we are behind.  Usually the daffodils are on the end of their peak blooming period, instead they are just about in the middle. 

I have been transplanting petunias, gazania, nemsia, poppies, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, basil and probably a couple of other things I don't recall at the moment.  I do keep a list however.  Will post photos of those as they get a little size on them. 

I changed the blog page in honor of spring.  I know,  black isn't really springy looking, but it does make a nice background for photos.  My daughter Jennifer uses black and I have always liked it.  Change is good now and then. 

Journals

We have been discussing scrim/cheesecloth on the Forums and these are a couple of journals that I made using it on the covers.

The first one has the fine cheesecloth that was dyed and fused onto the peltex. The mulberry leaves were painted and captured by fusing netting on top of all of it. The second photo shows the front and back pieces of the journal. This one needs to be put together.

The second one was made by tearing an old Electric Quilt Co. newsletter in to pieces, fusing them on to the peltex, then covering the paper with cheesecloth I purchased at our local grocery store. It is dyed as well. I used the fine netting over this one.

The embroidery floss used around the edge and the ties

was hand dyed.

painted mulberry bark. It is not scrim, but another fun item to use. I stitched a random pattern to hold the peltex and bark together. Crystals were set on the mulberry bark.

New class

I have been taking the Sumptuous Surfaces class on Joggles from Sharon B the last few weeks. I finally have the first piece stitched.

We were to draw a design and then we were to stitch the first piece in neutrals, which is a little challenging. I found out that there isn't a big difference between white and # 712 perle cotton when it comes to color. Especially when I took the photo.

The threads in this piece are perle cotton, #'s 5, 8, & 12--14 different colors; silk thread--6 different brands, 9 different colors; Marlit; embroidery floss---3 different colors; wool; 16 different types of beads or shells; covered rings & covered fly tying brass thing; and 14 different stitches.

This is the first time I have done any pulled thread work, made bullions, will most of these stitches are a first. I have done stem stitch, french knots, back stitch and the buttonhole stitch. I am going to have to do more pulled work as I like it.

I have enjoyed the class. They are currently working on the second piece, but I won't get to the other piece as we are leaving for Paducah on Sunday. Can't believe it is finally time to go on this trip!!!!