Paducah 2023

Each year we know we’ve arrived in Quilt City USA when we cross over the “flying geese bridge” above, and what a wonderful trip it’s been!

Cathy, Cindy and I left Watertown last Sunday morning and had a lovely sunny, ride to Paducah (I’m posting this while riding in the car on our way back to Wisconsin). We moved into our second floor on Market Square and set up the machines.

On Monday we had a great time hanging the wall quilts and pinning the miniature quilts into their cases. It is such a joy to be able to see these amazing pieces up close (this is a photo of the miniature display during the show).

Monday evening Linda flew in from Florida and the gang was together. We had some free time on Tuesday and decided to have lunch at Patti’s Settlement in the Land Between the Lakes. It was a lovely half hour drive from Paducah and the food was delicious.

The local quilters were hosting a quilt show that started Wednesday, but they let us in a day early and we were thrilled.

They had many lovely quilts:

and some nice vendors too!

I thought you might enjoy a few of my favorites from the show. I apologize for not having the names of the makers, but the signage wasn’t yet pinned to the quilts. I’ve always loved the seven sisters block:

And these tall ships set in a Baltimore Album style quilt were lovely.

I was able to peek at the label on this one and it was called Rosie’s Week’s Work by June Culvey. What a lovely set for these embroidered and appliquéd dish towel Sunbonnet Sues.

The birds and flowers in circles around the quilts and the yo-yos in the star blocks were wonderful. Don’t you just love the use of 30s fabrics and gingham?

We were so happy to have happened upon this delightful show and the equally delightful women who were hanging it.

That night we attended the Awards Banquet to kick off the AQS show and it was great fun.

The first day of the show I was pleased to see a collection of my friend Klaudeen Hansen’s quilts, hung in a tribute exhibit.

To see photos of the winning quilts you can visit the AQS Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AQSonline/. As usual, I like to share a few of my favorites, some of which were not prize winners, yet they spoke to me. Here they are in no particular order.

Declaration of Independence – Voices of Freedom by Nancy Prince and Terri Taylor is a large wall quilt. Each of the men’s garments were made separately and then added to the quilt. It was stunning.

Cherry Blossom was a bed sized quilt and it featured 640 different dolls with amazing detail.

Fascinating!

I found two the large wall quilts made with One Block Wonder blocks. I’ve been quite interested in this pattern lately and love to discover the interesting ways their makers put the blocks together. In the one I made for my great-niece (featured at the end of last week’s post), I added triangles to separated the hexagons and make them shine. In Hidden Stars, Anne Marcello added diamonds and triangles in fun and interesting ways.

And Judy Beskow made a lovely field of flowers with her hexagons in Bluebonnet Splendor

Oh My Stars by Karen Hampton has a bit of a OBW look, but is made from a different pattern and a lot of stripes. I really liked the color palette.

Lullaby in 3/4 Time by Barbara Clem is a lovely hand quilted appliqué quilt,

and her quilting pattern fit the appliqué beautifully!

I seem to be drawn to more traditional patterns this year. DeVine Stars by Megan Largas had a traditional feel, even though the setting for the piecing and appliqué was rather non-traditional.

Then there were the wall quilts. Summer Solstice in Antarctica really tickled me. I loved Joan Peirner’s use of ombré fabric, along with the stitched rays and whimsical penguins.

Karen Lambden’s Spiral Vortex was so 3D. I was intrigued by her placement of all the circles, even in the borders.

Stars in the Garden by Marilyn Larson and Barb Simons was another traditional pattern ~ with an amazing “Threaded Border”.

The tree and checkerboard in Early Morning Mist by Betty Deemer were an extremely effective frame for this lovely scene. I was surprised to read that it was a panel.

There were so many more quilts I’d love to share, but this post is getting a little long. Next week’s post will be about classes, vendors and more. What a blessing it was to be able to be in Paducah with good friends once again!