Paducah 2024

What a wonderful week! Lori, Janis and I drove through the State of Illinois in bright sunshine last Sunday, and we knew we had arrived when we drove across the “flying geese” bridge.

God gave us a wonderful time at the AQS Quilt Week in Paducah! As usual we were able to stay at the 1857 Inn, which is on a cobblestone street in the old “Lower Town” of the city. We got settled in, then bright and early Monday morning we dropped Janis off at the convention center for a class, and Lori and I headed to Hancocks of Paducah.

I needed to find 10 yards of a metallic cotton fabric for the ThreadBenders next challenge. It was nice to shop there without the crowds! And they had exactly what I needed.

At noon we headed back to the convention center to help hang the show quilts. Our job this year was to place all of the amazing miniature quilts in the display cases. As we worked the Executive Show Directors ~ Michelle and Bonnie ~ came upstairs with a camera crew to do a Facebook Live segment of the “pre-show”. We ended up photo-bombing them in the background of the video (I couldn’t resist doing a screen shot mid-video):

What a treat to be able to see these quilts up close and personal!

Once they were in place we put in the glass for protection. What fun.

There were so many fascinating miniature quilts, but the one that made me do a double take was Suduko by Charles Cameron.

If you look closely you’ll find the numbers 1-9. So clever.

Two of my friends in the ThreadBenders group, Lori and Cindy, entered their Curves Ahead challenge quilts in the show and I couldn’t wait to find them ~ and see them hanging in the same bay. Congrats ladies!

It was a great afternoon! We had Tuesday free, so we began by getting bubble tea at Etcetera coffee shop,

and doing a bit of shopping downtown. A few of my favorite vendors were in a lovely ceramic tile lined cove on Market Square (1/2 block from our place).

Last year I fell in love with Dar’s creations while visiting her booth ~ One Wing Wool. I couldn’t decide what to buy that first day and when I returned to make my purchases I discovered she had to pack up and go home a day early. Bummer. I was so happy to be reacquainted with her this year ~ and I’m looking forward to making some of the delightful kits I purchased from her.

Next we visited the National Quilt Museum. Wow! So much jaw-dropping inspiration! Before we even entered the gallery I had to stop and admire once again Frasier Smith’s wooden quilt “Floating”. It’s been hanging in the entrance for years and I enjoy it every time I’m in the museum. Yes – it really is made of wood!

All the quilts in the central gallery were top ribbon winners in previous Paducah shows. I loved revisiting so many of them and want to share a few of my favorites that were hanging this year. Pat Durbin’s “A Walk in the Woods” (don’t you just want to walk into it?)

And Judith Phelp’s fascinating quilt “The Value of Gears”, front:

and back (oh my!):

Caryl Bryer Fallert’s quilt “Corona II: Solar Eclipse” was on display this year. The first time I attended the AQS show in Paducah was 1989 ~ and this quilt won Best of Show! It sent the quilt world reeling because a machine quilted quilt had never done this before. I was a new quilter and absolutely loved it! It’s still one of my favorite quilts. So, when I noticed they had it on a t-shirt in the gift shop I couldn’t resist celebrating my 33rd year here with a new shirt and a photo of us together.

And can you believe this is the back of that quilt? What a spectacular work of art!

Once the show opened I was able to walk through it all and pick a few of my favorites to share. We all would choose different favorites, but since this is my blog ~ these are the ones you get to see 😊. Some won ribbons and some didn’t, but each one spoke to me.

This one is called “Core Values”. it’s a unique version of an apple core quilt by Elaine Wick Poplin. I think overall it is my “viewers choice” for this year. The colors, pattern and quilting all work so well together.

The Best of Show ribbon went to Molly Hamilton-McNally for “Serenity”. It was so deserving of this award.

“Blue Tone II”, by Aki Sakai is another of her amazing appliqué quilts. Her whimsical vision and tiny details are captivating.

“My Secret Garden” by Megumi Mizuno was another quilt with surprising details that you couldn’t really appreciate until you got closer.

Please don’t miss the tiny critters, flowers and shisha mirrors she’s included all over the quilt.

“Venetian Lamp Shop” was made by a group of women from Japan – gorgeous!

Just look at the intricate traditional piecing in Deborah France’s “Stars Upon Stars”!

I love the colors and 3D effects in “Sphere” by Clem Buzick and Beth Nufer.

“Sweet Memory: My Vintage Collection” really appealed to me, and I was so pleased to realize that it was made by my friend Eileen Daniels.

“Simple Splendor” is simply splendid!

“The Bible Quilt: An Introduction” was made by a group of quilters in Huntsville, AL, and included a block for every book of the Bible.

“Color Splash Garden” by Karen Kay Buckley attracted a crowd because of the wonderful design and colors,

but when we got closer the quilted details were the icing on the cake.

All of these photos only scratched the surface of some of the wonderful things we saw the first two days of AQS Quilt Week, but there were many other special moments that I’m going to save for next week’s post 😊.