Fascinating Tidbits

To start this week’s post off on a whimsical note – the photo at the top of this post was taken in lower town, Paducah during Quilt Week. The area was having a “quilt displays in the storefront windows” contest and this clothing store topped mushrooms with quilts. So cute!

Then, there were a number of patriotic challenges exhibited at the quilt show in honor of our nation’s 250th birthday.

I didn’t organize these photos according to the individual challenges, I just snapped pics of a few of my favorites.

“Fourth of July Celebration!” by Cynthia England struck me as very clever.

“This Eagle Flies Upon the Wings of Adversity” by Mary Randall is filled with so many intricate sampler blocks.

“Kaleidoscope USA” by Colleen Monti combined stars, pentagons, hexies and diamonds in an interesting way – and I loved the red and white striped binding.

The details on the next two quilts was nothing short of spectacular!

And this one just made me chuckle – it’s called “Stars and Stripes”, and was made by Barbara Cline.

“Carefree Highways” by Carol Duffy was actually a part of the judged quilt competition. Each of the star centers is a counted cross-stitch block from a State.

Here’s a detail of Kentucky, since that’s where we were 😊.

And I think, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be “E Plurbus Unum” by Jennifer Gottleib.

God bless America!!!

On Wednesday night a reception was held at the National Quilt Museum to celebrate it’s 35th “birthday”. The huge charcuterie spread was delicious.

I was thrilled to be there when a representative from Paducah’s Mayor’s office presented a plaque to Meredith Schroeder honoring her as the “Duchess of Paducah”. Meredith, her late husband Bill, and their family have been a huge blessing to the quilt world – and to me.

The museum also had a wonderful display in honor of the annual “New Quilts From an Old Favorite” challenge. This year’s theme was “Food”. Some of you may remember a quilt I made last year that fit the theme of the challenge (click here and then here to read about that quilt). My entry wasn’t accepted, but many wonderful quilts were. The contest was sponsored by Royal Dansk cookies. Royal Dansk shipped crates of their cookies to the show for the celebration, and students at a local college designed a unique display for the cookies. It was a huge spool of thread complete with a wooden needle. Each of the guests were given a tin to take home at the conclusion of the ceremony. What a treat.

Jessica Drennan made the first place winning quilt. She cleverly included Royal Dansk cookies in her design. Brilliant! Click here to see the other winners.

I spent quite a bit of time browsing the wonderful vendors at the show. I couldn’t resist snapping this photo of Alex Anderson working in the Creative Grids booth. What a talented and down-to-earth lady who has earned a big name in the quilting world and yet isn’t above demonstrating their products for the customers.

Then I found a colorful booth that didn’t have any fabric or notions for sale. But Tami had her own stunning fused glass quilt creations.

The piece behind us is one she made after researching quilt blocks from each State. She calls it “Threads of History 1776 – 2026, 50 State Quilts in Fused Glass”. Here are some other items she had for sale.

I couldn’t resist taking one of her garden stakes home with me. Click here to visit her website!

The last day of the show I wandered over to a small shop called Artist Endeavors, located in a strip mall near where we were staying. Cheryl carries fabric, especially wool, and she holds classes. As I looked at all her lovely things we began to chat. I discovered we had a sweet connection. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been helping to hang the show since 1989 with a group of quilters from Sun Prairie, WI. When AQS decided to hold a quilt show in Paducah, my friend Klaudeen Hansen and the Prairie Heritage Quilters were invited to Paducah to help them put on the show. To read about their connection to the show click here!

In the beginning my friends Arlene and Jean made the dogwood toppers for all the winning ribbons at the show. Arlene passed away many years ago, and Jean is no longer able to attend the show or make the ribbons. So, AQS found someone else to do this. And I discoverrd it was Cheryl! Here we are with one of her toppers:

She told me she made 91 ribbon tops for this year’s show. What fun to make this connection.

And the scariest moment during our trip took place on the sidewalk outside our B&B. Lori and I were sitting at a table having lunch when a man walked by with a huge yellow snake draped around his neck. Lori wouldn’t even turn to look, but I couldn’t stop staring. I looked it up and it’s a Burmise Yellow Python. I didn’t have the foresight to take a photo, so I found this online and – yup, that’s what I saw.

You just never know what you’ll see during Quilt Week in Paducah!