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Today the sun was shining, the birds were singing and thousands of quilters were enjoying a great event. Wendy and I have been busy doing all the normal Paducah things – praise the Lord! It really came together. The wall quilts and classes are all at First Baptist Church. It has a beautiful lobby:

And the wall quilts are displayed very nicely    (if I do say so myself 🙂 in the Great Room:

I took an excellent class from RaNae Merrill on Spiral Mandalas. She shared many good tips and techniques:

The problem with taking a class is that you don’t get to go out and enjoy the sunshine. We’ll make up for that tomorrow. We have nothing to do but hit the vendors, wander the artist district in Lo Town and have lunch at Grace Episcopal church. We are so blessed.

So tomorrow I’ll post some pics with sunshine, but in parting I’ll leave you with this picture of me with Quiltman at the National Quilt Museum reception (his sidekick, Bobbin Boy, didn’t make it into the picture).

Only in Paducah :-)!!!

Hi again from Paducah!

Wendy and I are exhausted. We were at the Pavillion (marshmallow) at 8am and spent the morning hanging the Bed Quilts and placing the miniatures in their cases. At the same time many vendors were setting up their booths. We got that all together by early afternoon and headed to First Baptist Church to hang the Wall Quilts. That took us until around 7:30pm at which time we did run out for a quick dinner. We ended the evening helping to hang the Lancaster winners  and a few quilt challenges at the vendors malls located in the old Circuit City and Office Max buildings out by the Mall. Got “home” at 9:15!

It took so long because we were “reinventing the wheel” with each venue. All the spaces were different from usual and the hanging periphenalia had to find it’s way there too. AQS did an amazing job of making it all come together. We were so impressed by the way the Schroeders and their staff kept their cool under very stressful circumstances.  It’s a great show and the quilts are breathtaking!!!

The flood walls are up now and it was dry all day (with a huge cloud burst about 1 hour ago). The waters are rising, but shouldn’t crest until the show is over. Paducah is not under water and is really ready for the quilters.

Tomorrow Wendy is taking an all day class and I’m going to go back and actually see the show :-). Hopefully I’ll have some pics for tomorrow’s post.

PS Happy Birthday to Wendy! It was a unique way to celebrate a birthday and we both had a wonderful day!

After 27 years of a wonderful show, something very different is happening at the beginning of quilt week in Paducah. The rains have been unprecedented and the Ohio River continues to rise. This morning the city decided to install the gates in the flood wall. The problem is that the Convention Center, which was to hold the show, is on the wrong side of the wall!

This photo was taken Downtown. The next one is shot towards the convention center. If you’ve been to the show, the first thing you’ll notice is that the Executive Inn is missing. The Convention Center is in the distance (next to the lower man in orange) and the white dome on the left, through the wall, is the Pavillion (lovingly called the marshmallow).

But the show will go on! We were to hang it today, but plans changed, as all the new set up needed to be done. We will be hanging it all tomorrow and here’s the plan:

The bed quilts, large wall quilts and miniatures will be hung in the Pavillion (on the correct side of the flood wall), downtown. The other wall quilts and all classes will be at the First Baptist Church on 28th and Broadway. All remaining vendors will be in the vacant Circuit City and Office Max buildings behind the Kentucky Oaks Mall. The buses will be running, as usual, so that everyone can get where they want to go. Everything else should be normal. AQS has done an amazing job of reorganizing and we’re all hopeful it will go smoothly.

So, if you’re planning on coming to Quilt Week in Paducah – come! But bring your umbrella :-).

As I write this blog, I’m sitting in Paducah with my dear friend Wendy Rieves. We drove down on Saturday during patches of sunshine and areas of rain. The flowers in Athur, Il were beautiful:

We’ve converted our motel room into a temporary studio with 2 sewing stations, a cutting table and a pressing area.

 

We’ll find time this week to help hang the show, take classes, giggle, stitch, eat; catch up with old friends and make new ones. What a magical place during the AQS show!

Over the years I’ve been blessed to room with many wonderful friends, but for the past 13 Wendy and I have been a team. Whether leading Sew We Go adventures in Europe or heading here each Spring, She and I just travel well together. What a blessing!

It’s difficult to believe that this is my 22^nd trip to Quilt City USA. In 1989; a year after I learned to quilt; Sharon Grieve  and Carol Carr invited me to travel to Paducah and help hang a quilt show. I responded “Where’s Paducah?” They explained and I kindly thanked them for asking while explaining that I couldn’t go away for 5 days and leave my family to fend for themselves. Then I went home and told my husband about their crazy idea and he said “have fun”. I don’t think he anticipated it becoming a yearly pilgrimage!

Up until last year I’ve been fortunate to have stayed at the Executive Inn each time. I have so many fond memories of staying there: the convenience of being attached to the convention center, the large rooms (big enough for 2 full beds and 2 roll aways during the “the more the merrier” years and for 3 quilters with machines and a passion to stitch in recent times). That all was torn down last year with the demolition of the Executive Inn. Things change, but thanks to Bill and Meredith Schroeder and so many dear, hard working people in Paducah, the fun continues.

I’ve been to many of the big quilt shows in the US and, in my opinion, this one is the best because the entire city rolls out the red carpet and makes us feel so welcome. I hope to show you a bit of why I’m crazy about Paducah each day. I’ll share a few current photos and throw in a few past pics just for fun. So, if you’re so inclined, please read along!

In previous posts you’ve read about the Sew We Go cruises Wendy and I have led in the US and Europe, but you may not have heard about the Land Cruises (click for web site) we’ve been involved in.

Barbara Vallone and her crew put on a delightful and imaginative “trip” in Racine, Wisconsin every March.

2011 will mark their 15th year of great classes, fun events, delicious food and much more at the Radisson Inn, Racine, on March 4, 5,  & 6! The philosophy behind a Land Cruise is that some quilters can’t take a traditional cruise, but would still like to participate in a “cruise-like” getaway. Barb’s group provides a fun conference where quilters are pampered while having fun and learning new things.

The theme this year is “Landscape Quilts” and Natalie Sewell, Wendy Rieves and I are just some of the teachers involved. I’ll be teaching my Repliqué technique for turning favorite photos into quilt blocks as well as a child’s version (with a Repliquéd playground scene) of the backpack made from placemats and men’s neckties which was our project on the Irish adventure.

You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced Barb’s chocolate salad, so please make plans to attend!

Visit the website: www.quilterslandcruise.com or contact Barb at: 262-639-8185/  for more information.

I’d like to share an interesting story concerning quilters in other countries. My first book, Replique Quilts, is out of print, but I have an attic full of them. I offer them for sale through my website and over the years I’ve had a few inquiries from other countries. The problem is I don’t take credit cards or do PayPal. This means both the other quilter and I are disappointed.

Six months ago a dear lady from Kamloops, British Columbia emailed me for a copy of the book and I came up with a rather strange proposition for her. I told her I would send her an autographed copy of Replique Quilts if, in return, she would send me something of equal value from her area that she thought a quilter in the US might enjoy. This idea was very exciting to me …… and she liked it too! A week later I received a lovely book about Kamloops which I devoured page by page.

The following week she emailed me asking for my address again because she wanted to send me an autographed copy of a book about a fiber artist in Nova Scotia! What a blessing.

 

I’m now awaiting a package from a quilter in New South Wales, Australia :-). This is a lot more fun than cashing a check!

Have you done any interesting exchanges with a quilter in a foriegn land? I highly recommend it.

The top ‘o the morning to you! (to which I now know to respond “and the rest of the day to yourself”)

What a wonderful time we had in Ireland! It is a truly beautiful country! Wendy and I, and a delightful group of quilters, non-quilters and 1 charming (and somewhat brave) husband visited the Emerald Isle by motorcoach. It was our first non-cruise trip and we’ve discovered there are plusses with both types of travel. One of the best parts of traveling by land was the flexibility we had with the schedule.

Peggy Anderson, of Travel Leaders, did an outstanding job of finding quilt related stops. We visited 3 lovely shops and did our fair share of spending, even though there’s no such thing as “Irish” fabric that’s made in Ireland (we’ll have an easier time finding that here around the middle of March).

My favorite part of the entire trip (and that’s saying a lot) was getting to know some Irish quilters! A group of members of the western branch of the Irish Patchwork Society met us for tea at our hotel. We shared show and tell and had time to make many friendships.  

On the last day of our trip we were the guests of honor at the October meeting of the Eastern branch of the Irish Patchwork Society in St. Anthony’s Hall in Dublin. Both groups were warm, friendly and very talented.

A dozen years ago I had the opportunity to meet with a group of quilters in England. It was a blessed time of sharing and the ladies were delightful, but I was surprised at how dated their fabrics and patterns were at the time. This is no longer the case. The shops in Ireland were very up to date in their inventory and the quilts were spectacular. I bet the internet had something to do with this :-)!

Do you have a connection with a quilter from another country? What are your observations about the similarities and differences? I’ll share additional thoughts on Thursday :-). 

My residence was in an “apartment” they’ve built over the garage which consisted of my bedroom, bath and the living room which is Hazel’s quilting studio. The three of us actually spent many happy hours there stitching :-). 

During the next 12 days we shared fun, fellowship, good food, beautiful sites and a lot of quilt related activities. It is so wonderful to visit a new area with friends who live there. 

I had the blessed opportunity to teach 4 different classes. My Mariner’s Compass class, held for a quilting group which meets at a church in Soldatna, went so well that they invited me back the following week to teach Free Motion Quilting. 

I taught 2 Replique classes. One at a friendly quilt shop in Seward called Sew ‘n Bee Cozy. A lovely shop and a great class!

The other Replique class was taught at the Eagle’s Roost Lodge. The owners, Ken and Patty, even treated us to a boat ride up the Kenai River. What fun!

Thanks to everyone who made these classes possible and to the students – who were not only fun, but taught me a lot.

I’m finally unpacked, so that I can begin to repack for 3 days of teaching at Nancy’s Notions Quilting Expo in Madison, WI. I hope to see many of you there!

PS I was able to spend 3 days at the end of the trip visiting my grandchildren in Washington. Hanna, Willy and I had so much fun that I couldn’t resist this final picture of our day at a children’s museum. What a blessing!