American Quilter's Society-Day One!

The Momcat and I left South Bend bright and early this morning to head down to Paducah, KY for the American Quilter's Society Annual Quilt Show! This is our fourth time going down to this show, and I think we've FINALLY gotten this whole adventure down to an art form, leaving bright and early and stopping at the Outlet Mall for a few hours for mid-afternoon break. After driving a few more house and checking into our hotel, we headed into Paducah for our first stop at Hancock's of Paducah!

I'll take some pictures of the inside tomorrow (so you get the full idea of the craziness), but needless to say we found a few things! 

These are our happy "we love fabric!" faces. 

After our first shopping adventure we headed to Texas Road House for dinner. It's become one of our traditions to go here each year, and this was the best night in our schedule to do so.

One of my favorite things is how so many of the businesses welcome the quilters with special signs and banners! Yay for quilter love! Last year there was a lot of tension with the local community and the quilt show because of evacuating from the flooding, so I'm hoping we'll see more of a welcome this year.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel where I photographed the damage for the day:

Festive for Friday...Paducah Time!

This Friday is especially festive as the Momcat has now arrived for our fourth annual trip to Paducah, KY for the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show. She decided to drive out this year, so after unpacking the car we headed to Rocco's for pizza and beer!

Needless to say we're both SUPER excited! We have a busy weekend planned before we head down south next week, with a lot to get done here before we go!

On Saturday we're setting up a booth as Prairie Sewn Companion at the Great Cloth Diaper Change event at Concord Mall in Elkhart. Even though we don't have kids yet, the N-boy and I would really like to cloth diaper so I'm really looking forward to being a part of this event. And even more excited that I get to wear the new vendor apron that the Momcat and her friend Christina made! It's a little hard to see in the picture from Audrey the iphone, but Christina embroidered "Prairie Sewn Companion" on the top pocket! It's so festive!

Paducah Day 4 and Assessing the Damage

Saturday dawned with cloudy skies and the sad realization that today was our last day in Paducah.

We started the day out at Carson Park where we wanted to see Eleanor Burns' live show, and shop her store that they'd set up out there for the week.

First we snagged seats in the performance tent, and then we entered the wonderful land of the ....

A huge tent filled with nothing but fabric for $5 a yard. I mean, how could this be anything but wonderful and magnificent! I ended up with just a few yards of pieces that matched some thing I'd already picked up at Hancock's of Paducah. Because I clearly needed more still...

Then we wandered over the the third large tent where there were books and patterns and notions and...

Eleanor Burns herself taking pictures and signing books!

 

After the show and some more shopping, we headed back to Hancock's of Paducah for one last hurrah. 

I found this sign funny, as it shows how many WOMEN are at this show! 

With that, we braved the outdoors (it was still raining off and on-heavily at times) and went back to Fluffy the car for the long drive back to Indiana. Despite the rainy weather we made good time and were happy to get back to the cats. 

And the cats were happy their humans were home! (And no, their eyes are not that creepy in real life.)

Assessing the Damage, or 

Paducah: the Aftermath!

On Sunday we sorted through all of our goodies, got the Momcat's stuff packed up and ready to head back to Nebraska, and put my things away. 

It doesn't look that bad when it's all just lumped in a pile...

But when we spread it out we ended up with a table of fabric:

And a table of patterns and notions:

This is all of our stuff put together. But when I counted  things up, my fabric alone was 35 1/2 cut yards plus 5 charm packs and a jelly roll! I had more than the Momcat! We were sad to see the trip come to an end, but I think we have enough fabrics and ideas to keep us busy for a while!

AQS LOVE and Paducah Day 3 (Friday)!

This has been a great week for me as AQS selected me and this blog as their blog of the week! I'm really honored that they chose my blog, and I'm so excited to be able to put their award button on my page! I really did have the best time at the quilt show, and have loved being able to share the adventures that Mom and I had there. You can check out the winning blog each week via their facebook page. 

Thanks, AQS!

And now, back to our previously scheduled programming...

Paducah Dah 3 (Friday) 

We started Friday morning with another run through Hancock's of Paducah. Well, really more of a slow waddle as we were so loaded down with fabric.

Here's the Momcat contemplating her selection. She (like me!) is going to make a Kaffe Fassett inspired diamond quilt! 

It should be a stretch for both of us!

Our next stop was the National Quilt Museum-the Museum of the American Quilter's Society!

Afterwards, we headed back to the convention center where we had a nutritious lunch of strawberry shortcake. A local boy scout troop sells these every year for a fundraiser. 

WE LOVE THEM! 

After lunch, we finished touring the quilt show in the convention center and then headed over to the rotary civic center for more vendors and the display of WWII victory quilts. 

In addition to these historic quilts, they also had some interesting sewing related propaganda from that time period. 

After we'd spent more money buying fabic, we again went back to the convention center for dinner and an evening class with Klaudeen Hansen. We took a class from Klaudeen last year and had a great time, so we were eager to have a second one. This year's class was called "Diagonal Illusions." 

Here's a what it looks like; this picture has four completed blocks, two of mine and two of moms, so don't mind the different colors. 

It's really cool because your eye is drawn to the 16 patch in the center, and the outside four patches, but you dont' immediately see how the block is assembled. 

We worked hard and had a great time. 

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and crashed for the night. Next up, Paducah  Day 4 (Saturday), the drive home and seeing what the damage was! 

Paducah Day 2 (Thursday)

Our second day in Paducah started off bright and early with a lecture by Kaffe Fassett and Lisa Lucy Prior on making and using a design wall. They demonstrated how they use a design wall to work with color and patterns in a quilt. It was really nifty to see how the fabrics work together.

Kaffe also showed us his latest knitting project in progress!

And of course I got my picture taken with both of them!

After the lecture we hit the vendors again,  focusing on getting to the booth where Marie Bostwick, author of the Cobbled Court series, was signing books and had her brand new book in the series for sale. This series of books focuses on a group of women, all who end up using quilts and their friendship to get through tough times. I found her books last year when the N-boy was still very, very ill, and they really hit home with me. I started crying as soon as I met her and started talking. The poor woman! 

But she was absolutely wonderful!

 

We grabbed some lunch and then headed back to the lecture room for her lecture: 

She also introduced me to her Daughter-in-law, Molly, who is about my age. It was great to see someone there who was a younger quilter! 

Following the lecture we headed downtown to do some shopping, eating and attend the Eleanor Burns show. 

I think this one picture expresses exactly what happened downtown: 

I need say no more. Although we also hit the AQS hurt book sale in the Finkel building, and more vendors! 

For dinner we ended up at a Mexican restaurant we went to last year; we were very disappointed to hear that our absolutely FAVORITE place had closed (supposedly something about the IRS!)

Very Sad!!!

As the Momcat was taking this picture, another quilter got my attention and said, "Have you seen the storm drain yet?" 

And agreed it deserved a picture. Only in Kentucky...

After dinner we hit a few more vendors before going to see Eleanor Burns Live on Stage presenting "Strip Tzzzz!" It was a great show, and we had lots of fun. 

The perfect way to end the day!

Paducah Day 1!!

Sadly, the second annual Mother-Daughter trip to the AQS show in Paducah has drawn to a close. The Momcat flew back home yesterday, leaving me alone with my fabric. And my rulers. And patterns. And books. And did I mention fabric? 

For the moment, however, my beloved Bernina is in the shop, as it was making this very suspicious "thump thump thump" noise when I tried working on the baby quilt last night. I was nervous about taking it into a shop, but when I arrived, I found that it was run by a woman I know from quilt guild! Now I know my machine is in good hands who can fix her up and get her back to me fast!

In the meantime, I can sort through all the pictures we took, catch up on some blogging, and work on planning and cutting some projects. 

On the way to Paducah (Tuesday)

We left my house at about 11:00 Tuesday morning for the six hour drive to Metropolis where we were staying the first night. 

You'll note here that the car only contains our suitcases. This is for a good reason; more space for fabric!

Given our early start, and loose schedule, we decided to stop at the outlet mall we came across on the way down. It was a festive side trip, resulting in two pairs of jeans and a cute shirt (see below), sunglasses for both of us, a new polka dotted umbrella and a whole slew of goodies from Bath and Body Works. 

We also found the cutest kid's ride. I did attempt to get into the car for the picture, but found I was too big. 

Much too big. 

We also saw the N-boy's favorite thing, the MegaBus. 

I think he just likes the large and somewhat creepy picture on the back. 

After a restful night, we were ready to go the next morning. Well, the Momcat had a restful night. I, on the other hand was like a small child on Christmas Eve. Well, actually like I still am on Christmas Eve. 

Here I am rocking my new shirt, jeans and pink sunglasses. 

Paducah Day 1 (Wednesday)

The Momcat and I had a long and fun-filled first day in Paducah!

We started the morning at Hancock's of Paducah, where we did LOTS of damage! This store had a back "room" that is really more the size of a warehouse, where they have piles of one-yard cuts for $4.98 each. Woohoo! 

Our strategy is to fill the cart with things we like, and then snag a bench and go through them one by one! 

Then we checked in at the Expo center and started hitting the vendors and quilt show exhibits!

I even got my picture taken with this year's Best of Show winner.

We spent the rest of the morning perusing the Merchant Mall, where the Momcat got me the most beautiful Chatelaine ever. There will be an entire post on this event. Later. When I've taken close up pictures of it!

After perusing the Merchant Mall, we had our first lecture with Libby Lehmen on organizing your studio space. It was a very interesting lecture, and made me want to give in to my desire to purchase a home labeler and then start labeling everything within site. Not just in my studio, but the whole house. I'm quite convinced we'd all benefit from this system. 

I digress. Anyway, she had some nifty ideas on staying organized and staying focused, thus resulting in more productive time to work in your studio. 

Here's me with Libby Lehman. As you may have noticed, I LOVE getting my picture taken with these celebrities from the quilting world!

After the lecture we hit the "marshmallow" as the new pavilion was being called. Erected to make up for some of the space lost by the closing of the Executive Inn attached to the convention center, the marshmallow housed even more vendors and the Kaffe Fassett display. 

After a long and exciting day, the Momcat and I headed to Metropolis where we'd somehow managed to get a hotel room. There was a snafu with the room (smoking room=not ok for the Momcat's severe allergies), so we went to dinner while the hotel ran the de-smokilator in the room. 

On the way to finding somewhere to eat in Metropolis (a failed venture, I might add, as we ended up just going back to Paducah) we did find the giant superman statue we'd heard about. Although I'm still not very clear on why it is there, it is none the less festive. 

Finally we ended up at Texas Roadhouse, where I fed the Momcat a large margarita which seemed to help greatly given her frustration about the hotel situation

After stuffing ourselves silly, we went back to the hotel room and crashed! 

It was a great first day. 

[Although I took lots of pictures of the quilts at the show, we're not supposed to put them online. So I've substituted with the large number of pictures of me and the Momcat! To see pictures of the gorgeous quilts, check the AQS website.]