The four little piggies do Paducah

My friends Lori, Michele and Kim go to Paducah every year for the show.  They stay in the same motel and have figured out all their favorite places to eat, shop and visit.  This year I was lucky enough to be included in their trip and it was extremely fun.  Fortunately we are all pretty easygoing travelers; we are all early risers, like to shop and eat, are willing to go our own way and regroup when necessary, don't freak out when we get lost and most of all - find the same things funny and laugh ourselves sick over something at least once a day.


We took two days to get to Paducah from Kansas and did some shopping in Branson, MO.  At the outlet shops we all bought a new watch.  My sister pointed out how appropriate it was that as a semi-geezer I bought a Fossil.

 

 

 

 

I had entered two quilts in the show, both quilts I had quilted for customers.  This was their first time entering a quilt in the show and although neither quilt won a ribbon, we were all excited to have them hanging there!



Ann was able to attend the show, her first time to see the show as well as enter it.

 

 

 

 

 

Ann and her friends JoAnn, Joanne and Bethel, all got into the spirit of things with their red peppers!

The Pink Lady was also hanging in the show and I was happy to see that they hung it so the entire quilt showed.  It is such a long quilt that some shows flop the top of the quilt over the bar so it can't be seen.
Russ wasn't able to attend the show but was happy to have it hanging there.

 

 

 

 

Two other customer quilts did well.  Mayleen's Phebe won an Honorable Mention:

And Jan Z.'s feathered star won third in it's category:

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, lots of gorgeous quilts.  I was not at all surprised to see that Renae Haddadin and Karen Kay
Buckley's quilt won Best of Show!

I met Gail's friend Marie Blunk for the first time.  Her quilt won a third place ribbon and it is a beauty! 

 

 

 

 

I also met up with Donna James.  Here she is in the A-1 booth with her most recent wholecloth, a prize winner at MQX this year.  She had another of her beautiful wholecloths hanging in the show.

 

 

I found Linda Hrcka in the Primitive Gatherings booth where I bought a set of her rulers and got a quick picture.  Her quilt won a second place ribbon. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of it!

We managed to visit some great restaurants, from Patti's Settlement where fellow Prairie Quilt Guild member Dave ordered this mile high chocolate merengue pie:

 

 

To The Four Pigs BBQ in Benton, KY where the four little piggies ate great BBQ and fried pickles!

We also toured The Moonshine Company in Paducah, where we got a tour, saw the stills in the back room and tasted some moonshine!  I'm not a whiskey lover but liked the ones that are blended with fruit - pretty tasty!

Of course we had to hit Hancock's of Paducah.  The four little piggies are dedicated shoppers and were there each morning at 8 am to beat the crowds.

No side trips on the way home with a very tightly packed car!

Now I have a day off to sort through my purchases and get back to real life.

Flash!

This is Flash, Mayleen's latest selvage quilt.  I quilted this for her last summer and kind of forgot to post the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mayleen is no shrinking violet when it comes to color and I love the bright colors she used in this one!

She asked me to put hailstones, rain and lightning into the quilting design and it was fun to do that.

This is a timely quilt to post today since we had a nasty storm last night which included the whole shebang: tornados, lightning, rain and hail. 

I solemnly swear...

I know, I know - it's been two months since I last posted. I almost decided to stop posting at all.  When I go back and look at my old posts I realized that I used to actually write something, rather than just slapping a few pictures up and calling it good.  After dealing with camera problems and computer problems I was just ready to forget the whole thing.  But... I did kind of miss it, so I will start up again.

Lots of customer quilt pictures are missing, so I will just post what I could find.  I haven't replaced my old photoshop so can't edit the photos as I used to .  This makes me cranky but I will just have to find a replacement.  Until then the pictures are messy looking.  Grrrr.

This is Betty's scrap quilt - she says the colors and fabric choices are nothing like her usual.  I like her use of polka dots - they are a nice surprise in this quilt.. 

 

 

 

 

This is an opportunity quilt I quilted for Elsie Campbell's guild in Oklahoma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of that open space was somewhat daunting especially because the corners were oddly shaped. I turned to my favorite solution - feathers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did have to do some marking on this before I put it on my machine. While it was on my design wall, I marked it with plain old schoolroom chalk.  It does start to come off once it is rolled up on the machine but it held up long enough for me to do the quilting.

 

 

 

 

I think this is an unusual and interesting quilt - some Oklahoma quilter will be excited to win it!




This is Cecelia and her beautiful quilt designed by Jenny Beyer.

 

 

 

Cecelia owns a quilt shop in western Kansas and drives a long way to deliver and pick up her quilts!  Her workmanship is excellent and I always enjoy quilting for her.  This quilt will hang in her shop as a sample.

 

 

I used Glide thread in gold to give the effect of metallic and just followed the design in the fabric. I must have done a good job following the lines because I can't see it at all in the photo!  In person it does show - adding glints of gold. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm now taking some time off from customer quilting to work on my own quilt and one of Gail's.  Here is a preview of Gail's quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really!  I'm working on the quilting design here.  More later.

 

 

I also took time to attend an auction and bought this chair, which Elsie immediately tested for me.  All four cats have now approved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I solemnly swear I will be a better blogger!