Paducah Quilt Show

One of my favorites at the Paducah Quilt Show. Stunning crazy quilted artwork. Spent 5 days with DIL, Jennifer, in Fort Campbell KY/TN. We made the short trek to Paducah on April 25th. We had just walked in to the outdoor eating area, when my good friend Penny saw us!

Hexi's! Love. The quilts from Japanese quilters were perfection.

Cool.

This quilt was fun.
Tentmaker's of Cairo were a feature at the show. They are known for their intricate applique quilts. This man has been making quilts for 35 years!

The pattern is in his head he said. Wow.

There were many quilts on display and all were for sale. It was worth the price of admission to see this demonstration.
Visited Nashville too. Nice.
Went junking. Great!
Flight delays on my way back to Buffalo were not unexpected.

Yesterday at my Fiberista group Beth lead us in altering an old book and adding fabric pages with binding technique. Great time. We actually cut the book pad out of the cover, covered the book with fabric and poked the holes with an awl for the binding. I love it.

My canvas pages are ready for working on them before they go into the book.

My friend, Julie, graciously let me use her longarm quilting machine to make quick work of my lab piece background! I never used one before, so after a little lesson, I just had at it. Awesome! It is not perfect, but it's not bad for first attempt. I had no idea how I was going to quilt it until I started up the machine.

I still need to thread paint the dog and sew him to the top. I already entered it in the GVQC show at the end of May, so I have some time to work on it.

Melissa is very pregnant! I met her Friday for dinner at Olive Garden, which for the last many times I have been there, it has not delighted me at all. I used to love Olive Garden. After that we went to baby gift register for the upcoming shower. Mela is in her last trimester now!

Have had much Facetime with Michael over the last 2 weeks. Nice. He has his bags packed. The American arrival is sometime this month! He wants three glasses of wine when he gets home! Missed that more than beer he said. Always good conversation.

I have learned:

1. Paducah show was too much perfection and dense machine quilting. The things that make my heart flutter are more imperfect I guess. That level of quilting seems unattainable for the average quilter. I admire it, but don't see the makers reflected in the work. I like to see a personality or style on fabric. That makes my heart flutter.
2. Flies. Hate.
3. Woodchucks. Hate. I am at war with them now. I actually hear them under my living room (no basement under this part of my house) I am taking action today.
4. Yay Michelle, Project Runway winner. 
5. I like fried calamari apparently.