Paducah AQS Quilt Show Report

I have been home from Paducah over a week and am just now sitting down to write a bit about it.  First off, my quilt didn’t place or win a ribbon but I am still thrilled to have had a chance to have it on display and see it behind the glass in the cases of miniatures.What a wonderful few days while at the show that sped by way too quickly.  We started off by attending the awards night, which was fabulous by the way.  Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry spoke and had a slide show of her quilt journey thus far.  (We did visit her studio/shop/home the next day and got a tour of her private quarters and studio which was spectacular.  So glad we did as she has sold the house and is moving to Washington State.) 

Awards Night VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

My sisters, niece and friend again stayed with the wonderful Betty Jane, the mother in law of our friend.  She is such a sweet woman and makes us all feel so welcome each year.  Here is a photo of us the day we left for home in our matching t-shirts from the show.And one with Betty Jane, our “hostess with the mostess!”The dogwoods and azaleas were so pretty this year so we went out a couple of evenings to drive around and see the beautiful lighted trees and stopped to get photos during the day too.  I am still trying to figure out how to share my photos but in the mean time here are a few links I have stumbled onto this week.

Here is a link to see some of the winning quilts at the Paducah show.  It takes a bit of time to load the photos but you can zoom up to see details of these beautiful quilts.
http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/6533
This YouTube video shows parts of lots of quilts set to music.  The message at the end says there will be part 2 posted later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfLLxdyCuxQ
Video of Pat Kuhns from Lincoln with Bonnie Browning about her quilt -  http://www.paducahvideo.com/play/rbXxL2e27fM
Watch the interview with Susan Stewart from Kansas – wow what a story.  http://www.paducahvideo.com/play/jVw29opwAbc
I found these videos on this page where they interview more of the winners and have more videos you can watch.
http://www.paducahvideo.com/channel.php?channel=quilttv
This is one of the quilts we saw in Paducah and I also read her blog so knew it was going to be there  She wrote this interesting story about her winning quilt she entered in the show on this blog post.  I had read about it before but thought you all would be interested in the story of this quilt.
http://blog.cindyneedham.com/2014/04/the-nuns-quilta-testament.html
She also blogged about her quilt and being at Paducah.
http://blog.cindyneedham.com/2014/04/paducah.html

Until Later,
Lynn

Self Portrait…Take 84….

Have you ever tried to get a photo of yourself….taken by yourself and have it look natural?  I was asked by the local newspaper to send them a photo of myself holding my miniature quilt as they are going to publish something about the quilt getting to go to the AQS quilt show in Paducah.  That was yesterday and the reporter wanted the photo today…YKES!

The reporter called late afternoon and the light was fading and I wanted a photo using natural light taken in my house rather than using flash which casts shadows so getting it done yet yesterday was out of the question.  I had planned to have John take the photos for me but he had commitments all morning and after lunch too so that didn’t work out either.  My only choice then was to take them myself. 

Got the tripod and the wireless shutter release all set up and the camera positioned in front of my design wall that I cleaned off for this photo shoot….well, partially cleaned off anyway.  Next decision was what to wear and took shots of 3 different tops and scarves before deciding the brown with the scarf was the best choice.  Decided a scarf hid my turkey skin neck a bit so wore one for the final photo.   Here are a few of the many goof up photos that wouldn’t work for various reasons and you can see how hard it is.  After all how do you smile naturally when there is no one there and then there is holding the quilt straight, position of the hands, backgrounds, hair, etc. to think about.

Head cocked a little too cutsie and don’t like the red scarf.  Wooden smile too.  

Problem with a finger in each of these…whoops!

Forgot to lower my hand that was holding the shutter release plus holding onto the back of the quilt makes it look like it is floating in air.  “Look ma, no hands” and it is tipped again.  I had a big problem holding the quilt level in a lot of the photos.

My scarf was overlapping the quilt in these two photos.

Too far to one side and the stuff I left on the design wall is showing.  (I know, a real mess right now!)  Plan to crop the photo but even cropped this would present a problem.  Had a hair appointment this afternoon to get a hair cut so decided to snap a few more when I got home and they do look better, I didn’t realize how frumpy my hair was before.  Actually, the one I cropped and sent to the newspaper reporter was the very last photo I took.  Finally I smiled naturally, held the quilt level and removed more stuff from the design wall so it wouldn’t interfere before I snapped the photo.  

Here is what my photo shoot set up looked like...now don’t laugh too much.  Hard to believe there is so much stuff on my sewing table but I didn’t want to move it as I am in the middle of another project and it wasn’t showing in the photo anyway.  I had to sit on a pile of magazines to make me higher too.  I did have the blind up when I shot the photos but for this one I needed it down so you could see the room and all it’s amenities.

So, if you ever need a portrait of yourself and have hours to spend with someone who has minimum equipment and knowledge just give me a call!

Until Later,
Lynn

Paducah Bound!

I received an email a couple of  weeks ago informing me that my quilt, “Silk Refrain” was juried into the 2014 AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky.  This is the first time I have ever entered a national contest so am really thrilled to have it chosen as a semi-finalist.This is a miniature quilt measuring 11.25” x 10.5” and is made of all silk fabric and thread with wool batting.  I blogged about making it on the following dates August 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 2012 and Oct. 29, 2012 and lastly Oct. 4 2013.  Just click on the individual dates to take you to the blog posts where I share my design process to the completion of the quilt and problems that incurred along the way.I have all the required paperwork submitted and now have to figure out what day to mail the quilt off so it arrives between March 30 and April 4 for judging.  I really hope the judges give comments as for me that is the most valuable part of entering a quilt in competition.  Of course we all know the areas our quilts have problems and hope the judges don’t see those but I have learned a lot from the judges comments from entering my quilts in the Nebraska State Fair and that has helped me to improve my quilting over the years.I have been attending the AQS show in Paducah for several years with my 2 sisters, niece and good friend.  They have been encouraging me to submit a quilt and finally I did and to my surprise it was accepted.  It will be even more fun to go this year and we are even going a day earlier for the awards night.  Will be fun to see the quilts and makers as they get their awards.  I don’t expect any award as I have seen the quilts that win – am just happy to have a quilt on display.The photo at the top of the page is closer to the true color of the quilt.  The other photos are just too green.  You know how hard it is to sometimes get the color correct in photography.

Over the moon excited!
Lynn

Paducah AQS Photos

So many of you that didn’t get the chance to visit Paducah might be interested in seeing more photos of the quilts and since I am reluctant to post mine because of all the litigation going on in the quilt world these days I feel I have let you down.  The quilts were/are magnificent and the slide show posted on the AQS site is OK but you just can’t see details and may have really wondered why some were chosen as winners.  I have found one place where you can see more details of some of the quilts – not just the winners either.

I have signed up to get an RSS feed from The Quilt Show and read the articles and watch the videos that are available to the public.  I am not a paid subscriber so can’t watch or read all the content but there is lots of free information on The Quilt Show webpage to make me visit often.  They have posted video interviews with some of the winners and slide shows of quilts and details on some quilts so wanted to share these links with you.

Interview with Sue McCarty – winner of the AQS show
Video Interview with Susan Stewart – winner of Machine Workmanship Award
More Susan Stewart quilt photos
Frieda Anderson video interview
Video interview with Judy Woodworth – Longarm Award winner
Video interview with Pat Holly
Video of Caryl Bryer Fallert’s home and studio in Paducah
Quilts from Paducah – video of photos of quilts in AQS show
Handwork From AQS Show – video of photos of quilts in AQS show
Another blog – We All Sew – with photos of some quilts from the AQS show

Enjoy looking at the photos and studying the detailed shots of these beautiful quilts.

Lynn

I'm Back....

Well I am back on the computer tonight to do a sort of catch up since my trip to Paducah for the AQS show. I again went with my two sisters and college friend but this year my niece went along too. We had a great time at the show seeing all the wonderful quilts and shopping until our legs felt like they were going to drop off. Our hostess is the sweetest lady (mother-in-law of our friend) and it is so nice to stay in town just a few blocks from the convention center.

You can see the award winning quilts on this AQS page. We are not supposed to post photos of the quilts, besides the photos on this page are great.

We brought some food along and plenty of snacks and several local wines from near each of the areas we live. We had happy hour each night on our hostess's screened in porch to rest our feet before we had our dinner - oh what luxury! Our hostess cooked dinner for us at night which was also a wonderful treat. Last year we talked her into letting us take her out to eat one time but she wouldn't hear of it this year. We try to help with the cooking and clean up and sneaked down to the laundry to get the sheets washed, dried and on the beds before we left on Saturday morning.

The dogwood trees were beautiful even after the horrific ice storm they had in Paducah last winter. Think they and the azaleas had started blooming sooner this year as some were starting to drop or fade but they still were a sight to see, so beautiful.

For those who don't know about these dogwood flowers they are about 3" across - HUGE! The trees are just loaded with the flowers.

Around town the downed tree branches from most of the trees have been picked up but we did see several large piles in front yards yet. The tree trimmers were still at work in places too.

This is the flood wall in Paducah near the downtown area. The murals painted on it are magnificent and a sight to see.

I got home late Saturday night April 25th then life took over. I did get to take a wonderful machine quilting class from Pat Rodgers on the Monday after I got home in Grand Island. Was tired but wanted the chance to take a class from a nationally known instructor and I learned a lot.

The rest of the time between then and now have been really hectic. Needless to say I have not been able to get any sewing done and probably won't for a little while longer. After several Dr. apt., MRI, etc. I am scheduled for surgery on my foot on this Thursday. My Dr. says the surgery should be fairly easy but will have to be off my left foot for a while. I may be able to sit at the computer or sewing machine for short periods I hope.

Until later,
Lynn