Paducah AQS Show

My two sisters, a college friend and I drove to Paducah, KY to attend the AQS Quilt Show this last week. I had never had the chance to go before so was absolutely thrilled to be able to attend. We kind of did a hopscotch to gather the 4 of us into one car. One of my sisters also lives in Nebraska so we met in Lincoln, traveled on to Lenexa, KS to our friend's house where we stayed overnight on Tuesday. The next day the three of us then drove to Columbia, MO to pick up my other sister then on to Paducah. We were lucky to get to stay right in Paducah with the mother-in-law of our college friend. The friend is the one with the dark glasses in the photo.
The dogwood trees were just gorgeous. I had never seen dogwoods blooming before so was amazed at how large the blossoms were. The homeowners had spot lights on their trees at night and it was like a fairy land. The azaleas were also in full bloom. Was a real change from Nebraska. By the way our daughter got 2 inches of snow in Nebraska while I was gone and enjoying the beautiful weather in Paducah.

We really enjoyed walking through all the many vendors at the main site of the show plus the other venues. We didn't just walk through though - had to leave a little of our money here and there too.

The quilt show was magnificent! The wining quilts were stunning and the workmanship was so fantastic. I could go on and on about the quilts and keep adding adjectives and it wouldn't describe how great they were. Check out the pictures of the quilts on this website.

http://www.americanquilter.com/ Just click on "View 2008 Paducah Winners" to see the photos.
This photo was taken from the underside of a white dogwood. You can see how many blossoms each tree had.
When we got home I made postcards for the 4 of us and our hostess as a remembrance of our trip. I did a shadow applique with pink fabric as the background, batting flowers and fabric leaves. I topped it all with pink organza and machine quilted it. I did notice after I was finished with them I should have stitched a little brown at the dips in the petals to make them look more real.
It was a long drive down and back, lots of standing and walking but I would do it again in a minute!
Lynn

Bed Turning - China Luncheon

The China Luncheon-Bed Turning is now history for another year. The weather cooperated that day and it was beautiful outside. The guild members outdid themselves with their tables. They were all so beautiful.

This is what my table looked like all set up. I made 3 smaller stars that I hung from the branches of a white tree (wired on clear beads to the ends of the branches). The tree is sitting inside shallow bowl stacked on another bowl that is upside down on the table. The larger stars I made as hostess gifts are scattered around the center of the table. I used those flat marbles in my bowl and on the table plus a few sparkly stars and some ribbon woven through and around the larger stars. I used the original fabric I had purchased and scanned for the designs on my stars as napkins. The table was set with the Fostoria Crystal that my mother in law gave us. All in all it was rather pretty. The name of my table was "Catch a Falling Star."

The second photo is the table with my guests sitting around it before the luncheon started.
These next photos are of some other tables. We had various themes from Christmas, Valentines Day, Angels, Circus, to name a few.



This last photo shows the bed on the stage and the members lifting the quilt and showing it to the audience as the narrator tells about it. The quilts that were shown were stacked on top of the bed and lifted off in order, the narration paper unpinned and handed to the reader. The bed was kind of a fake. We used an old iron headboard that my husband made feet for so it would stand up by itself. We then used two long tables as the "bed". It had a dust ruffle taped to the bottom edge and a quilt that would stay on it after the last show quilt was lifted off. Pretty ingenious don't you think? The first year we had the bed turning we decided we didn't want to haul a mattress and box springs so figured out that the tables would substitute nicely.

Happy Quilting - Lynn

Bed Turning - Baby Quilt

This has sure been a busy week but I think I am almost ready for the China Luncheon/Bed turning our guild is having on Saturday. Am still working on getting my centerpiece to look the way I want it though.

My original paper stars were too big to hang in the middle of the table so I made a few smaller ones to hang on a smaller branched tree and will use the big ones scattered around the outside. If I would have used the big ones hanging on the long branches no one would have been able to see and visit across the table. Will take a photo of my table on Saturday after I get it all set up. Now I need to get my chocolate stars made for the nut cups this afternoon if possible.

It is a good thing we have a quilt guild meeting on Thursday night to refresh all our memories so we don't forget something for Saturday. My husband John is going down to help set up the stage and tables on Friday as will a couple of other husbands. That really helps a lot as some of those things get a little heavy.

Both of my daughters will come this weekend for the bed turning and will bring the grandchildren along. John will get to baby sit all 4 while we are at the event which could be a challenge so he will have to watch them close, especially the 2 yr. old. The girls are 6 & 7 and the boys are 2 1/2 and 5. They have a great time playing together and don't get to see each other too often so it is a treat for them to be together.

Love having them come and visit but I will not get to spend as much time with them as I like with setting up and tear down of the bed turning and both girls have to leave early Sunday to go home.

I may need that time on Sunday to get organized for the next week since I will be going to Paducah, KY for the AQS show. Yay, Yay!!! I am really excited about the trip as I have never been to the show before. I am meeting one of my sisters in Lincoln and driving to Kansas City to stay with a friend on Tuesday then the 3 of us will drive to Columbia, Mo to pick up my other sister then on to Paducah. I already have a list of things I want to look for at the merchants booths plus am excited to see all the quilts on display.

Didn't have any new photos to show so pulled this from my archives. This is the baby quilt I made for my youngest grandson. Actually, I started calling it a toddler quilt as I didn't get it finished until August of 07 and he was born in November of 05. It is mock hand applique done on the machine and is hand quilted. I didn't use a pattern but drew the designs myself for this quilt. It was fun to pick out all the bright colors as most of the time I choose dulled down colors for my quilts but my daughter wanted brights for this quilt and I admit it is cheery and was fun to work on.

Back to work finishing up those last minute things plus getting ready to conduct the business meeting tomorrow night. Only one more month and I will no longer be the president of the guild.

Lynn

Anniversary Party & Miniature Quilt

Today was an especially fun day. My husband and I attended a surprise 25th anniversary party this afternoon for some friends hosted by their two sons. It came off as a good surprise and the boys did a good job getting the food arranged and getting their parents to the party. The parents had no idea so that made it more fun.

Since I have done no quilting today I will post a photo of a miniature quilt I finished after Christmas this year. I call it "Three in a Row." The flower blocks are 1" square and the entire thing is machine pieced and quilted. It doesn't seem quite balanced but after ripping a few times I didn't want to chance it again. I was trying for an asymetrical look but it just isn't quite right.

The little flying geese are only about 1/8" deep and 1/4" wide and the quilt is 5 1/2" x 7 1/2". Oops! You can still see the white markings from the pencil I used to mark the quilting lines - must remember to get that removed!

To make the leaves I foundation pieced the leaf sections then reverse appliqued them to the background. The stems were reverse appliqued as well - this was all done with the mock hand applique method by machine. The quilt was planned and drawn in EQ6 where I do a lot of my designing. I printed the foundation pieced blocks from that program too.

I added a 1/8" folded piece of green fabric inside the binding before I stitched the binding to the quilt - like the spark it gave the outside edge.

Lynn