I am back from Paducah!
Got back late yesterday afternoon - so tired that I could not even think about cooking supper - so had to "eat out". DH drove me to Kentucky - 5 hours away. We left here on Wednesday morning. We are so lucky that our daughter lives there!!! She took off work on Wednesday afternoon and all day on Thursday. She has a very small car that can fit in small parking spaces, so we took it. It really helped that she knows her way around the town, etc. This is our fourth year going. The first year my DH stayed at her house and tried to watch TV while we were gone but he could not figure out their remote control so the next year I paid his way into the Quilt Show and he just followed us around and "people watched". When we go to fabric stores/sales, he is our "bolt holder" while we continue shopping. Not too many men but he tried to strike up a conversation with some who were also waiting for their wives. The last few years he thought that the average age of "us quilters" was about 72. This year he said it was much younger - HOORAY!!! I think it was far more crowded this year than in the past - even though we did not go to the Quilt Show itself until on Thursday. I have our picture taken in front of the winning quilt but I don't think I am allowed to post it on here. It was very intricate - applique. Here is what the book says about the quilt: " It was hand quilted by Ted Storm - Netherlands - this quilt was inspired by Delftware elements to represent The Netherlands. Ted created a symmetrical setting with eight different asymmetrical areas." I am pretty sure that you can "google" the winning quilt a see a picture of it.
DD and I thought that one fabric was not one that we would have used - but it worked out fine. Could not get close enough to it to actually see the hand quilting - but it looked like it was quilted into tiny squares maybe 1/2 inch square.
We went to the vendor area at the Quilt Show and then went shopping at other stores around the town - spending the most money at Hancock's of Paducah. Their sale batiks (the main thing that I am interested in) was $6.99 so I bought lots. One particularly fabulous piece of batik came from Quilt in a Day - it was pale bright colors with bright butterflies on it - only had 1 1/2 yard left and I got it for $8.00 a yard, minus a 25% coupon that I had - making it only $6 a yard. Wish there were more as I would have bought all of it. The weather was fabulous. We splurged and had dinner at Patti's 1880's Settlement - about 30 miles from Paducah - and had one of the best dinners we have ever had. All of the restaurants were full of ladies with quilting pins on their shirts, quilted bags/purses, etc. A very fun atmosphere.
Wish we could have stayed another day so we could have seen more and done more. We did not go to the Quilt Museum because we can always go there another time when we go to visit our daughter.
Comfortable shoes were worn by us all and we still were all complaining about our feet hurting at the end of the day. Everybody should go to a big quilt show if you possibly can.