paducah memories . . .

Oh. My. Goodness.

Yes, that means I had a most excellent time in Paducah! I was able to check off a couple of items from my quilting bucket list, too:

√ 1.  Go to Paducah and the AQS show! 

√ 2.  Visit the National Quilt Museum!

√ 3.  Meet and have picture taken with QUILT MAN!!!!!!

This made my everlovingquiltingday.  No lie!  Do you see my face?  I'm giggling like a school girl.  :)

For those of you not aware, Quilt Man, and his trusty sidekick, Bobbin Boy, are very familiar masked faces in Paducah.  This article explains it terrifically:

And of course, his real [first] name is Fowler ... which endeared him to me immediately! Not only is it my maiden name, but it's also the first name of my youngest nephew!  Plus, Quilt Man...errr, Fowler...went to Ole Miss ... he graduated sometime between me being there and my youngest sister being there. We've got history together!  Seriously, Fowler Black is a genuinely charming and nice guy and really shows his passion for his hometown when he morphs into Quilt Man for the Paducah show.  And you can check out Quilt Man for your very own self on Facebook and Twitter!

In case you're wondering, I did manage to see a bit of the show, too, while I was there.  LOL!  The quilts were simply amazing.  I took lots of pics, but the rules say no posting on the internet, so I won't.  But talk about inspiration ... WOW!  A lot (a lot a lot) of art quilts -- thread painting seemed to be a biggie this year.  I was drawn (as per usual) to the Baltimore Album style quilts.  And the miniatures! Whoa!  

Have I mentioned vendors yet?  Aye-yi-yi were there VENDORS!  I dropped a little money here and there (which quickly adds up to a lot, everywhere) through the day.  Wanna see my haul?!?!  (Of course you do!) My first purchases were from the Paper Pieces booth:

Gracious.  Who gave me this voracious appetite for all things English paper-pieced, Sarah??!

I fell in love with the over-dyed work of Wendy Richardson (qustudio.com) and purchased a couple of things from her.  All this time I was erroneously thinking that over-dyed meant over-applying the dye.  After visiting Wendy's booth and chatting with her, I came to realize it meant dying over an existing print.  I fell in love with colors in this piece (which came home with me):

front

back

Intrigued by the dyed over part, I looked up the original fabric.  Here's what it looked like before dying:

"Grapes" Autumn Medley by Martha Negley for Rowan Fibers.  The difference is incredible, right?!?  I also came home with this sweet little doily:

Is this not totally me? Yup.

And some other bits and pieces I picked up along the way . . . 

Quilted teapot notecards ... perfectly me... and mini yo-yo ornament kits!

five rotary blades for $20 and a cute little scissor fob

obligatory quilt show pin!

obligatory tee-shirt -- in lavender, I'm oh-so-happy to report!

I came across this vendor who had a spread of metallic fat quarters.  Luckily it was towards the end of the day, so I was already well into my spending (otherwise I'd have dropped my entire savings right there).  

Cindy of Custom Creations (no online presence that I could find--boo!) . . . 

I found a rather nice sampling!  Aren't they pretty???  And prettily packaged, too!  *quiltygirlsigh*

The bus also took us for a brief foray into the world of Hancock's of Paducah.  

Like I could go to Paducah and not buy something in Hancock's of Paducah!

Kona Solids at $3.98/yard  :)

for my little hexie templates?!

I've loved this Robert Kaufman print for forever!  :)

Not a WHOLE whole lot, but enough to make me feel I'd done my part.  

Of course, any number of the women in that cavernous store were purchasing enough to do the parts of our whole bus load of women, but who am I to judge, right??!!

Overall, I added very little (I mean, after you consider where I'd spent the day) to my stash . . . 

Used/donated this month: 0.0 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 12.75 yards

Purchased/added this month: 5.25 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 47.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -35 yards

I've done worse ... I almost feel a little silly that it wasn't more!!  

And finally . . . I have to share with you my fifteen minutes of Paducah fame:

Yes, I not only got to meet Quilt Man and have my picture taken with him, but he branded me (reporter's words, not mine) and I made The Paducah Sun, Sunday edition!  I was totally giddy. And yup, I'm still gushing, fer sure.  Happy memories were *definitely* made in Paducah!!!

:)

going on a road trip . . .

Not until the end of April, but I've got my name on the list -- and it was a close one!

Our guild does an annual bus trip to PADUCAH, and this year, with one slot left, I made my reservation. I'm so excited! I've wanted to go for four years; it's just not ever worked out. I'd determined that I WAS GOING this year when the signups first came out, but then life happened, and it's been crazy, and with the cut in hours at work, money for extras like this is a little harder to come by . . . so I thought another year was going to come and go without a trip to Paducah.

Todd & I talked about it last night, and he told me to GO!! So I hurriedly e-mailed the coordinator to see if there were any slots left (this trip fills up fast, and with over 300 guild members, there was no telling). I got an e-mail this morning that there was ONE slot left . . . my check was in the mail within ten minutes!! Hurray, I'm going to PADUCAH!

Evidently one of the big stops on this trip is Hancocks of Paducah. Rows and rows of quilting fabric? Okay!

Don't laugh, but what I'm really looking forward to? Finding and having my picture taken with . . .

QUILT MAN!

LOL! There's a story there -- I'll share it when I post my picture with him!

:)