Surfin' Sunday - A Trip to Paducah, KY!!

Hi, all!


I hope you've had a great week and are ready to take a little virtual trip with me - my wonderful husband took me to Paducah, Kentucky this week for a couple of days, and I've got lots of pics and info to share with you!


After a gorgeous warm, sunny week, Thursday dawned cold and windy - but who cares?  I'm headed for quilt Mecca! 


My husband's assistant booked our hotel (work trip!) so neither of us knew where we would be staying, but as we got ready to turn down the street to the hotel, look what we saw!

Dropped my hubby off at the hotel, then headed down the street to spend a little quality time at Hancock's!  You all would not believe this place - it's enormous inside, with so much fabric that you stand there like a kid in a candy store, wondering where to start!  

There's a huge section of batiks - I'm talking rows and rows and rows of bolts.  And every color of Kona cotton available, along with Bella solids and 108" backing fabrics.  I've never seen all the Kona cottons in one place - my LQS only carries about fifteen of the colors - and it literally took my breath away!  (Silly, isn't it?)  


The fabrics are all sorted out by manufacturer, then by line, so it's easy to find a specific fabric.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the two fabrics I really wanted to pet - Sherbet Pips and Sunkissed - but I did see Fig Tree's new line, Buttercup, lots of Amy Butler, some of Ty Pennington's beautiful fabric, even some Kaffe Fassett and Liberty!

Then I found the remnant table - containing the ends of bolts at about half price - and boy did I have fun!  

Ended up with this beautiful bundle of fabric - three pieces of Swiss Chocolate and a piece of Fandango that go well together.  

I found two pieces of Kona in the end-of-bolt section, also at about half price, and picked out bolts of Kona in Earth and Chinese Red to finish off the bundle.  I think this will make a gorgeous quilt!  Now I just have to find the right design....


Then I went off to the cutting counter, where the ladies were diligently cutting website orders.  

We talked about where the orders come from, one of the ladies showing me the atlas she keeps to mark where she's filled orders from!  As she was cutting my fabric, I asked why they didn't have any precuts in the store.  She said, "Oh, they're in the other room."  The Other Room!!  (Does that sound like the back room at a video store to you, or is it just me? lol)  Anyway, she invited me to follow her...

.... and of course, I did! 

Unfortunately, they don't let you play everywhere back here, but it sure was fun to look and drool a lot - imagine having this in your own back room!  They had lots of precuts and bundles back here, and I did pick up this beauty...

....for a quilt for my husband some day.  It just reminds me of the ocean!  


As I left, I signed up on the e-mail list, and I found one more thing they carry at Hancock's - pornography!

OK, well, quilter's pornography, but you catch my drift!


Now here are some things I learned about Hancock's while I was there.  

They do not have clearance fabrics in the store.

Those all go to the online customers. 

And they go fast.  Get on the e-mail list!

Prices in the store are (sometimes) higher than in the catalog.  Usually right before the quilt show.

The manager orders lots of the things he 

thinks will sell well to the quilt show attendees, 

but if they don't sell, 

they get marked down and put in the on-line store 

about 2-3 weeks after the show.

And right now, this weekend, they have 

free shipping 

for all on-line orders.  The prices are lower 

in the catalog than in the store, and there's free shipping. How can you beat that deal?

(And no, Hancock's didn't cut me a deal to let you all know about that!)

The quilted sign over door....

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Friday morning, we went to the National Quilt Museum.  What a fabulous place!  Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures inside the museum, but here are a few pictures from their website.....

This place is a definite must-see if you are in Paducah!  One of the most interesting things I saw was a wooden quilt that looks like fabric - like it's blowing in the wind.  They let you take a picture of a sample of the quilt....

but not the quilt itself.  You can just see the quilt in the background of this picture.

Just FYI, your AQS membership will not get you a discount here, but if you have a group of ten or more and call two weeks ahead, you can get in for half price.

I hope you enjoyed (vicariously!) my trip to Paducah!  It is certainly a wonderful place for quilters. I'm sure there's more to see - we might have stayed longer, but Winter decided to make a return visit and it was cold and rainy, so we didn't wander around downtown.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back sometime soon - maybe for the Quilt Show!

Back next Sunday with another great quilt blog to share - hope to see you then!

Later!

Sarah