Well, one week ago today I was in Paducah, KY at the AQS Quilt Show! Quilt City, USA is quite the place during quilt week - definitely a bucket list experience if you've never been. We did some antiquing - where this jumped into the back of my car to come home with me...
...and of course, I had to get some strawberry shortcake, a Paducah tradition! Mmm, so yummy!
I got to meet a blog friend, Jan Ochterbeck, in real life as she was there promoting her new book, Cut and Shuffle Quilts. What fun!
And I had a chance to snap a picture of Lara Buccella's new book, Crafted Applique, on the AQS store racks. I'll be doing a review of Lara's book on May 13th - be sure to catch it, as she's got a neat new technique for applique that you're going to love! Had a great conversation with one of the staff members about how they publish their books, too. What a treat!
And oh, the quilt-y eye candy!! There was so much to see, and I remembered to take pics of a few of my favorites...
This gorgeous quilt was made up of one-inch squares!!!
I love this quilt - the left corner is made up of wonky nine-patch blocks and the quilting was amazing!
This quilt is one of Christa Watson's quilts - what a great use of scraps!! I had fun spying out scrappy quilts this year - looking for inspiration for the Wednesday blogposts!
I love the colors and the flow of the leaves this quilt. The quilting was pretty amazing, too, but hard to photograph!
And this one has to be my all-time favorite! I've always wanted to make a Storm At Sea, but this one just takes my breath away!!
The one thing I noticed as I looked through the quilts was how many of them were appliqued. I don't know if that's a trend or if it just happened to be what made it through the jurying process, but it was interesting to see...
I found this really cute pattern for a Christmas tree wall hanging - I'm thinking it might look great made with those left-over green strips from my March project! Time will tell...
And in one shop, we found this great wall hanging! If you don't know, our church's quilt ministry is named Piece*Love*Quilt, so this just HAD to come home with us! I'll finish it up and we'll hang it on the door to our "sweatshop"!
And of course, no trip to Paducah would be complete without at least one stop at Hancock's of Paducah! I found some cute fabrics...
The rocket ship fabric will be for a dress for Emmy, who LOVES rockets. The Basic Grey prints just spoke to me, and I'm sure I'll find a project for them. I think the Kaffe Fassett prints and those two Kona pieces will work together nicely for a quilt someday in the future, too!
And then I saw this! Oh. my. goodness.... These are sold by a gentleman who makes great die-cut metal barn quilts to hang on your house, inside or outside. The company name is Classic Metal Company, and you can see their website here. I have one hanging by my front door, and I also have a ruler rack that I love! So this had to come home with me too...
And then I had a great idea! I talked to the man who owns the company, and he agreed to become a sponsor for Hands2Help 2016, which means that we now have a beautiful metal barn quilt that will be going to one lucky participant in this year's Hands2Help Challenge! Woohoo!!! Be sure to check out his site and keep it in mind when you need to give a quilt-y gift (or when you want to get one!) because these things are awesome!!!
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So that's my recap of our Paducah weekend! So much to see and do, and I always forget to take pictures as I go - sorry about that! As I said, this is definitely a bucket list experience - I hope you'll get to go someday too - and if you do, be sure to let me know you'll be there, and maybe we can meet up IRL!!
Hugs!
Sarah
You were very restrained in Paducah. I happened to drive by your house yesterday and noticed the quilt next to the door. (Not stalking you; just a pretty backroad route from Smyrna to Mt. Juliet!)
ReplyDeleteWow, you were really good on the trip. I love all of the quilts you showed, the sun quilt is amazing, but that storm at sea is awesome. Storm at sea is on my bucket list too, but I'll be sticking to the basics :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun trip you had. All of those beautiful quilts. The metal barn quilts are something I only lately heard about. In fact, my hometown just joined the Barn Quilts Trail in April :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you really had a lovely time :-) Great shopping and quilt viewing and strawberries! The quilts are beautiful and how fun that yet another sponsor joined in. The quilt signs are wonderful...especially the rusty metal ones :-) Those are my favorite.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your new gorgeous fabrics and sweet machine.
I had a chance to go...but opted out as it was too close to just getting home from Florida. I am anxious to hear from the group of gals who did go..reading this was great. Love that metal Quilter sign, and that Storm At Sea--gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you got to attend! It's on my bucket list one day :-)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had fun in Paducah! Of course, it would be hard not to, for a quilter during Quilt Week. And Handcock's is so tempting. I think you were very restrained.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out. It was so good to meet you!
You packed in so much fabulousness in one trip Sarah! It looks amazing! I have Jan's book too and love it! And I can't believe you found a Piece, Love, Quilt wallhanging. That Storm at Sea is breathtakingly gorgeous! I love the way Christa's quilt looks like a modern stained glass window. And how amazing that you found another sponsor for Hands2Help. You must have been sooo thrilled! So many good things!
ReplyDeleteSarah - looks like you had a fabulous time. I love some of those quilts, my goodness! I also love the sign and ordered one for myself. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the quilt pictures. They are amazing. And what an awesome find that Piece Love Quilt quilt find was?!
ReplyDeleteI will get there one day myself because all of you look like you had too much fun. Yes the owner of Classic Metal Company is very nice as he sponsored a giveaway on my blog a while back too.
ReplyDeleteI went to Paducah too - such fun! And that strawberry shortcake was the best. So many quilts, shopping, etc...so little time!
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