AQS Quilt Week in Paducah, KY

 

 

As incredible as it seems, Paducah, KY has hosted
the AQS quilt show for 40 Years!

Is that amazing, or what?! 

Carolyn and I went to the show today and as usual, there were soooo many awe-inspiring quilts! 
She and I agreed they ALL deserve First Place!  I'm going to post just a couple of my absolute favorites:

The Detail on this quilt was amazing (they're all amazing.)  

This is not a Jen Kingwell quilt.  Shocking, I know.

 

I LOVED this red and black!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seemed like there were quite a few quilts with teensy pieces!  
These patches were about 2" finished!
The name of this Quilt was Omigosh!  I Second That!!

 

 

 

This is only a small part of a quilt of an apartment building...called
The Window.

It reminded me of where I lived in California.  (While I do not miss CA at all...I do miss the people.)

Also reminded me of 2020...National Quilt Day, but we were in the middle of lock down so we displayed our quilts the best way we could.

HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Midnight Zoomer made me laugh!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Even the kids got in the act. 
This is a quilt by a First Grade Class. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Something about this one made me think of Aunt Nyla.  We had so many quilt-adventures together...

There were so many beautiful quilts.  My little 'ol iPhone cannot possibly do them justice.

Link to view quilts HERE courtesy of The Quilt Show.

YouTube video all about Paducah. HERE  It'll make you want to come next year! 
Plan a Quilt Adventure with your favorite quilter!!

Feelings

 ...Nothing more than Feelings ... a song from back in the day.  HERE
Woke up this morning FEELING extremely overwhelmed!   Like I'm forgetting something important!

For me, a list maker, it helps to get it all down on paper.....

💥It's going to be a killer, busy week for work... rolling out a difficult project   👈    👈    👈   👈
💥It's quilt week and I'm going to miss out on most of the festivities...because of above.👆  👆  👆

 

💥The bird feeders are empty and I'm totally out of seed...I know that sounds silly, but I assure you, the birds don't think so.

I need to get down to Menard's and buy seed and suet blocks! (I should have done it yesterday.)
And, while I'm at it, I want a Blue Bird house.

I'm Late...I'm Late...for a very Important Date....HERE

 

 

 

💥It's already the third week of April and I still don't have any flowers planted in my beds....I ABSOLUTELY  MUST get some marigolds in the ground before the deer discover my dahlia!

AND, my raised beds are still EMPTY !!!😭

💥I can't move ahead on the Coffin Handbag until I get down to Muppins and check out how Cheryl put together the sample... I don't want to do it the way the pattern author does it, feels too bulky to me ... but, I don't think I can get down there until Saturday because of the killer work week (see above).... AND, by Saturday there will be Quilters EVERYWHERE  because it is AQS Quilt Week  (See Above!) Parking will be scarce! (But it's NOT too late to come join the quilting fun....all the rooms for miles around are taken, but I have a futon in the studio...sleeps two...just sayin'.)

 

💥And then there's the Lower Town Arts Festival coming up in less than three weeks and my song is NOT performance ready.  Still working on the tricky left-hand-muting.
The Sea by Sierra Ferrell. HERE. 
It's really hard...at least for me.

 

See what I mean?  Overwhelming.

It's been a couple of days and I feel better.

💢After today I'll be more than half-way through this busy week.  It occurred to me this morning that I need to change my attitude toward this busy week (teaching 10 classes ..that's a lot.)  I don't want to get to the end of the week and have complained the whole week away!

💢The birds are happy.

💢Made it downtown to Muppin's yesterday...and just as I thought she finished the Coffin Handbag exactly the way I thought it should be.

💢Practicing my ukulele. Did you know you cannot be in a foul mood and play the ukulele?  Try it!
Shirley Orlando is proof!  I Play My Ukulele

Quick Trip

 

The Baby Sister and I took a quick, over-night, trip to Terre Haute Indiana for a fun show.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain!  HERE

You can look them up on YouTube.  They put on a very fun, entertaining show! 
I could easily become a groupie!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

AND, they signed one of my ukulele's....this is Adam (he came first.)

I cannot wait for more side trips like this....in the not too distant future.

Mooned

No sooner did I drive in my driveway from my road trip when my favorite niece and her D.H. arrived for a visit. 
You've met Desiree in previous posts...HERE, HERE and HERE.  

She and Kevin came to town to visit Joy (my baby sister) and me, to celebrate Joy's birthday
AND because Paducah is in the total-eclipse pathway.  HERE

 

Total Eclipse BBQ party...with homemade ice cream!

It was totally cool....I wish we'd been in an area for a longer "block out" time. Paducah had only about 2.5 minutes.

A trip to downtown Paducah for lunch and shopping, with a stop at Muppin's Sewing Emporium (my home-away-from-home these days.)  And, of course, we purchased fabric for a new project.  It is an easy one*, and we have already started it ...
with a plan for finishing, via Zoom.

Introducing the Coffin Handbag by Seamingly Wicked. HERE

Here is Muppins' sample using Tula Pink fabric; Night Shade Deja Vu Coven. 
For the person in your life who likes this sort of style.  

Honestly, made from a different fabric, it would not be so "goth."

Cut all the pieces.

We made plastic cutting templates using the cutting mats found in the kitchen section at the Dollar Tree.

Organize everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zippers are assembled...the zipper itself was easy...adding the pulls was a bit painful.  If I were going to make this bag again...and I might...it would be worth it to buy a zipper jig.

Watch the  zipper pull YouTube Video before you waste a bunch of time..This video was very helpful. HERE

The designer of this bag assembles it differently than I would, so I will reach out to Cheryl and see how she assembled it.  HERE is the video for assembling the bag.  HERE is a video for an alternative assembly option....Stay tuned. 

This will be a Quinceañera** gift for Gabrielle, one of the grands. 
I think this is a cute bag for a teen.  (I hope Gabbz thinks so.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Well, not so easy, as it turns out.

*Quinceañera, the celebration of a girl's 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood, although I hard think 15 is a WOMAN....she is still a baby in my book.  HERE

Home Sweet Kentucky

Paducah 👉 Conway 👉 Dallas 👉 Austin  👉 San Antonio 👉 Houston
👉 Vicksburg 👉 Paducah....Full Circle. 2,563 miles!

 

This is my very first vacation-type road-trip as an adult, and all the driving was me, by myself.  

It's been a journey, and I'm happy to be HOME, but I so did enjoy this. My favorite part was visiting all the people I had not seen in a while as well as meeting new people.  (Breakfast at the B & B was so nice.  Future trips I'll stay at B & Bs so I can meet new people.)

For Now....I'm Home.

Advertising Works

Houston 👉👉👉 Vicksburg, MS.  My last stop before heading home.  Why Vicksburg?  Because I watch these fun videos,
It's A Southern Thing, and they have advertised Vicksburg, MS.  So, here I am.

The Corners Mansion Inn B & B was lovely...just like you'd expect.  This is a great place to unpack and unwind.

My room, on the left.  There are 16 guest rooms in this B & B.  Lovely Place!

 

 

It was a nice, albeit breezy, spring day in this small, small, southern town. 
I walked the entire downtown in just over 7,000 steps.

The people were lovely, the architecture was just as you'd expect, the fauna and flora in full bloom.

Very enjoyable.  Very relaxing.

Feels a bit like New Orleans to me...

This is a Civil War era town with museums and memorabilia. 
Interesting walk.

BTW:  if you want a good laugh, HERE it is!

Rocket Man

Who could go to Houston without a visit to The Johnson Space Center?!   Not Me!!  

Some dates remain in your brain your entire life:  I remember three related to the Space Race: 1969, Landing on the moon (I was a senior in High School);
The 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion;
The Columbia in 2003.  

And now they are planning a return to the moon sometime in this decade....Artemis. 

There was also some talk about Mars....
but that seems pretty far-fetched to me....but then... ?

It is a pretty amazing place. 

 

"One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind."

They have preserved the Apollo Mission Control Room.
It's all set up the same as the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon...
right down to the ash trays in the seat backs in the gallery.

Karen Nyberg quilts in Space! HERE  

Beans are not for astronauts.  HERE  

I wonder if anyone has played their ukulele in Space?

 

 

 

My last evening in Houston was spent with my Baby Brother, Brad and
his wife, Janet, just hangin out.

Janet was showing me her "slow stitching."

Have you heard of "slow stitching?"

Recently a video popped up in my YouTube about slow stitching.  I did not pay much attention to it... I thought it was just someone showing how she saves and uses all her little fabric scraps (and even her thread bits.) 

But then Janet used those words...."slow stitching" and my ears perked up.  "Tell me more!" 

Slow stitching is basically hand sewing for relaxation...there are various approaches...some "just sewing"...no idea what it will be in the end, just pick up your needle and some scraps and sew....
 

Another approach is with an actual "something" in mind.  A little scene or in one YouTube example, a needle book.

They're Fabric Collages

Examples: 

 

 

 

This is from a YouTube channel Night Owl Crafts and Collectables.  She has an entire collection of these cute, little stitched scenes.  HERE

Makes me want to do one!  ... or a dozen!

 

 

 

Here is an example where the creator simply took
scrap fabric and made a pallet, from where she will build her project.

 

 

I like this channel...she has a very pleasant voice.  HERE

 

Search for "slow stitching" on YouTube.  There is an entire community out there! 
(A lot of videos on how to get started.)

Now that I know it is actually "a thing" I'll pay more attention, and maybe even try it!