More from Paducah, the spoils

     There were quality vendors and fabric to be had in Paducah during Quiltweek. It was hard to decide what to buy or not buy.

Fabric from Paducah

       I got the bright charm packs from Shannon of FabricsNQuilts. The Kona solids, bought from Hancock's of Paducah, are for a class I am taking this weekend with Sujata Shah in Ithaca, NY with the Tompkins County Quilt Guild. The black and whites are from Quilt in a Day. Hope to use them in my Flowering Snowball Quilt. And the gray is for a pair of pillowcase cuffs. I left so much fabric behind. Some stores bring fabric to the empty storefronts and sell mass quantities.

Hancock's of Paducah, just a smidge portion of the store

Hancock's of Paducah, aisles of fabric by manufacturer,
just one corner

Hancock's of Paducah, warehouse portion with bins of precuts

Warehouse with kits, most made and hanging to see

Notions from Paducah

      Bought my favorite piecing thread from YLI, a glazed thin weight cotton- super for lots of seams like my made fabric. Also, their clear monofilament is great for top stitching my bindings down. It doesn't stretch and is thick enough to see to thread the needle, unlike Monopoly.
      The numbered pins will help when I am taking rows and columns off the design wall. The Basix template works on 2 1/2" squares to make neat blocks, the Kai scissors are a smaller version of what I bought in Houston (love the Kai- light, sharp, great action), and Leader Grips for the edges of a quilt on the longarm instead of a single point clamp. The book is one I have wanted for years and I got for $5 at the hurt book sale.
      This may not seem like a lot, but when you have to carry everything with you all day, it was the best I could do.

The wheels on the bus go around and around and around...

     To Paducah, Kentucky for the AQS Quiltweek. I have dreamed of going and I jumped on a trip offered from Buffalo, NY. However, I think it will be my first and last bus trip. It took 15 hours to get there and 18 to get back. Not enough stops to stretch my legs. I am 5'8" and the seats are made for someone much smaller. I took a lot of work with me like knitting and handsewing, but it is a long ride. Our hotel was um, not great. But Paducah was warm and inspirational. 

    The AQS people know how to put a show together. I am excited to see what they will do in Syracuse as it is a 2 hour drive. The people of Paducah were very hospitable and went out of their way to help any one looking puzzled. They rented tour buses as shuttles to travel to any of the quilt related venues. The churches in the area hosted dinners and lunches for quilters which were awesome. More about that in another blog. 

  I visited the quilt show in the Convention Center, the National Quilt Museum (awesome exhibits and museum, but they allow no photos), Hancock's of Paducah (what can I say about a store this big filled with quilting fabric and super nice staff?), temporary fabric stores, the Historic Finkel building that had vendors and the AQS hurt book sale, and the bubble of vendors at the Convention Center.

   I met Shannon of Fabric N Quilts who let me choose fabric because I won an online giveaway. I chose some bright charm packs. Thank you, Shannon! What a terrific lady!

   I also met a blogger that I have read and corresponded and been inspired by, Sarah Craig of Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I was so thrilled to meet her. I wish I had taken pictures of meeting people and more, but I was brain dead from the ride and ensuing migraines.

  Here is a sample of some quilts I saw that were different from the norm:

Detail from quilt above

Kevin the Quilter's work, Radar

Detail of Radar

This beautiful quilt is an example of a problem I saw.
The quilts were laying on the floor because the supports were too short. I wish they would have made the bars higher so the quilts could have been seen in entirety. These were the bed quilt category and were not incredibly over sized.
I think a big show like this needs to have the quilt display as perfect as can be to show off these masterpieces.

Nominate and more Gold Star quilts

     I became aware that the National Quilters Circle is running a best blog contest with several categories. I urge you to nominate your favorite quilt blog. Blogging takes a lot of time and energy and those who do it consistently and contribute to the field of quilting should be recognized. I made my nomination in the Best overall category to Exuberant Color. There are a handful of bloggers who have helped me and encouraged me way beyond where I was and Wanda is the quilting queen. I am so grateful to them. Every morning I read them and learn from them. If only I could be on that level to reach others!
    Two more Disappearing Nine Patch Gold Star Quilts. Quilted by Chasen Dreams. Photos shot outside in sun!!

The blue sashing is a chambray that someone gave
me big irregular pieces that I was able to cut into 5" squares

The back done with quilted fish

Back with hearts

Quilted and bound

     I am not sure why I have such a difficult time getting photos off the camera and into the blog. The process seems painstaking- hooking up the camera to the computer, choosing the photos, renaming them before they download, download to the right folders, using Picmonkey to crop/touch up, and then writing the blogpost. I have split the newest quilt photos into 2 posts. The Gold Star quilts have been my focus. Also, I have been eeking small quilts off the Nolting. Boy, do I do a wobbly job on it.
     First photo is a Laurel Burch panel that I have had ready to quilt for a couple of years. I have loved Laurel Burch for many years. The back is solid black and you can see the quilting there better. Done on my Nolting.

Photo taken outside in the sun, finally!

The black looks gray in the sun

The back photo taken indoors, still doesn't look black

 

     The Gold Star quilts are coming back from the longarm quilters, Chasen Dreams (on Facebook), two sisters, awesome quilters, who are donating their services, the batting, the labels and coordinating all these quilts for the Gold Star camp in July. Here are a couple I bound yesterday.
      The Disappearing Nine Patch using 5" squares will be a tutorial in May at Confessions of a fabric addict for the Hands2Help drive.

Back

Front, Disappearing 9 Patch

Diagonal pattern from jellyrollfabrics.net

Back

Little Boxes strip quilt

     This quilt is one that is made by sewing a white, color, color, white WOF strips in a set. I sewed a number of sets, then subcut the sets to 4.5" wide. I arranged it on the design wall. The pieces were sewn end to end on the 4.5" white edges. Then long white strips were sewn to the bottom of each row, except the top row got one white strip on the top. It needs no border and is larger than a lap quilt. The pattern is free from Liz at  http://www.jellyrollfabric.net/ but I don't see it listed on her site. The name is Little Boxes. 

On the wall, not quilted yet

First off the Nolting!

      A lap quilt of exploding squares is the first quilt off the Nolting longarm. I used Glide on the top and So Fine 50 on the bottom. I found I could not do diagonal lines without big wobbles. Surprise, I did not know that you could not. I found out from the dealer that I need to purchase a ruler base and rulers to do diagonals. Who knew? I wonder what else I don't know that will surprise me. 
     A good surprise was that when I removed the quilt to photo on the design wall, it laid absolutely flat. Without being stretched and pulled through a domestic machine, but moved on roller bars, it stayed in a true shape.