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Home from Paducah
Phew! I did it! I taught at the AQS Show in Paducah last week, which also happens to have been my first major teaching gig at the national level…what a way to begin! It was exhausting, fun, a learning experience, and I’d do it again…just not every year please! Unlike Festival in Houston, the show is spread out in Paducah’s Expo hall, convention center, and the (icky) attached Executive Inn. The rest of the town joins in, from the MAQS Museum 3-4 blocks away, to Hancock’s of Paducah (a major store and catalog/online quilt store) several miles away via car/shuttle bus, to the many shops in town including Caryl Bryer Fallert’s studio and the new Eleanor Burns emporium. Regular stores all have quilts in the windows… it’s just fun! (Even if the weather can be hot and humid and sticky. Showers please!)
I did get to see the show, and thought I’d seen all of it, but since my return it appears I missed a section of the exhibits…bummers! From my arrival on Tuesday, to my departure for the Nashville airport on Saturday evening (I actually reached home at 9 pm Sunday), I had maybe 4 hours total during open hours to see everything and do just a little shopping! The first thing I saw, above, to my sheer delight was Gloria Hansen‘s quilt with a big ribbon (that’s me doing a stand-in for the much prettier Gloria, who is also my website designer extraordinaire)! (Note! All photos in this post are clickable for larger views.) Across the aisle was my Koi quilt. I totally love its simplicity, but it suffered in comparison to the heavily worked quilts in the show, I think. Still I’m glad that some of the folks in my classes saw it and remembered it!
One of the best parts of going to a big quilt show is meeting folks from online. I’ve also discovered that hanging out with other teachers is a phenomenal experience. Like quilters, they are so sharing, helping newbies like me learn the ropes. Jan Krentz was awesome (I may have to take a piecing class with her just to learn from watching a master teacher at work), and I got to room with Suzanne Marshall, whose quilts have earned spots in the top 100 quilts of the 20th century and the next best 100 quilts of the 20th century… amazing! (Click on their names to open a new window to their websites.)
And such a kind, down-to-earth lady. I’d room with her again any time! Our dinner out after our evening classes on Weds. was the best dinner of the week–we yakked for hours! This is her entry in this year’s show The Beast and The Boy…yes, all hand appliqued, hand quilted, hand stitched…sigh!
Here I am with Caty and Leslie from the Quilt Mavs list (they are sisters, yes their hair is that gorgeous, I want Caty’s!):
I was so busy teaching, that I didn’t get to really see much of the town. Thanks to meeting online friends, Caty and Leslie, for the first time, I DID get a lovely tour of the town (and was so glad to be able to do that sitting down in her comfy car! I was literally hobbling by the time I met them Thursday evening). We saw old homes, beautifully renovated old homes, dogwoods in bloom (the thing I may miss the most about Virginia), and also azaleas and redbuds. And we drove the Lower Town Arts Walk area…what a great idea to revitalize a town.
From the Janome 6500 list, I met Maggie S. and Madge Z. and we got this pic (thanks for taking my classes!):
and from the Pickles list, Michele E. from Alabama — if we look tired it’s because it was the end of my sixth and final class, and I was ELATED–I did it!
I also met and really enjoyed having Ruth Ann W. from the QuiltArt list and her friends in my classes…Ruth Ann, how did we miss taking a photo????? Maybe in Florida!
The hotel was, well,….. ugh. The folks who run AQS have apparently threatened to leave town and find another venue if the owner doesn’t fix it up, but according to the “word on the street” (aka gossip) the owner doesn’t much care and wants to turn it into a casino. If you go to Paducah, try to stay somewhere else then drive or shuttle to the expo center! Over the next few days I’ll be adding more posts….pictures of the show, of students and classes, the Ricky Tims concert… can you tell I had fun (and that I’m now catching up on sleep enough to enjoy it LOL!).
April 30th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Sarah, Your Koi quilt was awesome! No need to compare it with the others! (I met you in the Embellishment Village booth when you were looking for Betty, but we didn’t get to introduce ourselves.)
April 30th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Oh it sounds like you had such a wonderous time. I hope in a few years to be able to make the trip to Paducah. I don’t think I’d be able to quilt after though, nothing I can manage could compare to that kind of beauty.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Saran,
Your quilt looks fabulous, and my quilt looks much better with your pretty smiling face in front of it.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Sara Ann –
Glad to hear you had a fabulous time teaching at Paducah! Congrats and now that you’re home – relax!!