Paducah!

I got home late Sunday after spending all last week in Paducah for the 30th AQS show.  It was my first time being there both as an instructor and just seeing the show in person and what an experience!  I have to  say it was an almost perfect week and I couldn't wait to share it with you!

After arriving on Tuesday it was a hustle to get my classroom set up for the next day and then high tail it over to the Carson Convention Center for the awards ceremony...wow!

Because it was the 30th year there was a big celebration which included a beautiful set up in the lobby of desserts and snacks as well as a vinyl backdrop of photos of the Best of Show quilts for the last 30 years.  Pretty impressive.

The awards ceremony followed which was even MORE impressive!

...and I'd like to mention my nearly perfect week started with The Nun's Quilt winning a 3rd place ribbon!  Wooo Hooo!!!!

 I taught three different classes and I had SO much fun!  Everyone was so excited to be in Paducah and it just lent itself to very enthusiastic and energetic students...this is a shot of my Beginners :)

I had Saturday off to completely indulge in the show and to check out the town and the museum.  My day started with a long walk along the river about 7 am...nobody was there and it was quiet...a little down time that I hadn't indulged in all week long....mmmmm.....

I  checked out the historic downtown district before the crowds got heavy....

and then of course completely indulged in the National Quilt Museum.  Wow.  Talk about a big piece of humble pie!  Unfortunately I could only take a picture of the building...no cameras allowed inside.

Then it was off to indulge in the show for the remainder of the day.  The weather was gorgeous all week long and the food vendors were all set up outside.  There were SO many quilters there wasn't enough room for everyone in the tent on the picnic tables so many of us ate our lunches on the curbs!

Last January I did a blog post on "Inspiration and Intimidation" where I shared my thoughts on being totally intimidated by the fabulous quilts at these shows...Trust me that was a huge factor here.  Still shaking my head on the beautiful quilts from all over the world that were exhibited.  I only took a few photos of the full quilts...most of my shots were the smaller areas of those quilts that inspired me...they were a lot less intimidating that way.

I wanted to give a  shout out and congratulations to Marge Hough for having her quilt accepted in the show.  I've known Marge for a long time and she worked on this piece at my Mccloud retreats.  You can't believe the piecing involved...especially in the sand...and she stitched in the ditch every single seam.  Beautiful work Marge!!!

Loved the background fillers in these quilts...

Part of a fabulous wholecloth quilt...Loving the thread play here!

Sandra Leichner's award winning wholecloth quilt...this was stunning.

Loved how the quilter took the feathered wreath and put it "under" the sashing creating beautiful dimension and also loved the border designs.

You just couldn't believe the background filler work in this quilt...wow.

This particular blog post could go on forever...the show was amazing, intimidating, inspiring and so much more.  Thank you for letting me share all of this with you!

Hugs, Cindy :)