Paris...Rome...Paducah!

Another item crossed off my non-existent bucket list. I have wanted to go to the Paducah Quilt Show for many years, but it is so dang hard to get to and the accommodations leave a bit to be desired, and it's hard to get a hotel room, because the tour companies snap them all up. So - seven hour drive and staying in a hotel away from the action - no, thank you. Last year I noticed that Stichin Heaven travel had a tour AND (most important), the rooms were in Metropolis, across the river, at Harrah's! Illinois is a quick 14 mile ride across from Paducah! Who knew? When the quilt show lists accommodations, they don't list Illinois hotels, so all you get is a list of the "Inns" in Paducah. If I were to go back, I would definitely stay in Metropolis at Harrah's. So all the folks on the tour (56 of us) all met up at the Nashville airport, and took a bus to Paducah ('cause you can't fly in to Paducah!)

First of all, Metropolis - you do know it is the home of Superman, right? Because it rained every day but one, I didn't get a chance to go to the giant Superman statue. But here is a not taken by me photo:

We did drive by the statue, but because it was raining, my photo wasn't a good one.

 

The quilt show was phenomenal...so many quilts and over 400 vendors. Of course I spent way more money than I intended to, but not on fabric. We started out by going to dinner with Eleanor Burns, she of Quilt in A Day fame. Not being a Quilt in a Day kind of girl, I have never made one of her quilts, but I sure did enjoy her. She greeted every single one of us personally, chatted and answered questions, cleaned up after us, and was just generally a delight. Despite fabrics that were on sale from $3-$5, I didn't buy any fabric.

 

Thursday was National Quilt Museum, Caryl Bryer Fallert (A-MA-Zing studio), and Ricky Tims photo shot. I wish I could show you the quilts at the National Quilt Museum because they are so incredible, but you are not allowed to take photos. Paducah had some kind of arts revival program years ago and Caryl bought her live/work studio for $2, in exchange for refurbishing the building. She took us on a tour of the building, which is very organized and beautiful. The Ricky Tims photo shoot will be on the cover of The Quilt Life in October. Thank goodness he did it on Thursday, because Friday, despite weather reports that the weather would be overcast, it poured. Went to Mecca Hancock's of Paducah (not the same as Hancock's).  How to describe it? First of all, it's HUGE and is in two buildings. How huge is it? Fabric is arranged by designer, not by color, that's how big it is. These pictures don't even begin to show how big it is. I only bought 2 yards of fabric at Hancock's, because how can you not? The ones I bought were current batiks which were $6/yd. 

 

Incredibly, one day I ran into Libby Lehman, and I got to show her my circle quilt! With 30 or 40 something thousand people, it really was amazing that I saw her.

 

And here's a picture of our tour group.

There were soooooo many people in Paducah, and the quilts are not laid out with as much room as they are in Houston, so I don't know that I would go back. I might, but I don't feel compelled to. PLUS - AQS is adding three new shows next year, one of which is in CHATTANOOGA! Not only does Chattanooga have nice hotels, it's actually a short two hour drive away! September, 2014, Baby! 

 

Live like there's no midnight

- Cinderella