An Afternoon Tablerunner

Last summer I won a basket of goodies at a quilt show in Bridgeport TX.  Sorry, but I can't remember the guild's name.  In the basket were lots of fabrics including this group which some or all of are Benartex fabric designed by Mitzi Powers.  Most of the fabrics were smaller than a fat quarter and didn't have selvedge.

I came across these fabrics as I was cleaning and reorganizing my fabrics and I wanted to use them before they were split apart and mixed into my stash by color families. 

I added some brown and one batik blue/purple.  I made a table runner from Craftsy class "Square-agonals", by designer/instructor Sandi Blackwell.  The pattern went together easily and it was fun to fussy cut and position the three birds in the middle.

Well perhaps I went too quickly because I think I should have had more semi-solids in the final product.  I like it but it is a little too busy and I had difficulty figure where duplicate fabrics were going to end up next to each other.

It will go in the to be quilted pile and maybe I can figure out some quilting that will unify it. 

3 little quilts

I found this pattern in Paducah and decided to make three wallhangings before I went for a weekend in Michigan.

I used a striped fabric so I didn't fuse stripes like the pattern for the socks.  I also forgot the pattern had the feet turning out so only one is like that.  I fused and then quilted the pieces down.  I used a fusible I wasn't familiar with and didn't realize it should have been steamed so the red shoes are a little fuzzy.  I did a zigzag type stitch with the long arm.

I had some wide brown rickrack so I pieced that in the seam of the border to look like a skirt.  That wasn't in the pattern but I thought it looked cute.

I ran out of dark floss when I got to this one so I later added to the lettering with a tsukeniko ink pen to make it show up more

 

I was rushing to finish them the night before so two have fused binding and the they may look wavy in the pictures because I just slapped them on the design wall to snap a picture. 

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I quilted swirls in two of the borders but leaves and flowers in the turquoise one and only did one border not two like in the pattern.  Quilted leaves and swirls in the background.

quilting pics. 

Paducah Trip Report

I had not visited Paducah since 2007 when I moved from TN to TX.  Now that I am living in Texas I regularly attend the Houston Quilt Festival but I prefer the show in AQS show in Paducah because I like the small town atmosphere and how there are many locations to feed a quilter’s interest.  Houston, may have more quilts but I don’t know if they have more vendors.  It is in one location which is convenient, but the floors are painful on my feet in Houston.

This year I attend with three women from my bee.  It was fun, reminding of my first visit's to Paducah with Jeanne and Cathy.

Unfortunately we hit the show at 11 am on Thursday and the crowds were horrible.  Note to quilt show visitors when crowds are this bad why must you stand and talk to others in the middle of an aisle or in front of a quilt?  Look and move on so others can also.

We stayed in two cottages at Kenlake St Park.  They were small, probably built in the 1970’s but much better than a smoking hotel room 45 miles from Paducah.  We had dinner at Patti’s Settlement Restaurant the first night.

 

The above is a picture from the park, but not our cottage.  Our cottages had a view of the woods. It was very serene and quiet.

On our first day in Paducah we visited Caryl Breyer Fallert’s studio and that was one of the highlights of our trip.  One friend, Dana, knew that this studio was changing ownership so I am glad we got to see it.  Caryl’s work is stunning and it was wonderful to see it up close.

I purchased some of her fabric for a future project (no idea at this point) and a couple cd’s of her workshops.

After visiting the big tent/marshmallow thing with vendors we went to Hancock’s of Paducah and the mall.  There were very few vendors at the mall. 

I purchased fabric at Hancock's.  I was attracted to these black and beige prints and later at other stops add more plus the blue/black and grey.  I don't know have a project in mind.

From a vendor in the tent I bought this clock.  The artist is Michelle Allen, and I just love it.  They also had one of a sewing machine and it was sold out but could be ordered.  We found several things that were sold out by Thursday.

On Friday it was the quilt museum which was wonderful.  No pictures were allowed but we all left with a lot of inspiration.  Then it was walking downtown visiting vendors and having lunch.  We went to two of Eleanor Burn’s locations but didn’t attend a show. 

We left Paducah and went on the road to Benton to a quilt shop called Odds and Ends. The ladies there were very friendly and I added to my collection of Halloween fabric and bought this thread catcher/pin holder for $8.  I have wanted one for a while and at this great price it was a lovely souvenir (one of many!).

We visited Mayfield Ky to a small quilt show at a gallery put on by the local guild.  We had a nice visit with two of the guild members there and I bought a used book.

Now back from the trip, I see postings of other locations we could have visited.  For example we ate at Patti’s Wed night and stayed not far from there but missed the quilt show located across the street.  I retire next year and will probably go back to attending the Paducah show regularly.  Hopefully my friends will attend again also. 

I received a couple gifts from friend's commemorating the trip which is such a great idea.