I had a very busy and fun time at the American Quilters Society Quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky. It was well attended and exciting to be amongst so many people who like to sew, feel fabric and appreciate quilts.
Here, I am receiving instruction from John Flynn on a quilting frame he invented.
It was fun to actually meet the quilters who have become famous through their techniques and their books. We met Eleanor Burns, Kaye Wood and Helen Squire.
Eleanor is known for her Quilt in A Day techniques. She revolutionized the way quilts are made. “Quilting techniques that replaced scissors and templates with rips and strips, bringing rotary speed to patchwork.” Quote from the Eleanor Burns website.
Kaye Wood is known in the quilting world for her star techniques. Her templates make piecing together a difficult quilt one of ease. My sister bought her book and a couple of her templates. I can’t wait to see what she makes.
We went to a luncheon with Helen Squires. After many years working for the AQS, she retired from writing her popular Q & A column, Dear Helen. She now travels as a quilt teacher, quilt pattern designer, auctioneer and guest lecturer. She is quite a character and we enjoyed her show. She is the author of Quilting UFO’s, a book that helps quilters figure out what to do with all those unfinished projects. Helen actually lives in Paducah!
I am all packed and ready to head out in the morning. I am going to Paducah for a big quilt show. I know what you are thinking. I went to the Chicago quilt show last Saturday. Hey, I cannot help that they scheduled the biggest, baddest quilt shows back to back.
So, I shall see you on Monday. I’ll let you know if I find any great buys on hair loss products, beanie babies and hula hoops. Seriously, I will see you on Monday with a lot of fun stories to tell.
I didn’t know it but the US mint is issuing six quarter-dollar coins in honor of the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. These coins will be issued in equal sequential intervals in 2009.
Like I said, I didn’t know this and was surprised to receive a Washington DC quarter in my change last week. The DC quarter honors Duke Ellington.
The District of Columbia quarter is the first of 2009 and the first in the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Program. The District of Columbia, created in 1790, became the Nation’s capital on December 1, 1800. The 10-square-mile site, originally part of Maryland and Virginia, was chosen personally by President George Washington to fulfill the need for a new Federal district that would not be part of any state. The District of Columbia quarter reverse features native son Duke Ellington, the internationally renowned composer and musician, seated at a grand piano with the inscriptions, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DUKE ELLINGTON and JUSTICE FOR ALL, the District’s motto.
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born into a middle-class family in Washington, D.C., in 1899, and started piano lessons at the age of seven. He lived in Washington until 1923, when he moved to New York City. He began performing professionally at the age of 17, and once he arrived in New York, started playing in Broadway nightclubs and eventually led his own band. Ellington made hundreds of recordings — some with John Coltrane, Billy Strayhorn, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald – making him famous worldwide. Throughout his 50-year career, he returned often to Washington to perform, frequently staying at the Whitelaw Hotel located in his boyhood neighborhood in Washington. Throughout his life, he received numerous awards and honors, including multiple Grammy® awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 in honor of his ability to carry the message of freedom to all the Nations of the world through his gift of music and understanding.
With all the hype in the media about Susan Boyle, the singing sensation from Britain’s Got Talent, I was introduced again to American Idol. I have not been keeping up with my favorite shows this year. I have missed Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and American Idol. Checking out YouTube brought me to Carrie Underwood’s audition for AI.
I am always amazed at the people who want to leave their sales jobs and have the gumption to do so. Kudos to them! The ones who truly have talent and who the public find endearing, are the ones who will find success. I don’t know what Rueben Studdard and some of the others are doing but I know that Carrie is an entertainer that fans adore.
I was able to get up on time yesterday morning, see my previous post, and made it to the bus with a few minutes to spare. Being a few minutes early allowed mom and me just enough time to not be relegated to the seats next to the bathroom Puuuwwey!
I was able to catch a few winks that made the rest of the day much more enjoyable. I love and need my sleep. I am so glad I wore my comfortable Dansko shoes because we walked and walked on cement floors. I have never been to a quilt show as big as the one in Chicago.
We headed straight for the vendor’s booths in case there was that one special fabric we needed to grab before someone else did. It was exciting and so much fun to wade our way through the crowd, and believe me when I say crowd. We only saw a third of the booths before we decided it was time to eat lunch.
We had our choice of eating at the fast food line or going to the restaurant at the convention center. We chose the latter. The restaurant was a cafeteria that had full meals as well as sandwiches and burgers. Mom and I each ordered a cheeseburger. It was one of those that tasted like you would cook at home. Very yummy. We savored each bite of cheese and were careful not to miss any since that slice added 50 cents on to the price of our burger.
We headed back out to the show and checked out booths of fabric, sewing machines, patterns and anything having to do with quilting. There were booths of sewing machine furniture. I drooled over the beautiful oak cabinets. We saw booths selling the perfect chair for use at your sewing machine. To be honest, I didn’t check those out. I walked on by the booth that was selling some type of ergonomically correct shoes. My feet were fine in my Danskos.
It was a fun day that flew by. Check out my Winding Threads blog for more about our day.
I want to let everyone who is interested in crafts, fabric and art, know about an exciting show at the 2009 International Quilt Festival in Chicago. I will be attending and trying to maintain some willpower when it comes to buying fabric. I hope the outdoor lighting will wake me up enough to get my behind to the bus at 6:45 am.
Show Dates:
April 17-19, 2009
Location:
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
5555 N. River Rd.
Rosemont, Illinois 60018
Hours:
April 16 (Preview Night), 5-9 p.m.
April 17 & 18: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
April 19: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Admission:
$10/Adults
$8/Seniors 65+ & Students
$25/Full show pass (includes Preview Night).
Preview Night ticket: $10 (no senior discount)
allows you in one additional day for free.
Children 10 and under free with paying adult.
For tour groups 45+ please contact Quilts, Inc. office.
Friday means it is time for my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday. Join us as we answer Val’s questions.
#1. Sarafina’s suggestion. How far would you be willing to travel to satisfy a food craving? I would drive to the east coast to taste some fresh lobster.
#2. Have you ever eaten rabbit? What did you think? Never tried it that I can remember. My husband and friends cook rabbit for a church dinner every year but I can never bring myself to taste it.
#3. Have you ever made your own bread? How? Only banana, zucchini and friendship bread (someone gives you the starter mix).
#4. Where do you usually spend Easter and what do you usually eat? We either cook it at our house where it is convenient to pass out the best weight loss supplements and have a spot for everyone to take a nap. Sometimes we go out to eat at a restaurant. That is what we did this year. It wouldn’t be Easter without ham.
You might say that it doesn’t take much to make me happy. You might be right! I am ecstatic that my husband fixed the tile around our bathtub. It was embarrassing to think that anyone might look at the ceramic around our tub and see what looked like yucky, goopy, gunky dirt. It was actually grout that needed finished off with a bit of caulk.
While shopping at a huge hardware store, I came across a product that might work better than caulking to make our tub look neat and clean. This stripping was self adhering so I thought it might be something I could do myself. Hubby beat me to it! I think he was afraid if I did it successfully, my next project would be to install an undermount sink. Ha!
This month we completed the ceramic work, who knows what might be next? Our mailman would appreciate it if we would put up a new mailbox. I wonder what would happen if I set out the post hole diggers. Would hubby think I was contemplating such a task?
I love to receive packages in the mail. See what I got…
Gloves, gloves, gloves. I thought the package might contain some skin care products that I have been waiting to arrive but it was my gloves for the tea party I am attending in May. I still have no idea what I am going to wear but with this array of colors, I should be okay. My hat is orange. Have you attended a tea party?
There is a tea party that has gained much attention in the news. Critics of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy are planning nationwide “tea parties” Wednesday — and not for the sake of polite conversation.
Coast-to-coast demonstrations against Obama’s big-spending economic stimulus package are promised for the day that is also the deadline for filing federal income tax returns.
The man credited with sparking the idea is CNBC television’s spectacularly loud-mouthed commentator Rick Santelli, who called on air from the Chicago Board of Trade for a “Chicago tea party.”
Online sellers report a roaring trade in tea party T-shirts, bumper stickers and, of course, tea mugs.
I have no idea what you are supposed to do to attend this tea party other than send tea bags to the whitehouse. I doubt that would do any good.
At the age of 15 I could think of nothing else but the day I would finally get my driver’s license. My mom, bless her heart, would take me out on driving excursions. I am sure I probably added a few gray hairs onto my mom’s head.
I remember the time we were in her big, brown Ford and went to the high school to practice parallel parking. I pulled up a little too close to the cement parking barrier and the car horn began beeping. We could not get it to stop! That darn horn blew all the way home and throughout the trailer park. We had one way streets in the park and our trailer was alllllll the way around the circle. A neighbor took pity on us and ran out, lifted the hood of our car and pulled on a wire. Shewy! Blessed quiet was finally upon us.
My dad was a brave soul and taught me to drive a stick shift in our baby blue Volkswagen bug. I got pretty good at giving it gas while waiting on the hill to get to our school. The hill was where the freight train would interrupt my mad dash to school. Have you ever sat on a hill in a 4 speed? Let out the clutch a little, give it a little gas. Don’t let it roll back and hit the guy waiting behind me. Yep. I had it down pat.
I finally reached the day when after turning 16, I could take the written and driving test. I think I missed one question. I passed the driving part and had my license in my hand. The sun was shining as my mom let me drive away from the license bureau. I was so excited and not paying attention. I nearly sideswiped a car as I pulled out of the parking space. Oh my.
I’d tell you about the time I did donuts in the VW but my kids read this blog.
