After a 2 year wait due to you-know-what, 3 quilty friends and I finally met up in Paducah for AQS Quilt Week.
Paducah is an interesting town to walk around. There are lots of old houses as well as some interesting new ones. These two were next door to each other!
Then there is the gigantic Hancock’s of Paducah, a must-visit for fabric collectors. I saw a woman there wearing a shirt that declared, “Quilting and Fabric Collecting are Two Different Hobbies”. Apparently I agree 😀
There used to be a number of other fabric shops, including Eleanor Burns’ Quilt In A Day, but they have closed due to COVID. We did find an interesting shop, though.
Photo courtesy of Trip Advisor
Tuscan Rose is a wonderful shop selling clothing, apparently collected from thrift shops and then overdyed. Of course I bought a shirt, and so did one of my friends. Tuscan Rose also had such beautiful hand dyed yarn that I was tempted to resume knitting. (As a favor to the beautiful yarn, I left it to be bought by someone who actually knits well!)
The quilt show itself was something of a disappointment. There were hundreds of beautiful quilts, but before long it was overwhelming. The workmanship was exceptional and I think I would have enjoyed seeing a few of them, but after a couple of dozen my head was spinning.
Modern quilts were rare. Here are a couple of my favorites.
Kandinsky’s Sewing Circle by Holly Hull
Morning Fog by Sarah Lykins Entsminger
I also liked this one, but I can only assume that nobody at AQS understood what “one in every four” referred to, based on the AQS history of avoiding even a hint of controversy.
One in Every Four by Carolina Oneto
I didn’t hear that any of you were going to Paducah. What is your experience with AQS shows?
Zippy Quilts 
One day I will make the pilgrimage to Paducah. Glad you got to see those beautiful quilts in person!
It might have been wise to wait another year given the crowding, but thankfully none of us seems to have gotten COVID. We did wear masks everywhere we could.
Thank you for sharing this experience. My friends and I have talked about Paducah as a “maybe in the future” visit. I just returned from a fantastic quilt retreat in Kerrville, Tx.. It was great fun working, sharing, and laughing with eight other people. I have not been with such a groups since you know what hit.
Yes, it’s great to be able to quilt with friends again!
I did not know of the phrase “one in every four”, so I looked it up, and found: “1 in every 4 women is a victim of domestic violence”, but also “1 in every 4 Americans dies of heart disease”, and “1 in every 4 Americans dies of cancer,” with a reference to a chapter in Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring. I wonder which, if any of these, the quilt artist had in mind.
I suspect domestic violence, though the 1-in-4 that was top of mind when I first saw this was 1 in 4 women has had an abortion by age 45.
You think the downtown has cute buildings? Well, have you ever been to their reststop? It’s in an old historical building (residence) atop a slight hillside overlooking the highways & area – complete with furnished rooms to tour (if you have time to linger) AND gardens! Really cool – each time we pass through Paducah on our way ‘somewhere else’ I always think, I should ‘come back’ to take in the Museum…
I will ‘someday”- I’m thrilled your ‘someday’ came, Zippy.
🙂
I also, got the impression from various of their own marketing materials, that the museum is more ‘traditional’ in curation…all around conservative in all aspects. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, just stating facts as I’ve come to know them.
As for 1 in 4: I’m impressed it made the grade, but not surprised given the piece and its (he)artistic merit.
I am envious, that is on my someday list! I really like the “Morning Fog” one and I hope you share more photos and experiences from Paducah so I can vicariously attend 🙂
The best way to get a sense of the majority of the quilts at Paducah is to buy the AQS magazine, American Quilter, which should have excellent pictures of the winners in the next issue. With few exceptions, the quilts were very much alike. The ones I photographed were the exceptions.
Two friends and I made the 2017 Fall AQS show in Paducah. Although slightly overwhelming, it was wonderful. I would like to go again and allow more time to explore the town.
Thank you Mary for singling out these stunning quilts and posting photographs of them. I am sure the South African quilt shows are much smaller in comparison, but even then I find one needs a few days and revisitings to take it all in.
Quilt shows are a great place for inspiration no matter where the show is 🙂
Yes! And thank heavens the shows are back
I’m glad you were able to go to the AQS show and spend time in Paducah. It’s my second favorite quilt show. In fact, I was in the area when you were there. Hubs and I were passing through! We usually stay in Paducah for a night, when we’re on our way to visit family in Kansas City. This time though, with the cost of a hotel room at $300+, we opted to keep going to Cape Girardeau. I sure would have liked to stop at Hancock’s. Every time we’ve been through there in the past three years, the store has been closed, either due to COVID or because we arrived after 5 pm. So close, but yet so far!
In truth, quilt week is NOT the time to go to Hancocks!