Traveling Quilter

Paducah is Ready for the 2012 AQS Quilt Show

Paducah's Convention Center, site of the annual AQS Quilt Show & Convention

On the way home from our spring trip Jo and I decided to stop by Paducah to see how preparations were going for the big 2012 Paducah Quilt Show & Quilters Convention. Last year tornadoes, severe storms, and floods almost cancelled the show. The main show site, the Convention Center, couldn’t be used because it was surrounded by water. Eleanor Burn’s Quilt for a Day tent show and fabric sale, always a big satellite event to the show, was hurt badly. A storm just before opening day tore up one of the tents and rain and flooding waters ruined tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise. Even though Mother Nature threw floods and tornadoes, show organizers did an excellent job of scrambling to find several alternate locations for show events and the show did go on.

This year based on our March 29th visit, all is in place to host a terrific show. Lack of snow in the upper midwest has left rivers lower than normal. Just in case reservoirs are also running lower than normal spring levels. So the chance of another flood changing the show are impossibly small. The slightly remodeled convention center is all set and since the removal of the debris from the demolished hotel adjacent to the convention center there is a good deal more parking space close to the center of Quilt Show activities. The inflatable Dome is already in place and all systems are go.

Go to our regular web pages to find out more the Paducah Show and links to the AQS website for the 2012 show.

Dining at Whaler's Catch outdoor deck

While we were in town we stopped at Whaler’s Catch for lunch. Whalers is a favorite during the Quilt Show because of its location, decent food and their spacious two story outdoor dining deck. It was a perfect spring day in the 70s so we dined outdoors on the deck. We had sandwich baskets and beverages for less than $20. Very large portion size with nice trimmings – leaf lettuce, onions, and tomato slices + fries. Free refills on the beverages and good wait service.

Also while we in town we couldn’t escape without a visit to Eleanor Burn’s Quilt in a Day shop. Jo found some fabric she needed to complete a project.

On the way home to Wisconsin we stopped at the Rend Lake Corps Gun Creek Campground near Benton, IL. About 90 miles north of Paducah this is a good stop over for our last day at the Paducah Quilt Show. In addition to very well designed and maintained RV sites, it offers an additional attraction to Ross and other golfing spouses who indulge their wives’ passion for the Quilt Show. This attraction is an excellent 27 hole golf course essentially adjacent to the camp ground. The course is quite scenic, well-maintained with paved cart paths, electric golf carts, and a nice variety of tee boxes. At the end of March, the fairways and greens were in very good spring condition. The three mens tees range from about 6000 yards for 18 holes from the senior tees to over 6800 yards from the blue tees. Rend Lake Golf Course website.

Rend Lake Golf Course, Benton, Illinois

Rend Lake Golf Course, Benton, Illinois

Ross and Jo

Tyler Quilt Show and interesting things to see and do during the Azalea Festival

Azalea Quilt Show, Tyler Texas

Jo and I traveled to Tyler Texas to attend the 31st annual Azalea Quilt Show sponsored by the Quilters’ Guild of East Texas. The event is held on the third or fourth weekend of March to coincide with Tyler’s Annual Azalea & Spring Flower Festival. The event is held at the Harvey Convention Center in the center of Tyler. This location was excellent. Although located in the center of Tyler it was easy to find, had plenty of free parking adjacent to the convention center, and the auditorium exhibit room was well-lighted and comfortable. For a regional show Jo felt they had a number of well-crafted quilts in the competition.

Stars and Tumblers - A little bit of Blue” submitted by Rebecca Yarbrough

Here’s one of many quilts we liked. This one is “Stars and Tumblers – A little bit of Blue” submitted by Rebecca Yarbrough. We’ll report more extensively, with more pictures from the show, when we complete our web page on the Tyler Quilt Show under our Quilt Show Section of the regular pages of QuiltingPathways.

One of the attractions of attending this show, driving all the way from Wisconsin, was also being able to tour the Azalea & Spring Flower Trail in Tyler. The Convention & Vistors Bureau and various civic groups and garden clubs have joined together to create a network of tour trails throughout a portion of Tyler. Most can be toured by automobile but some homeowners have opened up their yards for walking tours as well. A number of the homes on the tour are listed as historic homes; others while not historic are quite distinctive. It is evident that many homeowners in Tyler take great pride in creating extensive azalea and spring flowering gardens. During the two week tour festival, there are also scheduled tours of historic homes, an arts & crafts festival, the annual Rotary Chili Cook Off competition, and tours of the historic Roseland Plantation as well as a number of other events. We’ll show a few more pictures along the Azalea Flower Trail when we post our regular pages for the Tyler Quilt Show.

Along the Azalea Spring Flower Trail, Tyler Texas

Jo at one of the extensive gardens along Tyler's Azalea Spring Flower Trail

But that’s not all that brought us to Tyler for the Quilt Show. In nearby Rusk Texas the Texas State Railroad runs its annual spring Steam Train excursions through the piney woods between Rusk and Palestine. Having enjoyed similar old time railroad excursions along Duluth’s North Shore and along the Mississippi River, we thought it would be fun to sample the experience in Texas. We were not disappointed. The Texas State Railroad attends to all the details to make sure your ride is a step back in time to the grand old days of railroad travel. Steam Engine 300 is a 83 ton 1917 Baldwin 2-8-0 and its cars date back to the 1920s. As with the Azalea Trail, we’ll post more pictures from the ride in our regular pages at a later date.

Steam Engine 300 at the Rusk Railroad Station

Crossing the Neches River Engine 300 blows off excess steam

The final element of attraction (and a major one for Ross) for the Tyler Quilt Show was golfing. Although there are several courses in the area, we were only able to work in one outing on this trip to the Peachtree-Oakhurst golf course about 10 miles south of Tyler near the town of Bullard.

Golfing at Oakhurst Golf Course, Bullard, Texas

The Oakhurst Golf course is an attractive course with a choice of 5 tee boxes. Rolling terrain with groves of trees helping to divide the fairways from one another as well as ad visual interest to the overall layout. Water on ten holes added to the scenic attraction as well as the challenge. I found the course challenging, but fair and enjoyable. The fairways and greens were in good condition. I particularly liked the fact that the fairways use a mixture of grass other than Bermuda which you sometimes find at other mid-south golf courses. Bermuda is great for tolerating summer heat but it is worthless for a spring golfing experience in the mid-south where winter temperatures have killed the grass and it won’t green up until overnight temperatures are in the 70s. I’ll post more pictures from Oakhurst and other golfing details in our regular pages.

Coincidentally when packing up after golfing we struck up a conversation with another couple who just finished the course, Illeice and Al Baker. Turned out that Illeice is a member of the East Texas Quilter’s Guild and was on the committee planning the quilt show! At the quilt show here term begins as President-elect so a year from now she’ll be the incoming Guild President. So if I am down here next year when Jo attends the show I can go golfing with Al.

Well that’s it for our report on the Azalea Quilt Show. Summary. The Azalea Quilt Show is a well organized good quality regional show and there are lots of other good reasons to travel some distance to attend the show.

Ross and Jo

Quilt Show & Quilting Event Calendar

Hi All,

Just a note to let you know I’ve updated our Quilt Show Calendar for 2012. It is fairly complete through August. Some of the shows and events that traditionally are held the last four months of the year have yet to announce their details for 2012. So if you are a show organizer or a member of a guild who sponsors a show, get me your details as soon as they are available.

My first show of the year will be the Azalea Quilt Show, March 23 – 24th, in Tyler Texas. This is their 31st anniversary of the show. An added attraction to the trip will be taking a ride on the historic steam engine powered train that runs between Palestine and Rusk Texas, about 40 miles south of Tyler. With luck the azaleas and or the dogwoods will be in bloom. If you are headed to the Tyler Quilt Show and want to add this excursion to your itinerary, go here to the Texas State Railroad website for more information and reservations. Hope to have some nice pictures of the Quilt Show and the Steam Train Excursion to show you later.

While we are in the area Ross hopes to try out some of the golf courses in the area (Pine Dunes and PeachTree).

AQS Paducah Quilt Show

2011 Quilt Show exhibits in the Paducah Pavilion (Bubble Dome)

Everyone is looking forward to the 2012 Paducah Quilt Show as well as keeping their fingers crossed that the Ohio River doesn’t overflow its banks as it did during last year’s AQS show. So far all looks good on that score. This year the show returns to the expanded Convention and Expo Center. The Paducah Pavilion, the 40,000 square foot inflatable dome, will also be used this year. So more total exhibit and show space and more activities within easy walking distance of one another. The show runs from April 25 to April 28th but some related activities begin a week earlier. Go to our regular website pages on Visiting Paducah to learn more about some of these other attractions like the Dogwood Trail, Lowertown Arts District, Eleanor Burns’ Fabric Sale and Tent Show, and other Paducah visitor attractions worth spending a few more days in the area.

In addition to the classes, vendor booths and contest quilts on exhibit there are a number special events associated with the show (see the event listing here). One I’ll probably not miss is the second annual Fabulous Fabric Flurry held in the lobby of the National Quilt Museum.

I’ll be back here in a few weeks with more reports on quilt shows.

Jo

quiltingpathways@gmail.com

YDS – A quilting fabric shop in Wisconsin not to miss

My friend Nancy and proprietor Mary at YDS Fabric & Quilt Shop

Sue, Nancy, and Jo after shopping at YDS Quilt Shop stop off for a late lunch at Fin-N-Feather Restaurant

Fin-N-Feather Restaurant on the Wolf River, Winneconne, WI

On a nice sunny Saturday we (my quilting friends Sue, Nancy, and me) decided it was a perfect day for a trip to YDS (pronounced yards), one of our favorite fabric shops located near Omro, WI.

If you reside in Wisconsin (or Northern Illinois) and have never been to YDS, it is worth a trip. Mary, the shop owner, has been running this business since she retired many years ago. We think her fabric prices are the best around. And as you can see from the picture she has quite an extensive fabric collection. Even though she has many, many bolts she knows what she has so if you are looking for something special she can tell you if she has it. So when you go plan to spend some time getting acquainted with that is there. Her shop is open Monday through Saturday,  10 – 3. It is located at 5530 State Highway 116, between Omro and Winneconne, Wisconsin. I recommend you call ahead just to make sure she is there (920-582-7196).

To cap off our trip the three of us had a late lunch at the Fin N Feather in Winneconne, a great restaurant with a very nice buffet for a reasonable price. (See picture). The Fin N Feather is on the Wolf River and we three thought it would be the perfect place for a late spring trip to YDS where on a nice afternoon we could sit on their deck enjoying a late lunch and the attractive view of the river.

How to Organize a Quilting Retreat

Holly wrote me recently with a question. She said: “Hello!  My name is Holly [ ] and my parents and I own two beautiful Victorian Bed & Breakfasts in Soldiers Grove, WI.  We have talked a long time about doing things like quilting retreats because in addition to the beautiful houses, one of them has a reception hall attached.  This would be a great area to set up work spaces for quilting, but you can still retreat to the houses whenever you want. . . . Could you possible connect me with people who organize these types of events?  I would love to talk to someone about it.”

My Answer:
I would recommend that you first start by having a discussion with quilt shop’s in your area – find out the owner’s name and see if she/he is willing to meet with you.  Here are a some quilt shops that are 30-75 miles from Soldiers Grove.

Most towns and cities have what are known as Quilt Guilds – many of the quilt retreats that you hear about  are organized by individuals in The Guilds. So you will need to do some research on finding The Quilt Guilds in your area.

A third group of retreat goers are quilting friends who plan their own retreat – that group could be reached by leaving literature on your B&B’s at quilt shows in the area and quilt shops.

So my recommendation would be for you to start with the local quilt shop owner and also talk with your local quilt guild – attend a meeting.

Hope this has been helpful.

Joanne

Quilting Events and Quilt Shows

I’ve been posting 2012 shows and events in our Quilt Show Calendar. Most are complete through May, 2012 and I’m working on June through the end of the year.

Quilt show and event coordinators. Get your information to me at quiltingpathways.com@gmail.com at your earliest opportunity.

Jo

Heather who works in sales at a hotel in Marietta, Ohio recently wrote me for tips on organizing a quilt show in her area. Since my reply might be helpful to others, I am reproducing it here.

Hi Heather;

I would recommend that you first start by having a discussion with the local quilt shop – find out the owner’s name and see if she is willing to meet with you.

Most towns and cities have what are know as Quilt Guilds – many of the shows listed in the quilt show calendar on my website are organized and put on by The Guilds. Some quilt shops also put on Quilt Shows or are strong backer’s and volunteers at the show. Most shows have quilts displayed (with a judging contest) – prizes for different category’s. They also have vendors – quilt shops and other quilting related suppliers.

Some cities have Quilt Shows that take place at the same time as a festival. Our small town here in Wisconsin has a Fall Festival the first weekend in October. A local quilt guild has a quilt show at the same time.

So my recommendation would be for you to start with the local quilt shop owner and also talk with your local quilt guild – attend a meeting.

I found a quilt guild listed for Marietta when I goggled quilt guilds in Ohio – don’t know if it is up to date. Appears the one in Marietta has been around since 1996. http://www.quiltguilds.com/ohio.htm

Hope this has been helpful. Good luck.

Joanne

Dan, Donna, Jo and Ross with Hotel Julian's Christmas Tree

Jo and I continued our tradition in spending Thanksgiving at a historic hotel along the Great River Road with her sister Donna and husband Dan. This year we traveled to Dubuque, Iowa to spend the holiday at the Hotel Julian Dubuque. Previously we’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving at the Desoto Hotel in Galena and the St. James Hotel in Red Wing. The hotel lobby was gaily decorated for Christmas and the second floor atrium was set up with 10 uniquely decorated trees that are part of Dubuque’s annual Festival of Trees celebration. We had a great dinner at the hotel’s signature restaurant Caroline’s and later enjoyed the Christmas Lights exhibition in Louis Murphy Park. (See our Dubuque Holiday Web Page for more pictures and information on these events)

A little tyke enjoying the Gulf Aquarium tank at the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium

The next day, Friday, we visited the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Always an interesting tour. It is especially fun for kids with lots of interactive exhibits and a water play area. Educational too. In August we took our niece Kylah to the River Museum & Aquarium and she loved it. The museum’s ticket is good for two days of admission, which is useful because several exhibits have considerable educational information packed in them. We’ve been at the museum several times yet there are several multi-media productions and exhibits that I haven’t had time to explore in any depth.

Crust Italian Kitchen, Dubuque, Iowa

During this visit we discovered a new restaurant near the hotel: Crust Italian Kitchen. There used to be a brewpub-restaurant at this location but it ceased operations and the space was vacant for a while. The interior was much the same as the brewpub. Nice bar area with a variety of beers on tap and a few TVs for sports fans. We had their soup and salad special. Fresh greens, beets, carrots & goat cheese – an ample serving for a soup and salad special. Soup was equally impressive. And price was decent. Great service. If you are in Dubuque I highly recommend Crust Italian Restaurant.

–Ross

Jo with her quilt at Madison's Wisconsin Quilt Expo

Attending Madison’s Quilt Expo Show

What a great honor it was having my quilt – “Plates from the Attic” – in the 2011 Wisconsin Quilt Expo that was held in Madison, Wisconsin September 8 – 10th. No awards for my quilt – but a great big smile from me at the show.

On Friday I attended the quilt show with my quilting friends Sue and Marie. On Saturday several members of my family attended the show with me: my sisters Margie, Eileen, and Donna plus my niece Kristi.

My friends Sue and Marie at the registration desk planning what to do first

I guess looking at quilts was first on the list!

Shopping for good deals on fabrics

I came across this booth – silverthimbleonline.com – and found the shop owners were retiring and having a sale – all fabrics $7.00 a yard. They are closing the shop so they can focus more of their time on quilting books they write and quilting patterns they design. The booth was busy, busy. I found some great batiks. When I stopped back later on Saturday every rack was almost empty! What initially attracted me to this booth was I noticed they were from Springfield, New Hampshire and as we are planning a trip next summer to the northeast I am always on the lookout for quilt shops to visit on our travels. But since they are closing, no such luck on this one.

Author Jennifer Chiaverine

Later I saw Jennifer Chiaverine signing some of her books. She is a New York Times best-selling author whose stories – The Elm Creek Novels – always have some quilting theme woven into them.

Nancy Zieman signing books and shirts

On Saturday I found Nancy Zieman, co-host of Quilt Expo and executive producer and star of the popular PBS show “Sewing with Nancy,” also signing some books and shirts. Great Show Nancy.

I took pictures of several of the winning quilts and are showing them in my regular web pages on the Madison Quilt Expo so go there to see them. Below are some of the floral quilts and landscape quilts I particularly liked. Some day I hope to do one of these.

Did you attend the show? If so let me hear how you liked it – see comments, start discussion, or reply below.

Jo – joquilt@gmail.com

Landscape quilt at Madison's Quilt Expo - 2011

Landscape Quilt at Quilt Expo

Getting Ready for Madison’s Quilt Expo

Tomorrow I am heading to Madison’s big annual quilt show – Quilt Expo (see past Quilt Expo’s here) with my friend Sue. Then the next day I’ll be attending with my sisters. I’ll have a report and pictures from this year’s Expo ready to post here next week some time.

Plates from the Attic - using Dresden Plate blocks from the 1930s

This year’s event is special for me because I submitted my first quilt for a show and it got accepted. Quite an honor – even if I don’t win any awards. It will be so great to see my quilt displayed at the show. Very excited about the whole deal.

What is special about this quilt – named “Plates from the Attic” is my sister found the blocks among my Mom’s collections in her house after she passed away. They were made on 1934-36 sugar sacks and we don’t know who made them. We suspect Mom may have gotten them from Grandma who perhaps was a member of a quilting guild. Anyhow they ended up with me after 70 plus years. It took me a few years of thinking about the design I would use and looking at and buying antique fabrics at the Paducah AQS Show to come up with some I thought I could use for the quilt. I had the top completed  two years ago and decided to have it hand quilted because it is an antique or heirloom quilt. Ever since it was done Ross has been after me to enter it into a show. Finally I gave in – and to my surprise – it was accepted. The picture is of Ross and me outside holding the quilt to get the picture to submit to the Expo judges. He wanted it outside so we wouldn’t have to use a flash – which may have changed the colors.

Be reporting back soon. Maybe see you at the show?

Jo.

joquilt@gmail.com