This is an old post, but better late than never....

Today we leave for a big show, the Machine Quilters Showcase at Overland Park in Kansas City. We will take two days to drive there, so that we won’t be so tired when we set up the booth on Tuesday. There will be quite a few Aussie quilters there, and I’m looking forward to meeting up with them and hearing familiar accents. I’m a bit homesick after three weeks away.

We went garage-saling yesterday, and saw two quilt tops. This Dresden Plate in silks and wools would have been nice once, but it was just a bit too damaged for me to buy. But it was fun to look at anyway.

The lilacs are out, and looking absolutely glorious. There are several different colours too, and together with the flowering crabapples they make a wonderful display against the blue skies. It was a beautiful spring day today, we sat out on the back lawn knitting and sewing and watching the two dogs gambol about on the grass. It was very pleasant.

I’m sorry to have missed everyone at Paducah, it was just bad timing. I had a chance to see the Red and Green Applique Quilts display at the AQS Museum in Anita Shackleford’s company, and I wasn’t going to turn that down. She is a lovely, gracious person, and it was so special to hear the history of her quilts and how she acquired them. The quilts were wonderful, made me want to come home and start hand-quilting straight away.

This photo is some very tired quilters at Paducah on the last day. The walls are lined with people sitting and resting their tired feet while they wait for friends. But it's a good tired!


And this is a license plate from a car at Paducah; wonder if it was a gift from a DH.....


I’ve been playing with a top of the range Viking machine, which is very nice to use, and it’s great to be able to quilt something, even if it is only samples for the booth. I’m suffering machine withdrawal, and quilting withdrawal, and internet withdrawal. I need to spend a day just catching up.

I’ve been to a couple of quilt shops, and bought more fabric. I will have a lot of stash to bust when I get home, but I don’t really feel guilty. There are so many ranges of fabric that we just don’t see in Australia, so I have to buy them when I see them. I will feel guilty when I have to lug it all home, but I’ll deal with that when the time comes! Until then, I’m having fun.

I have been busy since I landed here in Chicago, and today is the first time in two weeks that I am able to sit down and draw breath! I flew to New Hampshire the day after I arrived, did the MQX show, then straight on to Paducah. Talk about overload......

We flew out of La Guardia to Manchester in a prop plane, and the photos I took of the city lights are neat; the plane vibrated so much that all the lights blurred into gold and bronze trails. Perfect idea for embroidery.....

I must have been jet-lagged, because I don't remember anything much about the show, except that I talked to loads of people and saw some really nice quilts. It would have been nice to see a bit of the countryside, but all I've seen so far is hotels, airports and highways.

I love Paducah, I can understand why some people go back every year. There is so much energy and enthusiasm everywhere, and the quilts get ever more incredible. I can't post any photos of them, but they were fantastic.

Caryl Bryer Fallert has a new studio and shop in Lowertown, which is well worth a visit. I bought her new book on transferring photos to fabric. I thought I could experiment in my spare time....

We hit the Finkel building early on and bought up big on the $5 books. There are enough ideas in this lot to keep me busy for years.

Let's just say that I visited Hancocks and did my duty as a fabriholic; I refused to get a shopping cart this time, figuring that I would buy less, but I managed to balance an awful lot of fabric in my arms and stagger to the checkout. I haven't looked at it since, so it will be fun to sit down later on and go through it piece by piece.

I bought acid dyes so I can dye some wool, and acrylic templates for curved seam blocks, plus a special foot to make it easier. I can't wait to get home and start sewing. In the meantime I have templates for hand piecing, and I will cut out a little project before we leave on the next trip to Overland Park, Kansas City.

Blogger is being ridiculous and refusing to load photos, so I will add them later on, hopefully tomorrow. I am going away now to admire my fabric!