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.