Backyard Birds at the Brownings

Tonight after work, Wayne was helping the neighbor, so I grabbed my camera and sat in my porch swing to watch the birds. I saw ALL of these birds tonight as they visited our feeders in the back yard. Hope you enjoy a bit of spring in Paducah and seeing all of the fine feathered friends...and one squirrel...that happened along this evening.

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Vendors Relax on Boat at Kentucky Lake...and more

I thought you all would get a kick out of this tape from WPSD TV Local 6 about the vendors who stayed on an 80 foot houseboat at Kentucky Lake, and about the fancy portalets that we had behind the Pavilion this year.

Click here to view the tape.

Bonnie B

The 26th Paducah Show is Now History

Wow, what a busy week. We moved the quilts into the Convention Center on Friday, April 17, and it has been a whirlwind ever since. Judging took place on Saturday and Sunday; the quilts were hung on Monday and Tuesday...and the vendors set up then too; and the winners in the quilt contest were announced on Tuesday evening. The show opened on Wednesday and closed at 5 p.m. on Saturday. It was a busy week of quilts, quilters, classes, special events, and best of all - seeing quilters from all 50 states (plus Wash. D.C.), and 14 other countries around the world.

Wednesday was a very early morning - I was up at 3:45 a.m. so I could pick up Sue McCarty, the Janome Best of Show winner, and we did live broadcasts from the Expo Center from 5 to 7 a.m. Quilt Judge Libby Lehman joined us for the broadcast too. From then on, it was nonstop. We had three great evening performances on the stage at the Carson Four Rivers Center - Kaffe Fassett, Eleanor Burns, and Ricky Tims.

Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy sign a copy of their new book, Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts, for me.

The National Quilt Museum had their annual quilt auction on Thursday. I was the lucky bidder for two quilts and a really neat ironing/cutting board cabinet from Tracey's Tables. Ah, now I will HAVE to clean up my sewng room.

So today is Sunday. Wayne was up early to go to the Pavilion to help the last few vendors load out. He, Kelly, and John will be there for a little while this morning doing that. And me, well I went back to sleep and woke up at 10 a.m. What a luxury after all my early mornings this past week.

So what's next? Registration is underway for the Knoxville show that will be July 14 - 17, and we'll be finishing up the registration materials for the Des Moines show, October 6 - 9. And we are working on all four shows for 2011. I hope to see you at one of our shows soon. For all of the latest information, you can go to the AQS Web site, http://www.americanquilter.com/ or check out the blog.

Have you entered one of your quilts in an AQS Quilt Show? You can't win if you don't enter...just ask Sue McCarty, our Janome Best of Show winner this year in Paducah. This is the first time she ever entered one of the AQS quilt shows!

The Dogwoods are Blooming!

Today was my day to go take some new photos of dogwoods for us to use in our quilt show materials. How do you like this one?

I love the red dogwoods.

And look how pristine this white dogwood is? When they first open full out, they are just beautiful too.

Other flowers are blooming too - here we have a variety of tulips, phlox, and a white dogwood tree in the background. Don't you just love SPRING when the blossoms add color everywhere?

Look at this pretty iris I found blooming - look at those yummy purples!

We drove on the Dogwood Trail, and the dogwoods look like lace as they line the streets. If you are in Paducah, don't miss driving the Dogwood Trail, in daylight or at night when the homeowners light their dogwoods and flowers. It's pretty either way.

The AQS Quilt Show is April 21 - 24, and I hope to see many of you here.

There will be plenty of beautiful quilts to see in the quilt show.

Bonnie B

Meet my Cousin Margie

While we were in Lancaster, Wayne and I had dinner at Annie Bailey's with my cousin, Margie McFayden and her husband Jeff, and her mother Shirley Kirkland (our dads were brothers). It has been years since we have seen each other...but you wouldn't know it by the way we talked and talked. Margie and Jeff live in New Jersey, and Margie plans to be back next year to the Lancaster show to take some classes. She has a brand new Janome sewing machine and is looking forward to learning all about how to use it and to make quilts.

As children, I was always the tall one and Margie was the short one...nothing has changed there. GRIN

It was really fun to have a chance to get together and catch up. It's a good thing that Jeff and Wayne are the quiet type - they could hardly get in a word. We will plan to do this again soon.

American Eagles!!

This week we have been watching the Luther College Eaglecam...and this morning we saw the first eaglet - there are two more eggs to hatch. It's amazing to watch these magnificent birds in action.
Enjoy the show...

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