Grand Rapids, Then Family Reunion

It has been a very busy two weeks. We held our first show in Grand Rapids at the DeVos Place Convention Center. Wow... what a wonderful facility. We have 21,500 people attend this first show. There were 900 quilts on display including exhibits from Japan and Egypt. Two of the Tentmakers of Cairo came to the show to demonstrate their applique art - it was amazing to watch there hands. They were like machines they moved so fast. Tarek even showed some of the quilters how he could stitch blindfolded - yes, he appliqued with a blindfold over his eyes. AQS was the first quilt show to give away a car. One lucky quilter won this snazzy little red Ford Focus, complete with quilted decals on the sides and hood.

Then we had a family reunion here in Paducah over Labor Day. It was fun to have Mom Kirkland, my brother Gerry and his wife Carol, sister Karen, and youngest sister Marcia and her husband Don all here for the weekend. We showed them a little of Paducah. Started with a trip to Hancocks where we bought some fabric - of course. Then had lunch at Flamingo Row, followed by a visit to the National Quilt Museum. After a little rest, we went to Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers for dinner. x Then on Sunday, Wayne cooked a turkey on the grill and we have some home-made potato salad, baked beans,and scalloped corn. Later in the afternoon, we topped that off with some pie from Patti's - coconut cream with the mile-high meringue, and peach with a pecan crumb topping and vanilla ice cream. I gave a quilt show with quilts in my collection - some I made and others I've bought at auctions and online. And, they didn't even get to see all of them. Also showed them some of my Zentangle Art - the subject of my next book, Quilted Tangles.

It sure was fun to catch up on many of the things we all are doing. Before everyone I left, I pulled out my camera to snap a group photo... and don't you know it, I can never remember how to do that self-timed shot and had to look it up in my manual. They laugh because I do that every time. And so, here we are... on Labor Day 2012.