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!

Taping The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson & Ricky Tims

Here are some photos of my trip to Colorado for the taping of The Quilt Show with Alex and Ricky. My program will be aired sometime in early 2010.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Ricky Tims - Live on Stage - Friday night

If you missed the Ricky Tims concert on Friday night at the Four Rivers Center, you missed a real treat. In this picture you see the Harley-Davidson motorcycle (courtesy of Four Rivers Harley-Davidson, Paducah) that he came riding in on...complete with flashing lights, smoke, the roar of the engine. his cap turned backwards, and black sunglasses.

And that wasn't even the best part of the evening. Ricky performed some of his music and favorites from his albums, and then he was joined by his long-time friend, Kat Bowser, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She has a cabaret style of singing, and has a great voice.

Ricky never fails to surprise us with his program. You may repeat a song or two, but there is always a new twist to the program.