Wanna go to Paducah with me?? First day...

Come on, let's hit the road...

We started about 8am Wednesday am. No traffic to speak of and soon we were tooling down the highway...



First stop was the Rend Lake Artisan Center.


This is a wonderful gallery of items made my Illinois artists. Most are for sale. I bought a book for DH.. Sister-in-law bought a button necklace.

Ok, let's get to PADUCAH ALREADY!

We stopped for lunch, oh gosh, can't remember where but it was good... Oh, Applebee's for spinach shrimp salad and half a california club sandwich. Really good!

YEA Paducah!!!


Then we hit Convention Center. We found a great place to park (free!) and only had to walk a couple of blocks to the entrance. We paid our fare and in we went.

Here are some of the zillions of quilts on display...


this is a closeup of the above quilt. It's a black whole cloth quilt entirely quilted in colored thread. Phenomenal machine quilting. It won one of the machine quilt awards.





Here is my haul for the day...



Apparently I buy in two's.... two charm packs, two yards of fabric and two books. hm....

So let's have dinner and find the hotel. We had reservations in the neighboring town of Metropolis..
What is Metropolis famous for?


No....that is Big John.. He lives here..in the grocery store....



But, further on down the road is

CLARK KENT!! oooohhh....he's cute!!



and that phone booth makes him totally HOT!!


TaDa SUPERMAN!!!!


Now where is that darn hotel?


Dang we missed it again... We had to go around a couple of times before actually hitting the entrance.

Ah....nice bed.....hot shower..... YAWN!!!

See ya zzzzzzzzzzzzzz tomorrow zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .... for part 2....

While the Quilter is away.........

Hi Everyone - I hope you are all behaving yourselves while "The Quilter" is away enjoying herself in Paducah!

My oldest Daughter (and niece of "The Quilter") lives about 3 hours away with her husband and she will be at my home this week-end and is bringing 3 of her girlfriends for a "Girls Night Out". I really LOVE her girlfriends/sorority sisters! They are going to the Taylor Swift concert and are as happy as a bunch of 13 year olds - but they are older and 2 are married ;). Anyway..........she asked if I would cook dinner for them before the concert and I said "YES!" - I really do like to cook and it would be fun! After talking with her she decided on Appetizers so they could "graze" while "primping" for the night out. So here is the Menu:

Shrimp Cocktail

Southwest Wraps - she has a recipe in her head for this one.

Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip - we like this recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Copycat-of-TGI-Fridays-Hot-Artichoke-and-Spinach-Dip-52212
and
Stuffed Mushrooms - this is her favorite recipe:
1pkg of mushrooms (larger)8 oz cream cheese
4 slices bacon
Shredded cheese (can be any kind of cheese, cheddar, feta, Parmesan)
Butter
Preheat oven to 350
Peel and de-stem mushrooms, dice stems into small pieces, cut bacon into small pieces and fry crispy.
Season with Parmesan, minced garlic, basil, parsley, accent, pepper, paprika
You really can't mess it up, just don't add too much more salt.
Add diced stems to seasoned bacon towards the end (last two minutes of frying bacon)
Lightly spray 9x13 pan
Place mushrooms in pan with a few small pats of butter throughout,
Mix bacon mixture with cream cheese, blending with spoon
Fill each mushroom with mixture and cover with shredded cheese
Bake for about 30 minutes (when mushrooms are darker in color and cheese is melted)

Of course there will be some drinkys to go with this - I'm the designated driver and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm going out to dinner with "The Rock Star" tonight ! !
I hope we can behave ourselves - LOL! !

Carolyn
Guest Blogger
AKA: Sister of "The Quilter"

Paducah Ky....

HERE I COME!!

I leave tomorrow morning for the AQS Quilt Show. It's the 25th Anniversary and the convention center has been revamped. I am told the vendors will be everywhere and there should be less hiking this year...

I can't wait. I have my list, money and camera packed. Hm....guess I best bring some clean undies? Maybe another shirt? We will be driving so I will have plenty of room to bring back lots of goodies...

I will be back Friday to show all the photos....

Meanwhile, my sister will be guest blogging for me. She will also be staying at my house keeping the Rock Star company. DH was supposed to be in the office, but got called out of town at the last minute...

So be nice and leave her lots of comments....

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

Quilt Festival - Spring 2009

Welcome to my part of the online Quilt Festival-Spring 2009. Amy was the gal behind this brilliant idea. Our own online quilt show with prizes... After reading this you can click on her name and head over to her blog. There is a Mr Linky with many many many quilters showing their favorite quilt...

My favorite quilt hangs on my living room wall. I joined Pat Sloan's yahoo group and in 2005 read about the group doing a row by row quilt swap. I was one of the last one to know about this particular swap and by the time I asked to join it was too late. UNTIL - a few days later when I got an email from the coordinator that someone had dropped out of one of the groups and could I get my row together in a week...YIKES!! YES!! I decided that houses would be my theme and quickly pulled fabric and started getting some machine applique done. WHEW! I made it and mailed my row, some extra fabric and a journal to the next person on the list. In just a few days I received an envelope in the mail and was ready to start on a row for someone else. This was so much fun. We posted photos as we went and could see our quilts getting prettier and prettier. Finally after 6 months, I got all of my rows back.... I quickly put the top together and then it sat until after we moved here in 2006. Oh, well that was only a year. For some reason I thought it was much longer, LOL

I got borders on it and sent it off to Pat (my long arm quilter) and here it is....






The rows were made by the following members

Top row - Jennifer
Second row - Margi
Third row - Cindy
Forth row - ME!
Fifth row -Joanna
Sixth and last row - Eileen

Thanks again ladies...I love it...

Thanks Amy, for this wonderful opportunity to meet new quilters and see their quilts.

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

Sneak Peak revealed..

Friday morning found DH and I off on a quick trip to look at some land. We are in the midst of finding somewhere to retire and he wants some elbow room and I want to be closer to the grandkids. I think we might have found the perfect place. We will wait and see.

After coming home and getting some housekeeping duties out of the way, I ran upstairs and started to finish the sneak peak project. I finished it....

This is the inside..complete with zipper and pocket....



The outside with pocket and covered button...



And the finished diaper bag with matching quilt ...



I made these for my niece who is due in June with a boy... Fingers crossed, I hope she likes them.

I am off to Paducah next week for a couple of days and we will have a guest blogger, so be on the look out...

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

opportunities...

Today in my inbox I was told I can

Move my career in the right direction

pursue a career in the Natural Healing Arts

Book my flight today

reduce my troubles

Get the funds that I needed yesterday today

Get my license in Massage Therapy (DH just might go for this one!)

and

revive my senses.

I guess I will be busy the next few days....



Working on the sneak peak project. No one has guessed it yet...

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

taken a break for a sneak peak....

I am in the midst of writing the May newsletter for my quilt guild. Has to be DONE and printed today...for Monday's meeting.
BUT....I thought you all might like to see a sneak peak of what I am making...

Any guesses??



Gotta run!!

Happy Sewing,
Nancy