Traveling Sewing Machine

One of the funnier incidents at Paducah actually started the Saturday before I left home.  It's Garage Sale Season so I know Spring is actually here.  One garage sale even advertised "Quilting Books."  Who could resist?  And to find it at the home of a friend was even better.

After catching up with Sandy & Betty, I looked through the quilting books.  There were several I was interested in and at $2 apiece, who could resist?  As I was looking, the owner of the books started talking to me.  It turns out she also was trying to get rid of a White Sewing Machine in a cabinet, given to her by her daughter.  She said it was mine for only 50 cents!  Sold!

Knowing that I was going to Paducah and that Cindy deals in vintage sewing machines, it was perfect timing.  So I loaded the machine into my car and took it home.  I did test it and it did work.  If I had even the slightest room for it, I might have kept it.  But I loaded it back in the car and off we went to Paducah.

When I showed Cindy the machine, I told her I wanted to double my money and I'd be happy.  She guessed that I had bought it for $1.  So we set it up in the middle of her booth.

Cindy, me and Martha.  Cindy set her Singer featherweight on the arm of the cabinet.  The White sewing machine is the black machine in the case.  It had all of the attachments and was in good condition.

Then on Tuesday, I heard some laughing and Cindy tapped me on the shoulder.  Who should be there but Martha, the owner of the machine.  She knows Cindy and recognized the machine.  What a good time we had laughing about the travels of the machine.

Cheers!
Margaret

Paducah at the River's Edge

The 27th Annual AQS Quilt Show & Contest at Paducah, KY, was held this week.  Cindy Claycamp, owner of Quilting Memories, invited me to join her and other friends during this celebration of quilts.  My schedule was such that I could only go for a few days but some is better than none.

I drove down Sunday after playing handbells at our Easter service.  The weather was iffy in Columbus but it was downright nasty as I drove across the Wendell Ford Parkway in Kentucky.  At one point, there was even light hail.  No car damage, thank goodness, but it was nasty driving.  I arrived in Paducah about 6 p.m., just as Cindy and her friend Carol were unloading the last of Cindy's tubs of quilts.  It's all in the timing!!


Cindy taking a stretch break to loosen up the muscles after carting in all sorts of tubs and equipment.

Cindy rents a building in downtown Paducah for the week of the show and Indiana vendors invade the building.  There were 7 vendors in one building and 4 in another.  A few of them had come down Saturday afternoon (Pohlar Fabrics, The Quilt Shoppe and In Stitches) and had their booths completely in order by the time Cindy was done unloading her van.  Cindy, Carol and I moved tables, set up framing on which to hang quilts, and unloaded tubs.  We worked hard and got Cindy's booth pretty well set up by early evening.
 In the meantime, another Indiana vendor showed up.  Nancy Mason, owner of Rivers Edge Fabric Company, arrived as we were close to finishing.  With true Hoosier Hospitality in the Bluegrass state, Kenny Pohlar helped Nancy unload her trailer and set up some framing for her booth.  As Cindy and Carol were exhausted (remember, they unloaded the tubs from Cindy's van), they headed for the condo to rest and recuperate.  I helped Nancy unload tubs, move tables, set up pegboards and we at least got the structure of her booth in place with about half of the merchandise out before we joined the others at the condo.


Cindy's display of red and white antique quilts was stunning and generated quite a bit of interest.  My favorite is smack dab in the middle of this display - solid red circles with rays coming out of them.  The workmanship on this quilt (actually on all of the quilts) was exquisite.

Monday came and we were up and at it early to put the finishing touches on the booths.  We finished setting up Nancy's booth and Cindy put the finishing touches on her booth.  Just Jennifer (Jennie Sharpe) showed up Monday morning to set up her booth.  An honorary Hoosier, she has gorgeous jackets based on sweatshirts.

But the real excitement was happening outside.  It had been raining almost non-stop for the past week and the rivers were starting to rise.  The downtown area is only 2 blocks from the Four Rivers Pavillion.  With four rivers converging in Paducah, they had built a flood wall that was at least 20 feet high several years ago.  Normally, there are gaps in the wall so visitors can stroll along the banks of the Ohio River.  But the city engineers were installing the flood gates - just a half block from our location!  It was an interesting process to watch and somewhat nerve racking to be unloading quilts and materials while the waters rise.  Nancy's shop name (Rivers Edge) took on new meaning! 

This opening in the flood wall is just a half block from our storefront.  You can see the steel beams they've installed to hold the corrugated sheets that complete the flood wall.

The hearty Indiana vendors opened their mini-mall at noon on Monday as scheduled.  Quilters did float in and out of the store between downpours.  Although slightly damp, they were in good spirits and happy to be in Paducah.  Nancy let me help her in her booth and I had a blast.  She did demos of the Strip Tubing ruler and I'd run the register.  Or I'd do the demos and she'd talk with someone about the needlework kits she had on display.  It was loads of fun and I learned quite a bit about embroidery.

Rose and Linda working on projects while waiting for customers to brave the intermittent storms.

We later learned that the river was expected to crest the week following the quilt show and that all 49 of the flood gates had been installed - first time ever! There were pressure gauges on one of the flood gates in the downtown area but the water hadn't reached the flood wall by the time I left town.

I was able to take this picture before they closed up a door in the wall.  Just to the right of the lampost in the center is a sign that's just barely out of the water.  There is a lovely walk along the river - or at this point, under the river!

Anyway, the show moved out of the convention center  as it was on the wrong side of the flood wall.  Go figure!  The town rallied and the quilt show and vendors were all housed in alternative locations - the show must go on.  But so did the rain.  It rained through Wednesday evening but cleared up for a beautiful Thursday and Friday.  Visitors arrived from all over and I had wonderful conversations with quilters from across the United States as well as several from the UK and Australia. 

As I watched the local news Wednesday morning, I learned that Pat Holly's quilt, Paisley Peacock, won Best of Show.  I'm sure Pat was thrilled.  So was I since I'd seen Pat work on that quilt during the 2009 Beaver Island Quilt Retreat.  Pat does beautiful machine applique on some of the tiniest pieces of fabric.

Finally, it was time to head home.  I waited for a break in the storms and left Paducah while it was just sprinkling.  I no sooner got out of town than it started raining.  Then it rained hard.  And harder.  And harder still!  No fun driving in the rain.  But there wasn't alot of traffic and it was plenty light out so it wasn't too bad.  It didn't stop raining until I hit the Seymour exit, just a half hour from home.  It was great to pull into the garage.  But I already missed being with my quilting friends.  Oh, well, there's always next year!

Cheers!
Margaret

Thread Therapy

The Kentuckiana Longarm Group met yesterday to talk about thread.  We enjoyed watching the Thread Therapy CD with Bob Purcell, president of Superior Threads, giving one of his thread lectures.  If you ever have a chance to see him in person, it's worth it as he is quite entertaining (just groan at his jokes) and has all sorts of tidbits about thread...how it's made, terminology used in packaging and what it means to you, and how to pair it with the correct needle.  In the meantime, check out Superior's web site as there is a ton of useful information there about threads.

Marcy hosted the meeting and demonstrated the way to use the Towa Tension gauge for bobbin tension measurements.  She also had one of the new Superior Threads Top Thread Tension gauges.  Used in conjunction with Superior's chart of correct tension measurements, it takes all of the mystery out of whether or not your tension is correct.

One of the helpful tips from the video was that metallic thread, when pulled off the spool, shouldn't twist up like a phone cord.  If it does, Bob's advice is to throw the spool away or to use it in the bobbin only.  Using it in the top will cause unneeded headaches.  The other tip I found helpful was that Topstitch needles and Metallic needles are essentially equivalent.  They have a double sized eye to allow the thread more room so threads fray less.  He maintains that a majority of teachers and educators now use Topstitch needles almost exclusively.

After talking about different threads and tension issues, we went up to Marcy's studio.  What a wonderful space she has!

Marcy, at right, talking with others about the number of thread guides and the tension adjustments on her HQ Avante.

While they were talking about thread tension adjustments, I took myself on a tour of her sewing studio.  I was captivated by the antiques she has and the way she's using them! 

This lovely bookcase is in her sewing studio - mixing a love of antiques and fabrics.  There are some books on the upper right shelf, too.



This is the other bookshelf full of fabrics.

I really liked this cutting table - just two rolling tables pushed together.  Plenty of storage space underneath.  She's got a large cutting mat across the tops of the tables.

Here's Barbara with the one Show and Tell quilt.  She did a beautiful job quilting it and gave me some ideas for how to quilt sashing and triangle spaces.

 It was an interesting afternoon and a gorgeous day for a drive through the countryside.  Good times, good friends, and good snacks!

Cheers!
Margaret


Ideas and More Ideas

The International Quilt Festival was held in Cincinnati this past weekend.  Several classes intrigued me so I took advantage of the proximity to attend.

The first class I took was Beth Wheeler's Digital Collage Mixed Media class.  She had wonderful examples to share and talked about the different techniques to incorporate images, sayings or words on twill tape (who knew you could run twill tape through a printer - double sided tape is the answer), paint and other stuff on collages.  A fun day of experimentation.

Here's one of my classmates with her mixed media collage close to completion.  Lots of different paints and colors on the sample.

Printed words on twill tape.  This student also used some stencils to get additional design elements, like that in the lower right corner, on the quilty.  The aeroplane was clip art selected along with a background that was printed on photo fabric.

Here's Beth...

giving a student...



a round of applause.



I used the flutter setting on my camera...



 that I learned how to use in Cambria.



Here's one of Beth's samples - gorgeous and very unique in its execution.

 On Friday, I took two different classes.  One of the classes was taught by Mary Ellen Kranz, who did a superb job teaching the class about different ways to use EQ7 despite the fact that several students didn't have their computer.  It was a trial to see how it went as the Cincy venue was not sure of the electrical load should all of the students plug in with their laptops.  I have to admit I appreciated having my laptop and software with me as I was able to click on icons, figure out where I went wrong on an earlier click, and work on actual photos.

This is one of Mary Ellen Kranz's quilts that incorporates digital photography.  What impresses me about her work is how the photo is blended with fabrics so that they are difficult to tell apart.

Mary Ellen, left, telling her Alex Anderson story.  Too funny!

 If you use EQ7 and are anywhere near a class given by Mary Ellen, TAKE IT!  She's a wonderful teacher.

The third class I took was Out on a Limb - Textural Trees from Wendy Butler Berns, another excellent teacher.  This was a 3 hour class so we were really working through lots of different techniques and I didn't have time for many pictures.  She was extremely organized and incorporated several different techniques for creating a landscape quilt.  As I've got a landscape scene in my head, this was a helpful class on different techniques to execute my vision.  Stay tuned...but don't hold your breath.  I came away with lots of ideas so it will take awhile to work on them.

Marilyn, left, was in the Textural Trees class.  Marilyn's a long time friend of Sue, president of our local quilt guild!

 With those classes, there wasn't much time to look at the several quilt exhibits at the show.  I had planned to spend Friday night there so I could check out the displays and the vendors on Saturday morning.  That actually worked out quite well.  I had strolled through the Baltimore Album Quilt Display Thursday evening and walked through some of the other exhibits.  But I found an interesting exhibit on Architectural Elements in Quilts that I had missed so was glad I had an opportunity to look at that exhibit.

As the show didn't open until 10 a.m., I had time for a stroll to Fountain Square to view the art on display that used recycled materials.  Graeter's, an ice cream emporium, also had my favorite tea and a donut that hit the spot for breakfast.  Eating while listening to the morning sounds and the fountain, watching parents with their children enjoying the play area and reflecting on what I had seen and learned was a great way to start off the day.

Amorphous Amoebas - or some such title.  One of the displays of recycled bottle usage at Fountain Square.

Cincinnati's Fountain Square - the water had just been turned on earlier in the week.

Another display created by a class at one of the local schools.  Quite colorful to look at on a rather gray morning.

So many ideas - so little time.  So that's it for today.

Cheers!
Margaret

Playing with Dolls

Today's speaker at our monthly Guild meeting has been playing with dolls for a long time.  Kathryn Walmsley brought a wonderful selection of the dolls she's made over the years.  Included were the original doll she made when she was a child as well as quite a few of the dolls she's made recently.

Kathryn with her display of Mixed Media Figurative Sculptures

She uses a variety of techniques and materials, including polymer clay, paper clay and resin over an armature to develop the main body. She then will craft the clothing and other items needed to create a truly fanciful figure.  The artistry in her work is breathtaking and these pictures don't do them justice.  Her web site (follow the link attached to her name) has much better pictures of her work where you can really see the facial features and the skilled treatment of her subject.

She made the statement early in her presentation that most of her sculptures contain a message but it's up to the viewer to determine the content of the message.

Look at how expressive the faces are - and how beautifully painted.  She mentioned that she uses primarily paints from the local hobby stores but uses them as washes (with water mixed in) rather than straight from the bottle. 

Which came first...the chicken or the egg?

Queen Sweep - created during the time frame when Kathryn was closing down the studio she had operated in Oldenburg for 17 years.  In addition to clearing the clutter on the floor, the top of her head opens up so you can see the ideas swirling around inside for future projects.  How clever is that!

 Then on to our UFO update and Show and Tell. Here are just a few of the many quilts that have been completed recently.

Carol showed this gorgeous quilt top done in batiks.  She'd had it for several years and said she finally decided the batiks were too beautiful to be left languishing in the closet forever. 

Susan probably takes the cake for the oldest UFO completed recently.  What you may not be able to tell is that each square is stuffed with batting so it's a very puffy quilt.  She finished it quite nicely with a white lacy edges that will hang down on the sides of the bed.

Later in the day I took a walk around my neighborhood.  It was a lovely Spring day with the trees blooming.

Another case where the picture doesn't do the tree justice.  They're all over town and they are gorgeous.

Cheers!
Margaret