Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

What an eventful week. I was so fortunate to get to go to the Paducah Quilt Show and meet up with many of my wonderful on-line friends. Some of these ladies I had met before briefly and many others I was meeting for the very first time. But it only took a matter of seconds for us to all feel like we had known each other a lifetime.

I was lucky enough to have a travelling companion to keep me awake on the journey. I met up with Jan Coleman from Midwest City, Ok and we rode together and shared our room once we got there. We stopped in Tulsa on the way and I did major damage at Loops, a yarn store in a very nice section of town. I bought all the Claudia's Handpainted lace weight yarn they had in the Hyacinth color way for a shawl I plan on making. 2 of the skeins felt very heavy compared to the others. They were supposed to be 50 g but a few weighed slightly less (45-48g) and then 1 weighed 73g and 1 weighed 83g!!! I am still slightly short on yardage for the shawl I want to make but I may be able to fudge and leave off a pattern or something to get me by.

We stopped at a little quilt shop in rural Missouri and got our quilt shopping started and then on to Paducah. We got there Tuesday within a few minutes of almost all the rest of our crew. We checked into the cabins which were awesome and got unpacked. We went immediately to Hancock's of Paducah, very different from your local Hancock's. The store was overwhelming but I still managed to buy some polkadot fabric from some of the most organized staff in the whole entire world. How else could they serve the masses that descend on them during the quilt show? We then went to eat and get a little more relaxed before hitting the hay and getting ready for the show the next day.

The Paducah quilt show is in the downtown area of Paducah right next to the banks of the Ohio River. The show is spread out over quite an area and you must be pretty healthy to do all the walking required to see it all. But I outdid myself. I walked 23 blocks on way to go to a yarn store!!! When I got there I found it to be nice but I didn't really get bitten by any one particular yarn so I defaulted to sock yarn. I bought 2 skeins of Louet sock yarn in a pretty spring colorway. Then I walked 23 blocks back!! I had planned on staying around the show until about 6 but gave in at 4 and we met and went to dinner. Then we relaxed in our cabins and refueled for the next day.

The 2nd day I hung around the cabin for quite awhile and then I finally went into town and went to the NAQS Museum. It was a gorgeous building right by the river and filled with amazing quilts. I expected more historical quilts but their current exhibit was mixed with lots of contemporary quilts which I do not always like that much. But still they were masterpeices. The light in the museum is very subdued to protect the quilts and it took my eyes forever to adjust but it was worth it. I then went and finished checking out all the vendors. To my amazement there was not 1 single bead vendor-how dear they?? I did buy some very nice silk kimona fabric and about 1 million fat quarters9lots and lots of dots) but no beads-how sad!! That night we had a great get together in 1 of the cabins and did some show and tell, lots of laughing and a little wine drinking. We got some great photos of the group and got to know those we hadn't spent much time with yet.

The last day at the show I walked down the street(again) for a lace demo and show. I bought a tatting book I have always wanted and some new tatting thread from Belgium called Venus. I ate lunch at the Catholic Church, Chicken & stuffing casserole and all the fixings. The churches did a great job of making plate lunches thru the week and I will hunt them down the next time instead of restaurants. I hiked thru the show and vendors one more time and then headed back to the cabin. We had a great celebration in honor of JanC's birthday. Debbie our guide and guru managed to order the cutest cake and picked it up without Jan suspecting anything!! We finished up with our visiting and got a good nights sleep before heading out the next morning.

My trip home was uneventful but I just struggled to stay awake and alert. I ate everything in sight to try and find what I needed, sugar, fat, caffeine & protein but it was not until Jan offered to sing to keep me awake that I perked up!! I delivered her home to Midwest City and headed out for the the ponderosa myself. DH & DKitty were glad to see me and I was glad to see them. I now have most of my purchases put away and am rested enough to handle going back to work tomorrow. It is my sincerest wish that we get to do another get together in the future and that more of us get to come. I am still amazed to find how this many women could come together over weight watching and quilting over the internet and stick together as long as we have. Lizzie's Forever!!!! This is way better than any college Sorority would have ever been. PS-additional pics are available for viewing in my Snapfish album:

http://www1.snapfish.com/photolibrary/owned_view=owned_2007/t_=56788803