Finally, my friends, I got to do some traveling! I didn’t go far. I just went two and a half hours south to Paducah, Kentucky. I’ll focus most of my post on one of the things I did there, the National Quilt Museum!
I love sewing, and a few years ago I got into quilting. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but now that I look back, of course I like it. I really like how soothing it is to cut out shapes of fabric and sew straight seams. It’s a lot less stressful (sometimes) than sewing clothes. I have only finished a couple of full size quilts, but I’ve done a lot of smaller quilting projects like wall hangings and mug rugs. I have a couple of quilt tops I need to quilt together, but all in good time, I’m sure.
I left after work on Sunday. I dropped the dogs off at my mom’s and headed for a little campground in the city.
My little tiny tent and my camping chair. I have a bigger tent somewhere, but it’s a bit of a hassle when it’s just me camping. So I brought my cheap little walmart 2 person tent. Maybe I should have brought the higher quality one as it rained a bit, but the cheap one held up, so I can’t complain. There’s a picnic table right behind where I was standing for this photo, and that’s where I set up my cookstove and water jug.
Since the campground was more of an RV park, there was also free wifi, so I spent the first night watching Jaime French videos on Youtube because I couldn’t sleep. Not because I was camping, but because I’ve dealt with insomnia since I was small.
The next morning, I waited out a storm, made breakfast…
Then drove around Paducah looking around until the National Quilt Museum opened. And I am SO glad I went! It was beyond amazing. I’ll share some of my favorite quilts. Unfortunately, I forgot to snag the artists’ names on some of them, so I won’t show them out of respect for their work. I don’t want to share it without proper credit. There were also a lot more quilts I didn’t get photos of, so I highly encourage you to go to the museum if you get the chance. They’re always changing exhibits, and the employees are knowledgeable and very friendly.
The outside.
This quilt is done by Velda Newman and she had MANY amazing, very large quilts. Some of the quilts took up almost an entire wall! I chose this one to share because, well, I love birds (even seagulls). She is a true artist.
This is “Infinity” by Nancy Ota.
This is “Yellow Bird” by Claudia Clark Myers
This is Dragonfly Jacket by Marilyn Badger. I’d love to experiment more with quilted clothing, so seeing some in this exhibit was awesome.
“Geisha and the Serving Girl” by Claudia Clark Myers
“Marie’s Treasure” by Marilyn Badger. I love it because she used crochet elements in her piece and I love to crochet.
“Harlequinade” by Beckey Prior and quilted by Jackie Brown
“The Honeymooners” by Karen Sistek and Nancy Sterett Martin
“Reflection #3” by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry
What’s really remarkable was being able to recognize some of the pieces as hand quilted. I did get some close up photos but I neglected to either get the full quilt or the name of the quilter. Others were machine quilted (my preferred method because I am not patient enough to hand quilt and entire one!). It really is remarkable how something that had such a utilitarian function as a blanket has morphed into such an amazing art form. Even simple nine patch quilts were a way for the quilter to express themselves and their artistic creativity, and some have become award winning art pieces.
I’d love to go back to the National Quilt Museum soon, especially as Paducah is so close. I’ll post about my trip to a mound site in a couple days, but before I sign off, I’m going to leave one last photo of my favorite quilt. It’s a miniature quilt, one of my favorite kinds to make, and it depicts a scene of one of my favorite places.
The Solo Geographer 