And now for the final leg of our Texas adventure! Thursday, October 23, we packed all of my teaching supplies in our little quilt car, L’l Blue, and pointed her towards home. We were eager to return. After all, being gone eleven days is an eternity when you have a five month old grand-baby waiting for you. Our entire trip home actually changed after a random comment by one of the quilters we met. She asked if we were going through Paducah. Talk about a light bulb moment. Of course! So, we quickly changed our boring, go-straight-home plans for much better ones — Hancock’s of Paducah and the National Quilt Museum!
The trip from Houston to Paducah is a particularly long one, and we fell into that hotel bed when we arrived! But, we were up bright and early on Friday.
Our first stop, after a delicious Cracker Barrel breakfast, was Hancock’s of Paducah. I pretty sure this is the biggest fabric store I’ve ever been in! It is HUGE!
It would have taken a dozen pictures to give you an idea of how much fabric is under that roof, so I’m settling for just two. This is definitely a destination spot for any serious quilter! Bring your credit card. Seriously. Unless, of course, your sweet hubby is following you around with a shopping cart. Then you might have to exercise restraint like I did. While you’re there, watch for the bright orange stickers because those are marked down. Also, be sure to go in the back room on the far right as you enter the store. That’s where they have tons of precut strips and squares and kits.
After a short stop at the local Kroger for extra snacks for final drive home, we made our way to the National Quilt Museum in downtown Paducah. What a treat! They always have several exhibits to see, and I enjoyed each and every one. Sweet hubby was even sharing his opinions on which ones he liked and why. Understandably, they do not allow photography within the museum, but they allowed me to take notes on my iPad as we walked around. In the central section, they had winning quilts from the 2014 show. Of course, there were also quilts from their permanent collection as well. We drooled over Flower of Life and Sedona Rose (which is heavily embellished with crystals on the back) by Sharon Schamber. I loved the scalloped border with looped edging. We also enjoyed Escapade by Libby Lehman, Dawn Splendor by Nancy Ann Sobel, Blushing Triangles by Gloria Hansen, Mountain Chapel by Ann Kennedy, Hammered at Home by Iris Aycock, and The Value of Gears by Judith Phelps. I was thrilled to see Corona II: A Solar Eclipse by Caryl Bryer Fallert. That quilt is amazing every time I see it. There were mind-boggling miniature quilts and an exhibit of historical quilts dating from the 1860’s to the 1960’s. The historical quilt exhibit, called Deceptively Simple, were nine patch and split nine patch quilts from the Pilgrim Roy collection. Pat Campbell also had a solo exhibit displaying her amazing appliqué quilts. Don’t miss any opportunity you might have to visit this museum. The exhibits are always changing, and you are sure to see awesome quilts.
Once we had absorbed as much as we could, we got back in Li’l Blue and hit the road. Everything was going well until we were south of Louisville and we hit horrible stopped traffic due to road construction. We got off as soon as we could and happily meandered through some back roads, enjoying the scenery and thrilled with the fact that we were moving. We finally made it home, a bit later that we hoped, but thankful that we survived the entire trip without mishap. We drug everything into the house and fell into our wonderful, comfortable bed. Ahhh…the perfect end to a Texas adventure!