May10, 2009
Mother’s day already. and currently I am reading the wonderful gift I received, a coffee table book: Massachusetts Quilts edited by Lynn Bassett and assisted by two of my appraiser friends from that state. For the next few weeks I will be focusing on my Star Quilt collection as I select and prepare 25 of the best for their debut in Nova Scotia this summer. I am thrilled to finally have an exhibit in Nova Scotia especially at the provincially operated Museum of Industry in Stellarton, a reasonable driving distance form our summer cottage.
It has been two weeks since I returned form that fabulous April quilt and spring fix in Quilt City USA, Paducah ,Kentucky . Located on the banks of the Ohio river the whole place and especially the old town revolves around quilts. Even my favorite clothing store and the local pub feature family quilts in their windows. It takes at least 3 days to see the highlights of the show and sample the satellite exhibits many of which in 16 years I have yet to sample. I hear the meals sponsored by all the local churches are great but I am often too busy to stop for a meal just graze as I run from one show and group of vendors to the next.
You cannot go to Paducah without visiting Hancocks the largest fabric store in America. This April , after buying more fabric than I needed , I meet a client Carolyn Hudson( we are pictured here) who flew from Nova Scotia to Toronto and along with friend Janet Mills joined a Quilters bus tour . The first time I attended in 1993 I flew from Montreal to Boston where I met a quilters tour and accompanied them to Nashville. Helen the director hired a bus which took us the last 2 hours west to Paducah. Accommodation was at a premium during Quilt week so the bus shuffled us in and out of the city daily. The downside was that we were too far out to receive the transmissions from the local cable station which broadcasts from 6 am to midnight. While cleaning out my Moms things recently I found the post card sent directly from the convention lobby in 1993 . “Guess what Mom there are thousands of people who are as crazy about quilts as I am.”
To quote fellow appraiser appraiser Cindy Claycamp, “This show is so much more than isles of quilts and vendors in a convention center,it is a community celebrating our mutual quilting heritage.” In addition we have the opportunity to take a refresher course in appraising. I was one of six appraisers who along with the leaders, Bobbie Aug and Gerry Roy, presented information on topics such as contracts, southern quilts and appraising hooked mats. This year I was on faculty, so gave my early morning lecture What Comes Around Goes Around and also taught two classes on edge finishes for Quilts.
For the 25th Anniversary celebrations the Schroeders, who funded the American Quilters Society in 1985, hosted an elaborate Award ceremony where thousands of dollars are given out in prizes. The top awards are purchase awards and these quilts were used to start the Museum which is now called The National Quilt Museum. In addition to state of the art storage facilities, galleries of quilts and classrooms for quilt workshops its gift shop is one of the best places in America to buy quilting related books.
Comments