Graduation Quilt in Progress

I'm back from Paducah and inspired to do more quilting! This is a work in progress for my daughter who will be graduating in a few weeks. These pieces are actually the borders. The center of the quilt is currently at the high school, where teachers and staff are signing it. She does not know about it yet and I'm hoping she will be pleasantly surprised. I will also have the quilt top at her graduation party for guests to sign.

Paducah was nice. Donna and I drove down on Friday morning. The quilt show was spread out in the expo center and the hotel. It was a LOT of walking! I don't know if it's bigger than Nashville or not. I think I liked Nashville's setup better because everything was in the same place, but Paducah was very nice. I purchased an ergonomically correct rotary cutter that I'm already in love with! My wrists are showing their age with some arthritis, and this cutter really helps ease the pain. Cutting is not one of my favorite parts of quilting to begin with, so anything that makes it easier is a plus to me.

After going to the show, we drove back into Illinois to stay in Marion. Marion is about an hour North of Paducah. This was the closest hotel reservation we could get and we made reservations in December! There were a lot of people at the show, to say the least. Once we were back in Marion, we went to a restaurant called the 20's Hideout. It was all done in a 1920's Chicago gangster theme. Really a neat restaurant. I think my husband would enjoy it.

Some of the vendors of longarm machines had displays set up at the show. I really liked trying out the longarm machines. Some day I hope to be able to afford one. Even if it's a used model, they are very pricey, so it won't be anytime in the near future! But I can dream.