I'm Just Sayin

An enthusiastic audience of the Whoo-hoo Nation gathered at the Carson Center for my 2010 concert at the AQS show in Paducah, KY. Instead of riding in on a motorcycle (2008) or rising up from the orchestra pit with a tiny red toy piano (2009), I couldn't think of a clever way to start the show. So instead, I decide to surprise the audience with a visual treat mid-way through the concert. 

After playing The Way Home accompanied by a music video featuring dozens of my quilts, the real quilts came floating down to create a massive backdrop while I shared some of my early quilting experiences. I have to admit, when I went saw the array during rehearsal I was stunned. I've never seen my quilts displayed in such a way and when I look at the photo I still go - wow!

I'm thankful to AQS for making this amazing event happen and I'm thrilled that each year the hall is filled to overflowing with such an appreciative audience.

Three fiber artists. Caryl Bryer Fallert, myself, and Hollis Chatelain pause for a snapshot during the AQS show in Paducah, KY. Hollis's exhibition, Imagine Hope, Awareness Through Art opened this week at the National Quilt Museum. 

Desert Vision by Hollis Chatelain (20" x 34")

Imagine Hope is an exhibition that strives to touch its viewers, inspiring them to get involved and make a change in the world. The exhibition is comprised of twelve monochromatic textile pieces by artist Hollis Chatelain, each addressing key social and environmental issues facing our world today. The singular color themes and gentle medium invite the viewer into a realm where dreams and reality meet, where the usually harsh images of injustice speak out in soft cotton, gently touching onlookers and imparting stories of individual struggles. 

Twenty black and white thought-provoking photographs from various prominent photographers will be shown alongside the fiber art to bring more exposure to the issues portrayed in the show. The photographs will accompany the pieces in order to allow for a striking realistic contrast to the colorful dream-like quality of the textile art. Learn more.

Each day before the doors open for the AQS show a great crowd gathers in the lobby. The enthusiasm and excitement is electric. The doors open and they pour in. Some quilters zoom to see the quilts and other rush to the vendors. What do you do first?

Sue McCarty's quilt, Tribute to Tolkien has won Best of Show at the 2010 Ameican Quilter's Society Show and Contest. Sue's quilt is a whole cloth quilt, with some painting, but mostly, it is all stitching withe metallic threads. The entire quilt was created on her Gammill long-arm quilting machine.

Notice the scale of stitching. The assistant was not touching the quilt, but her hand is about 2 inches away. Such detail! Sue has been quilting for 6 years! Are you jealous? 

Way to go Sue.

We're on route to the AQS quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky. That means we get to traverse through Oz. When I was a kid it was on TV each year and it was a really big deal to watch the movie. I remember when my aunt and uncle got a color TV we went to their house to watch it in color. 

Driving across Kansas you can't help but recall the movie because there are so many reminders. Some day I'll take one of the exits and see some of the sights, but most of the time when we're blowing through Kansas, we're on a mission - to get to Paducah. What do you remember most about the Wizard of Oz?