Quilting and other fun

Here is my post from Paducah. we have moved on but the terrible internet service would not let me post.

We have been in Paducah, Kentucky for several days.  Why Peducah? Home of the National Quilt Museum!

 Peducah is also a port at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. It is about halfway between St. Louis, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee.  Along the river front there is a series of murals depicting the history of Peducah.  They were very well done.

 The National Quilt Museum was founded in 1991. The museum is the world's largest museum of quilt and fibre art.  It attracts about 40,000 people interested in quilting annually. The museum has three galleries.  The main one houses the museum's own collection.  The museum's collection of 400 objects is rotated 8-10 times a year. The other two house travelling exhibits.

Currently there is an exhibit by Pat Campbell, a showing called Deceptively Simple: Split Nine and Nine Patch Quilts and a section of Miniature Quilts. If you are interested in seeing some of the quilts, click on the link below.  We were not allowed to take pictures because of copyright concerns.

http://www.quiltmuseum.org/current-exhibits.html



The museum reminded me of an art gallery.   Just like art galleries, I wondered how the decisions are made as to what is gallery-worthy and what is not. I am sure that I know some quilters whose work was every bit as good as anything in the museum.  What makes a famous quilter?  Or a quilter famous?

After looking at other people's quilts in the morning, Dalton dropped me at Hancock's of Peducah (a fabric store) after lunch.  It was HUGE.  Almost overwhelming, in fact.  I managed to shake off the feeling and  find quite a few pieces to add to my stash.  Dalton wondered if I had enough fabric for the winter.  As if!

Today (Wednesday) we drove out to look at the Quilt Trail Project.  These are quilts painted on the sides of buildings.  We looked for several in the area of Sturgus. They were rather hard to find.  We found a couple.  We got a picture of one.  The other was on the back of the house and we would have had to watch through yards to get a picture.After some driving around using the GPS, we decided that we had better things to do.

This is Amish country but the only signs of them we saw were some men with beards and old fashioned clothes sitting outside a house and two young women tending a small stall selling something.  There were signs indicating that we should watch for horse-drawn carriages but we didn't see any.



So off we went to Metropolis.  Yes!  Home of Superman.  (Quite a change from looking for the Amish.) And there is indeed a large statue, right between the detention centre and the court house (that's it behind him.). We saw prisoners in shackles being moved between the two. Other than a museum/store that seemed to be the extent of Superman's influence in the city.

Before I forget, I found out that corn stalks are nearly as valuable as the ear.  They are used for such things as cellulose for packing and for smokeless explosives, varnish, paper pulp, stock food, and poultry food. 

First and Second Legs of Journey

We left for Winnipeg on Sunday, October 19.  We had pretty good weather but it is still a long drive.  Our RV park was at Iles des Chenes, just south of Winnipeg on old highway 59 (and just off Highway 59).

Our objectives there were to see some good friends and to deliver 100 year old photos to an archive and a family connected to some postcards (also 100 years old).  So with a Tim Horton's near the University as our headquarters, we met a fellow from the Manitoba Historical Society and he took the photos off to the U of M archives. He said they were more pro-active than the provincial archives and more likely to get them digitized in a timely manner

When he left, we met Tina and her father Joe Jr. to give her some momentoes of her grandfather Joseph Keeper (who was an aboriginal Olympian.  Check on Google if you are interested.).  We found that our families had an interesting history together and also that Dalton and I had worked with a fellow who Joseph Jr. knew quite well.  Small world, proven again.

We got in two lovey dinners with Isobel's friends and got caught up on all the news.  Thanks Barb (and Patrick) and Lorna (and Ron)! Isobel's friend Jack (from near Hamilton) was also in town so we had a mini reunion at Barb's.

We planned to leave Winnipeg on Wednesday but after getting up early and getting all ready to leave, when Dalton fired up the MH (motorhome), a tire pressure signal came on and when he checked it, sure enoough, there was a slow leak.  So the owner of the RV park told us that here was a truck centre in Blumenort (which is near Steinbach) so off we went.  We got it fixed quite quickly at the Penner tire centre.  For those of you who like the technical stuff, the valve stem extension washer on the inside had deteriorated, causing a slow leak.  This is the second one to go so Dalton says he is going to have them all replaced.

The wind was howling by this time (nearly noon), so we decided to go back to the RV park and depart the next day.  So that is what we did.  It was a shame that we couldn't get to our Mesa neighbour's place in  Galesburg, Illinois before they left for Mesa, but we will see them in November anyway.

On Thursday we had a lovely drive to Minneapolis.  Although the leaves are off their trees, the grass and fields are greener than at home. In some places they were combining the stalks left from a corn crop.  We wondered what they do with it. Anyone know?

Oh! the interstate needs some work! MHs sure do rattle along on a bad road.  And good thing my teeth are my own!! Then we hit the city while the rush was still on, so it was slow going on the freeways.  However, our GPS  got us right to the park.  It is a very nice park, right beside a natural park area.  We managed to find a grocery store and a wine store quite close to the park.  Back to the American-priced wine.  What a change!

Today we went to the Mall of the Americas.  It is certainly a huge mall. The amusement park looks quite exciting for those so inclined and the Lego store had big displays that our granddaughter would like. We also saw a Ninja Turtles ride that she would also have liked. In the end, we walked all around and didn't buy a thing, except lunch. 

These are of the rides area:

This is Lego:

If you know how to rotate pictures, email me!  I rotated them in the file before I imported them and they still came out sideways.  Rats. Penny, help!!!