USA 10

Ohh... I have so many pictures to show you of what I saw on my trip. I hope you are not bored! I took 344 pictures and it is hard to choose a selection, which is interesting to show you.

This was at Hancocks. The amount of fabrics was overwhelming. Look at the piles. This was only the sale.It was so much that I couldn't make a choice anymore. Take a good look at the picture and you will find Bonnie. She has an excellent eye for the best fabrics :-)

We had to take a picture with this fun board. I saw it before in a magazine and I can't believe that I now have a picture of my friend and I with the same board :-)

The Men on the show ;-) The black machine is a barbeque. We ate an awesome pulled pork BBQ sandwhich!


Downtown Paducah some bands were playing. And if it hadn't start raining we could have stayed and listen to the music.

The peak of my trip was to meet Dawn, Laura, and Linda.
We went to this Texas Take Out..(I forgot the name of the restaurant) To me this was so American. I enjoyed it very much!


I am so spoiled with these presents. The group made blocks for me, the name of the pattern is Old Tippecanoe.That is also the name of the guild. Dawn made a traveler case for me, Laura made an awesome mini Log Cabin quilt for me! And Linda knitted two adorable sweaters for the dolls of my daughters. Thank you so much girls! It was so fun to meet you! And I hope there will be a next time.

To be continued.....

Lucy

USA 9

Next day we went to the rotaryclub.
There was a show from the collection of Gerald Roy. He showed his antique star quilts .
I think they don't need words......
Take a look by yourself :-)

Lucy

USA 8

After two exciting days we arrived in Paducah.



What is the first thing you do when you are not on a fabric diet and the price of the fabric is heavenly compared to the netherlands ...... Yes the first thing I did is buying fabrics :-)))

I want to show you a few quilts from the show. The quality of the quilts is very high! Every stitch is perfect, sometimes so perfect that I missed the quilts for on the couch, you know the ones you want to crawl under.

I saw the most beautiful quilts in the quiltmuseum. There was a gorgeous selection of antique red and green aplliqué quilts. It was a thrill to see them in reality. Unfortunately it was not allowed to take pictures .......

In paducah the show and vendors are spread out in different buildings. Busses or trolleys took you there.

Next post you can see where this trolley brought us :-)

Lucy

USA 7

It was lovely to drive along the countryside. It was so green everywhere, and nice to see the barns. We even saw an Amish buggy riding over a bridge across the road. Before we realized that we saw a buggy it was to late for a picture
I forgot the name of this little place, but the road signs promised 6 antique shops.... And yes .... we went again ....off the highway into a nice little town famous for their HAM !
This quilt is so maverick. It is so fun that the lady (probabyly) used her orphan blocks


Thelma and Louise clothes shopping ;-)



Do you know that Bonnie is a pig rescuer!! Believe me in one of the six shops was a very, very scary basement. It smelled strange, it was dark, and dirty and very old..... and there between all the mess... we saw a 'bearpig'. It looks like a bear but it was a pig ... made in the 40s , with crooked eyes.It said: take me home , far away from this dark scray basement! Bonnie couldn't resist him ! Aks her for a picture :-)

Finally we arrived at Big Bear Resort ! We rent a cute little cabin for the two of us. Perfect to come home after a busy show ! Look who is sitting on the purchases we did in the antique shops !

View from our cabin .

to be continued ...... ( Finally about the show that was the goal from our trip ;-)

Lucy

USA 6

Ohh Nashville was a great place to visit. I hope that I am able to come back on a day with my DH ! btw.... he isn't always a sweetie ,sometimes I would love to dump him with the garbage ;-)


Oké we are the road again ..... Bonnie drove and I was looking for signs with - Antique- We found out it is the best place to relax after hours driving ;-)


This quilt was in a great condition ! Also with poison green. I love that color so much.

I was really tempted to buy this quilt. At the picture it is looking better as in reality . It was in a very used condition. And the price was very high for this quilt. I think it is a great quilt to reproduce! I love the solid sashings .

This is a desktop. I thought it was so beautiful and maybe a great inspiration for an applique quilt. Unfortunately I 'forgot 'to take a picture of the whole desk. We saw so much nice things.. I wish I could bring it all home with me.... But it doesn't fit in my suitcases :-/

And yeahhhh we passed the border with Kentucky !! At this point we were close to our cabin !

to be continued......

USA 5 : My Dear Husband ......

Thanks to my DH I was able to made this trip to the USA. He took a week off work and take care of our four children: three teenagers and an eight year old ( pig headed) daughter. One of our teenagers is mentally handicapped and is autistic.For her especially it is important that everything stays the same. And she doesn't feel comfortable with others.So it was the best solution for René to stay at home while I was away!
But that isn't the only thing he did for me...My DH sent me frequent text messages on my trip with: honey, buy whatever you want .... ( and do buy yourself a cowboyhat !) He knows me! I am always in doubt and thinking that I am spending too much money on myself...and most of the time I don't buy it and end up regretting that later.

So I wanted to spoil that guy.

My DH makes music in a band. He is a guitar player and singer.

Since the very first time I met him, I see him every day, yes everyday with a guitar in his hands !! So the best thing I could do was buy some guitar stuff for him in the country that builds his favourite guitars (Fender). Nashville is a music place with great guitar shops. As soon Bonnie and I woke up we headed to the guitar center. I bought two beautiful straps for him and one of them is actually made in Tennesee, how cool.I also took some pictures from the shop to show him where I bought them. Downtown Nashville we found another guitarshop with great T-shirts. I bought one for him and one for my son . He is a guitar player too :-)




You can watch and hear my DH here :-) The recording was taken two years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYf1vkVOEwA

And yes I bougth myself a summer hat in downtown Nashville ;-)

To be continued.......

Lucy

USA 4

We saw so many fun things at the antique malls....It looks as if this stove is comes straight from The Little House on the Prairie. But at that time the women must have been a few inches ....shorter than I am :-)

I never knew that I could fall in love with TRUCKS! Ohh men, American trucks are so tough. On this long roadtrip I had time to study these trucks and now I know I like the Peterbilts most ! Look at this truck with the enormous treetrunks !! I couldn't resist taking a picture of it :-)

We planned to spend the night in Nashville.



But........ first we had to hit the last antique mall of the day. Look at this fun basket block !!




Finally when every antique shop was closed we were able to find a hotel to spend the night. See, it was a very safe place for two women :-)

to be continued ....

Lucy

ps.. Ohh this is becoming a long post of my trip.... I have only arrived in Nashville at this point.

USA 3

It was in one of the first antique shops/mall that I found an awesome antique quilt.A nine patch with poison green. It was so cheap that I had to buy it, and you know what : I am working with a poison green repro fabric on my four block appliqué and the original is in this antique quilt ! It is not in perfect condition, some browns are completey gone. But it is used and has a great feeling:-) A quilt with a lot of history ... ans that story will remain a mystery........
Look at the fan quilting ... it is awesome. The backing is a homespun plaid. This is a great quilt to reproduce

And look at these inspirations :-)

This is a maverick quilt hè :-)

To be continued ......

Lucy

trip USA 2

Because we found out that Paducah should be a 9 hours drive we thought it would be nice to leave one day earlier. So we had time to see more along the road. And we didn't have to rush :-)





There we go, Thelma and Louise ready to 'rob' everything what is related to QUILTS !!!!!!





I think we hit every antique mall we found. And oh my..... we saw so many quilts that inspired us !

Look at this Amish quilt. I love the colors they used. and the simplicity of it !

You should have seen us when we saw a sign with ANTIQUE MALL .............. and we saw so many that this post will be continued........

Lucy

trip

I am almost back to normal. The kids had their spring break last week. That was great because I had time to get used to the Dutch clock again. The weather was great and we did a lot of outdoor things.



Now it is time to show you more about my awesome trip to the States. I was so excited and nervous when I left home.

The first day we went to Charleston SC, a loveley place on the east coast. The buildings are very old and have beautiful pastel colors. We took a tour in a carriage and heard a lot about the history of Charleston.

It was also a strange feeling to walk on the market where so many years ago slaves were sold. This is the entrance to the slave market.Today vendors sell things like handmade baskets from sea grass, earrings, t-shirts and other souvenirs.


Me in front of rainbow street. Look at the colors. Isn't that an inspiration for a quilt!

It was in Charleston that Bonnie and I hit the first antique shop. A lot of antique malls and shop will follow after this one:-)

to be continued.....

Lucy