First – do you know that the National Quilt Museum is not financially supported by AQS? I didn't. Of course the Meredith Corporation does support the Museum, but the Museum is a separate, non-profit entity. As is true for every other non-profit, they need money. They REALLY need money. So, if you have a bit and can write a check to support this premier museum for quilters, click here for how to give your support.

FYI – I got to get up close and personal (no touching, just looking) with last year's best of show – Tribute to Tolkien by Sue McCarty. Well, it is an amazing quilt to see. Of course it was best of show! I had forgotten that one of the most wonderful aspects to this museum is that you can get really close to the quilts. You should go.

Caryl took me on some morning walking tours of Lower Town Paducah. Paducah has made a real effort to bring in artists and the Lower Town artists' community of thriving. I was lucky enough to go with Caryl to a couple of events. It's been a while since I've been to Paducah and I've never seen the city this way – empty of the thousands of quilters who come for the big show. 

So many of the warehouses and houses in Lower Town have been renovated. It is beautiful to see. The textures and colors made me happy.

The Finkel building is used during the quilt show but in the off-season it houses a Christian motorcycle group. I really love the look of this building!

More tomorrow….

Today was a background making day. My students are working from our book Applique Outside the Lines and so were piecing backgrounds and not using a ruler. It's not easy when you aren't used to it but everyone's background turned out well. I took photos, but they didn't all turn out. Here is Rene with her background:

And Toni with her background:

And isn't this a pretty spread of fabric?

Tomorrow I begin teaching a 3-day class at the National Quilt Museum! It's going to be fun and I hope to be able to share some of that with you. I'm lucky enough to be staying with Caryl Bryer Fallert in her very fine studio here in Paducah. Caryl's studio includes the space where she holds her retreats. Oh my – it's very nice!

Today Caryl took me out to see an art installation in progress. Well, it's seriously hot in Paducah and the art was (slowly) happening outside so we went inside Etcetera, the coffee shop in the arts district. I met these lovely ladies who are members of the Radioactive City Roller Girls – it's roller derby time in this part of the world!

From left to right: Jennifer Blair (Smackeroni N' Cheese), Emily Sands (Mean Mean Mississippi Queen), Claudia R. Harris (Dollface Delilah who was celebrating birthday #20), and Kelsey Doyle (Scream Queen). They are getting ready for a fund raising event this weekend benefiting Charles Bradford, a local window washer much beloved here, who fell from a 2nd story window and suffered extensive injuries. These ladies are characters in the best sense of the word – lots of fun and very friendly!

Etcetera itself is very arty. I was especially taken with the tabletops, painted by local high school art students…

I think they are painted in acrylics and then covered with an epoxy resin finish.

I have two tabletops that are crying out for this… don't know when I'm going to get to them but at least now I'm developing a plan!

Today was the day to get this done. (Scroll down or click here to see the 'before' fixture picture.) Steve took the fixture down and I suspended it in the center of our garage. I went to Lowe's and chose an orange and a green spray paint. I suspected orange would be better (and it was) but that green spray paint was a really good color. (I'm going to hold on to it for later.)

I stuffed the bulb openings with torn strips of paper towel…

…and I taped off the screw threads at the top of the fixture.

I sprayed a base coat of white primer followed by two coats of the high gloss orange spray paint. I sprayed inside the light cups, the chain, the cord inside the chain – if it was visible it is now orange. If you do this be careful to look at your fixture from all angles, high and low, be be sure you're not leaving areas unpainted. It's bad to look up in the middle of a dinner party to find the spot you missed.

FYI – I ended up taking out all of the little screws that you see here. They aren't necessary in Texas, where glass shades do not hop off of this sort of fixture, and they are visually distracting.

While the paint was drying I went back to Lowe's to look for new glass shades. I though about using those cute round bulbs but they aren't cheap and I thought they might be too bright. First I looked at the fixtures that were on display…

…and then I looked at the glass shades. The majority of the glass shades are frosted. What I took down was frosted glass. I remember when I loved them – when that was a new look. Now it's not as new and I wanted to freshen up the fixture. I decided to go old school – the skinny clear glass shades with the grooves (bottom row, far left).

I LOVE it!

I saw this this little fire hydrant in a parking lot near Evergreen, CO. It must be nearly invisible to drivers. You can imagine the sequence of events:

1. Paint it red.
2. Add a flag!
3. Station a large pole on either side to protect it.

It looks like the 'bodyguards' have taken some hits.

I saw this on Design Sponge and it reminded me of just how much I want to paint the light fixture in my dining room. 'Chandelier' is too fancy a name for mine as you can see, below.

It's BORING. Eventually I'll get around to painting it and I'll share
the after photos when I do. I really ought to scrape the popcorns off of
the ceiling too – someday, but not today.