"My Old Kentucky Home"

One of the many places I lived when growing up was Paducah, KY.  As with many of the places we lived, we didn't live there for long and I don't remember too much about it except we lived in a trailer...a very small trailer. In those days they weren't called Mobile Homes or RV's like today...just trailer. But it's all I knew and we made the best of it. While in Paducah the last couple of days, I was wishing I knew exactly where we lived and how old I was, but there is no one in my family left to ask about it.

As we were driving around yesterday looking for the Quilt Museum so we could find out when they opened, we drove past this cute house and I asked my cousin to go back so I could take pictures.

Since I don't know where I lived, I could pretend I had lived here...not really...It is not a fancy house and not all that big, but something just drew me to it.

You could tell they were working on it and had the kind of cottagey flowerbeds I love.

Just as we (my cousin's daughter Amber and I) were taking this last picture of the swing and shutters the lady of the house came out with a big welcoming smile on her face (thank goodness). We were being rather bold in our picture taking.

I told her why we were taking pictures and she said she was so flattered and that they had moved there 2 years ago and had to redo everything .  She continued to tell us all they had done and then invited us in to see the inside. We would love to we said, but our 90 yr old aunt (grandmother) was sitting back at the hotel waiting for us to take her to dinner.  I think she was so disappointed that these strangers didn't want to come in and see her house.

Only in Kentucky!!

Opps, I forgot the other special place I wanted to show you!  We actually went here first.

There is a story to the excitement of being able to go here too. I always have a story...

Back in the 1980's, (oh am I dating myself) I took a class from Eleanor Burns. I learned how to do her first quilt, the Log Cabin. Then I took classes from her at Quilt Market to be certified to teach her quilts.

In fact she was the one who taught me about the Rotary Cutter.  For many years, I taught her various quilts.

So this was another sentimental journey for me.

Here I am with Eleanor!!

Here are Amber and I with Jeanie who runs the store.

She was so sweet and fun. We just had a great time.

Here are a few pictures I took of the store.

My cousin, Judy in front of the store. It is located about a block away from the Quilt Museum in an older downtown area. As we drove around, it looked like they were trying to refurbish many of the buildings.

     

These are for you Anne.

Because of my love for Barn Quilts, I got Eleanor Burns new book called  "Quilt Blocks on American Barns"

There are wonderful pictures of  barns with quilts painted on them and stories to go along with them. She also shares the instructions for making many and for using them in quilts other than the one on the front. I found a few I really want to try.

Tomorrow night I will share about our final 2 stops in Paducah....The National Quilt Museum and the great place we had dinner (yes, more quilts) on the way back to my Aunt's house.