Chicago, Paducah, SCL 3

We were up and on the train to Chicago by 7:40. We only had to make 9 of
the possible 13 stops into town. Our first stop was to get a new camera
battery for me at Walgreen's then we were off to my aunt's doctor's
appointment. Fortunately they took her in early and she got some good news.
Next stop was breakfast at the Corner Bakery and then back to take a closer
look at the Water Tower, one of the few structures to survive the Great
Chicago Fire.



Back on a bus and to Millennium Par and saw part of the "Bean". It was
supposed to be unveiled for Memorial weekend, but now they aren't sure if it
will be unveiled until later in the summer.



It mirrors all the buildings and sights around it. Pretty amazing to look
into it and see yourselves while you snap a picture. We then walked and saw
the huge open-air amphitheatre, gardens and walked along the cloud bridge
awhile. Then down to look at the huge face fountains. They are several
stories high and have the ability to show faces on them. At one point one
of the faces on either side looked like it was spewing water from it's
mouth.



Back onto the bus and to the station where we had lunch at another Corner
Bakery and then caught the train back to St. Charles. That evening we went
out to their favourite Thai restaurant for dinner.



The next morning we packed up the car to head south along I-55. We'd
planned on going to Paducah but thought we might not have enough time; it is
a full days drive from Chicago. We stopped in Wilmington and walked along
their main street. I found some turquoise coloured kitchen items, a chopper
and a potato peeler. At another shop I found a delightful white casserole
with a lemon yellow top. It looks something like a daffodil. Then around
the corner we found an antique mall where I found a set of turquoise scoops.



Back in the car and onto Springfield where we went and viewed Lincoln's
tomb. There is a copy of a bronze bust of Lincoln outside with a very shiny
nose. Gutzon Borglum, the same man who carved Mount Rushmore, sculpted it.



Once again we managed to stumble upon a quilt shop called Sew Unique. Not a
lot of fabric but some great samples. They had a great black and white
quilt that was sewn in strips that are then cut into large drunkard's path
blocks and have appliquéd circles on top randomly. Check out the picture at

http://members.warpnet.net/sewunique...apesCurves.htm

Before we left the salesgirl was wonderful with sharing knowledge about
shops in the area and highly recommended a shop in St. Louis, Missouri
called The Quilted Fox. She also shared some information about the Central
Illinois shop hop.



Back on I-55 we stopped at Lisa Antique Mall #1, no special treasures. Next
was Lisa Antique Mall #2, again something turquoise, this time a 9" x 13"
Pyrex baking dish. Also 2 small rounded square bowls. An interesting
red-topped glass shaker bottle said "take me home." Then I found something
special, a travel iron in a hard plastic case, it is made by Universal. It
has the original sales tag and doesn't look like it has ever been used.
Plugged it in and got hot right away. The way you control the temperature
is to unplug the iron!



We found our first old Route 66 travel sign in Illinois and stopped to take
a picture of it.



We spent the night in Troy Illinois and decided to go to Paducah after all.
We're just so close it seemed a shame not to go. In the morning we drove
into St. Louis, Missouri and saw the huge arch over the city. Found the
Quilted Fox, it has a lot of African, Australian and Japanese print fabrics.
Got some special ones for my neighbour Mary who is collecting my mail for
me.



We headed back east to Mount Vernon where we found the Sewing mart. Then we
turned south onto I-57 and east on 25 to Paducah. Rolling hills in southern
Illinois. We crossed over the Ohio River into Kentucky with more rolling
hills. It started to rain lightly just as we arrived in Paducah and we
found the Museum of the American Quilter. They have some lovely quilts on
display from their permanent collection. They also had a display of their
Seven Sisters Challenge for this year.



Another display from the personal collection of Jane Blair, she has been
quilting 8 hours a day since 1973! Fine Focus is a display of 50 quilts by
various quilters that are all about 12" square.



The final display was of signature quilts from the 19th and 20th century.
We went into the gift shop and I purchased a book on the permanent
collection along with some postcards. Unfortunately we couldn't view the
wooden quilt in the conference room as it was occupied.



We saw two quilts made by a teacher at the Quilted Fox, her name is Suzanne
Marshall, and she does lovely appliqué work. We also saw several Caryl
Bryer Fallert quilts and one by Ruth McDowell.



We then headed over to Hancock's of Paducah, oh my, so many choices, it is
huge. They have shopping carts to carry or wheel around to help you with
your choices. They also have decorator fabrics and various patterns, and
sewing notions.



Back onto Route 60 and back over the Ohio and then the Mississippi and into
Missouri where we spent the night in Poplar Bluff.



The next morning we headed south along Route 67, a quick drive around the
town square of Pocahontas where there is a four-foot meteorite on the lawn
in front of the Courthouse.



At Russell we took a driving break and wandered through Sam's Fine Glass. I
found an old utility quilt made from feed sacks in the back room. It was
hand pieced, hand quilted and I believe it is the Sage Bud pattern here is
the block http://www.quilterscache.com/S_U/SageBudBlock.html

The shop owner told me it was made by her mother, Irene Williams born in
Russell, Arkansas borned October 28, 1919, died June 21, 2004 "she made
hundreds of quilts in her lifetime.

I purchased the quilt for $20.00.



Our next stop was Searcy where we stretched our legs at a Hancock Fabrics
[not Hancock's of Paducah].



We drove through Little Rock crossing over and back across the Arkansas
River. We saw the Capitol building.



In Missouri we saw rice fields, cornfields, and magnolia trees in bloom. In
Arkansas there were rolling hills, lots of trees, rice, cattle and logging
trucks.



We drove through Fort Lewis before crossing into Oklahoma where we saw more
rolling hills, cattle and lots of wild flowers in the median along the
interstate.



In Henryetta we went to the Pig Palace for dinner. Huge buffet with lots of
goodies but had a simple BLT sandwich to finish off the day.


--
Sandi in New Westminster B.C.
Queen of the Travelogues
www.shh.apparitiondesigns.com

I really enjoyed your travelogue and your website. Thanks for posting!

Wow! An antique (or almost) quilt for $20!!!! :O
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

AKA Dame Sandy, Minister of Education

Thanks, but there is still a bit more to come. Gotta get to Salt Lake City
and home.

Watch for the next instalment later today.

Glad you enjoyed the website also.

--
Sandi in New Westminster B.C.
Queen of the Travelogues
www.shh.apparitiondesigns.com
"Idahoqltr" wrote in message
oups.com...


I really enjoyed your travelogue and your website. Thanks for posting!

I forgot to mention that it is about 63" x 84", an interesting size. She
put some half block along one side and the top/bottom to get the dimension.
the blocks measure out to about 15" with 3" sashing. She used pink/purple
corduroy in the centre of the blocks and for the corner stones.

I plan on taking pictures and putting them on my website.
--
Sandi in New Westminster B.C.
Queen of the Travelogues
www.shh.apparitiondesigns.com
"Sandy Foster" wrote in message
...
Wow! An antique (or almost) quilt for $20!!!! :O
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

AKA Dame Sandy, Minister of Education