Without a doubt, the highlight of Paducah is the National Quilt Museum. The massive wall murals along the river depicting Paducah’s history are quite a sight as well; however, the quilts are, in one word, amazing. More on that in just a moment…
Back to the murals, I didn’t photograph them this time, because I had done so during a previous visit. If you are curious to see them, check out my 2017 blog post about Paducah that includes photos of the beautiful wall murals.
In that post on Paducah, you will notice something missing: Photos of the quilts at the National Quilt Museum. At the time, no photography of any kind was permitted, even without flash. I was so disappointed, because the artistry in the exhibited quilts was unbelievable.
I was happy to learn that photography (without flash) would be permitted this time. I went crazy with my camera! Although most of the photos can be viewed in the “American Duchess River Cruise, July 2019” album on my photo sharing site, I tried to limit my selection for this post.
As you can see below, these aren’t your grandmother’s old-fashioned Colonial-era quilts that keep you warm at night. These are works of art. They are so incredible, that even the men from the riverboat who were dragged to the museum by their wives were saying, “Wow!” over and over again, as they viewed one phenomenal quilt after another. Seriously. Bruce loves this museum as much as I do!
A warning as you view these pictures: They don’t do these quilts justice. At all. There is so much detail that couldn’t possibly be picked up by any camera to match what we saw in person. These are just small pictures on a computer screen. You really have to see the real thing. If you ever have an opportunity to visit Kentucky, you must go to Paducah and see all of the exhibits at this wonderful museum. Send me a message after your visit, too.
This “quilt” is actually carved from basswood! It is on display in the conference room at the National Quilt Museum. It was created by Fraser Smith, and measures 65″ x 42″ x 4″.
One of my favorite exhibits at the museum was of miniature quilts, measuring no more than 24″ on one side. The quilts in this glass case were the smallest on exhibit, measuring just a few inches long.
Look closely at the work that went into sewing each of the flowers. What patience!
The artist’s statement of this piece: “I decided making a small quilt (14-3/4″ x 21-1/4″) would be a fun, relaxing respite from my current large quilt. How long could it possibly take? I figured a few hours work for a couple of weeks. Little did I know that this fun project would take two months of working seven days week for fourteen hours a day. It was a great accomplishment to complete this quilt, but believe me it was pure joy to get back to my usual large quilts.” ~ Shirley P. Kelly, 2006
I first saw this quilt at the museum in 2017 during our “Mighty Mississippi” cruise. It was so disappointing at the time that photography was not permitted. This time, photos were allowed without flash, so I was thrilled to be able to photograph this amazing quilt.
This is a close-up of the previous picture. So much detail!
This quilt was HUGE!
“Corona II: Solar Eclipse,” by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, measures 76″ x 94″ and is made from hand-dyed fabrics. It is machine pieced and machine quilted. It was named one of the 100 Best Quilts of the 20th Century.
“Breeze is the third quilt in my ‘Simply Sensational’ series using architectural settings to highlight each of the five senses. Touch is the only sense that involves the whole body. For this reason, I chose a rush of wind through and open window to completely surround the dog with the awareness of this sense.” ~ Rachel Wetzler
This was one of my favorites! “Port of Cassis,” by Lenore Crawford, measures 52″ x 48″. It was created from a photo that she took in the south of France at dusk.
This quilt as well as the following quilts (some are close-ups of the same quilt) were created by Danny Amazonas who started out as a professional floral designer in New York City in the 1970’s. I was mesmerized by how these quilts looked like photographs when viewed from a distance.
This was a huge mural that was several feet long and stretched across a wall.
A close-up of a fish from the previous photo.
Another close-up shows the pretty fabrics Danny Amazonas used to create his fish.
Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools... and CHOCOLATE! 