Paducah and Susan Quicksall

Last week was full of fun and excitement!  The week started with a trip to the AQS Show in Paducah, KY.  The show was quite a bit different from previous years due to flooding.  AQS did an outstanding job of last-minute logistics in order to pull everything off.  I was amazed at how smoothly everything went!  I thought parking would be a nightmare, but other than the crowds being a little thicker than usual in some of the vendor locations, I think it went rather well.  It seems like it took a lot less time to see everything than usual.

I returned home from Paducah a day early after giving up my room to some friends whose hotel had closed due to flooding.  It worked out well for me in spite of the fact that I missed a chance to have a second dinner at Flamingo Row and instead ended up with Hamburger Helper since I needed to be at Nola's Friday afternoon for my workshop with Susan Quicksall.

The workshop was wonderful! Susan is such an incredible artist. Her patterns are gorgeous, and sitting in her class you are tempted to buy one of each...if only I had time to do them all!  Below is a sneak peek at the rug she is currently working on.  It's amazing!

I ended up pulling out a rug I started in class with her the last time she was here (five years ago - yikes!) and was very happy I did.  It became obvious as I went through the materials I had packed away with that project that I must have left that workshop without much of a plan.  I was able to really focus on the color planning this time aroung and have a good idea where I am headed now. 

That being said, I was having trouble following the color map on Saturday night and ended up making a mistake.  The dark teal behind the red-orange flower is suposed to be red.  I pulled it out last night and replaced it with the correct color, but now the flower looks like it needs to be a different color even though it is outlined.  I will probably pull out the petals and make them some type of blue.  I think it will work better with the other flower in the long run.  It started out as gold and ended up red, and I hate having two red flowers so close together.  I'm setting aside my Antique Floral for a while to focus on this one - I would like to finish it up as quick as possible while I am in the groove. We'll see how fast it goes!