Paducah Party and Pajama Projects

Hello Peeps!

We are back from Paducah, full of quilts and fabric and maybe a few tortilla chips.

First of all, I have to report on the flooding cause it was big news. Paducah, Kentucky is situated right on the Ohio River, and had a huge flood in 1937, after which they built a flood wall to protect the city.

This exciting bit of photo journalism by Moi, features me standing in a parking lot, looking at Water Street (now closed for public safety) and the flood wall, with scary big river behind it. The scaffolding-like structure in the middle is one of the gates that was installed last week because of the rising river. There are many openings in the flood wall --47 total, I believe--that normally you can walk or drive through to see the beautiful river. When the river is threatening to flood the town, they install the gates in the openings. This is the second time since the 1950s that the city engineers have had to install the gates.

Here is a close up of one of the bigger gates, complete with all kinds of valves and pressurized thingies. I took this photo on the first day, pre-seepage.

Here is one of the smaller gates where we first noticed the seepage. We read that seepage is normal and should be expected. I totally get that. It is, however, kind of creepy. Especially when you know there is a big flood over on the other side of that wall and you can't see it, but you know it's there, and the seepage is the proof.

And this is one of the bigger gates right at the very front of downtown, where the seepage was getting a little more alarming by the last day. (Saturday, April 30th). However, that seepage is NOTHING compared to the video that my sister sent me this morning. When we were there last weekend, the river was predicted to crest at 53.3 feet, (if there was no flood wall, that would equate to about 3 feet of water in the downtown area), and that was supposed to happen on Tuesday, May 3rd. But now with additional rain, the river is predicted to crest at 58 feet tomorrow.

I will breath a big sigh of relief when the river crests and the flood wall holds and things get back to normal. I love that little city of Paducah. I am sure that people of Paducah as well as many more communities (Cairo, Illinois) along the Ohio River would appreciate prayers being directed their way.

Ok, on to sunnier portions of the program.

Here we are, me, my sister and my mom, in front of one of the other Architectural Marvels of Paducah, the Bubble. It does have an official name like the "Pavilion" or something like that, but we just call it the Bubble because that's what it is, and judging from conversation around us, we are not the only ones. I have also heard: Marshmallow, and Bubble Building, and Moon Bounce. It is some kind of plastic, pressurized building that they erected last year when they lost one of their main buildings that housed quilts and vendors. It is a bit creepy in and of itself, but add to the fact that you are in a pressured plastic bubble building just feet from a flood wall holding back a big scary river, and well, it was an adventure. Apparently I will brave quite a bit for the sake of quilts.

Here is a photo of my favorite sister. Isn't she cute! I have mentioned before that she is Milliner Extraordinaire. She is wearing one of her couture creations. She wears her hats often, as a hatmaker should, but this day happened to be the day of the Royal Wedding, and she was stopped often by people so pleased that she dressed up for the wedding. After about the 18th time this happened, she stopped trying to explain that she makes hats, and she regularly wears her own hats, and she just nodded and smiled sweetly.

Ok, onward to the fabric portion of the commentary:

Last year I started a tradition of buying each kid a novelty fabric that I thought they would like, for the purpose of sewing pajama shorts. Here is my selection for Ethan, above (doggies, kitties, spooky, he is all over it!)

From top to bottom:

Basicgrey, Max and Whiskers, for Moda (you have to see this up close it is darling!)

Timeless Treasures Dog c7143

Boo! Kitty by Alexander Henry

Next selection, for my doggy lover, Molly:

Anna Griffin, Fifi and Fido Collection, (so sweet!)

Hush Puppies by Alexander Henry --hilarious

Again with the BasicGrey as above, this time with a brown background.

And for Sophie:

Timeless Treasures Village C7158 (not so much her girly color choice but please note the cow)

Hello Kitty from David Textiles

And the pink one at the bottom--I couldn't have planned a better fabric if I had been Queen of the Universe: Hello Kitty with cow. Also from David Textiles. She almost died.

I hope I have given you enough info here in case you see a must-have for yourself. All of the fabrics were purchased at Hancock's of Paducah with the exception of the 2 Hello Kitty fabrics which I found at the Graphic Impressions booth.

These are photos of the pj shorts from last year. Sleep shorts for the boy details: Forest Fun fabric by Amy Schimler for Robert Kaufman. It is a few years old but I think you might still nab some on etsy. Pattern is Simplicity 2771.

The girls' shorts don't have a pattern, just an old pair of shorts that I cut up. The fabrics are sweet: the pink Girl Scout cookie fabric is from Robert Kaufman --still available, and the Hedgehog fabric by Michael Miller is also still available.

*One note of caution: kids in cute pj shorts might cause excess cuddling, which can lead to excess school tardiness. I'm not saying that you're going to receive an official letter from the school principal telling you (The Mom) to get your butt out of (their) bed and get those kids to school on time, or anything. But you might.