The Grand Tour - Part One

 In October 2014 I was lucky enough to to fulfill a big dream.

My aunt and I travelled to the U.S. on the quiltiest of holidays.

First stop on our itinerary was Paducah, Kentucky.

Paducah is known for its quilt festival in Spring but for the rest of the year it doesn't get a lot of tourists. When we told people we were from Australia we usually got the response of "what the heck are you doing in Paducah?!?!?!"

Pretty buildings like this downtown are a good start.

The National Quilt Museum was our ultimate destination.

We got to see an amazing collection of quilts but of course couldn't take pictures inside. 

The second reason of going to Paducah and if I'm honest, one of things I was most looking forward to on the whole trip was visiting the Hancocks of Paducah fabric shop.

It was amazing.

Huge.

Almost overwhelming. 

I've shopped online with Hancocks many times and it was great to finally see the place in person.

I was somewhat restrained and in hindsight, shouldn't have been but luggage weight was always on our minds.   

From Paducah we flew to Washington DC where we played tourist...

and I spent some pocket money at a very cool yarn store. 

We walked and walked around the city, enjoying the sights - so many landmarks and buildings that we've seen in movies and TV shows.

From DC we caught a train to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, an area heavily populated by the Amish.

It took me a while to realise that what was missing was the power lines.

As you can see, it's not hard to buy a quilt in Lancaster.

We spent the day shopping in the towns of 'Bird in Hand' and 'Intercourse' and then an  at a farm, having dinner with an Amish family.

Next up, Houston....

Abbe