Friday, July 25, 2008

New Babies Have Arrived

This has been a busy week at the Paducah hospitals for our quilt show staff:

Wednesday, July 23: Terry Guill (director of show operations) and his wife Jill had a baby girl, Daisy Grace, at 5:41 p.m.
7 lbs. 8 oz., 20 3/4 inches long.

Friday, July 25: Kelly Meyer (registration coordinator) and her husband Chris had a baby girl, Riley Elizabeth, at 3:03 a.m.
6 lbs. 10 oz., 18 inches long

Welcome to these two beautiful little girls.

Bonnie Browning
Executive Show Director

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Last Days to Register for Nashville

The office is buzzing with activity as we get ready for the AQS Quilt Expo in Nashville, August 20 - 23, 2008. If you registered by July 9, your name badge is in the mail. Some of you only received the green name badge - please stop by the Workshop Desk inside Ryman C Exhibit Hall to pick up your plastic holder for your badge. We have been having trouble with mailing that plastic badge - it gets caught in the mailing machine. So please stop and pick up your holder and you'll be on your way. We'll have a special spot for you to do that.

Advance registration for the Nashville show ends at 3:00 p.m. on July 31. That will give us time to get the last batch of name tags ready for pickup at the show. All international badges are held for pickup at the show.

Are you excited to visit with the great group of instructors we have this year. Don't miss:
* An Evening with Billie Lauder on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
* Joe the Quilter: A Musical Quilt Show by Joe Cunningham on Thursday evening.
* Show & Tell with Eleanor Burns - do you have a quilt from one of her books to share?
* Afternoon Tea with Jodi Barrows at 2:30 on Friday.
* Dear Jane Turns 12: Anniversary Celebration with Brenda Papadakis
* End your visit to the show at the Brunch with Sue Nickels on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.

To register, go to www.AmericanQuilter.com or call Marcelle at 270-898-7903, ext. 141.

See you soon in Nashville.

Friday, July 11, 2008

AQS Quilt Expo - Nashville, August 20 - 23

AQS will hold its 8th AQS Quilt Expo at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, August 20 - 23, 2008. Registration is open online for this year's event.

We have a great lineup of instructors for Nashville and hope you will enjoy Joe Cunningham, Jodi Barrows, Billie Lauder, Eleanor Burns, and the 35 other instructors. Here is the link to register for the Nashville show:
http://www.americanquilter.com/shows_contests/nashville/2008/general_info/

Since we are doing a third show in October now, we needed to switch the dates for the Nashville Quilt Expo from August to July so we can prepare properly for both events. Unfortunately we could not get July dates at Gaylord Opryland until 2011, so we sought a different venue for the summer show.

The Knoxville Convention Center will be the site for the summer show in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Those dates are July 22 - 25, 2009. Someone wrote that they had trouble getting around in Knoxville. I have made several trips to Knoxville and have had no trouble getting to the Knoxville Convention Center where our event will be held. It is right off the I-40. We chose that site because Knoxville is located on the 2nd and 4th most traveled interstates in the country - I-40 east & west and I-75 north & south.

The Knoxville Convention Center is a beautiful facility and all of our events will be held there. Their classrooms are some of the best I have seen - large rooms, electrical in the floor for sewing machines, and good lighting. The exhibit hall is one large room where the quilt exhibits and merchant mall will be located. The lobbies of the convention center are filled with art - from quilts to tiled mosaics, paintings, and sculptures.

We hope to see you all in Nashville, August 20 - 23, 2008 and then in Knoxville, July 22 - 25, 2009 for the summer AQS Quilt Expos.

Bonnie Browning
Executive Show Director

Monday, July 7, 2008

AQS Quilt Expo - Des Moines


We have received calls from quilters asking about the water damage in Des Moines and how it will affect our Quilt Expo there, October 8 - 11. The facilities we are using had no damage and were not affected by the flood waters that flowed through much of central Iowa.

The good news is that the Iowa Events Center sits on a hill and had no flood water in the facility. All of the hotels are safe too. They did evacuate one hotel downtown but the water did not get as high as predicted so no damage was done there either.

The major flooding in Des Moines was in the Birdland subdivision on the north side of the city near a reservoir.

Lodging suggestions: We have blocked rooms in the downtown hotels so you can be close to the Iowa Events Center - the location of the quilt exhibits, merchant mall, and all of the workshops, lectures, and special events. The downtown hotels are connected to the Iowa Events Center via skywalks. Des Moines has an extensive, 4-mile skywalk system; the largest skywalk system per capita in the world! The skywalks link downtown meeting facilities, shopping, hotels, restaurants and entertainment, making it easy for you to get to the convention center, find plenty of places of eat, shop, and find a wide array of things to do. You will want to go see the beautiful capitol that sits in the heart of the city.

If you are staying for two or three nights, I suggest the Des Moines Marriott. They still have rooms for Thursday thru Saturday - full on Wednesday already. Other downtown hotels with rooms available include: Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn Downtown, and Hotel Fort Des Moines. A complete listing of the Des Moines hotels is available on the AQS Web site: http://www.americanquilter.com/documents/shows_contests/desmoines/08_desmoines_hotel.pdf . You need to call the hotel - phone numbers are on the list - to make your reservation. Be sure to tell them you are attending the AQS Quilt Expo, October 8 - 11, 2008.

We all look forward to seeing you at the show. And what a show it will be - you will see more than 800 quilts on exhibit at this event!

Bonnie Browning

Introducing the new AQS Blog - AQS Quilt News

Hello:
Quilters from around the world call our office every day with questions. This new Blog will make it easier for us to answer those questions in a timely manner and to share the latest news in the quilting world with you.

Many of you are asking about the renovations of the Executive Inn. We will be bringing you photos to show the progress of the renovation of the hotel and also of the Julian M. Carroll Convention Center. Check back regularly to see what's happening with the renovations.

Demolition has begun for the remodeling of the hotel rooms. All 400 rooms are supposed to be completed in time for the show - along with the restaurants and the Showroom. Space Coast Hospitality Management Services is now managing the hotel. Space Coast Hospitality manages more than 20 hotel properties around the country and knows how important it is to provide quality facilities and service. We will all look forward to both of these.

The Executive Inn is now accepting applications for the lottery for rooms; deadline for receipt of that Room Application and your check or money order is July 28, 2008. If you need a 2009 Room Application, go to the AQS Web site to print a copy of the form: http://www.americanquilter.com/shows_contests/paducah/2009/general_info/lodging.php .

Mark AQS Quilt News as one of your Favorites, and check back often!

http://www.americanquilter.com/


Bonnie Browning
Executive Show Director