A Bryerpatch visit in Paducah

Carol Bryer Fallert, a well-known quilt artist, has her Bryerpatch Studio open in Paducah during Quilt Week, and it's always a treat to visit there. The building was designed to match the surrounding Lower Town Arts District and provides space downstairs for a teaching studio with a retail area. Upstairs is Carol's home and personal studio.

Look for the large brick house with a white porch on the front...here is the backyard! When the weather is good, it's wonderful to walk around Paducah, especially this neighborhood with the old houses and so many artist studios.

During the quilt show, Carol has a selection of her fabrics for sale in the teaching studio.
Benartex has printed yardage inspired by Carol's hand dyed fabrics, with vibrant colors that range through several values or different hues from one selvedge to the other. It's a great way to get a lot of color in just one piece! In fact, I liked the Rainbow Gradient so much last year, my guild picked it for one of the QuiltFest Challenge fabrics!

Color, color everywhere!  Who wouldn't enjoy this little bench...especially along with the quilt on the wall!

The studio is decorated with Carol's quilts. What fun to be able to get up close and see her award-winning stiching! And not just her own quilts...there was also a show of other people's work, in cluding Ann Fahl's quilts from her book "A Black and White Tale" about Oreo the cat.
But our great treat this year was to take the upstairs tour of Carol's house!
I did not feel comfortable about taking pictures of her to-die-for 2-story living room, with the ceiling painted like the sky, or her fabulous kitchen that can serve 30 people...but you can be sure I wanted to record her own studio space!

Thse blue & yellow floor tiles are as functional as the ones in the teaching studio. I learned that Carol likes to work on the floor, trimming and blocking her quilts on this carpet. You can see her in action in "Stitched! The Movie"...get the DVD! It shows Carol, Hollis Chatelaine and Randall Cook as they prepare their art quilts for the 2010 AQS show in Paducah and the IQA show in Houston.
I know what you are really wondering: What sort of stash does she have?

That's one side of the room! It does show how you can get a lot in...and with good organization, you can even find what you need!
If I had a house and studio space like this, I would want to show it off, too...but it's still very gracious of Carol (not to mention the guests she had  staying there!) to allow us to have a tour and share her beautiful home.