The 28th annual American Quilter’s Society Quilt Show and Contest finished strong this year after a lull due to flooding last year.

This year’s show drew 30,000 attendees after 27,000 attended last year who observed the beautiful quilts made from around the world and shopped national and local quilting vendors, as well as shopped through Paducah.

Sue McCarty of Roy, Utah, won the Best in Show award for the second time — she won in 2010 with a Lord of the Rings themed quilt — with her work called “Harmony Within” a tapestry-inspired Asian themed quilt with featuring a dragon, a fisherman and a pagoda. Her award came with a $20,000 prize as she decided to give up the quilt to be displayed in the National Quilt Museum as part of the contest’s guidelines.

Building with cans nourishes food pantry

Six teams with at least four members each met on Saturday for the sixth annual Can Construction event to benefit the Mayfield-Graves County Needline.

The teams used canned goods and non perishable food items to build a work of art in three hours. Items built using food items include Star Wars character R2D2 and the Golden Gate Bridge. The event raised more than 3,000 food items to be given to the food pantry.

Rescued owl returns to the wild

A great horned owl found on Christmas Eve on Interstate 24 near Cadiz has been released into the wild.

Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary founder Mary Ann Tobin climbed a ladder to a special platform built for the owl release on Thursday night and opened the cage. The owl stared out the door, then strutted onto the platform and took flight. Tobin said the owl recovered from a head injury that caused bleeding in her eye and nose. The owl also suffered the indignity of being sprayed by a skunk.