Shipshewana Quilt Festival

I'm "working" out of town for a few days as a guest speaker in Shipshewana, Indiana. You are probably thinking "yea right, tough gig", but I really do have to work tomorrow. I'm teaching 4 sessions of Schoolhouse here at the Quilt Festival. Normally I would also have a booth for this 4 day event, and would be in the booth when I wasn't teaching and wouldn't have time to enjoy the event. That wasn't in the cards for this trip. So here I am "stuck" in a quaint Amish town filled with quilt shops and quilters on a beautiful summer day.... what is a girl to do? .....SHOP!!!

I had great fun today! It took a bit more than 6 hours to get here, but that included a stop at Checker Distributors, our wholesale suppliers warehouse to pick up a few goodies. Checker makes the Creative Grid rulers that I love and it would be a shame to drive right by their Ohio warehouse and not stop in to see what was new. They are conveniently located 1 tank of gas from home and they have a clean bathroom so I stopped by, got gas, and made a quick trip through the warehouse..... and spent a little over $500! It would have been cheaper to pee at the rest stop - but not as much fun!

It was a little after 3pm when I checked in to the Festival registration and received my packet. It included admission to the quilt show, vendor mall and shop hop passport. The quilt show was in the same building so I went right there. WOW!!! The show was wonderful! Naturally I had left my camera in the car, but I couldn't resist snapping a few photos with my phone. When I realize I had taken almost a dozen photos in just the first aisle, I decided to just enjoy the show and take the good camera when I go back tomorrow morning.

After enjoying the show I decided to do a little shop hopping. I have to say that it was great fun to be on the other side of the shop hop counter.

I headed straight for Yoder's, the Amish department store that is hosting this event. The owners are lovely people that are doing a fabulous job with the event as well as having a great store.

I snapped this photo in the middle of their fabric department (there are also shoes, food, housewares and a dozen other departments in the building). I know it is hard to see, but the crowd of people in the distance are all in line waiting to have their books autographed and a photo taken with Eleanor Burns. The place was packed and even though I have a 5000 square foot building full of fabric in Pennsylvania, I managed to find 2 pieces of rayon batik that just had to come home with me.

My next stop was a short trip away (it is within walking distance!)to Lolly's Fabrics inside the Davis Mercantile. I was lusting after their beautiful Amish made fixtures and displays when I turned the corner and look what I found! My BeJeweled Table Runner!

It is a great looking sample, as were all of the samples in the shop. This Indiana Amish community has lots of displays, and Lolly's even has another storefront in the mercantile featuring finished quilts and wall hangings. I thought they were reasonably priced, especially for hand quilting.

I still had a bit of time left before the stores closed for the evening so I stopped by Home Spun Treasures in LaGrange on the way to my hotel. It is a small shop with a limited amount of fabric, but look what was on display! - My Reversible Table Runner! I really felt good to see my patterns included in the samples of these top notch shops.

The staff at Home Spun Treasures was very excited about tomorrow's event. They are getting up very early in the morning to hang clothesline around the courthouse and display their donation of 1000 pillowcases for the pillowcase challenge! ONE THOUSAND PILLOWCASES! That is something to be proud of! I hope I have the chance to see the display before my class. I also want to stop by the quilt show again and possibly squeeze in a few more shops .... so many shops, so little time.