One of my stops was at Smucker's Goard Farm in Kinzers, a tiny bit northeast of Intercourse and southeast of Blue Ball. Run by an Amish family, there were literally thousands and thousands of gourds, most in their natural state, many painted, and all for sale. They also sold lacquer, paints, tools, and canned preserves and pickles. The oh-so-nice female proprieter and her three-year old daughter waited on me. Although the child only speaks Pennsylvania Dutch, her mother told me that she's heard enough English that she understands a lot and will continue to learn English as her second language. She has two daughters that are teachers in one room schoolhouses, where they only teach English. I purchased three gourds that were cut like bowls (for a buck apiece), some spray-on lacquer, and a jar of kosher dill pickles. Always closed on Sunday, they're open the rest of the week from 8 to 5; except from Nov. 1 to Mar. 1 when they're also closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I'll be back!
What was I looking for? Yellows to back my "Few of My Favorite Things" rag quilt, fat quarters for the fronts of the same quilt, Christmas fabrics for the Advent Calendar Quilt that Dede and I are going to make next week.....
First stop: Stitch & Craft in Manheim, PA. Unimpressive selection of fabrics, and the proprieters - 3 Menonite women - were way out back, unseen and unheard, until I went looking for them. I did purchase a half yard of insulite batting to make a few potholders with Ella before I leave. $2.39
Stop #2: Weaver's Dry Good in Lititz. The front of the shop was full of cutesy country - style gifts with lots of wooden signs with fun sayings. Tons and tons of novelty fabrics a lot of lines of fabric that were noted with the fabric line. I was a little disconcerted upon checking out - as I'd been walking around the shop browsing, I heard the proprietor telling another woman she would cut fat quarters for an extra $ .25. Seemed reasonable. When I got to the countere and asked her to cut two of my bolts into fat quarters, she told me they don't cut fat quarters. hmmmmmm. Behind me was an entire wall of fat quarters for sale. Wonder where they came from? This did not give any extra points to an otherwise very nice quilt shop. This one, too, is run by Mennonite women.
Purchased: 3/8 yd. shops novelty fabric ("My Hometown")
3/8 yd. postcard novelty fabric ("Home Away from Home")
5/8 yd. tiny yellow flowers from Little House on the Prairie collection
5/8 yd. of another yellow fabric ("Adalee's Garden") $18.98
Stop #3: Family Farm Fabrics in East Earl (possibly in Blue Ball). Very likable shop. Nice prices, large amount of up-to-date fabrics at reasonable prices, very personable young woman at the counter (Mennonite again, cool!) A little bit of everything.
Purchased: 3/8 yd. of daisies in canning jars with the words "laugh - live - love"
5/8 yd. yellow (w/tiny bit of orange) geometry pattern
fat quarter: watermelon seeds
fate quarter: jumbo shrimp on black
Moda Mini-charm pack: Prairie $18.13
Stop #4: Cedar Lane Dry Goods in New Holland. This was a shop-for-all-your-needs Amish/Mennonite type shop, where you could purchase anything to make clothing from snaps and hooks to polyester fabric. They also had a nice selection of fabrics. The shop itself is the large front part of a house set back quite aways from the street, so I had a hard time finding it.
Purchased: fat quarter: thread, buttons, and tape measures on black
fat quarter: tiny chickadee fabric that I used on Brendan's quilt and want for mine
correction tape (I told you they had everything!) $5.82
Since one of the biggest things I was after today was Christmas fabric to make my Advent calendar and I hadn't been thrilled with the fabrics I'd seen so far, I decided to go the the Log Cabin Quilt Shop in Bird-in-Hand because I remembered seeing a large assortment there. So that's where I headed.
Stop #5: Log Cabin Quilt Shop in Bird-in-Hand. (One of my favorite quilt shops. I wrote a Yelp review after I left.) This shop is part handmade gifts made by local artisans; part fabric shop; and part charm, mini charm, strip (etc.) warehouse. Lots of woolie stuff here, too. Always pleasant personel. Really do like this place.
Purchased: 3/8 yd. "Quilting Treasures" fabric
5/8 yd. Yellow hexies from Timeless Treasures collection
Moda "candies" (2/5 in. squares) "The Potting Shed
Precut 3.5 x 5 inch barn fabric
10 postcards
Fat quarter - purple and black "Amish Fat Quarter"
Pattern: Village by Jumble/Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. (houses made from charms)
Mini-quilt (mug mat) Nine patch with tiny nine patches
3 Bobbin Buddies $39.87
Still unhappy about not getting my Christmas fabric, I backtracked 4 miles to the Old Country Store in Intercourse for my last quilt shop stop. I did find the fabric I wanted, but came out feeling a bit unhappy....the pattern called for cuts of 1/8 yd, 2/3 yards, etc. and they'll only cut quarter yards. That means purchasing more fabric than needed. What a racket! They seem pretty tight-wadded in there, and for the second time I got a sort-of-grumpy person to cut my fabric.
Purchased: 4 pieces of fabric for advent calendar:
3/4 yd. beige with red berries and green leaves,
1 3/4 yd. cranberry with holly and berries,
1/2 yd. words (peace, love, joy) on dark cream, and
1/2 yd. metallic gold sprigs on dark cream
3/4 yd. yellow with white lace
1/4 yd. small colorful birds
small pop-up refill for "fat quarter pop up"
velcro pocket-purse with safety pin atop
red Tovolo scoop n' strainer from the kitchen part of the store - for my own kitchen! $61.08
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