March 25, 2009 – 10:53 am
We’re back home after a great show in Ohio! Our sincerest thanks to the Holmes County Expo Center and to Gramma Fannie’s Quilt Barn (the show’s original creator) for their hospitality and support. This was the show’s 9th year – the first under our ownership – and we are already planning next years show and have some new additions in the works.
If you ever have a chance to visit Holmes County (Walnut Creek, Berlin and surrounding area) for the quilt show or any other time, you really must go. The people are delightful, the countryside is beautiful and the food is simply outstanding. Even the concession food in the Expo Center was incredible! I had the best hamburger I’ve ever eaten and the “fry pies” are worth dreaming about. It’s a deep fried, filled pie covered in glaze. Yum! Local restaurants are always busy and the food is home cooking at its finest. A couple of them we loved were Der Dutchman (you’ll love the rolls! I recommend the pot roast and chocolate chiffon pie for dessert.). At the Farmstead, the chicken noodle soup was so thick and delicious you could eat it with a fork. The Hotel Millersburg (build in 1847) was quaint, had great sandwiches and served homemade chips. They’re like no potato chips you’d ever find in a store.
Visit the area if you can, whether for a day or weekend. I actually was quite surprised that such a delightful destination was less than a 3 hour drive from my home in Pittsburgh.
Joyce
Here are some photos from the event:
This is the quilting bee quilt that was donated to a local Amish school.
These are just a few of the contest quilts.
March 21, 2009 – 11:13 am
Hello from the show floor at the Amish Country Quilt Show! This is the last day of the show and it’s been a pretty amazing 3 days. This is the first year the show is in an Expo hall (it was in the church hall in previous years) and we have more vendors and more quilts than ever before. On the display end, there’s a lace quilt, applique quilts, Japanese-themed, floral, ocean-themed, Dresden plate, double-wedding, nine-patch, trapunto and even a cowboy quilt. There are also quilts dedicated to family members, new family additions, one for a soldier lost in the war in Afghanistan and one for a Marine receiving a special award in Japan – made with love by his so-proud grandma. And these are just to name a few! There are over 170 quilts on display and each one is really more beautiful than the next.
Thursday was the scraps and notions sale and everyone was having fun going through the tables searching for items for their next quilt project. The quilt appraiser was pretty busy and I saw lots of smiling faces. The vendors are from local shops as well as other locations – one from as far away as North Dakota – and all have brought fabrics, books, notions and more with them.
I think one of the most amazing scenes has been the Amish quilting bee. The ladies have been lovingly quilting a beautiful top (donated by Gramma Fannie’s Quilt Barn) and the finished quilt will be donated to an auction supporting a local school. Show visitors are stopping by to watch or even sit down and quilt a while. I find myself stopping throughout the day to just watch from a distance and take in this picture of artistry, peace and tranquility. It has a very “centering” effect. I also admit that at the end of the first day, I pulled out my glasses to look closely at the top and am in awe of the perfect and uniform stitches. You couldn’t tell that so many different hands had done this work.
We’re hunting down my camera now and I will post a few pics as soon as I can.
Joyce
March 15, 2009 – 12:01 am
I recently returned from Hong Kong where the fabric shopping was just as great as ever–from street vendors to department stores and a few unconventional venues as well, like the shanties covered in tarps and metal sheets where cashmere awaits for about $5-8 per yard, but only for the adventurous who enter. The alleyways are filled with treasures and the Sham Shui Po district seems unending–burgeoning with trims, buttons, notions, etc. beyond your imagination.
With a group of 17 people on this year’s American Sewing Guild journey, we were always anxious at day’s end to see everyone’s goodies and find out where they were purchased in the noted district, akin to NY’s garment district. Among other things, I bought quite a bit of interfacing this trip–60 inches wide and less than $1US per yard (and yards are measured generously there).
If you’re interested in the next excursion, mark your calendar for November 30, 2010 and save your pennies in the interim. Hong Kong will be decked out for the Christmas holiday, and there are lots of special sales that time of year. To sign up for tour registration information when it’s available, go to the American Sewing Guild site and enter your e-mail address. In the interim, when someone asks you how fabric shopping is in Hong Kong, simply say ho-ho-ho (that’s Chinese for very good)!
In the middle of January, 2009 – not that many weeks ago! – we became the new owners of the Amish Country Quilt Show in Holmes County, OH. The show is now in its 9th year and is planned for March 19-21 in the town of Walnut Creek – in the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country. The area is simply breathtaking and the food is – well, it’s better than home-made!
In previous years, the show centered around the retail quilt shops in town and the hub of it all was Gramma Fannie’s Quilt Barn, the show’s original creator. Now drawing thousands of visitors, the show’s new home is inside the Holmes County Expo Center and, at the time of this writing, it had grown from the 7 exhibitors it had in previous years to 34 at last count. So what’s happening? We open Thursday morning at 10am and the big event of the morning will be quilt appraisals (at $45/quilt). Then, throughout the rest of the show, in addition to shopping we’ll have free demonstrations, an old-fashioned quilting bee and technique classes taught by Holly Anderson and Shirley Stutz. Unfortunately, we don’t have the final class information yet but are trying to get that nailed down as soon as we can.
If you enjoy looking at the creativity of others, you will love the quilt displays. The traveling Hoffman Challenge Quilts have already arrived and will be available to view throughout the show. They’ll be joined by the winning quilts from the 2008 Ohio Amish Country Quilt Shop Hop. The Shop Hop is a fabulous and fun local event and the winning quilts are incredible. We also have already received over 70 entries in our own quilt contest so far. Every single one of these quilts was made with love and a passion for the art. All of the quilts are truly priceless and we are honored that their owners trust us to share them with you.
If you live in the area or are interested in a weekend trip, I hope you’ll visit us at the Amish Country Quilt Show. And if you have any questions about the show, feel free to call us at 800-249-3154. Until then, happy quilting!
Joyce
February 22, 2009 – 1:22 am
If you haven’t tried felting yet, there are three recently released books sure to tempt you to get on with the woolly ways. C&T’s new book, A Touch of Felt, by Lynne Ferris has 22 projects to get you started, but it’s not all about felting, per se. It also includes some fun things made from purchased felt. Place mats, runners and other home decor items are fast and fun, but one of my favorite projects is an organizer made with votive candle holders that are covered and joined with appliqued felts. A pattern insert is included with this book.
If jewlery is more to your liking, check out Felt, Fabric, and Fiber Jewelry, by Sherri Haab. There are 20 fun projects to make using not only felting, but scraps of fabrics and yarns as well, plus buttons and beads. Large color photos and sketches offer step-by-step how-tos, and project photos are luscious enough to tempt. Instructions are also included for knitted and crocheted pieces.
Nuno Nouveau, by Liz Clay, takes a wonderfully different slant on felting with a technique that involves wool and woven fabrics combined. Lightweight wovens like organza and chiffon become the base for woolly art. This book concentrates on the nuno felting techniques applied to accessories and home dec pieces, and also includes information on dyeing and shibori.
So, gather up some wool fibers, read up on the techniques and start to learn a new skill.
