Bus Trip -- Shipshewana

On Tuesday morning I was up bright and early (5 am) to go on a bus trip to Shipshewana, Indiana for the day. The United Airlines Mainliner Club has been sponsoring this trip for a lot of years and was told on Tuesday, I am always the first to sign up for it! There is the draw of 2 of the neatest fabric stores!! Actually the rest of the bus goes for the biggest flea market around. It is a 2 day affair and is held every week. There used to be a lot of antique dealers a long time ago, but as always times change and now there are a lot of dealers that sell the latest things!! There are also vendors of produce, and flowers, and baked goods. The food on the grounds is fabulous and reasonable. This is in Amish Country, so you know the food is great.

As I said I go for the fabric. I first head to "Yoder's" Department store. There is groceries, hardware, clothing, shoes, and of course "FABRIC". They carry several great lines and a variety of other fabrics. One young lady came in to purchase a veil for her wedding. I found fabric for the borders and backing for my Farmer's Wife quilt, plus a few other items.


After I have walked through all the fabric I walk to the "downtown" of Shipshewana. It is only a couple of blocks away. There is a Quilt Festival June 23 - 26, and Eleanor Burns is going to be the guest speaker! There will be workshops, and a show with vendors, a Shop Hop and I want to go!!! It all sounds like so much fun. I may be too late to get to see Eleanor, but may be able to attend the show and go on the shop hop. I found out the shop hop theme is "baskets", my favorites.

Anyway, I was going into town to check out my other favorite shop, "Lolly's". They are in the Davis Merchantile building. Several years ago the original Davis Merchantile burnt to the ground. It was formerly a hotel and had been converted to a lot of cute shop, one of them being "Lolly's". The merchantile was rebuilt and now "Lolly's" has even more space and fabric. Their batik line is incredible.


Here is just a little of the 30's fabric. There is Jo Morton, other Civil War fabric, Kansas Trouble, the Japanese fabrics are beautiful. Lots of layer cakes, charm packs and of course fat quarters. Everyone is very helpful. You can go on fabric overload! It is a great place to visit. Needless to say I just had to have a few more pieces to add to my stash. Seems to me I am supposed to be getting rid of it!! I just replaced a few items.

This is one of the displays in the Merchantile Building. There are quilts all around. The inspiration is endless!

Then I walked to "Rebecca Haarner's" shop. There are old quilts on display and for sale. This shop is tiny and full of surprises. I found lots I would like, but could not afford this time. She had this cute bed with layers of antique quilts.

On the way back to the bus I passed this cute display of a "Flower Bed". My friend Jo and I had been talking about this very thing on Monday.

We all had to be on the bus and ready to leave by 3:45 to go to dinner at the Das Dutchman. We have the most incredible family style chicken dinner. Everything is homemade. Bread, potatoes, noodles, stuffing and of course chicken. The pies are made fresh daily, and we all traded to get the piece we wanted. After the meal is done we had about 45 minutes to head for the bakery and stock up on pies, bread, salad dressing, noodles. all in remembrance of our wonderful dinner. By 6:00 we are back on the bus and on our way to the reservation center at O'Hare Airport. The noise level on the bus going home is quiet. It was another wonderful day shopping!!!!

Here are my klosjes from last week. I have 124 and already have 10 more I did on the bus to Shipshewana! I did start to put 4 together at a time to see how my sewing is matching up. Last week I cut a lot of fabric for hexies and into strips and more klosjes. I am ready for a lot of hand sewing!

Untill next time, Happy Quilting!!!