When ten hours and 500 miles separates friends, what makes sense? Meet half way. Andrea and I did just that when we met this past Saturday in Lancaster County, PA.
"Home" for us was the Walnut Inn Bed and Breakfast; Beth, our warm, wonderful, and soulful Innkeeper. Guess what? She sews. It was absolutely NO PROBLEM for Andrea and me to pull out machines out Monday night and whip up four new pillows for her couch Trust me. It needed COLOR.
Tuesday we headed over to Intercourse for the true tourist trap: Kitchen Kettle Village. From there we went to Weaver's Dry Goods in Denver.
"It's thirty minutes away," navigator Andrea advised.
"That's fine, what else are we going to do?" said I as I waited for the glow plug on the TDI to turn off.
Monday we had decided that Weaver's would be THE PLACE TO GO when we saw a yard stick in Hannah's Quilts, a GENUINE, AUTHENTIC Amish quilt shop.
It was definitely authentic. "Hannah" greeted us cordially. She was dressed in traditional Amish garb and the shop was part of the home. There were other customers shopping but Hannah took the time to go through each of the hanging quilts and show us each one. She explained that one woman quilts each quilt because the stitches would be different if many women worked on the same quilt. While she was off tending to the other customers we investigated the work area. It looked genuine and authentic (translation like my sewing space). Hannah outlines the design on the quilt and then the quilt goes off to the quilter. Once completed, the quilt comes back to the shop for binding. She had a Juki Industrial machine in one corner, by the window. I looked for the "tail" (electrical cord) but instead found hoses and compressor connections. Hannah confirmed that the power source was, indeed, compressed air.
When we arrived at Weaver's... more authentic Amish.
The store, though, wasn't much different from Walmart as far as I could tell. There was cheap Chinese stuff everywhere. Andrea and I thought it might be different. Sigh. We sure as heck didn't find the cool, authentic yardstick. I was bummed.
That would be disappointing. I like authentic too.
ReplyDeleteWell, we could meet in Penn Yan at Golden Lane Fabrics. Last time I was there were girls in a buckboard wagon in the parking lot. Lots of stuff the Mennonites buy along with a lot of great fabric! Glad you two had a nice time. Wonder if you hatched any machine plots.
ReplyDeleteGood Idea!
DeleteI guess very few places are immune to the influx of cheap (price and quality) Chinese imports. An air powered sewing machine? What powers the air compressor? Now I'm curious about their rules on use of gas engines and electricity.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that you are familiar with that area and I'm not, it seems silly to even say this, but I looked up Weaver's Dry Goods (Lititz; can't find a Denver anywhere near it) and it seems they were bought in 2002 by a couple who already had two other quilt stores. The yardstick is probably from the previous time. It's too bad!
ReplyDeleteYou are right. It is in Lititz. Interesting. There was fabric there but mostly it reminded me of a Walmart.
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