Amish Country Strong

How's this for a "things that make me happy" post? Took a mini-road trip with a girlfriend last week to Amish Country, Indiana. We had a blast, driving backroads, shopping, and uh, talking! We didn't get as lucky with the dining as we had hoped but there's always next time... I'm hoping to attend a Dear Jane retreat in the fall (finally)... Have you ever been to Shipshewanna or Nappannee? Well, you should! Especially if you're a quilter. Here are some of my favorite sights...

 Middlebury & Shipshewanna

Sure did enjoy shopping at the Lolly's - upstairs and down. The boat!

One of the buildings at Das Essenhaus.

Country roads.

Found these around town. Hickory
rocking chairs - the most comfortable chair!

We stayed at the Middlebury Hampton Inn which was brand-new and really nice. It was also pretty central for getting around to different places. There was way more than you could do in a couple days which is all we had this time. We took an Amish farm tour. I thought it was going to be more of a drive through the country but it ended up being about how a dairy farm works which was fun too. (and gross)... Our guide Clarence was a total character. The day we were headed home we stopped in Nappannee. We didn't have time to take the tour @ Amish Acres but we did some shopping and spent some time at a great museum in Nappanee.  

 Nappannee

This was the first thing I saw when we pulled into town... I knew we were in the right place.

This was gorgeous. This was in the gift shop at Amish Acres.

This was the smallest of a trio. The squares are 3/8-1/2".
At the museum in Nappannee.

Really cool anniversary quilt... have often wondered if you could do something like this...

This is an antique church-fundraising quilt. The quilting on this was great.

Another great piece in the Nappannee museum.

One of the "Quilt Gardens"

What a great idea. Loved these - only saw about 6 or 7 of them...