March 17, 2008

Great Weekend!

This weekend Hubby and I had the chance to get away. We had a wonderful time in the Shipshewana, IN area. I have wrote about a past trip there here and here. I just love this part of the country. There is a large Amish and Mennonite community here, which means quilts, fabrics and good food as far as I am concerned. I am going to take you on a little tour of some of the places we visited. The first stop was in Middlebury, a town close to Shipshewana. The store is called Gohn Bros. It is in a very old building. The floors are the original creaky wood and the ceiling is tin. Bolts of fabric are lined up alone one of the walls. Sorry about the glare on the windows. I didn't take my camera inside. I am very careful not to offend anyone by taking their photos (The Amish do not like their photos taken.) You never know what you are going to find in this store. I think they get some odds and ends bolts because there isn't a giant amount of any one type of fabric. At times they have great reproduction fabrics at great prices and sometimes they don't have any, or very few. One fabric that I found just screamed out my name. It wasn't a repro, it was a Christmas fabric that has a vintage look. It was a whole $3.00 a yard, which a little under half of the average price tag there. I think I bought 9 yards. I'm not sure what I will be doing with it, but it needed to go home with me. I found a few Civil War repro's too. I left the store with a big smile on my face. Oh yeah, another thing, if you go to this area of the country take your checkbook. Many stores do not take credit cards but they are happy to take your personal checks.
The next place I hit was in Shipshewana. It is called Yoder Fabric Dept. Store. It is a very unique place. When you first walk in the door you see a small IGA Grocery store to your immediate right. On the left side you will see the shoe department part of the the department side. I didn't think to take photos of the layout - sorry! Keep walking and you see the entrance to the department store side to the left and a hardware store to the right. In the middle of it all is benches and rocking chairs for weary husbands to wait on their wives. I don't know of any other place that has so much under one roof. While I am drooling over fabric Hubby can be shopping in the Hardware side or watching the people go by in comfort in the middle part of the store. When I walk into the store I usually take an immediate left and keep veering left to hit the fabric section. They have just tons of fabric. Their fabric prices have increased over the years, but they still average at least a $1.00 or more less then most quilt shops. Their sales people are more then helpful. I am so sorry I didn't think to take photos inside, I guess the anticipation of new fabrics to add to my stash just took over. I did find some wonderful CW fabrics and was able to find fabric for my sashing and cornerstones for my Civil War Diary quilt. I have to leave for quilt guild now, so I guess that concludes the tour for now. More photos to follow!









9 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a fun time, but no photo's of your purchases...boo hoo

Libby said...

Sounds like a great shopping day *s*

Tanya said...

What a lovely couple stores. Someday I'd like to have a chance to wander around the Amish area.

I'd like to see the fabric that called to you too!

Lea said...

Gee, You are so lucky to visit all those wonderful places!
ans Shipshewana! Oh, It's Dear Jane Janiacs mecca!*LOL*
I bet you could find tons of repro fabrics.Lucky, you!!!! *S*

YankeeQuilter said...

Vintage Christmas! Two of my favorite things! Sounds like a great weekend. Can't wait to see more photos.

Anonymous said...

We live about 20 miles away from an Amish area and it never fails, whenever I drive through it I have to be careful for horse and buggy! Some of the stuff they have is fantastic. Hope you had a great time!

Patty said...

How fun for me to see a picture of the store I have ordered from for about 15 years. My boys shoes and broadfall pants came from there when they were little and my son shopped there often when he was part of an amish community in the area.

Mama Spark said...

I went to Shpishewana lately too. Isn't it fabulous??

Anonymous said...

MomNmore says...
Just went to Shipshee with Family! I've gone there for flea market, now I can go with my non shopping family! In Shipshee, there is a new resort: Splash Universe indoor water park. Great place to leave hubby and kids to play, while I shop. After stores closed, I joined my family. The resort gives you two days of passes with just the over night stay. We got package with country breakfast. We had a blast! The resort is very pretty, water park kept all of us entertained. The breakfast and ice cream was really good. And, the resort is only 1/2 mile south (on hwy 5) from town. Next time, I want to take a buggy ride. The resort can have a buggy come and give you a ride. something like that. We've already rebooked before we left the resort. Definitely recommend this place, either room only to go shopping; or; Family Water Park Play!