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