Unicorns and Stuff

This is what I did last Wednesday.

Amish Country

I love that I'm only about 1.5 hours from Amish Country.  Mar was visiting a few weeks ago and we spent the day there.  We bought all kinds of yummy pastries, candies and jams.  We demolished a delicious loaf of freshly made bread and were especially smitten with the peanut brittle.  We saw lots of beautiful countryside dotted with Amish homes and 'English' homes.  We saw lots of cute Amish kids doing their chores.  They were so calm and confident in what they were doing.  We smelled lots of cow manure, fires and stoves burning, and people who work hard but don't bathe often.

One of the highlights for me was to discover that there was an Amish 'fabric' shop.  We followed the verbal directions we had gotten and read all the hand-painted signs and eventually found it - a very small shop full of durable denims and other durable cloth in blacks, blues and whites.  The small thread section had only black, blue and white threads.  I found a random bolt of navy corduroy (they don't use corduroy) with about 10 yards on it.  It was only $2 a yard.  I had to get it, the whole bolt.  We'll use it for next year's smile bags.  I also bought 10 yards of muslin for only $1.75 a yard.

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I was looking for and found an upholsterer, Moses Yoder.  His work is amazing and he charges next to nothing.  We happened to be there when one of his customers was picking up some reupholstered boat seats.  The captain's seat was particularly stunning.  It was blue and off-white and had curved piecing like the 'premium pontoon' above.  It had way more pieces and piping than the 'designer series'.  I always wonder what goes through an Amish tarp maker or upholsterers mind when he works on projects for vehicles that he's never been in and maybe never even seen in action.  Once I find the 'perfect' craigslist chair, I'm totally taking it to Moses.  It will be an adventure.  I'd much rather have cheap furniture with character and a story than expensive furniture from a fancy schmancy shop.

Mar and I went to the Lawrenceburg Walmart to soak up some local color.  I squealed with delight when we came across this special parking area for buggies with a sign that read "Reserved for Horse-drawn Vehicles Only".  We saw a few Amish shoppers in the store.  Of course, we had to peak into their fairly empty carts and see what they were buying - socks, peanut butter (interesting because some of them sell home-made peanut butter), coffee, cereal.

Here's a Google satellite picture of the Lawrenceburg Walmart.  You can see the buggy parking area at the bottom of the picture in the center, at the end of Manor Drive.  It's the unpaved area surrounded by some trees.

What a fantastic day!  I loved spending the day with Mar and visiting the Amish.  I often wish I could live in an Amish household for a week or so, to get a feel for life without modern conveniences.  I'd love to hang out and quilt with the women.  By the way, they charge about $.60 per yard of thread if you want to have them hand quilt your quilt.  Just thought I'd mention that.