Shipshewana Quilt Festival

Last week I had the most inspiring week in Shipshewana, Indiana at their 4th Annual Quilt Festival with my very, dear friend Jennifer Henry.  The featured speaker was Kaye England and wow-wow- wow, were we in for an extraordinary treat!

When I walked into our room at Essenhaus Inn I definitely gasped!  When Jenn made our reservation back in January, this was the last available room.  Our room was breath-takingly beautiful.  We could not have been more surprised and pleased.  We had a comfy little red love-seat and table to enjoy looking at our end of day treasures.  We also had a desk to write notes to our families and a mini refrig to keep water bottles and Hershey bars cold for the next day.  They served a wonderful, filling breakfast each morning.


Our room with a view.

This was the view from our sweet balcony

On Wednesday we went to the Blue Gate Restaurant and Theater (a tasty eatery) to hear Kaye England.  The theater was packed with excited ladies, ohh-ing and ahh-ing over the quilts on the stage.  Now, I have been sewing and quilting for 20 years (taught for 16 years) and felt very secure in my ability to piece and sew.  I believe you only need a few good tools and determination to pursue precision piecing to have a quilt worth quilting.  Kaye taught me more in two days than I have learned in 20 years, I'm so deeply grateful for the lessons learned and demonstrated!  Kaye is not only a good speaker, but an excellent communicator and teacher.  She wove humor in her teaching and had us belly laughing at our perceptions in sewing - pre-wash or not, templates or specialty rulers, cut by height or width, cut left or right of the line, fun or frustrating.  She is a marvellous story-teller, sharing the purposes of her quilts and how they were born on her design pad.  I love it that she starts on graph paper just like me.  She is an amazing technical piecemaker and she is more than willing to share her skills so that we can all have more time to sew and find it rewarding, not frustrating.  She has exceptionally accurate rulers, look for her "Nifty Notions ruler's".  I held up a few of mine to compare with her's and sure enough, my trusty lines are slightly crooked - no wonder I spend time squaring those blocks...not any more!

Here are some of her quilts...

The fabric panels over the screens were Kaye's new release!  A beautiful bold large scale print!

I love her "76 Clam-bones"! I had to buy this pattern!

I have done this block many different ways, but I love these patriotic stars on point!

Jenn and I strolled through Yoder's fabric area and The Cotton Corner quilt shop in the afternoon.  These were both delightful shops for inspiration.  It's a little piece of heaven to be in the company of Quilter's!!  I wish I lived closer to them, because I would love to join the ladies for their Civil War block of the month classes. 

On Thursday we had the privilege of learning more from Kaye at two more sessions and made it around to visit some of the shops on the Shop Hop.  We met some delightful shop owners who were eager to welcome so many ladies and patiently cut fabric for us.  I fell in love with a Block of the Month pattern at Caroline's Cottage Cotton's in Rome City, Indiana, called "Patriot's in Petticoats" by Denise Lipscomb.  Caroline had 6 blocks on display and I was stunned by the rich colors and interesting piecework - they were on point too!  I must have stood there for about 10 minutes, soaking up every detail.  The piecemaker, I'm sure it was Caroline, was to be admired!  She looked over her shoulder and said she was accepting new members and would gladly ship blocks if I was interested.  I had no idea you could participate by mail!  I told her I would think carefully on that proposal.
Friday we spent the day at the Vendor Mall and Hudson Museum.  We saw more quilts that we loved.  There were 3 Clam-bone quilt's from Kaye's pattern.  They were displayed nicely and Quilt Fairy's were eager to assist curious eye's.  The vendor's had many enticing displays.  Jennifer and I had spent so much on Kaye's rulers, video's and fabric, that we were almost shopped out, but refusing to drop out!  We bought a ruler stand to hang in our Studio's from a delightful owner of BunnyHop Woodworking.  His phone number is 574.223.6987,  If you need one, I would highly recommend you call him - very reasonable! 

Afterwards, we leisurely strolled through the Hudson Automotive Museum where Kaye had about 30 of her own antique quilts draped over the cars.  This was another treat!  One of the employees shared some of the history behind the cars and this made it more personable.  We both wished our husbands could see them.

Jenn and I had the afternoon to enjoy, so we made one more trip to Lolly's Fabric at Davis Mercantile and then visited a few shops outside Shipshewana.  It was a perfect day!

On our last day we took pictures of the Quilt Gardens and then headed for the beach at South Haven, Michigan.  If there is a beach near by, I'll do my best to dig my toes in the sand.  Here are a few pictures of the Quilt Gardens and some roses I couldn't resist.

Menno-Hoff in Shipshewana

Menno-Hof had a small irresistible Rose Garden.

Weaver Furniture

Essenhaus Inn

This quilt made me especially smile.... This Double Wedding Ring mural was on the Quilt Shop at Essenhaus Inn.  It's my favorite pattern that I have taught to hundred's of students in Pennsylvania.  I would love to have this on my home, but I have a wall hanging in my Quilt Studio. 

This mural was on a barn at Bonneyville Mill Park.  The gardens across the street were beautiful.

Greencroft Community

The beach was only an hour and a half away!  I brought my two favorite beach chairs so we could sit on the beach, dig our toes into the sand and look through our books and patterns.  What a perfect way to end the week!  The water was a frigid 67 degrees, but we were ecstatic!  We were digging our toes into the sand with glee and sharing endless possibilities for future quilts.  Jenn is my dearest friend and we could not have had a more perfect week together in Shipshewana. 

Jenn and I have known each other for 30 years.  When our children were young, we used to ask ourselves "Do you ever think we could go on a week long Quilt trip together?"  Our week in Shipshewana was a dream come true.  We have our room booked for next year! 

Lastly, I called Caroline this week.  She was delighted to sign me up for the Block of the Month, Patriots in Petticoats.  I can't wait for my package to arrive!!

I hope you enjoyed our trip to Indiana and thanks for stopping by.

Elaine

Chipper Piecemaker