Sunday, July 18, 2010

Blessed Are The Men Who Shop At The Quilt Stores With Their Wives.

Hubby and I traveled over to the Ohio Amish area on Thursday to explore the area. It’s only a 3 hour or so drive away but there’s enough to do in the area so we decided to spend a few days there.

We’ve been there before so we knew what shops were the good ones to visit and which ones are just commerical sight-seeing types of shops.

Now, I’ve always claimed my husband as a “keeper” but really how amazing is it that he’s willing to go into quilt shops and fabric shops with me and not complain? 

He even stopped the car at the shops without me asking!

100_4199 Anyway, we explored the areas of Berlin, Sugarcreek, Mt Hope, Charm and Walnut Creek and had a wonderful, relaxing time.

Since we got up super early the next morning, way before any shops were opened, we took that time to do what we love to do the best .. visit the Amish farms . 

To do that, you have to get a good map of the area that shows all of the little roads… our gps would probably do it just as well, but we preferred the old-fashioned, look-on-a-map way.

The best way to see what Amish living is like is to get away from the main roads.  Get on the small country roads.  That’s where we always find the most interesting things.

The Amish are very friendly people so even though we are the only car on the road with horse and buggies in front and behind us, we are still welcomed with big friendly waves from every person we see along the way.

100_4197 On the back roads, a lot of the farms are right along the road so we see lots of animals up close ….

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These pictures were taken right out of my car window. 

100_4217100_4222 The best part though is just seeing the farms.  A lot of the farms had little signs out by the road that let us know what they made and sold.

100_4215 I wanted to see what a Wren house was so we drove down to this farm …

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100_4247 Here’e the cute little wren birdhouse that I bought from them.

Such nice people and so so friendly .. I wish I could’ve bought a clothes dryer from them, which is a large wooden rack that stretches out for drying clothes on, but it was much too big for me to use anywhere. 

Along our way through the country roads, we started noticing these large bird houses at just about every single farm …

100_4200 They were like big apartment complexes for birds.

So my mission became to take pictures of all the birdhouses AND to try to find someone who had them for sale so that we could take one home!

100_4201 The farmer that sold us the little wren house told us that these are purple martin birdhouses.  He told us to travel up the road a ways and we should see a sign in front of the farm that makes these.

So more pictures ….

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These are Gourds that are used for the birdhouses!

But we saw no signs that would indicate that they were for sale, anywhere.

We finally stopped at a farm in Charm, Ohio and talked to a super friendly lady who was standing right out by her birdhouse. 

She explained that pretty much everyone made the birdhouses themselves, for their own use, but she did know of a few people that made them for the public to purchase. Her and her husband gave us general directions to find the craftsman who makes them.  She even offered to have her husband make one for us but I explained that we didn’t live in the area and was hoping to purchase one to take home today.

Hubby being the sensible, thinking one, told me that even if we did find one. they’re so big, it probably wouldn’t fit in the car anyway.

So we gave up our search and decided to get one on the next visit and take the pick-up truck with us!

So for the rest of the day, we shopped at the little stores and I took more pictures from my car window to remind us of the life of the Amish.

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100_4209 It’s nice to get away but it’s always nice to come back home too!

I will be continuing the rest of the Christmas in July celebration tomorrow.  I’ll have all of my Christmas patterns discounted and I will be offering very special prices for the wool kits to go with them too so be sure to visit my blog tomorrow.

Happy Day everyone!

9 comments:

Linda said...

Wonderful photos. When I plan a trip to Ohio, I am going to contact you for advice! Your husband definitely lives up to his billing! Thanks for sharing your trip!

Terry said...

Isn't Amish country wonderful! We love the back roads too. And the little kids are so cute! Glad you had a good trip! :0)

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Oh My Goodness,
I so enjoyed my trip along. All the yards are so beautifully manicured and the flowers just gorgeous throughout. I loved the birdhouse made from gourds, that was quite unusual, but I am sure the birds love it, no air holes, safe and secure. Apartment living at its finest.

I love the Amish country and had such fun driving through the PA area. Such simple, pure beautiful lives they live. Thank you for sharing this morning.

Your husband is such a sweet dear to drive you around and visit all the quilting stores. Mine would do the same for me.

Have a gorgeous Sunday sweet friend. Country hugs, Sherry

Pat said...

I love the Amish area of PA, so I really enjoyed seeing your photos. We try to go on back roads, too.....such a wonderful way to experience their culture!

Mosaic Magpie said...

My Jingle Bells Shelf Pillow arrived yesterday! I forgot to check the mail. I went out today to find a lovely surprise! That little pillow is as sweet as it can be. I LOVE IT! I will post pictures on my blog tomorrow no camera here today. Do you think it's too early to decorate for Christmas?
Debbie

Kim said...

great trip thanks for the pictures......I've priced some of the local purple martin houses.......300.00 dollars!
they are made with little apts inside so make sure you buy one that opens for cleaning.
The wren house is too cute...I hope you get some wrens real soon.

Happy Sewing

Sandi Linn Andersen said...

Lovely post and what a lovely day you had! So glad you shared it with us! I loved that photo of all the clothes on the line!! Your little wren house is very cute. And you are right, it is very nice of your hubby to willingly go along to quilt shops. :-)

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Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you had a nice exciting vacation--visiting THE AMISH! Your life is as boring as mine. I tried all weekend to think of some evil thing to do to your house while you were gone.

I wanted to flock you, but too much money to far from payday.
I was going to spray paint a welcome sign in your yard (thinking that you could mow it away when you got home) but Mark just looked at me funny, when I mentioned it and said "that's all you can think of?".
I knew it was goiong to rain so I thought TP'ing wouldn't work.

I was going to saran wrap Jimmy's truck, but I didn't want to punish Jimmy, (just you).

I was going to short sheet all the beds, but didn't want to scare Rachel.

So I power walked in my swimming pool and thought evil, thoughts, but didn't come up with any actions!

I'm happy that you got away for a few days of quality time with the hubby.

casserol Carol aka do-do