Amish Quilts in Delaware

This past weekend we visited friends in Milford, Delaware.  My friend, Diane, has a friend, Nancy, a quilter who is so creative and somehow does loads of sewing in between babysitting for her grand-dog.  So on Saturday we all drove to a little Amish quilt shop, Shady Lane Selections, in Dover.  It is small, but packed with wonderful things -- not just quilty stuff, but wonderful kitchen things and just fun stuff.  I am not a recreational shopper, but this place was amazing.

The shop is lit by lots of windows and skylights and has gas lights as well.  The only concession to operating in an English (non-Amish) area is that there is electricity for a credit-card reader.  The floor space is half quilt-related.  This countertop was full of fat quarters, and when I turned around, there were just as many behind me.  The selection was beautiful.  

There were rows and rows of lovely fabrics -- you get just a glimpse of a few of them on the right side of this photo.  There were racks of gorgeous Amish quilts, all hand-made, of course.  I was a little surprised not to see any of what I think of as traditional Amish, black background with solids in bright, bold colors.  Most were fairly traditional patterns, exquisitely made.

This log cabin quilt just popped, all scrappy with such a variety of colors and prints.

This little embroidered panel was, I think, from a previous Row-by-Row.  

On the non-quilting side of the store were wonderful children's toys, some commercial (Melissa and David puzzles) and many handmade.  The doll clothes were lovely.

Some items weren't exactly Amish, but most of the clientele are "English."

 I loved the handmade signs by a local woodworker.  My favorite was the 4th one down, "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass.  it's about learning to dance in the rain."

Back home again, with recent projects completed, I've been trying to make progress on the twin-bed Otsego quilts.  Lots done, the end is (sort of) in sight.  But I can only take so much -- time to branch out to something new.  

Speaking of something new, I'm headed out to the Left Coast in a couple of days to spend a week with my new granddaughter, June.  No sewing will be done, but my heart will be is full.