Shipshewana - and the Lake

For those of you not familiar with Indiana, Shipshewana is the center of a large Amish community in northeastern Indiana.  To be sure, there are Amish and Mennonite families scattered throughout Indiana, Ohio and surrounding states.  But Shipshewana is the home to one of the largest weekly auctions of neat stuff that I've ever heard of.  And the Amish are known for their quilting skills.  So what better place to hold a quilt festival?

Deb, Kathy and I decided that this was the year we'd make the trip to Shipshewana.  The trip was enhanced by the invitation to visit friends who had a cabin on a lake just over the Indiana/Michigan line.  So last Thursday, we headed for points north with only a general game plan in mind.

Because this was a relatively last minute trip, we didn't register for any of the classes, events or even the Shop Hop.  But we did visit most of the Shops on the Hop - one way or another.  We made it to Shipshewana Thursday afternoon and stopped at Yoder's Department Store.  What a treat!  Fabrics all over the place!  After drooling for a few minutes, I started looking for things on my list:  Minnie Mouse fabric and dark blue night sky fabric.  The Minnie Mouse fabric is for a quilt I've been commissioned to do and the sky fabric is for a SewBatik challenge I signed up for in a weak moment.

No Minnie Mouse fabric at Yoder's but I did find some fabric that might work for the sky background.  I also found the cutest fabric for a baby quilt.  I've got two friends who are pregnant - at least I thought they both were when I was shopping.  Turns out Melanie had her baby boy 3 weeks early.  He's a healthy baby and they're doing fine.  So, good thing I found that fabric, right?

This is just a portion of the fabric - One Bazillion Year Ago!  What a perfect name for the fabric!

We shopped for awhile and then headed up to the cottage on Rose Lake to visit Judy and Doug.  What a lovely cabin they have.  The weather was perfect and we found them reading on their screened porch.  After depositing our gear, we had a leisurely dinner followed by a wonderful boat ride around the lake.  It was just the right size - big enough so there was room for some wakeboarders and waterskiers, small enough so you could wander around the lake in a reasonable amount of time, with pockets of forest and wetlands that will never be developed.  What a treasure those lakes are - especially for those with cottages surrounding them.

After our tour of the lake, including Judy's Mother's cabin, we returned to the cabin for a fun game of Mexican Train.  This is a dominoes game that I love, having been introduced to it in Florida several years ago.  The BEST part of this game was that I was in the lead - almost the entire time.  As my grandkids know, I rarely win at games and am usually the high scorer (when you want a low score) and a low scorer (when you want a high score).  So this was a double treat for me.  Even more fun was the camaraderie we shared during the game. 

How restful it was to sleep with the windows open, the breeze blowing and knowing that more quilt activities awaited the following day.

Deb, Kathy and I awoke ready to hit the quilt stores and Doug and Judy were headed out on a bike ride after a wonderful breakfast with warm cinnamon rolls and a fresh fruit salad.  I may have to go back and visit Judy - so she'll have reasons to stay at the cottage all summer, and so I can revisit at least one of the quilt stores we happened upon during our trip.

Cheers!

Margaret