Amish Adventure

Quite a few years ago, so many that it seems like another lifetime, my girlfriends and I decided to venture to Amish country in search of a handmade quilt. Only one of the girls was actually looking to buy a quilt, but it gave us a great excuse to tag along.

We visited four homes that day, the first of which was owned by a young couple. The house was new, and outside, on the porch, colorful quilts were hanging on a clothes line, like a business sign on a store front. We were welcomed inside to view the quilts that were for sale. The rooms were very stark, and very clean. The young woman was dressed in traditional Amish garb, simple, neat, and crisp...and we noticed that her dress was fastened with pins instead of buttons. There was a teenage girl helping in the home, and we wondered why she wasn’t in school. Of course we didn’t ask.

The second home was an old farm house. As we approached the house, a very pungent, and might I add nasty, odor was present, it turned out to be something boiling in a kettle on the porch….it almost looked like bones. We were invited into the house, and as we made our way upstairs to the bedroom, I noticed that sitting on a rocker in a corner of the great room was an elderly, white haired woman, dressed all in black except for her white bonnet. In her arms she held a beautiful apple cheeked baby, dressed in a long white gown and bonnet…...this was a picture to be seen….but we would have insulted them if I had asked to take a photograph...So we just made our way up the narrow stairs to the bedroom. On the bed were an array of quilts, piled atop one another. The woman escorting us started to flip each one back so that we could see the various patterns and beauty of each one. This seemed to be the way they chose to display their quilts, since it was the same at each home we went to that day.

The third home was a small ranch house, again very neat, very clean. A pretty, young woman, who resembled Meryl Streep, except that she had some front teeth missing, showed us in. This home was one large room, with bedrooms off to the sides. She took us to one of those rooms, and again the quilts were piled on the bed. My girlfriend did find a quilt there and it was beautiful. The craftsmanship of Amish quilts is just perfect. It was such a surprise to us when she brought out the charge card machine, since there really weren’t any other modern conveniences in the home…..no phone or TV, but they had the charge card machine!!

Now, even though my friend had already purchased a quilt, we decided to go to one more house. This was a huge old, weathered Victorian home. When we walked in, you could see that the inside was in it’s original condition. Wallpaper was peeling off the walls in places and there was that musty scent of an old house. To the right was a huge room that at one time must have been the dining room, now, it was where they made their quilts. A large stretcher was set up, and around it sat women, girls, and even an old man in a wheel chair. All of them, except for the old man, were working on a quilt. They looked up and smiled, but just kept on quilting.

Quilting needles are called ‘between needles’ and they are very small. A good quilter will get as many stitches on her needle (a minimum of at least 8) as she can before pulling it through the quilt. This makes for tiny and close stitches, and it’s not an easy thing to do.

An older woman took us upstairs. The oddest thing was that we had to pass by a man who was in bed sleeping. I kept thinking to myself that if he woke up and saw all of us, he’d probably think, ‘Wow, I must be in heaven, floozies!’ I’m pretty sure that we didn’t disturb him and he just rolled over. After looking at the quilts and not finding anything, we thanked them and left.

Our adventure was just terrific. Being able to see close up how the Amish live was truly amazing. They were all so hospitable and so eager to show off their craft. I have to say that as we drove off, we saw two little boys sitting in a driveway playing…..I just had to have a picture of this, so we pulled over, rolled down the window, and I got my shot...let’s hope that they weren’t offended. As we left, Amish horse and buggy’s passed occasionally, reminding us of a different lifestyle.

What a great day this was!