Lancaster and Bird-In-Hand, PA

Kevin's Mom, sister and grandmother took us to brunch in Lancaster, PA on Friday. When we moved to Seattle, our cross country drive started through the Lancaster area, but it was early in the morning and we didn't take any time to stop and be touristy. I thought it was so fun to go back. The area is home to a (the?) large Amish population, and it's such pretty rolling hillside laid out in farms. It's a gorgeous ride, though you have to keep an eye out for buggies, since they share the road.



After brunch, we drove back through Bird-In-Hand (the town names out there are great...). There was a knick knack shop which turned out to also contain a great fabric store. In the back they had racks of hand-made quilts, which were amazing. Given how long my machine piecing is taking, I can't imagine how long the hand-quilted versions must take to finish, even with a guild of women all working on them at once. Since the quilts were rather beyond my budget, I came away with a few yards of fabric:



They look like mosaics! Here's a picture with a quarter for scale:



I don't have a project in mind yet for either of them. (a bag? a sundress? pajama pants?) They had so much neat fabric that I haven't seen anywhere else and the two women minding the store were friendly and interesting to talk to, so I'm happy to have such a pretty souvenir.

We also stopped at the Bird-In-Hand farmers' market. I was expecting more raw produce instead of the well-packaged crafts and prepared food, but regardless it was fun to look around. We sampled the fudge, pastry, jellies and cheese (mmm), and Kevin was so happy to see scrapple.



I wasn't entirely sad that they weren't giving out free samples of that, too. :-P