Then we went into the gift shop. It has been a long time since I have visited Middlebury and I was really disappointed in the commercialism. Remember I said this was Amish country. Well, they use to have many Amish wares to be bought. Now you can buy a Purdue shirt for your doll (Purdue University is in Indiana).

The Amish do not let you take their picture and we wanted to abide by their wishes but Kathy thought she could get a picture, out the window of the car, of a horse and buggy. Apparently, the horse doesn't like to have it's picture taken either.

When we left the show we were diverted because of a parade and that was the real beginning of our adventure. After following the police officer's directions--we wound up back where we had started. Then I put Kathy in charge of navigating. She usually does a great job but I think she was very turned around. After quite a time of driving Flat Rita saw the sign saying we were going West. That was great, if we kept going West, we would get home. Problem, diverted by a new group of police officers. Now, completely lost, we found by accident this little quilt shop that was a converted gas station. The woman who runs the shop was not there, she had left her DH to take care of business while she was gone. He does maintenance and repairs on Bernina sewing machines. Unfortunately, he is very scary wielding a rotary cutter. I thought we three ladies would have heart failure when he tried to cut down the whole length of the 24" ruler over the top of the arm holding the ruler :shock: . He was sawing down the left side of the ruler when he is right handed. In frustration and much to our delight, he finally went and got a pair of scissors. When he had put down all cutting utensils, I showed him how to move the bolt of fabric to his right and how to line up the ruler and rotary cutter so he wouldn't remove any appendages.

Flat Rita was tired of all the fussing and chose to stand by herself.

The quilt show was a very small affair. This area of Indiana is Amish country and we expected to see many beautiful quilts. We were disappointed, I guess if we had thought about it we would have realized that their humble devotion would not allow them to show off their exquisite work. There were only about two dozen quilts (if that many) and they were a combination of vintage quilts and newly made quilts. The quilt that won "Applique-Best of Show" and "Applique Best Machine Stitched Free-hand" was this quilt. As you have already seen, we had a difficult time getting any pictures that were not blurred--not sure why. They look good on the camera screen . Consequently, I can't read who made the quilt.
{!-- ia0 -->Flat Rita--winning quilt726.JPG{!-- ia0 -->

It was a beautiful, sunny day as Kathy, Ritzy and Flat Rita headed out to the Middlebury, Indiana Quilt Show. Flat Rita was dressed up in a beautiful new dress. We tried to tell her she was over dressed but she wanted to look her best . Trouble started about half way through a three hour drive. Traffic came to a complete stop and the sky was very dark--yes, it started to rain . Rain was not what we had planned for our day but we were not concerned as Flat Rita is used to rain. That was not the problem, the problem was the double trailer UPS truck that had jack-knifed and hit an automobile .


When we were able to get pass the accident, it was a smooth ride the rest of the way to Middlebury. We were quite happy to find that we had driven through the storm and had sunshine with a bit of a breeze. When we pulled into the parking lot we saw several ladies trying to get a picture together. Kathy, ever the helper, hopped out of the car and volunteered to take a picture of all of them. I went to park the car. When Flat Rita and I got out of the car we heard all this uproarious laughing (which really is not unusual when Kathy is around. The ladies decided to have their picture taken with Flat Rita. As you can see these ladies were indeed having fun and it was only 10:00 in the morning.


The Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center is where the quilt show was to take place and that is where we headed. On the way, ritzy was distracted by the working water wheel and so asked Kathy and Flat Rita to pose for a picture.
{!-- ia0 -->Flat Rita--Essenhaus Inn 723.JPG{!-- ia0 -->

I am easily entertained myself Lois.

Rita, You have no long lay overs or flight cancelations. Best of all, you can't beat the price! It's all in love and good fun. We are all just way too easy to entertain.

And sometimes you get new clothes. Wait until Eli's birthday--August 25th is the party!

kfstitcher wrote:
That's true - or waiting around in airports.

It's all good and NO suitcase packing involved.

Yes Karen, and the heat! But sure it's all in good fun.

Wow! Are you feeling the love Rita? That Flat Rita is sure getting around!

It's on my bucket list too Lois - 3D Rita's that is. Nancy thanks so much for giving us all such a fun post to read -from the photos I can see that I was in very good hands. You are all such good sports. I can't wait to see those shows too. Diane, I am not sure if I should be saying 'thank you' or 'what have you done?' :shock: I am really looking forward to Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival now.

So much fun. Loved seeing all of you at the taping. Makes me want to go. It's on my bucket list.

Fantastic Nancy, lucky old you Rita what a hoot.