On the way home from our lake house, we stopped at the Kutztown Folk Festival. I've wanted to go for years becaus I heard they had quilts, but it never seemed to mesh with r schedule. This time it did.
We headed straight to the Quilt Barn. It was filled with hundreds of quilts. Some were for immediate sale and others, the best ones, are to be auctioned.
I found this one particularly appealing.
There was so much to see in addition to the quilts. Lots of it made me feel like I stepped back in time, especially with the amusements and the demos. My favorite was this donkey pulling a merry go round.
And there were some very strange things like this huge ground hog. It's a bit hard to tell, but it was taller than me.
I need to do some research, but the gist of it is that the groundhog is a beloved symbol of the Pennsylvania German men. They have Groundhog Lodges where only men can gather and they speak only Pennsylvania German.
And there was food! So much food. Check out this plate of potato chips.
This was the sign. They were yummy delicious.
I left my hubby with the food and went to check out the crafters booths. I didn't get very far when I met Rachel Yoder.
She has added a modern twist to painting hex signs and wrote a book about Penny Olive, who is a PA German girl. I debated between buying her hex sign with the heron or buying one of her husband's. My favorites are the brightly colored ones.
They were all wonderful and it was such a difficult decision. I did buy the doll and the book, because a lot of her paintings ads in the book. If you read the book from one direction, it's in English and if you flip it over, it's in Deitsch (PA Dutch). Just wonderful. Rachel agreed to talk to me in more detail about her background, so I'd thought I'd publish it here as an interview soon. If you want to read more about Rachel head to her website:
www.rachelyoderart.net
We ended the day sharing a strawberry shortcake. Yum.
And if you want to know the real reason we went ....... They welcomed dogs.
I pulled a winner for my giveaway. Congratulations Peggy!
Peggy_verdongibbs@att.net
Email me your address and you'll get a great package in the mail.
Thanks to all who entered.
Posted with Blogsy
That looks like a fun fair and nice that dogs can come too, we are always looking for dog friendly activities.
ReplyDeleteI have a hex sign, somewhere, bought it when we took the kids down, years ago.
Debbie
I love your photos of the quilts at the Folk Festival. So many quilts for sale too. As I am in Australia, can you please tell me who makes all these quilts and is the festival an annual festival. The prices on the quilts that I can see are fairly reasonable too, so how big are the quilts on average.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Last time I was there, my oldest daughter was 6. It was a step back in time back then! I want those chips.
ReplyDeleteOh the Festival- wonderful! Glad you got to see it. I was there nearly 30 years ago, but I bet parts are still the same. Penny Olive is might cute.
ReplyDelete