Wednesday's Wanderings #11 - Bitty Kinna's

It is hard to believe that this is the first Wednesday  in 2012 that I have been at home in Pennsylvania.  I have to say that it is so much easier to find a theme for my block of the week while I am on the road.  I still could do a bunch of blocks from visiting Israel, but my goal has been to "be in the moment".  The block should represent my week.

This week I headed out to Intercourse in Lancaster County.  I must have been a farmer in a former life.  I certainly wasn't Amish.  I love the farmland and seeing the Amish travelling the roads in their buggies and plowing their fields with their team of horses.  It is soothing and relaxing and mitigates some of life's stresses. 

A horse and buggy parked outside of Zooks - a great fabric store.

A shop with many beautiful hand made Amish quilts.

Farm country road

An Amish farm up ahead

A ram ready for a Spring haircut

I visited a few quilt shops and my favorite quilt shop owner.  Gina of Bitty Kinna's is one of the sweetest and generous women that I know. She greets many of her customers with a big hug.   I do have to say that I am quite biased.  She carries most of my Judaic patterns, OyVey! Quilt Designs.  She hangs the sample of each pattern and they sell like blockbusters.  It is always a wonderful excuse to replenish her stock for a trip to Lancaster.

So I chose to showcase her shop, Bitty Kinna's - Where Quilters Gather and an Amish buggy for my Wednesday's Wanderings.

(Addendum - Unfortunately, Bitty Kinna is no longer in business.  I hate to see a quilt shop close.)

My First Book Signing

I had my first book signing today and it was so much fun.  It was at Bitty Kinna's and it coincided with the AQS Lancaster quilt show.  Meeting quilters from NJ, PA, MA, NY, VA, CT and Canada was so enjoyable.  No matter where we are from, we all love fabric.  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  Perfect for shopping.

 I was sitting near the front window and had a perfect view of the Amish horse and  buggies trotting along.  Although I cannot go back tomorrow, I signed the remaining copies and left a few quilts from the book behind.  So if you are hitting the quilt shops on Sat or Sunday, go check it out.  Tell Gina, I sent you.

Bitty Kinnas

My friend,Nancy, was spending a day with her husband in Lancaster, PA, back in May.  She stopped in a newly opened quilt shop, met the warm and welcoming owner and was brave enough to mention that her friend (that would be me) was coming out with a new book.  The owner thought that maybe we could do a book signing during the Lancaster quilt show.

Finally, Nancy and I did a road trip to Lancaster to visit Bitty Kinna's, right in the heart of the town of Intercourse on Philadelphia Pike.  It is an exciting location with many fabric stores and finished quilts for sale also.  It is right in the heart of Amish country and you can often see the Amish clip clopping down the street in a buggy.

The shop is bright and packed full of a variety of fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gina, the owner had some pretty cool tools too.  

I had 2 favorites.  There was the Bohin marking pencil.  

It comes with white lead, which is great for marking your quilting lines on a dark fabric. 

There is also a gray lead that is available that looks just like pencil.  That's for marking dark fabric.   The darker markings can be removed with the eraser.  The lighter one is more like chalk.  Gina was actually marking a customer's quilt with this tool using her templates for an Amish woman to quilt.

The other cool gadget she had was a magnetic pin holder.  I had never seen one like this before.

The bottom is weighted and the pins like to hang around the rim.

Bitty Kinna has its own parking lot behind the store, which makes it very convenient, because this town can get very busy.  In the back of her parking lot there is a cozy looking building.

Gina plans on holding classes in this building.  It has its own powder room and will be outfitted with cutting tables and sewing tables.  The most exciting news is that anyone will be able to rent it for sew-ins for $5/day per person.  So that means if you have a group of friends that would like to spend the day quilting , here's a place for you to go.  One day, heck, you could go for 5 days at that price.  And I'm sure Gina would be happy to let you know where you could stay and eat.  I bet she wouldn't mind if you frequented the shop for anything you may have forgotten.  (wink, wink).

So the good news for me is that we are going to do a book signing during the Lancaster Quilt Show and a Fiesta Quilt workshop is in the works.  Thank you Nancy.  And when you make it to the shop, ask Gina how she came up with the shop's name.