Faith, Fabric and Tradition: Meeting Amish Quilter Anna P. in the Middle of Our Two Worlds

[00:00:00]Well, good afternoon and welcome back to the channel. We're already headed over to Annip's uh home in the Drifless. It's about a 2hour drive from my home.

[00:00:13]There's no doubt that this is one of the most beautiful areas of Wisconsin. And though it is uh quite rugged and scenic, it is also a place where people come to live the quiet life.

[00:00:31]And my first visit with Anna at her home left me with the feeling that she was not open to uh anything English or working with me in a positive manner.

[00:00:45]And so I thought that we were go weren't going to be able to have a business relationship. I enjoyed meeting her. I left with the thought that I probably wouldn't see her again. But to my surprise, I received a phone call from Anna. She took the buggy and went to an English neighbor's house and asked to use their phone and she called me. And it was quite amazing. It was quite amazing that she wanted me to come back and let's try this again and perhaps we could meet on a halfway or in the middle as we say. And so as LD and I drove over, we talked about how I could help Anna sell her quilts. And I realized that she had a different Amish attitude.

[00:01:40]She was still living the old way. She was not modern in any ma me by any means uh like our our Emma or even our Anna or even Esther for that matter. And so I had to decide how it would be that I could protect her privacy, protect her dignity, and make sure that her standing within her community remained uh uh first and foremost in my thoughts.

[00:02:13]And I want to focus on the universal thought that behind quiet traditional lives are deep complex human hearts. And it's with that attitude I approach this second meeting.

[00:02:35]But look at this countryside. It's beautiful. Yes, it's remote. Yes, it's quiet.

[00:02:44]And yes, it's a beautiful place to live.

[00:02:47]And I knew I had to go in [music] with that respect in mind. Enjoy the remainder of the drive over [music] to Annis.

[00:03:06][music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:03:33][music] [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat.

[00:04:20][music] [music] Heat.

[00:04:35][music] [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:04:48][music] >> [music] >> I give pause as I drive to this point because it is uh such a beautiful and serene setting. But I want to be sure that uh an Anna knows that um I will protect her privacy and guard her thoughts. Um and I sincerely want to accommodate her needs as well. And so LD and I begin the drive in. I'm not going to go into great deal about uh great detail about my meeting with with Anna. I just want to tell you that she remains um a very uh honest and true person. She her fears or concerns that I perceived were more of her need to maintain her Amish lifestyle, her Amish heritage, the traditional ways. And while there are many other uh uh Amish uh quilters that I visit who have uh relaxed their uh Amish ways to the point of of uh casualness. Uh Anna will not be that person. It'll remain formal. With that in mind, I'm going to take you back to her uh house, which is behind the barn, way to the back. Um, first I have to get through this horse team though. And um, and once inside um, I'm going to simply show you some of the quilts that I hope she'll offer me. I know that she's a good quilter. She comes from that background and I know she wants to earn some money. So, let's go on in.

[00:07:20]Hello.

[00:07:22]>> Is our car going to be in your way?

[00:07:24]>> No. No, you're fine.

[00:07:26]>> Okay. Shall I let you go first?

[00:07:28]>> No, you can go.

[00:07:29]>> Yeah. All right.

[00:07:34]I'm a little afraid of horses. I'll make it. I shouldn't be.

[00:07:43]I'm not afraid. Oh, I'm a little afraid.

[00:07:46]I'm sorry. Hi, pup. Hey, pup. That may get go. Go away, pup.

[00:07:52]I'm sorry.

[00:07:53]>> I probably >> I get just a tiny bit of scared.

[00:07:58]>> I probably smell good. All right, I'm over.

[00:08:05]>> Looks like they're ready.

[00:08:06]>> What are they doing?

[00:08:08]>> Ah, okay.

[00:08:09]>> They're hanging. They're like the way it looks. They're going to take the bor out and then put it on the wagon that way.

[00:08:16]>> Yeah. But how many people how many families are here? I thought it was just family.

[00:08:23]>> Her brother and her parents own this track, too.

[00:08:26]>> Okay. So, yeah, there quite a few people here.

[00:08:29]>> She expects me at noon today. And as you will see once we get inside, uh my uh anxieties, my own anxieties about what was going to uh transpire here between us, uh completely melted and Anna and I, uh went right to friendship mode and we'll never go back uh to being strangers again. She was quite accommodating, quite willing to uh allow me to look at all of her quilts, and as long as I let her walk out of the room, I could take pictures. It was quite exciting.

[00:09:10]>> Ouch. Did you hear my bones crack in my knees?

[00:09:16]I love the rose here.

[00:09:19]>> Oh my gosh. Beautiful.

[00:09:23]Yeah. Instead of her, these >> Would [snorts] this be a quilt that uh Amish would have?

[00:09:29]>> No. Could you use the print printed goods that >> Oh, that's right. There's print in there. See, I I know that. I know better.

[00:09:36]>> That's right. I didn't even think of that. And what is the size on this quilt?

[00:09:42]>> Uh, I'm guessing I could measure it for you.

[00:09:45]>> Yes, if you would measure it, that'd be perfect. Stay Stay away for one minute, Anna. Just one minute.

[00:09:53]There you see. Nope. You don't like to look at it either. I'm fine with that.

[00:09:59]Beautiful. Should be good.

[00:10:02]>> This next mountain echo or many lights in the valley is a beautiful u uh piece as well. It's the quilt top that Anna uh created. She normally doesn't do the quilting. she does that her nieces do the quilting whom I met Sarah and Laura very um pleasant uh teenage ladies, girls um and very apt quilters. Uh Sarah told me when I questioned her about how many stitches did she think she did per inch, she said she was sure that she did at least 10 and sometimes more. She's uh quite uh adept at quilting. Um, Anna likes to piece. Uh, she does not like the tedious, quiet work of quilting. Uh, and I understand that it um is not for everyone. So, uh, I like the teamwork. I like the way, uh, they work together to create these quilts. this uh Mount Neco in shades of greens, black, and actually that's gray that you're seeing with a very bright light in the valley is quite amazing. Uh you've seen other quilters and their pieces or their rendition of this quilt and is a tiny bit different.

[00:11:23]I asked her if she had a pattern for it and she said no, she made her own pattern for it. So, um I I like that as well. She does create patterns.

[00:11:35]This quilt top will be for sale once it's finished. As you could see, they are in the process of marking it for quilting. And so, if you think you'd like to support Anna P, uh, let me know.

[00:11:47]And, uh, we can put your name on this quilt. I guarantee it's going to be a beauty. Her prices are excellent. And if you would like to know what a finished quilt will cost, uh, you can reach me at rosebgoneyahoo.com.

[00:12:03]And I'll put a little note here for you.

[00:12:06]Um, also you can leave a comment on my uh page on my YouTube channel and I'll get back to you as well. I want to show you something that Annie sent to me uh while I was uh waiting or preparing to uh come visit her. Look at this art. She drew a rose for me. I was quite takenback. Um it's a beautiful rose and she says a rose for a ruby rose. Um LD's last name is uh Ruby and um she knew it.

[00:12:43]And here she put together this bouquet to greet me at the door with. Uh uh again, I was very surprised. And then when I left, she um gifted me a big bowl of beans, snap beans, and I'm going to cook them up in the next day or two for um for our dinner. I I think it's becoming clear or obvious that um Anna is a is a gentle soul and I think that uh you're going to enjoy the next few visits we have with her. But let me show you some more quilts.

[00:13:24]Beautiful. And this is the color you're talking about. Yeah, that's lovely.

[00:13:28]Absolutely lovely. But I love this.

[00:13:31]>> Put it on white.

[00:13:32]>> On white like that. I think it looks better on white.

[00:13:35]>> Oh yeah, I'm short.

[00:13:43]Beautiful. Woo. What will what will and again this has been a very different experience for me and I am um uh pleased to uh be a part of uh of it. I'm pleased to be there. This is a picture of a quilt that uh Anna can create for you.

[00:14:04]The double wedding ring. These are beautiful colors. And if you might be interested, I have some other fabric swatches that she's offered uh to create this quilt in. It's a very different time for me and I am absolutely um encouraged uh with the progress we have made. Uh, and I'm sure you can tell that uh we are going to uh continue to create quilts together.

[00:14:34]This is the grandmother's log cabin fan quilt that Anna has uh created. It's her own pattern and she pieced it and her niece uh Sarah did the quilting on it.

[00:14:52]This one is pretty heavily quilted. If you take a look at it, uh there's a lot of braiding. There's all of the uh log cabin uh in the ditch stitching and uh quilting. There is some beautiful um uh quilting in that black border. You see, this is a great quilt and this is a great price. Uh, this sells for 550 shipping and handling. And uh, I brought it home because I think uh, one of you is going to uh, like this quilt. I think you're going to contact me at [email protected].

[00:15:32]Let's talk about um, supporting Anna and her desire to sell quilts to the English the Yamish way.

[00:15:44]And so let's take another look inside uh at the quilt. I have it over the uh railing in the cabin. Um and really just want to give you a nice closeup of it.

[00:15:56]It has beautiful quilting on it. I noticed that the um around the border, the largest border, there's all that beautiful braiding that makes a turn right there. Kind of different than what I'm used to seeing. And then we also have this butterfly right in the center.

[00:16:14]Seems to me that uh Ramona is a butterfly lover. Uh as we go on makes that nice corner again. Uh and the backside of this quilt is every bit as beautiful. Um it will show off all of the quilting that's on here and the unique pattern. It looks raised from this uh angle. I hope that you will contact me at rosebegoneyahoo.com.

[00:16:41]And after Anna and I spent quite a bit more time together, um it was time to head back to uh Amish country and I needed to make a stop at both uh Anna's little quilt shop and Emma and Edna.

[00:16:58]Emma is leaving for Mexico on Sunday um for her checkup and uh I need to say goodbye to her as well as uh she has a quilt uh that she wanted me to see. And Anna, I needed to check on a quilt uh for Ingred um the custom quilter. Um and that's going to be a story on its own. But look what I found.

[00:17:27]this sweet little flower shop. It's a beautiful greenhouse that has turned pink. It's adorable. Of course, she is just about sold out. And I think that everything [music] that she has that is pink outside is hers. This Amish woman loves pink.

[00:17:51]And it's [music] an incredibly beautiful setting. I almost think that they intentionally placed that buggy there so I could come and photograph it. Um, look at the manicured lawn, [music] the um placement of all of her outdoor plants.

[00:18:07]Uh, you can see that she had a very prosperous and [music] busy greenhouse.

[00:18:13]Very few plants left inside. And uh I just took a moment to walk through [music] um and look at the uh plants that are [music] remaining. I'm hoping to find uh a few to finish uh potting um here at the cabin. The uh heat [music] inside the greenhouse was intense. Uh we're having 100° temperatures right now and [music] so I was eager to get back outside here. But look at how incredibly manicured, maintained [music] this property is. Everything about it shows pride of ownership. Uh the flowers in the basket [music] are her way of putting her color out there and clearly her color is pink.

[00:19:22]And oh my gosh, this is what I've been looking for. Geraniums. Look at the size of this plant. It's huge. I have to find the shop owner who I seem to remember from one previous visit was a relative of one of our quilters. Um, I'll go around look around the corner and I hope that she'll come out. But I take pause at this scene again.

[00:19:49]Beautiful. Well maintained.

[00:19:52]>> Hi.

[00:19:52]>> Hi.

[00:19:53]>> Can you tell me you have I I won't keep you. I know it's lunch, but you have some geraniums, red geraniums and pots in there. Can you tell me are they for sale? What are they?

[00:20:03]>> Um, I'll show you.

[00:20:11]Yep. Right over here. Yep. These red red pink. These >> Oh, those those are $3 a piece.

[00:20:20]>> Okay. I'm going to take them. 5 * 3 is >> 15. I'll bring 15.

[00:20:25]>> Okay.

[00:20:25]>> I I Is your name Marie?

[00:20:27]>> Emma.

[00:20:28]>> Emma.

[00:20:28]>> I have a daughter, Marie.

[00:20:30]>> No, you're a relative of not Anna Kaufman.

[00:20:35]Not Emma Kaufman. Edna Minnow.

[00:20:39]>> Uh I'm a cousin to like Emma and Emma.

[00:20:43]>> Yeah, we were here once and she >> and uh Yes.

[00:20:45]>> Okay.

[00:20:46]>> She has a sister, Marie, but she lives in Michigan.

[00:20:49]>> She lives in Michigan. Yes. Because I She does quilts for me.

[00:20:53]>> Oh, she does.

[00:20:54]>> She does quilting for me, too.

[00:20:56]>> She does for you, too.

[00:20:57]>> Like those Mountain Echo ones?

[00:20:59]>> Yeah. Yeah. What do you do with yours?

[00:21:01]>> I got them for my boys. Oh, very good.

[00:21:05]Let me go get some cash for you, M. I'll be right back.

[00:21:13]It is an Amish custom to give your children quilts um to prepare for uh the wedding one day. Uh usually it's the girls, they get three quilts, but in this case, you heard Emma, she's giving them to her boys. Look at the scene.

[00:21:29]>> Oh my gosh, I'm Emma's little quilt shop. And look at this spectacular garden. I am so in awe of this garden.

[00:21:40]You know, I love dlies. And she has some hybrids in there, too. Beautiful. I we'll take you on a walk about the uh farm here for a minute or two while I tell you about um the reason I'm here at Anna's is to pick up or at least look at the weaver fever quilt in blue that uh was on Anna's bed and that I actually did show in the quilt show about a month or so ago. Uh Ingred the cousin quilter thought she might like to have it and she wanted me to check it out for her which I was doing. But in the meantime, I had a call from uh Amanda who had been here um visiting uh Amish country from Pennsylvania, I believe, and she decided she loved the Weaver Fever and bought it on the spot. I'm sorry, Ingred. There'll be more.

[00:22:45]But I thought I'd stop in the shop uh regardless and take a look at another quilt that Anna had told me about on the bed. And of course, it's twinkling star.

[00:22:54]I didn't think I'd see another twinkling star after Ida married and moved away.

[00:23:00]If you're interested, let me know. It is a beauty. We need to head over to Emma's now and take a look at the unique quilt that is created uh by Emma. It's been created by Emma. Uh I it is for sale. Um and it's priced very reasonably. Um this is an Amish house right here.

[00:23:28]Wow.

[00:23:50]Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. This pattern is called unique and it uh was a favorite pattern of Ida uh to create along with wave on wave. These are her colors as well and traditional Amish colors. Uh perhaps that uh white or the lighter color might be too light for a actual Amish quilt. It's a beautiful quilt and she uh is also creating this same pattern in shades of of green and uh wait until you see it. It's beautiful. The blue has sold already.

[00:24:31]The green will be for sale as soon as it's finished and I anticipate that'll be the end of August.

[00:24:43]>> Your quilt right here. And so what we're looking at here are the pieces uh that Emma is cutting for the grandmother's flower garden quilt. Can you see how organized she is? This is one organized lady. The grandmother's flower garden is a a paper piece paper pieced quilt. But uh this is going to be a large quilt. Uh Emma was growing very weary of trying to paper piece every section. So, do you see that little uh bright yellow uh plastic piece, the octagon? She uh is using that to cut her pieces. There's the fabric uh for the the teal uh colors that we chose. And uh she's going to work on it uh while she's on her trip to Mexico for her I do too.

[00:26:15]I like it as well. That's for sure. My gosh. So, if I was Amish, I could put this on my bed, right? These colors. No, no pattern here.

[00:26:25]>> All right. Here we go. If you step away, You going to go look for Emma? Edna.

[00:26:33]>> I walked in the house in >> She's hiding out.

[00:26:42]>> This is nice. I love this. Yeah.

[00:26:49]And now it's time to head home, LD.

[00:26:52]Here's a scene you don't see too often.

[00:26:54]An Amish horseback rider. Uh, looks beautiful like a scene from a movie, doesn't it? I want to tell you something that I've been saving to the end of this video.

[00:27:07]I'm sharing some very sad news with our community today. Our beloved quilter, Susan, has [music] peacefully passed away.

[00:27:17]I want to keep this brief, but I deeply want to thank everyone who purchased one of her [music] beautiful quilts because of your incredible support. Susan had the comfort and peace of mind at the end of her life knowing she could take care of herself. That was an [music] extraordinary gift and I'm so grateful to all of you for helping give [music] that to her. Thank you for your love, your kind thoughts, and for holding Susan's memory in your hearts. [music] She was truly the most extraordinary quilter I have met. And I don't think we're going [music] to meet another one too soon.

[00:28:00]Let's go home. [music] [music] [music] [music] Heat.

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