My Birthday Celebration Continues On

I celebrated my birthday on Sunday. Then we left for Missouri on Monday and spent some time in Kalona, Iowa, on our way. You all know that we believe in enjoying the journey. After seeing a few shops and the quilt blocks in the sidewalks, 

One of many quilt blocks in the sidewalks

we headed over to the semi-annual Belgium Horse and Buggy Auction. We've never been to an Amish auction and it was quite interesting - I checked out all of the sewing machines. We might have spent more time if the wind hadn't been so strong. We were in a dirt/gravel area and felt a little like we were eating grit. 

Buggies at the auction

We stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Chillicothe, Missouri both Monday and Tuesday nights. As luck would have it, they had a free meal Monday night! The motel was very clean and very nice - we'd definitely go back.

Tuesday we headed for the Missouri Star Quilt Company and arrived just a couple of minutes after the stores opened at 9AM. Rick met us at the door and explained the layout of the town with a map. Rick is the CEO of MSQC and we saw him many times as we wandered around. Although we arrived in rain, the rain stopped before we left the first store and we had a gorgeous, very warm day. I'm not sure which shop was my favorite. EVERY employee was so nice. It was FUN!

I didn't get a photo of every store we were in but this is most of them.

Main Store

Civil War, Kansas Troubles, etc store

 J. C. Penney's 500th store. Chillicothe was his hometown.

The Batik store

The store with the seasonal fabrics

We were able to wander around the retreat center - gorgeous!

We missed a couple of stores that are opening next week - the sewing machine store, the bakery, and another restaurant. There are also more fabric stores coming soon. The Man Cave will open in a few weeks - theater type seating and big screen TVs. The knitting store will open mid- 2016. Guess we'll have to go back!

Of course there were quilts EVERYWHERE!

One of the murals

In the retreat center

Cameras were welcome everywhere - I was told that I could take photos of anything I wanted! Of course, I was a little busy shopping.

We ate lunch at J's Burger Dive right next to the main store. Great burgers and fries! 

We drove northwest to Jamesport, an Amish and Mennonite area. There were lots of antique stores downtown. We did drive around the country and visited a couple of woodworking/furniture shops, general stores, and a couple of fabric stores. 

The Fabric Barn, an Amish store

Shearwood Crossing, an Amish store

When we arrived back in Chillicothe, we stopped at Cuts and Bolts and found a few more treasures. The owner was really nice even though we interrupted her - she was watching the Royals game.

I did find more than a few treasures - enough that I didn't want to haul them all into the motel for pictures. I'll share when I get home. Mostly I am just adding to my stash, filling in the weak areas.

Today we are headed toward Illinois. We'll see what we can find interesting along the way home...