My bottomless Amish shopping bag.....

Those of you who have followed my blog for a couple of years know that I have this wonderful Amish-made shopping bag that I take on my annual quilting trip.  It always fits so many terrific goodies inside it....and my blog readers always look forward to seeing what it brings home each year. SO.....here is that post.  It is very photo-intensive (with each photo having a caption under it...and I think they might be clickable to view larger).  IF Blogger doesn't cooperate and let me post them all in one post (or won't let me get a caption underneath each photo if I have too many), I will have to split this up into two posts, but...let's see what happens.

This is a little jointed bear...made by a gal up in the Amish area who makes purses and other things to sell in shops.  This little guy needs a name, so all suggestions are welcomed.  He is sitting on the edge of the shopping bag, as you can see.

Oh, look...that nameless little bear popped into a second photo...sitting with some fabric and an interesting little book about Amish one-room schools.  One of the fabrics is a very nice polka-dotted 108" wide backing fabric that was only $10.95 a yard...a real buy!

I enjoy the nice Amish calendars I find in PA each year.  The photos for each month are very peaceful and I even save the calendars at the end of the year so I can continue to enjoy the photos.

Some batik fabrics....purchased to make a zippered bag which I'm hoping to make in the next day or two.

Oh, look...it's more fabric and some hand-quilting thread.

Last year I purchased a nice, wooden handmade 48" wide quilt hanger at one of the Amish shops.  I got a small one this  year. It is 14" wide and I can easily make some miniature wall-hangings for it...maybe one for each season or holiday?

What a surprise to find more fabric popped out of that shopping bag!

Here we have two cinnamon-scented mats (made by the Amish).  One is for me and one is a gift.  The little sign is a gift, too, for a young couple I know.

I didn't want to open the box and unwrap this as I might not get it wrapped properly again.  It is a gift for a friend who loves dachshunds. She and her husband are very kind and let us stay at their house during the Hurricane in August and when I saw this (it's a bank from Pottery Barn), I had to buy it for her, so....it squeezed itself into the shopping bag, too.

This is another gift for someone for Christmas...from the Pottery Barn outlet, also.  It is a 30-hour birch bark candle and a nice wooden pedestal.

 This looks very strange but it's the most fun piece of jewelry I've seen and I bought it for ME.  It's a "twistlet".  You can wear it many ways as a necklace and also use it as a bracelet or a scarf holder.  I think I will do an entire post on it sometime soon.  I wore it today as a necklace and got a lot of positive comments.  You can bend and twist it every which way...it's almost as much fun as playing with a toy!

This is an electric warmer that melts wax, scented tarts.  It has a pineapple design on it which you can see if you look closely.  My husband has already enjoyed using this in our house.

 Speaking of my husband, he loves the many wonderful Amish-made food items available at the Canning Company and from Kitchen Kettle Village near the house we rented...so I brought several items home for him.......relishes, pickles, jellies, salad dressings, brandied cherries...and I know I also bought a scone mix, but I somehow forgot to put that in view of the camera.

And here we have a large head of cabbage grown on an Amish farm (already cut up for cole slaw today) as well as some super-delicious raisin bread baked at the Bird-in-Hand Bakery and a nice hunk of homemade cheese purchased at one of the Amish farms.  I also got some homemade root beer there but drank it before I thought to take a picture of the bottle.  It is excellent!

 Gee..what is this that came out of the bag?  It looks to be a bottle of wine, but....is it empty?  Hmmmm....how did that happen?  Be sure to look at the name of the wine on the label and it might give you a clue about who emptied the bottle!

Now..this looks crazy but there is a story behind it.  I happen to like a lunch meat called Lebanon Bologna.  I know...I know...the stuff isn't good for me.  I rarely buy it here as the price is more than I wish to pay but one of the Amish markets (one that was seen in the movie Witness....Zimmerman's in the town of Intercourse) had it on sale for the amazing price of $2.99 a pound, so I bought two packages.  One will go in the freezer and one I have already been enjoying.     NOW......didn't that Amish shopping bag do a great job again this year?   Don't think all we did was shop, though.  We did a good bit of sewing and I'll do some posts soon to show you some more of our week of fun in PA.   Thanks for sticking with me for this long, photo-intensive post.  My blog readers are the best!  (OH...and please remember to suggest a name for my cute little bear!)