This quilt themed tour is patterned for success. Combine a shop hop to four fantastic quilt stores containing over 20,000 bolts of fabric with the excitement of gathering “fat quarters” in high-quality fabric to create a charming pie quilt wall hanging.
Add a slice of fun with pie recipes and a Lang recipe card box to keep them in.
Experience this with the Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail , an American Bus Association Top 100 Event*, featuring
19 gigantic quilt patterned gardens and 21 super-sized hand-painted quilt art mural. Pieces, Pies and Posies and the Quilt
Gardens along the Heritage Trail set the stage for a Delicious Stitches of fun!
* The Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail, designated a Top 100 Event by ABA for seven years running, creates a glorious tapestry of color through seven communities in the heart of Amish Country. It starts Memorial Day and continues to October 1.
Exciting Add-on Option: Plan your visit during the Shipshewana Quilt Festival, June 22 - 25, 2016
This event is a quilter’s dream packed with 4 days of Shop Hops, Quilt Shows, vendor displays and much more! Featured speakers begin on Wednesday with the Quilt & Vendor Show open Wednesday through Saturday. A Quilters’ Schoolhouse takes place all day Thursday with workshops and lunch. Enjoy the Pieces, Pies & Posies Shop Hop during this wonderful event! Pricing and length of visit vary by option selected.
NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.
4 DAY / 3 NIGHT ITINERARY OPTIONS ON NEXT PAGE
Sonya Nash, CTIS | sonya@amishcountry.org
Amish Country of Northern Indiana | 219 Caravan Drive | Elkhart, IN 46514
574.262.8161 | 800.262.8161 | AmishCountryTours.org

(Mid-afternoon arrival in Northern Indiana, Nappanee)
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Visit the Nappanee Center plus Quilt Gardens & Murals of Nappanee [no admission fee]
The Nappanee Center houses the Evelyn Lehman Culp Heritage Collection, founded at the Nappanee Public Library in
1971. This hidden gem is still maintained by the Library today and tells the story of Nappanee through permanent, rotating and special displays. Main attractions include several “Hoosier” cabinets made in Nappanee, a tribute to the city’s six nationally-known cartoonists, an Air Force One display and the historic John Hartman House. Visit the Quilt Garden and meet your local ambassador for an insider’s tour of the Nappanee Gardens & Murals (some walking and boarding of your bus is required).
3:15 - 4:15 p.m. Shopping & History at Coppes Commons [no admission fee]
Nappanee’s colorful history comes alive when visiting Coppes Commons. Originally the factory for Coppes Kitchen Cabinets that once produced the famous “Hoosier Cabinet,” the 100,000 s.f. renovated factory now houses a variety of small businesses perfect for shopping for locally made, hand crafted and fresh baked. Get a glimpse of the fascinating history into the Coppes Kitchens, once ordered by Frank Sinatra and President John F.
Kennedy, while shopping this rustic and rambling brick structure. Watch and taste creative ice-cream concoctions come to life using liquid nitrogen, taste and buy made-from-scratch baked goods, cheeses, bulk foods or look for a good book. That’s just a sample of what’s in store – inside Coppes Commons.
Check-in at your host hotel
6:00 - 10:30 p.m. Amish Acres Threshers Dinner & Round Barn Theatre [$43.20 pp incl for dinner/theatre]
Sit down and enjoy Amish Acres famous family style Threshers Dinner in the century old barn restaurant. Top off the evening with live musical theatre in the majestic 1911 Round Barn Theatre offering a repertoire of Broadway style musical productions through the ten month season.
Continental Breakfast at your host hotel
8:45 a.m. - 5 p.m. Quilt Gardens Tour Step-on Guide for the day
[$175 per guide for the day (tip optional for guide)]
Join your local expert gardener and get “all the dirt” on a guided tour of the official Quilt
Gardens and Murals ... along the Heritage Trail. As many sites as time and distance allows will be included and routed by the guide. Meet your guide in your hotel lobby.
9:00 - 10 a.m. Visit the Quilt Garden in Wakarusa & Shopping at the
Wakarusa Dime Store and downtown
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NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.

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10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Visit Calico Point while in Wakarusa
[ a stop on your Pieces, Pies & Posies tour - see pricing below]
Calico Point is out in the country, but still in the middle of things. We’re directly on your route between the Shipshewana /Goshen area and Nappanee, or Goshen and Wakarusa.
We often hear customers comment on how well lit our store is making the fabrics easy to see. Our fabrics are displayed on swinging racks ... hard to explain ... you’ll have to come see for yourself! We always have a couple of thousand bolts in stock including many batiks. Our prices are very competitive and we try to treat you like we want to be treated.
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Lunch on your own at Mattern’s Butcher Shop & Corner Deli, Goshen
A step into this appealing, family-run corner store with its tin ceiling, hardwood floor, exposed brick walls and smiling faces is a step back to the days of the neighborhood butcher shop. Fresh and flavorful is a rule at Mattern’s. Deli and display cases are filled with hormone free meats, gourmet cheeses, specialty foods and zesty condiments. Many of the products displayed are locally grown and locally made. Tasty mile-high sandwiches on artisan breads, home-made soups and chewy cookies make a more than satisfying lunch to eat there or boxed for carry out.
12:30 - 1:00 p.m. Visit the quilt murals & garden in Goshen (3 stops)
1:15 - 2:15 p.m. “What’s In Your Tool Shed?” at the Lavender Patch
Fabric & Quilts Shop, Bristol [$15 pp incl]
New quilters and veteran quilters increase your piecing skills and proficiency in quilting with this workshop that covers the use of quilting rulers and several other tools all designed to get great results. Select your fabric and try cutting a block of your very own.
2 hours in length. Minimum of 10 people. Maximum of 30 people at a time. Shopping time after class.
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. Visit the quilt gardens of Middlebury (3 stops for garden & drive-by for mural)
3:15 - 4:00 p.m. Visit the Quilt Shop at Das Dutchman Essenhaus
[a stop on your Pieces, Pies & Posies tour - see pricing below]
The Quilt Shop is located in an old corn crib - “full to the rafters”. We feature Amish and locally hand quilted quilts and wall hangings. We offer home accents and unique gifts created by local consignees. We carry quality quilting fabrics, books, patterns, kits, notions, and a huge selection of stencils. Come for demonstrations, tips, techniques or help putting colors together for your project. Try your hand at both the stash busting technique of Locker Hooking and at Quilt Magic, the no sew wall hanging. Special orders are available. A member of the The Art & Earth Trail.
4:00 - 4:15 p.m. Visit the Quilt Garden & Mural at the Essenhaus
4:30 - 5:30 p.m. Shopping at The Village Shops at Das Dutchman Essenhaus (coupons provided)
5:30 - 8:00 p.m. Family-style dinner & shopping at The Village Shops at Das Dutchman
Essenhaus [3 options available]
Dine in Indiana’s largest restaurant noted for tasty meals using family-favorite recipes handed down thru the generations and worth every calorie. Save room for pie – they offer 30 varieties! Following dinner, enjoy shopping in The Village Shops.
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NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.

6:30 - 8:45 a.m.
8:45 a.m.
Continental Breakfast at your host hotel
Meet your local guide in the hotel lobby
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Pieces, Pies & Posies [$25 pp incl guide service, gift bag, recipe box, assorted “pie” fabrics, and 4 pie recipes
(tip optional for guide)]
Participants “hop” to four fabulous quilt fabric shops with a local expert guide to collect and fill their special LANG recipe box with cute fabric “pie filling” (4 different fat quarters of quality quilting fabric) complete with local favorite shop keepers pie recipes. Add a generous dash of fun and this tour is a recipe for success.
Continue today with:
Visit the Quilt Gardens of Shipshewana (3 stops) 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Guide to determine timing and additional backroads stops which include:
Visit Lolly’s Fabric Store located at the Davis Mercantile [a stop on your Pieces, Pies & Posies tour — see pricing above]
Welcome to a Quilter’s “little bit of Heaven.” We are located right inside from the front porch where you can leave your husbands to sit and relax while you wonder around the many shelves of fabrics we have in our store. We have an assortment of fabric collections from Moda, Kauffman, RJR, and many more. We take pride in keeping our store looking fresh and helping our customers find what they need. Along with the thousands of bolts of fabrics (~13,000) we have finished quilts and wallhangings that one may purchase.
Visit Yoder’s Fabric & Department Store [a stop on your Pieces, Pies & Posies tour — see pricing above]
There’s only one Yoder Department Store where locals and visitors find a unique blend of quality and hard-to-find items. Our fabric department offers a wide variety for the quilting and sewing enthusiast with thousands of bolts of fabric in stock. There is truly something for everyone! Our associates have over 250 years of combined expertise in all areas of quilting and sewing.
Whether shopping for 1800’s, solids or contemporaries, you will always find friendly and knowledgeable assistance. Our guests come for the variety of traditional and up-to-date merchandise. They return for the old-fashioned service. Since the old days when Ora Yoder started his dry goods business in the 1940’s, the Department and Hardware Store has expanded to 50,000 square feet. Over 12,000 bolts of fabric, 2,800 pairs of jeans, overalls in all sizes and 10,000 pairs of shoes and boots can all be found here. Yoder’s features a large selection of men’s, women’s and children’s wear, hardware and tools, house wares, linens, home accessories and gifts, hard to find items of all kinds including locally produced sausages, noodles, preserves and even flour. Yoder’s is known for being the center of trade for the local community as well as a resource for group tours.
Old-fashioned. Simple as that.
Elkhart County Historical Museum “Stitches of Devotion” a Behind the
Scenes Historical hands-on quilt program [$3 pp incl]
Put on cotton gloves and get ready to see and touch rare quilts from the museum archives. Hear the remarkable history behind each quilt and learn about the people who lovingly crafted them. Take time to explore the museum considered to be one of the top ten history museums in the state. It’s housed in the building that originally served as the county’s first consolidated school
Lunch on your own at a location determined by the guide
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NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.

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5 p.m.
6 p.m.
Return to your host hotel, say good-bye to your guide and freshen up
Depart hotel for the evening
6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Amish Quilting Bee & Haystack meal at an Amish
homestead [$27 pp incl tax PLUS Amish Quilt Trunk Show at $8.50 pp]
Elaine Jones invites you to join her, her family and friends in an Amish quilting bee.
Begin with a delicious home-cooked, traditional Amish meal that is unique to Northern
Indiana Amish Country. Some say it is similar to an upside down taco salad ... Amish style ... others say it’s just delicious! Then pull up a chair around 4 original quilt frames filled with hand pieced Amish quilts. The ladies demonstrate how to piece, mark and get the quilt ready to sew. Then sit down beside them to participate, watch, learn or just chat as these Amish ladies lead the novice and experienced quilter in an old-fashioned quilting bee. For those not interested in quilting, take a personal tour of the Jones family farm with Elaine’s charming son Seth. After dinner Rebecca Haarer, a nationally known quilt historian and collector of vintage
Indiana quilts, tells about the history of Amish quilting. Rebecca shows vintage Amish quilts and discusses how they’ve been influenced by the Amish culture in a format she describes as her “quilt museum on the road”. She also points out how changes in society have affected the Amish and their quilts. (Dinner at 6:30, Trunk Show at 7:30, Quilting Bee at 8:30)
6:30 - 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast at your host hotel
Check-out of your host hotel
OPTIONAL: Step-on Guide for the day [$175 for the day (tip optional)]
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Elkhart County Visitors Center “Quilt Gardens
Tour” video and Quilt display by Diana Bennett
Lina [no admission fee]
Stop at the Amish Country Visitors Center. Begin with a brief DVD about the unique, one-of-a-kind Quilt Gardens Tour that highlights the communities and some of the people involved. Then take time to enjoy the beautiful, handmade works of art by fiber artists Diana Bennett and Lina Zerkle on your own.
10:45 - 11:30 a.m. Visit the Quilt Gardens of Elkhart (3 stops)
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Lunch at “b” on the River, Elkhart [$15 pp incl]
Sit by the stone fireplace or take in the RiverWalk view from the patio at this delightful bakery café and gift store. Enjoy a beautifully prepared luncheon salad or specialty sandwiches made on flaky croissants or artisan breads. The tempting desserts are pure bliss!
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NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.

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Your lunch at “b” on the River can include:
A. Delectable Panini’s on fresh made artisanal breads with a side of a cup of soup or one of our specialty side salads such as
Sicilian pasta, seven grain salad lace with a touch of curry, bow tie pasta with pine nuts, spinach and feta, a season wild rice salad with fruit or heavenly red cabbage salad with golden raisens.
B. Fresh Chicken Salad or Tuna Salad on fresh French croissant with choice of side
C. Luncheon Salad of Fresh Vegetables and Hummus plate or Sliced Pear, Red Onion, Blue Cheese and spiced Pecans on mixed greens with Champaign vinaigrette or an abundant Cobb Salad with choice of dressing. All lunch salads come with a piece of one of our fresh house made breads or a bruschetta.
Of course you will want a dessert featuring homemade gelato and a delicious gourmet cupcake fresh from the bakers oven!
1:00 - 2:30 p.m. Ruthmere, Elkhart [$7 pp incl]
Tour the elaborate beaux-arts mansion of Albert Beardsley, who helped found the company that created Alka Seltzer in Elkhart, Indiana. Name after his only daughter, Ruth, the home is a time-capsule of a wealthy lifestyle in 1910, filled with a collection of fine art including Rodin sculptures, Tiffany leaded glass, velvet window coverings, hand painted walls and ceilings, and carved mahogany woodwork. (Note: Guided tours start at the top of the hour only.) See the Quilt Garden while on site.
Depart for home
Wine & Canvas “Artsy Party” [$45 incl 2 glasses of wine OR beer with event pp. $65 pp with a catered dinner buffet. $30 incl cookies & milk or coffee with event pp or $35 incl with a catered lunch.]
Grab a paintbrush, grab a libation and let the paint party begin! The world is your canvas at this “Artsy Party” where everyone has a great time expressing their inner Renoir. Sip a favorite drink while a talented artist gives step by step instructions on how to complete the night’s featured painting. All materials plus instructor are supplied – canvas, easels, paint, brushes, even the artist’s smocks. And when it’s over, everyone takes home their own masterpiece. For groups wanting the fun and art without the alcohol, try
“Cookies & Canvas.” Either way, this party is a brush stroke of genius for groups!
Lace, Lunch & Linens at The Wood & Gage [$15 pp incl]
Step into The Wood Gage, a cozy neighborhood restaurant favorite filled with gifts, baked goods and home décor, for an afternoon that’s “laced” with fun. Sit down to a house specialty luncheon of creamed chicken in a potato basket served by the friendly staff. After lunch spend a fascinating afternoon with Dot Hansen, an antique dealer specializing in vintage linens.
Dot goes way beyond just putting grandma’s doilies on the dresser and tells how to take treasured vintage linens out of hiding in the linen closet to enjoy and show them off. See and learn about the various kinds of handwork found in vintage linens including drawn work, embroidery, tatting and cut work. Hear the secrets to using and taking care of these treasures including safe techniques for stain removal and discover fun, new ways of repurposing linens and lace.
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NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.

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The Garden Cafe at Linton’s Enchanted Gardens Group Box Lunch [$12.83 pp incl]
The Garden Cafe features over one hundred handcrafted hot and cold drink choices plus fresh baked cookies all day long.
Menu items include healthy breakfast offerings, custom made sandwiches, crisp garden salads and homemade soups featuring Linton’s own locally grown seasonal herbs and garden vegetables. Groups enjoy a gourmet box lunch including your choice of sandwich served with Veggie Chips and Linton’s own Mango Lime Salsa, a fresh baked cookie and soft drink.
Munch a Bunch in Amish Country [$45 pp incl, full day tour, guide for 8 hours, lunch, snacks, gifts and demos.]
Groups delight in every bite and no one goes home hungry on this tour that samples the culinary specialties of Amish
Country. Begin at a bustling Amish bakery famous for its addictive cashew crunch candy and cinnamon-caramel donuts that satisfy every connoisseur’s sweet tooth. A stop an Amish cheese factory is awarded with tastings of Baby Swiss and Colby
Jack cheeses among others. At a nearby country market watch the Lehman family roll-out made-from-scratch noodles and put them on racks to dry. They also specialize in fresh-from-the-hive honey and rich nut butters. Top off this food foray with a cooking demo and hearty meal in an Amish home complete with a hefty slice of just-baked pie. It’s the perfect end to a scrumptious tour.
Real Indiana Amish Country Housewives
[$50 pp incl, full day tour, guide for 8 hours, lunch, snacks, gifts and demos.]
Forget reality TV and meet the real housewives of Amish Country. Get a first-hand look at a day in the life of Amish women. Learn how these ladies do household chores without electrical appliances and run their businesses without modern technology. Enjoy a cinnamon roll demo with Elaine or Mary Lou. Visit Carolyn’s home for a haystack lunch and a peanut butter crumb pie making demo. Chat with a basket weaver about her thriving business. Meet an Amish school teacher and and find out how she manages her classes in a one-room school. Everyone gets an after school treat too - a whoopie pie to take home. At the end of the day, groups go home with a renewed respect for these women who live a simple life, yet they’re anything but simple.
Sonshine Baskets [no admission fee]
Weave some fun into your tour with a stop at Sonshine Baskets in Millersburg, an authentic Amish Country handcraft experience. Lovely hand-woven baskets of every shape and for every purpose fill this Old Order Amish owned and operated country shop located on the family farm of Calvin & Anna Yoder. Watch as family members demo and talk about the processes of turning plain reed into something of beauty and function.
And it seems every family member is involved from weaving to making the fabric liners, from hand-staining to adding the leather handles that adorn many of the baskets.
As Anna says, “We weave our way through life one day at a time!” After learning first hand, take time to shop for your own piece of authentic “made in Amish Country” basket.
Ruthmere Celebrates Downton Abbey Afternoon Tour & Tea [$30 pp incl]
Ruthmere is pleased to offer a real-life “Downton Abbey” experience for larger tour groups of 25 to 50 persons. These tours bring the early 20th century to life and create unforgettable memories for our guests. Enjoy Ruthmere’s grand tour and finish up with a period tea in the Game Room, or if weather permits, outdoors under the covered Piazza. Brief exhibit presented on the history of tea. Service of hot tea, cold lemonade, tea sandwiches and fresh fruit included.
NOTE: Prices subject to change without advance notice.