Pella's Tulip Time Festival!

Iowa is a beautiful state and comes alive each spring with tulips in a special town, Pella!


The 76th anniversary of  Pella's most colorful festival, Tulip Time, celebrates the Dutch town's Heritage
 May 5th through May 7th.  




Dutch clothing is an important custom of their heritage. Costumes are worn during tulip festival activities such as parades, street scrubbing,  grandstand show, Dutch dancers, a quilt show,  tractor rodeo, music, antique car show, Dutch food and other related events. Pella is an Iowa treasure, quaint and well preserved. Pella features seasonal traditional festivities throughout the year. Spring brings " Het Tulpen Feest in Pella," which means Tulip Time in Pella. This festival is dedicated to the memory of those early Dutch settlers who came to a new home in 1847 under the leadership of Dominie Hendrik Pieter Scholte. These  festivals, held in Pella since 1935, have commemorated the sacrifices made by those early ancestors who's heritage we treasure. Pella has come to be called, "Little Holland on the Prairie". Thousands of visitors from all over the world  attend and celebrate this wonderful Iowa event each year.
                           
 Learn more about Pella by visiting http://pellatuliptime.com/  


Tip-toe though the tulips---- they are everywhere in Pella!




Beautiful green houses!




This wonderful windmill greets you as you arrive on the out skirts of Pella


Historical Village


 Scholte House
 Tops of downtown buildings


Each year I design a traditional Dutch quilt for a wonderful shop on Franklin Street --- "Vande Lunes Quilt Shop" owned by Linda Vande Lune.
Inside, Linda stocks a wide selection of beautiful fabrics--at least 6,000 bolts! I am  in trouble every time we visit her shop!---- "fun" trouble! 








I warned you!!! LOL!!


 Below is a corner Linda created for my quilt patterns and samples of my designs.
Meet "Geertje", a Dutch doll and small quilt, I designed for Pella!
Hope you enjoyed viewing the inside of Linda's shop-- maybe someday you will be able to  visit Pella and
 Vande Lunes Quilt shop. If you, do tell her "Hi" for me.

This year, my new design titled " Calico Tulips"  commemorates Pella's tulips in a table topper and kitchen towel using my favorite color combination of the traditional red and yellow tulips. Also included in this pattern is a counted cross-stitch door hanger in both English and Dutch----"Welcome"-- "Welkom."

                                         
                                                                                              

Other patterns I have designed specifically for Pella are Dutch Ladies --below

Dutch Children Crib and Doll quilt----Dolls need a quilt too!!!



Het Gelukkige Stikken!

Happy stitching!

Hugs, Carolyn




Comments

  1. Oh Carolyn all of your patterns are wonderful! I love tulips, I have never been one who likes to get flowers but my husband knows if he chooses to, tulips are the ones. I have heard about the festival, it sounds wonderful!

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  2. I meet a lovely couple from Pella when my husband and I were visiting VA back in 2002. He said he always helped with the planting of the tulips. Now I can see what a beautiful place it is to visit. I would be in big trouble in the quilt shop too.
    Thanks I enjoyed reading about Pella

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  3. Carolyn - These tulips are gorgeous, the quilt shop looks amazing - wow - 6,000 bolts. But most of all your work and designs are simply charming!! I especially love the kitchen towel and the doll quilt!! Kris

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  4. Carolyn!! I feel at home in Pella and I want to meet Geertje alive!! (can you pronounce the "G"?? Haha. So nice to read about this Dutch Heritage, I did not know! I have to visit this wonderful place once....
    Did you ever hear about our Keukenhof (Kitchen-garden). It is a huge park, open in april/may with all the flowers and bulbs and trees and also green houses. Thousands of people are visiting this place each year. Also from all over the world, even Americans!
    That shop!! Good to warn us. Wow..
    And now a question: I would like to buy your design Calligo Tulips. Is that possible? I hope so.
    A warm colourful greeting with hugs from Holland!!

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  5. Carolyn - your Calico Tulips pattern looks wonderful!
    Thanks for sharing all the beautiful photo's of Pella and the quilt shop! Your designs are displayed so lovely there.
    Gosh...I would LOVE to walk thru that historical town during the Tulip Time festival!
    Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Ever since moving to Iowa this has been on my list of things to do! We were all set to go when we were living in Marshalltown but, that year the frost got most of the tulips so we were advised to wait for a year when the weather was better, well it's still on my list! This year is not looking good either. I have been through Pella at other times of the year, very charming! Thanks for the tour!

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  7. What a lovely town! Looks like a wonderful place to live and visit. Yes, I think I'd have "trouble" in that quilt shop, too. Lovely designs and so nicely displayed! Thanks for sharing your visit with so many wonderful photos - almost like being there.

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  8. Love, love, love your calico tulips Carolyn! My mum and I visited Pella MANY years past at "Tulip Time." The sights and sounds were glorious!

    Wishing you a lovely day playing about in your calico garden!

    Warmly...Judy

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  9. Your pictures are beautiful and I love your designs. Looks like a fun time!

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  10. What sweet designs you have done!! The town looks very lovely and the shop wonderful as well!! Thanks for the virtual tour.

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  11. What a lovely pictures you made! All those tulips, it's like you're living in Holland! We are celebrating "bevrijdingsdag"today, we celebrate our freedom. I put a link to your blog on my blog, take a look if you want. Have a nice day! Hugs from Margreet

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  12. I just love your new tulip design. I never associated tulips and Dutch culture with Iowa, just with Michigan. Very interesting. The only thing I knew that came from Pella was my new windows!

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  13. I just love all the tulips and your new tulip design is adorable !

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  14. Thanks for sharing all the pictures of the festival...makes me nostalgic for Linden, Washington and the Skagit Valley tulips. Needless to say, they don't do well here in the desert!

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  15. Carolyn, Your photographs are absolutely lovely... how I wish I could visit Pella and wander about all those gorgeous tulips and visit that wonderful quilt shop!
    Your designs are a wonder in themselves! Thank you for sharing!

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  16. Carolyn, thank you so much for sharing this with us!

    God bless and keep you,
    Sonia

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  17. Carolyn,
    thank you so very much for the walk through town. What a great place....I love tulips! I used to live in Washington state very near a 150 acre tulip farm, I miss their beauty...and the Quilt shop is to die for...
    Wendy

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  18. Lovely post and I can see why you get in trouble when you visit that wonderful quilt shop! LOL.

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  19. Carolyn, I'm so glad I finally got a chance to catch up on your blog and saw this. I'm going out to visit my daughter in Des Moines (at Drake) next weekend. Do you think the tulips will be dead and gone by then?

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