Lee Prairie Designs: May 2011

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

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."