What is this? I bought it at an Amish variety store in Adams County, Indiana, earlier this summer, for $3.
To make things more fun, the first one to guess correctly wins a back issue of the Connection magazine.
I have no idea if you’ll find this easy or difficult, but I’ll be checking back in on this post to see if anyone’s hit it–and may even toss out a clue or two if need be.
UPDATE: We have a winner! See my comment below:
Similar Posts
First night at Abe and Sarah’s Lancaster farm went well, except for the friendly rooster who stomps the ground just beneath the window of my room. Apparently concert time is 430 am. I felt compelled to compliment Sarah on her bird’s voice the next morning. That got a knowing chuckle. Earplugs didn’t quite keep it out, but closed windows did the trick last night. Abe is a swell organic farmer, and…
photo: Randall Persing Amish women let their hair grow from birth. If you ever catch an Amish female with her hair down, the sheer length of it can be surprising. In fact, with locks often reaching well past waist-length, the typical Amish head-covering seems to somehow bend the laws of physics. Where is their room for it all up there? A quick diversion: A follicle…
How do Amish pay medical bills, if they don’t have health insurance? We get a look at how some Amish handle this in a new piece on Cincinnatti Public Radio. Amish famously do not use commercial health insurance, opting to rely on their own churches and extended communities when the need is great. And while a “pass-the-hat” approach may have been more common in the…
With an average of around seven children, Amish families are hefty by modern standards. Farm families tend to be the biggest. A dozen or more children is not rare. But the largest Amish family ever? There’s a good chance this was it: John Troyer, who lived near Kokomo, Indiana, had an unusually large family, perhaps the largest of all time among the Amish or Mennonites….
A couple of readers have sent along a link to a short news clip about Amish aiding residents of a mobile home park in Buffalo. As you can see in the video below (unavailable), photos show Amishmen hard at work on the roofs of residents’ homes (I assume this past Friday or Saturday). Buffalo, of course, was hit by a once-in-a-generation snowstorm last week, dumping…
I got an email yesterday from Bill Coleman’s archivist asking about an unusual photo found in his collection. He described it as “one of Bill’s earliest Amish photographs” and that he had not seen anything similar in any of Bill’s other photos. This photo “was taken in the early 1980’s…”[women in] scoop hats” is the only thing written on the negative sleeve, which is odd…
46 Comments
Is it an Amish Buggy quilt for riding in cold weather?
name that Amish item
Is it to wrap around food to keep it warm?
Is it a large placemat?
Is it a baby diaper?
That appears to be the bottom of it. What does the other side look like? I was guessing either a place mat or a thing to sit a warm dish on so it doesn’t hurt the counter/table.
The other side is identical to this.
Is it a bench pad to sit on during church?
First thought it might be a game of some sort. I’ve made checker boards with fabric before, but as you say its the same on the other side, it can’t be.
Its gotta be a cover for food to keep it warm.
Animal pad to sit on in the house? About the right size for a cat or small dog to sit or lay on.
Not big enough for a lap quilt for the buggy.
Changing pad?
pad
I am with Claudia, I immediately thought of a pad to sit on during the loooong church service.
Looks like a placemat to me
Is it a pad to sit on a rocker with
I was thinking a changing pad for a baby, but Viggie said it first.
Comment on Name that Amish item ( 9/30/11 )
My first thought was that it had something to do with quilting. My second is that it might be used to wrap items for a picnic.
an Amish changing pad for babies?
Looks like a small lap robe for the winter. Or a very plain crib quilt. Made me think of a saddle blanket, except I don’t know too many Amish who ride.
Hot Pad
My guess is that Jessica is correct. We call it a hot pad. It is very common at Amish and Mennonite craft stores and is used in every home. My maiden aunt used to knit them to give away to her many nieces and nephews and my father-in-law did spool knitting for a pastime in his later years. The knitting was then sewn together to make hot pads. My 91 year old mother pieces hot pads and quilts them. My niece sells them are her dry goods store. A few clues: if it were a pad to sit on in church, it would be black. If an Amish or Mennonite crafter makes place mats, they are almost always for sale to “English”.
buggy floor matt
Actually it looks like a casserole pad like something you could set your hot casserole dish on or use it yo carry your hot casserole dish on your lap with. Or its a buggy floor mat
It looks like one of those things that goes between the horse and its saddle. I really have no idea though – I think it definitely has multiple uses. 😀
Name that Amish Item
Is it some sort of organizer.
Could it be a lap mat for holding a plate of food?
A pillow cover? looks like the set I bought @ amish Acres..
A quilt for a doll cradle
Comment on Name that Amish Title
A lap robe.
It looks like my tabletop ironing pad I use for quilting.
A mat for a lamp?
Name that Amish item
Looks like a changing pad to me too.
Joining the line at the end , , , ,
Definitely a pad to protect the table from a hot casserole.
I would say it is a chair or seat warmer or softner. Something that would make it easier of your fanny. I tried to think of something no one else had guessed.
Is it a lap-robe for riding in the buggy?
name that amish item
could it be a mattress pad for a crib?
???
Maybe it’s what you wrap hot bricks in that you use to keep your feet warm in the buggy?
What is this?
I think it’s a changing pad to take with you when you have a baby. Then you don’t have to lay them down somewhere dirty to change a diaper.
Even if it isn’t that, it would work as one! LOL
The PAD
It’s made like a placemat, but too large, so I’d guess it’s a hot pad for assorted dishes when serving a crowd.
It would be too hard to keep clean for a changing pad, and doesn’t look like the right shape for a crib pad, etc.
I’d love to see more pictures of things you saw in Adams County!
Well . . .
I say a hot pad. By the way, any of you from near San Jose, California? Is any body out here into the Amish, or is it just me?
Responding to Diane Paulsen
Hi Diane,
I am in California, not very close to San Jose though – way up north by Mt. Shasta. I am very interested in the Amish folks and actually have a business relationship and friendship with an Amish company in Lancaster County PA.
I find Erik’s blog to be very interesting and helpful, and the photos are beautiful. I also read his book “Success Made Simple” and recommend it to anyone who has a business or plans to start one.
Margie
Baby changing mat?
Being a mother of 4, my first thought was a baby’s changing pad. But I’ve seen hot pads that look like that too. Ummm…I’m going with…hot pad.
It could also make a nice dust covering for a laptop.
We have a winner
Checking in, and looks like we have a winner! (and quick! 🙂 ) I did enjoy reading the different answers, and truth be told, since this is a simple item it could probably perform more than one function.
But I bought it as advertised–as a baby-changing mat (“keeps your quilt clean”). Though since I don’t have any babies to change at the moment, I may just take one of these other suggestions and put it to a totally different use 🙂
Marjorie was close early on, with “baby diaper”, but it looks like the first responder to get it 100% right was Viggie with “changing pad” (and looks like a number of you had the same idea). Congrats Viggie, if you send an address to my email I’ll get your Connection issue out to you.
Good going Viggie, this was fun. Congratualations.
Congratulations Viggie.
Marilyn
Congrats to the winner, and that does make sense! I guessed in my head that it was for sitting either in a buggy or at church.
I saw a photographer using something that looked a little like that last summer (2010) to protect his/her knees, completely homemade
Congrats Viggie!!
Preparing for the future, huh, Erik? 🙂
Congrats to the winner. I would have guessed baked potato bag.
Matthew, it’s always good to be prepared!
I like your idea of baked potato bag. Really, a changing pad like this one has endless uses, I think 🙂