About Town Tuesdays {Plaid Sheep Company}

Plaid Sheep Company of Berlin, Ohio

Welcome to the first in a brand new series, About Town Tuesday.

For those of you unfamiliar with where I live…I live in Holmes County Ohio, specifically Berlin, Ohio which just happens to be one of the top tourist destinations in Ohio.  Some years Cedar Point in Sandusky gets that honor but other years it’s Holmes County.  We boast the largest Amish community in the world with over 40% of the county’s population being Amish.

Berlin and the neighboring towns are dotted with quilt shops, craft shops, bakeries, and so many things to see and do.  If you follow me on Instagram  you have seen my #sundayslowdown posts where I share a photo each Sunday of the sights where I live.  I thought it would be fun to take you around town and share some of the shops you might visit if you popped in to my town.  Today, I am sharing Plaid Sheep Company with you.

Plaid Sheep Company is know for their variety of shop samples and displays. Samples are labeled with pattern information so you can locate the patterns easily.

Plaid Sheep Company recently changed their name and some of you may remember it as Country Craft Cupboard.  Country Craft Cupboard opened it’s doors in 1984 as a craft store.  I sat down with Karen Lamp (owner) and Suzette Miller (Manager) last week to chat about how CCC began and led to Plaid Sheep Company.

When the shop originally opened, it was a craft store…hence the name Country Craft Cupboard.  Karen saw a need for the community to have access to craft making supplies as the closest such store was 30-45 minutes away.

Country Craft Cupboard opened carrying a variety of craft supplies like floral supplies, cake decorating supplies, painting items, basket making supplies, cross stitch etc.

Display Samples

Additionally, the shop offered classes on any number of different crafts.  In 1987, Country Craft Cupboard moved to a larger location from the edge of Berlin to the center of Berlin right beside Boyd & Wurthman restaurant (a local favorite).  The building they moved into was the former Boyd & Wurthman grocery store.  In fact, in the early years of being in this location, a portion of the store was rented out as freezer space to local Amish families.  I found that so interesting!

The Boyd & Wurthman grocery store was originally built in 1918.  If you ever shopped in Country Craft Cupboard you will remember the old building!

So many threads

Country Craft Cupboard began selling a small selection of fabrics when they originally opened.  They expanded their fabric selection after moving to the larger location in 1987.  They were the first shop in the area to begin carrying Moda Fabrics in the early 90’s.  Over the years, while still carrying a variety of craft supplies, the shop has become most well know for their selection of hand dyed wools (most dyed locally) as well as their variety of homespuns and quilting fabrics.

In 2018, Country Craft Cupboard moved about 1 mile to a brand new shop on the east edge of Berlin.  When they moved, they renamed the shop “Plaid Sheep Company” which represents the shops wonderful selection of homespuns (Plaid) and wools (Sheep).  Karen’s popular pattern line, Backyard Friends, is featured in many of the shop samples and provides a myriad of possibilities in which to use the shops offerings.  Take at peek at some of these patterns on the shop website under “Backyard Friends”.

With the move, they were able to offer a better shopping experience: nicer parking, shopping on one level, and better classroom space.

I asked Karen what people say is their favorite things about the shop…why do they have so many repeat customers.  Karen responded that everyone always loves all of the samples that are made as well as the displays.  The photos that you see sprinkled throughout are from last week.  The shop was gearing up for the annual Amish Country Quilt Shop Hop which happens every fall.  You can see how many different samples there are–and these are changed frequently.

Fat Quarters

On the day I visited, a tour bus was traveling through with a group of ladies from Australia that were sight seeing and I could hear them “oohing and aahing” all throughout the shop.

Plaid Sheep Company carries over 1200 bolts of fabric from a number of different fabric companies as well as 100+ bolts of wool.

They offer many different kits and run a popular block of the month, “Sheep Thrills” which is a wool mystery BOM.

Plaid Sheep Company has a hugely popular pajama sale every year (the 2020 dates are January 10 & 11).  The event kicks off Friday evening with a 40% off sale from 7pm-10pm for everyone arriving in their PJ’s.

Plaid Sheep Company also offers numerous classes and retreats throughout the year.  This includes co-hosting the Quilter’s Gathering in Berlin event I have been teaching at in August.   For more information about Plaid Sheep Company (hours, location, events etc) visit their website or facebook page.

I hope you have enjoyed this little “About Town Tuesday” post.  If you’d like to see more of these sort of posts, please comment below to let me know!

See you tomorrow for a fun, “cakey’ sort of day…. 😉