Tennessee Quilts

Imagine driving 9 or so hours out of your way to a town you’ve never been to just to visit a quilting store. You’d need to be pretty hardcore into the craft, right? I’m no quilter, but I can appreciate beautiful fabrics and colors. My mom is the quilter, and she has created some beautiful things. She is also obsessed enough to have made Tennessee Quilts the first stop on our recent road trip to Nashville.
This store has been called one of the best quilting shops in the country, so says my mom, and she knows of what she speaks. Tennessee Quilts can be found at the entrance to «downtown» Jonesborough, a very sweet town, the first one in Tennessee. Jonesborough happens to be in eastern Tennessee, home of the Quilt Trail. The store is quite large, 2 floors of mostly fabric. There are quilts that have been entered into shows decorating the shop. My favorite fabrics are the Kaffe Fassets. I have grown up with his designs. My mother has been knitting his sweaters since I was about 10 or so, and now I have a gorgeous quilt in one of his designs on my bed. As mom says, he is a great colorist. Check out his Gypsy collection of fabrics.
My mom and I spent about two hours in this store. I could hear her on the 2^nd floor, walking back and forth and marveling. I watched her spend a good ½ hour going through the collection of fat quarters alone (yes, I have even learned terminology). Since we had come here all the way from DC, I kept myself busy and let her have her time alone with her fabrics.
Her conclusion? Tennessee Quilts is just as great as she had heard (and read) it was. Everything she needed and wanted was there. Her only gripe? Prices. A little inflated, according to her, but then again, she’s never been one to pay retail and always knows where to get things for cheaper.