Quilting Road Trip, Part One

Carolyn was on the road teaching her Circle of Friends quilt in Texas recently, and we'd love to share photos of some of the places she visited and people she met along the way. First stop, the northeast Texas town of Tyler!

Tyler is known as the Rose City. The garden has 32,000 bushes. The property was purchased in 1912. An application to the Works Project Administration (WPA) was made in 1938 to fund the construction of the garden. The $181,255.00 federal grant was thought to be the largest municipal park and rose garden project approved by the WPA in that era. Development of the gardens was suspended during WWII because of Tyler's vigorous war effort. The Tyler Rose Garden was officially opened in 1952. Nearly 3,000 rose bushes were used in the first planting.

Of course, Tyler is also a quilting town! Carolyn's class for the Quilters' Guild of East Texas took place there. The students were great and much quilting fun was had.

Quilt class photos courtesy of Rhonda Chapman

While in town, A Nimble Thimble was one of Carolyn's first shopping stops. Employee Christine Brosky was nice to pose for a quick photo with Carolyn. Check out all that colorful fabric!

Sharman's Sewing Center also has a shop in Tyler. The store is named after the owner, shown with Carolyn in the photo at left below. Sharman has an additional store in Longview, Texas. Employees in the photo below right are Cindy Newland in red, Petrina Cude in purple, and Amy Reed in green.

Next stop was Stitchin' Heaven in Mineola,Texas, just 25 miles northeast of Tyler. Deb Lutrell's shop bills itself as Texas' premier quilt shop, and it is also a mighty force in the online quilting world. Carolyn visited with Block of the Month manager Michelle (and bovine friend).

Last stop in Texas was Terrell, 50 miles west of Mineola. These East Texas quilt shops made a great mini quilting road trip all by themselves! At Quilter's Apprentice, Carolyn visited with employees Laurie and Martha, shown below.

In our next quilting road trip post, it's on to Louisiana! Check back soon for more of Carolyn's adventures.