Tucson is a great area for astronomers - they have strict light ordinances! Always surprises me how dark it is when I visit my mom in Green Valley (20 minutes south of Tucson). They definitely have a lot of quilting shops, and one place I visited repaired my mom's old Singer for a reasonable price. Can't remember the name of the place, but they had classes and meetings...lots of quilters there!
Green Valley is a very nice place to snowbird - it's a small, quiet retirement community with at least 10 or 12 community centers that do everything from swimming to tennis to computers, silversmithing, and I'm sure quilting! Only a JoAnn's there, though. And yes, there are lots of old people there - but many are very active - there are bikers all over, it's a great area for hiking and birding, and it has wonderful winter weather. Not so great in the summer! Just be sure any place you rent has GVR - that's Green Valley Recreation (I think) and you need it to use the rec centers.
We plan to do the snowbird thing when my husband retires - 2-5 years from now, and will probably end up in GV.
Margaret Ford