I'm coming to Florida.
 

Ok I'm from Washington state and were coming to Florida for family event. Going to be in condo in Orlando and want advice as to quilt shops/events not to miss. Just saw the Jacksonville quilt show listed. And definitely fits in our time frame. As this is a vacation of sorts I want to check out quilt shops like within 1-2 hours of there. Any "don't miss" or other "great things to go to sewing wise". I guess since it's my nephews 21st birthday I would except ideas for that too. Especially since he will be with the "old folks" during his birthday. He works at universal so there and Disney, he's done many times over. Have no park plans unless it's clubbing outside the parks.

Not sure about Orlando area, but there is a large quilt shop near Clearwater - in Duneiden actually - I think it is called The Rainbow's End. It has tons and tons and tons of beautiful fabric. The prices are comparable to most other quilt shops. However, they are not the most customer service oriented place - actually they are one of the least customer service oriented shops I've been in. They really need to work on that in my opinion.

The Quilt Place has about 12,000 bolts of fabric and is in Rockledge FL, an hour or hour and a half from Orlando (http://www.thequiltplace.com/). My friends are very partial to The Sewing Studio in Maitland, which is close to Orlando (http://www.sewing.net/).

Quiltfest in Jacksonville is a must. 7 local guilds put it on every year. Always an excellent show and tons of vendors, plus a large cafe area with hot and/or quick meals. Check the show website for details and list of vendors. The convention center (formerly the railroad station) is downtown and can be a challenge to find, but if you have a GPS you'll be fine. Enjoy and have fun!

Goodness...just realized....my avatar is a photo of my quilt at Quiltfest 2013!