Quilters!!!  The owner of our local quilt shop called yesterday to tell me my quilt was finally in the frame and the ladies would be working on it for several days in case I wanted to come by to photograph it in the frame.  The ladies also wanted some direction about where to quilt on it and what parts to leave unquilted.  It was a lovely half hour spent chatting with them about quiltmaking.   The quilt is a 12 month quilt, each row representing that month, so from the top, snowmen for January, hearts for February, kites for March, bunnies for April, etc.

Just as Florida has "snowbirds," people who come here in the winter to escape the cold weather in the northern states, the Amish do the same thing.  There are several areas of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania with Amish communities and lucky for us, there's also an vibrant Amish community in Sarasota.  At least two of these ladies were from Ohio. 

They enjoy the quilting because they can have a nice conversation while they're quilting and they make a little money.  Each lady is paid according to how many yards of thread she uses.  They thread the needles one yard at a time and that's how they keep track of how many yards of thread they stitch into the quilt.  The last quilt they quilted for me was a king size and it cost $135......a bargain to have a piece of work hand-quilted.  Many people like the machine quilting, but I prefer hand quilting because it somehow seems more personal.  I spent a LOT of time creating the quilt (that's the part I enjoy the most) and these lovely ladies are finishing it for me.  A win-win.  :)