Just like us as individuals, owners of local businesses are concerned about the COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection. Many of us are cutting back on non-essential activities that take us out of our home. What worries me, aside from the obvious health implications, is how this whole thing will affect all of our local, independent shops. Many of them operate on slim margins to begin with. A drop in sales can be catastrophic. So, what can we, as concerned citizens, do to help out? This may be the time to try online shopping if you’ve not already.

To prewash your fabric or not to prewash your fabric – that is the question. There are some questions in the quilting world that spark the biggest debates – something like should the toilet paper go over or under the rule, or is it ok to wear shoes in your house? One of the biggest ones in quilting is if you should prewash your fabric. So, should you?

A few weeks ago, the Canadian Quilters Association, which publishes the magazine, Canadian Quilter, put out a call for quilts with inspirational words on them. They were doing a feature in the spring issue. I thought right away of my quilt, healing. The message mentioned how to submit photos and that we would only hear back if our quilt was be chosen for the publication. Ten minutes or so later, I had a response.