Dear Fabricolous Friends,
A drum roll, please, and perhaps a group sing of the Hallelujah Chorus! We are ready to invite you into the shop once again! Many of you have been waiting for this day; I laud your patience.
We are going to take it slowly and carefully. As a business owner, I feel it is my responsibility to do my best to protect you, my staff, myself, and our families and the greater community. With that in mind, we are going to have an appointment system. You can go online to make an appointment; they will be at 1, 2, 3, or 4pm. Each appointment is 45 minutes. That gives the staff fifteen minutes to disinfect between appointments. You may bring up to 2 people with you (only one person needs to make the appointment). Appointments will be available starting Tuesday, June 16, 2020.
When you arrive at the shop, stay in your car. Call the shop to tell us that you are here. We will come out to get you.
YOU MUST WEAR A MASK WHILE YOU ARE IN THE SHOP. Your mask must cover your mouth and nose at all times. You should not have to hold it in place or be constantly adjusting it. You may contaminate your hands by doing so.
PLEASE PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING in the shop. This means staying at least 6’ away from staffers and, if appropriate, your accompanying shoppers. We have marked lines around the cutting tables and registers to help with this.
When you enter the shop, you will be asked to either wash your hands or use hand sanitizer, which we have by the door. Do NOT wear gloves. We don’t know where those gloves have been! If you feel you must wear gloves, we will give you a new pair.
We will provide a shopping cart or basket to you. Please touch items as little as possible. Put any bolts you select in the cart, or ask a staffer to carry them for you. Bring the cart to the cutting table. Please stay outside of the marked line around the cutting table. The staffer will carry your cut fabrics to the register area for you.
Please do not shop past your 45-minute time period. Remember that there are people waiting to come in for their appointment!
You bear some responsibility in this as well. If you or anybody in your household is exhibiting any symptoms of illness (including but not limited to cough, fever, sneezing, sore throat, a tightness in your chest, runny nose, stomach upset, gastrointestinal upset, loss of taste and/or smell), please DO NOT come to the shop. If you have been in a crowd or large gathering (10+), please DO NOT come to the shop for at least 2 symptom-free weeks following that event.
We continue to offer online shopping with your choice of curbside pickup or shipping. We will always have that option going forward.
As much as we want it gone, as tired as we are of being cooped up and not being able to hug our friends, the virus is still with us. It appears to be getting worse again in areas and states that have opened. We don’t want that to happen here. We have to work at it to keep the virus at bay. Please continue to be careful and thoughtful of others!
We really and truly appreciate your patronage and your patience through this pandemic. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the shop once again!
Go ‘n’ Piece,
Alison
CAPITAL QUILTS CARES
If you are interested in helping to sew PPE gowns for the staff at Holy Cross Hospital, please let me know. They like ours better than the commercially available ones!
A local ICU doctor has requested scrub caps for the ICU staff. She says that her mother made her one, and she loves it! She made a few more for herself, and knowing what a lift it gives her, is hoping to share the love. There is no restriction on the pattern to use, but she likes Milly's Tie Scrub Hat Pattern from Brimming with Love. It's a woman's hat with enough room to tuck long hair up into. Twelve Bees has a great video and pattern for making a men's scrub hat. (Not necessarily men, but for people with short hair.) 2 hats from just a hair over a 1/3 of a yard. (12.5 inches)
We also have free pillowcase kits available that you can sew at home. They are a wonderful beginner project to do with children. The kiddos will learn some sewing skills and stay busy, too! We can mail them to you or you can pick them up curbside. Return the finished pillowcases to the shop (when you can; there is no rush), and we will donate them to Ryan’s Case for Smiles when the appropriate time comes.
Small Kennel Quilts are always accepted for donation. These small quilts are sent to shelters and rescues all over the country, and are a great beginner project, or a way to practice your free motion quilting skills.
NAVIGATING THE ONLINE STORE
For those of you who are computer-challenged, click here for a quick tutorial on getting to and through our online shop using a laptop or desktop computer. (Smart phones and tablet screens may vary.)
We have had a few people call to say that they are having trouble getting PayPal to work or to make a selection or are having other issues when they use the Capital Quilts online store. If this happens to you, try refreshing your browser. That often solves the problem. Don’t forget to click on “I am not a robot”, too. If you continue to have a problem, please contact the shop at 301-527-0598.
CORONA CHALLENGE DEADLINE
We have received several of the Corona Challenge entries already, and they are gorgeous! As a reminder, quilts are due here not later than June 30th.
MAKING MASKS
We have all made a mask or two (or 50, or 200, or…), and would like to share our favorite patterns, and some tips and tricks we’ve discovered along the way. Click here for all the details! (By the way, some of our customers are now offering completed masks for sale on our website, if you aren't interested in sewing one yourself.)
Mask Kits for personal use:
Kits are currently available! They contain all the materials (pre-cut fabric, twist ties for nose wires, cotton twill tape for fabric ties, and pattern with tips and tricks) required to make either 5 or 10 at a time. These kits are not intended to be used to make masks for donating to medical facilities, but are perfect for the “shoppers’ masks” now required to be worn in public in our area. Click here to order.
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
Teach yourself free-motion quilting (or refine your skills) with Natalia Bonner's Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting. Photo tutorials show stitching in action for 50+ free-motion quilting designs to create modern quilts with classic style! Learn how to quilt all-over, as filler, on borders, and on individual blocks…using loops and swirls, feathers and flames, flowers and vines, pebbles and more! Includes tips for choosing batting and thread, layering and basting, starting and stopping, and prepping your machine. After you’ve practiced, show off your new skills with six geometric quilt projects. MSRP $25.95, CQ price only $23.36.
The IronEZ is a revolutionary product that attaches to your ironing board to make ironing easy. It will solve the problem of repeatedly dropping your spray bottle while ironing, free up space on your ironing board, and make your life frustration free and more efficient. It even rotates when folding up your ironing board so your spray bottle can be stored conveniently right along with it! $19.99 each.
The Violet Craft Seam Roller is the perfect tool for all quilters. Used in place of an iron, the rounded barrel places all the pounds of pressure right on the raised seam for a crisp press. The Seam Roller is superior to the iron for foundation paper piecing and is the perfect replacement for on-the-go sewing such as English paper piecing. $16.00 each.
Magic Pins Fine Quilting are 1 3/4" and .5mm. They have a comfort grip head that makes picking up and maintaining a grip on the pin, easy. The Comfort Grip Magic Pins are also heat resistant, so if you iron over them, they will not be ruined. The pins come in a designer storage case that closes, so you won’t lose any pins! $10.99 for a box of 50.
FLATTEN-THE-CURVE KITS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
ACCUQUILT
June 1-30 Save $100 via mail-in rebate when you purchase either the GO! Big or the Ready. Set. GO! fabric cutters!
 
June 6-16 Take 15% off GO! dies $59.99 and up. Please call the shop to place this order. You won’t be able to take the discount online.
HANDI QUILTER
Handi Quilter is hosting Facebook Live broadcasts called Handi Quilter Shop@Home. The broadcasts air at noon on Tuesdays. They will feature different products each week. This week they are featuring the HQ HighLights. Next week the topic will be the Secret Drawers.
June 1-25 Take 20% off leaders.
Have you been following the “And I Quilt” series on the Handi Quilter website? These are life stories by women who have careers such as pilot, hockey player, school principal and more and they are also quilters. They are very interesting and easy and fun to watch. Check them out at www.handiquilter.com/andiquilt
Handi Quilter ProStitcher owners: Handi Quilter is replacing the Art & Stitch software with their own Pro-Stitcher Designer software. If you are already a Pro-Stitcher owner, you can take advantage of a limited-time offer and save almost $400. Until June 30, 2020, purchase your digital copy of Pro-Stitcher Designer for just $199.95. Visit the new www.ProStitcher.com to learn more. While Art & Stitch is still in existence, Handi Quilter will no longer support it.
JANOME
Welcome Spring! Janome is offering a free Home Depot Gift Card with the purchase of selected models. Click here to see the flyer.
We are able to accept your sewing machines for cleaning and tune-ups. Go to our website and sign up for machine repair. Bring your machine to the shop. Our technicians are working as quickly as they can, but both have essential day jobs. Machine servicing wait time is currently estimated at about 10 business days.
Meet the Janome MC9450 QCP! This is your sewing and quilting Dream Machine! I love sewing on mine. The easily-navigated large LED screen puts 350 stitches (for quilting and sewing as well as decorative stitching), 4 alphabets, 11 buttonholes, and a myriad of functions at your fingertips. 11” of space to the right of the needle gives you lots of space for quilting and sewing larger pieces. My favorite feature is the automatic presser foot lift: when I take my foot off the pedal, the machine stops and lifts the presser foot so that I can pivot the fabric. The lighting is fantastic; it includes a high light that pulls out over the needle area and is really bright. It has a powerful motor; I’ve had no problem at all sewing over the folds in masks. Click on the Janome button in our online shop to find a listing of the key features.
If you would like to buy a different model that we do not have in stock, Janome will ship the new machine directly to your home so you don’t have to come out to pick it up. The shipping fee varies according to which machine you buy.
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