Carol Pacini
"I started working at Capital Quilts in September, 2011. During one of his hotdog-grilling events at the front of the shop, Gary suggested that I come to work for him and Susan, and I agreed. Six months later Alison and Pete became the new owners and kept me on. I'll always be grateful.
My first memory of sewing was when my great-grandmother showed me how to make a 9-patch block; I must have been in grade school. I sewed some squares right sides together and some squares wrong sides together. She laughed at me and my feelings were hurt. Such a sensitive child. I don't think I tried sewing again until junior high; I learned to use my mother's sewing machine and started making clothes to wear to school. I continued making clothes and craft projects and learned to cross-stitch. My interest in and love of quilts was most influenced by the wonderful woman who became my mother-in-law; she was always making a pillow or quilt for a gift, using cardboard templates, piecing and quilting by hand. My sister gave me my first rotary cutter and acrylic ruler and I started machine-piecing my own blocks and making quilt tops. My favorite tool is my 6" x 12" ruler. So many quilt tops, so few finished quilts! I love the look of hand-quilting, but it takes longer to do. My goal is to become more comfortable with machine quilting so that my stack of quilt tops becomes smaller while my pitifully small stack of completed quilts grows taller. Wish me luck."