Our time has come, sewists.

Admit it. Those of us with an unmentionable amount of fabric at home (not to mention all those UFO’s) are ready.

With the onslaught of the novel coronavirus #COVID19 , we have all become either preppers or hoarders. My husband came home from work a week ago and asked me, “Are we prepared to be stuck in this house for 30 days?” I took it as a challenge to stock up and, like all good Americans, I did what Americans do during any weather event, football game, or public health emergency.

I went shopping.

What I purchased will not last very long, but it may get us through the first wave of whatever it is we are expecting to come. In fairness, I have been following a number of highly educated medical specialists and they are sounding the alarm. The CDC has recommended that air travel be limited for those over 60 or 65 as well as anyone with a fragile health condition. I have an elderly parent who lives alone in an adjacent state. I’ve driven to his house and stocked him up with at least 2-3 weeks of food.

I’ve looked around my sewing room and determined that I have enough fabric to last for the rest of my lifetime (however short or long that may be.) Even so, I ordered some fabric online and I’m expecting a delivery soon.

But here’s the thing: Even if we are not going out in public as much as we used to, or gathering in large groups as much as we used to, we still need to keep our local quilt shops in business.

So what do we do?

Buy online.

Some of the shops in our area already have an online presence with all of their products available. Others do not, just yet. However, I will bet that if you called your local quilt shop and asked them to mail you fabric in a flat rate box, they’d be happy to do it. I know it’s hard when you cannot see the fabric, but I’m betting that they would rather send you a pic, have your business, then go without a sale.

Many quilters are in the high risk category for this illness.

So let’s check in with each other. This doesn’t mean sharing the illness, but we can move our social gatherings online for awhile. Text, email, stay in touch. And sew your way through it.

Preppers or hoarders?

Does it matter? At our house, I think it’s a little of both. In the face of uncertainty, my family eats. And sews.