I never thought my mediocre knowledge of sewing would qualify me to work with Diane Marvin, owner of Sew Nice in Norwich, but Wednesday afternoon I visited the store, located in the North Plaza, and attempted to help Diane teach a class, while learning a little bit about the business myself.

I arrived at the shop a little before 2 p.m., and although Diane had only one employee working in the shop, several of the tables in the back were occupied. Sewing machines were buzzing away as quilters worked on different colorful projects. “We think of this as a quilting playhouse,” Diane said of the customers sewing in the back. “Our quilt family knows, when there is no class, we still like to have the tables full.”

After taking a quick turn around the store and getting acquainted with the tools of the trade (and realizing how easy it would be to accidentally cut my fingers off), the members of the beginners quilting class started making their way in to the store.