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PRESS RELEASE: April 30, 2008
Hale, Orleans County, 585-589-3199; Teresa Mitchell, Seaway Trail, 315-646-1000
This quilt – “Reynard’s Choice” by Anne M. Fischer of Springwater, NY – won the 2008 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show competition. The theme for 2008 was birds; the 2009 theme is My Favorite Seaway Trail Place. Photo: Seaway Trail Foundation
Sew Up a Good Time on Seaway Quilt Trail – See quilt blocks on barns, enjoy shows, attend workshops year-round
Quilting is part of the cultural fabric of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail region that parallels the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River, Lake Erie shoreline. Exquisitely made quilts are displayed at quilt events year-round and await buyers at shops and roadside stands. The eastern and western ends of the 518-mile byway that is one of America’s Byways have Amish communities in Chautauqua and St. Lawrence counties known for their hand-crafted quilts.
Wood, however, is the medium of choice for quilters – more specifically quilt painters- along the western Lake Ontario stretch of the Seaway Trail between Rochester and Niagara Falls. As part of a Country Quilt Trail, 20-some quilt block patterns appear on the sides of the barns on a nearly 22-mile loop off the Seaway Trail. Travelers can follow a map to see the painted quilt blocks with names such as The Farmer’s Daughter, Carpenter’s Wheel, Circle the Field and Joseph’s Coat.
Orleans County Tourism Director Wayne Hale says local farmers and families have sponsored the blocks and that each quilt pattern has a unique background story.
“Through its series of interpretive signs the Seaway Trail is developing a storytelling tradition. This quilt trail adds another dimension to that travel experience by making narrative descriptions of each of the barn quilt block patterns available via cell phone connection as drivers move along the route,” Hale says. “Some of the patterns have a poignant story behind them.”
The phone number and a map available at Partyka Farms Market at 1420 County Line Road in Kendall – about three miles south of the Seaway Trail (Lake Ontario State Parkway Morton/Rt. 272 Exit)- include a welcome, overview and instructions on how to find the barn quilts. All of the quilts are in the Town of Kendall.
The Orleans County Tourism office is advertising the quilt theme loop in publications in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Canada and New York. Hale notes that “step-on guides are available for bus tour groups. This quilt theme tour could easily include stops at the Cobblestone Museum and other local attractions and lunch at an area restaurant.”
Quilting Exhibits, Guilds, Retreats Found Year-round on Seaway Trail
The Seaway Trail is also drawing increasing numbers of quilters attending events and workshops centered on their creative fabric passion.
In addition to providing maps for the Country Quilt Trail, Partyka Farms Market hosts a spring quilt show at 1420 County Line Road May 8-11, 2008. Find details on the show, the Country Quilt Trail and the market at www.partykafarms.com.
June 6-8 in Clayton, NY, more than 300 quilts and wall hangings, vendors and a quilt studio will fill the North Country Quilt Guild show at the Clayton Recreation Park Arena (Laura Little, 315-782-1674).
On Saturday, August 2, 2008, the historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Waddington on the St. Lawrence River will host a quilt show in conjunction with the village Homecoming celebration with all kinds of family fun. (Contact Linda Jones at (315) 388-5661 for show info.)
September 1-5, 2008 in Auburn (Cayuga County, NY), the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Museum will host a machine piecing workshop with Nancy Crow. (From August 31 to October 31, 2008, Highways & Byways: American Road Culture will be the focus of a road-related art exhibit at the museum.) The next annual juried Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition staged by the museum will run from November 2, 2008 through January 4, 2009. Learn more at www.schweinfurthartcenter.org.
The Amherst Museum Quilters Guild, founded in 1975, has more than 160 quilters from several states and Canada. One of its goals is to place a quilt on each of the beds in its 14 historic homes and buildings. The group hosts an annual four-day September quilt seminar that draws more than 300 quilters for classes and lectures. The Amherst Museum collection includes fragile early to mid-nineteenth century quilts.
Admission is free to the Saturday, October 18, 2008 at the First United Methodist Church in Oswego (call 315-343-6335 for more info). Just $3 gets you into the October 25-26 2008 Rags to Riches quilt show with demonstrations, fabric vendors and a hand-crafts boutique sponsored by the Lake Country Quilt Guild at the Fulton Municipal Building (email dachsie5@aol.com for details).
Plan Ahead for 2009
Those who like to plan ahead can mark their February 2009 calendar for the annual gathering of the Amherst Museum Quilters Guild at the Seaway Trail destination of Chautauqua Institution, for a weekend of quilting, fun and relaxation. Watch www.amherstmuseum.org/quiltguild.htm for details.
For its annual mid-March show in 2009 - March 21-22 - Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show will feature quilts and wall hangings depicting My Favorite Seaway Trail Place. Details and registration form for show competition are online at www.seawaytrail.com.
The Seaway Trail Foundation hosts a mid-March show and competition with a different theme each year at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY. The March 21-22, 2009 event will feature quilts depicting “favorite Seaway Trail places.” Rules and registration are found online at www.seawaytrail.com. The Gift Shop at Seaway Trail Discovery Center sells a series of quilt patterns featuring nine of the 28 historic lighthouses on the byway. # # #
