Great Lakes Seaway Trail

Quilting

Quilting is a popular cultural and arts heritage, even nature, travel theme for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway that has clusters of both traditional and modern day quilt makers Trailwide. The Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show & Challenge is held annually at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY.

The annual show that includes a challenge competition focused on a different theme associated with the byway fills the three floors and nine rooms of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center that was built with native limestone in 1817 as the Union Hotel. The show also features national and international quilting artists' creations, vendors, demonstrators, and an exhibit by the Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail, a 22-mile loop tour off the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway to see more than 40 barns painted with quilt block patterns.

Check back later for 2011 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show & Challenge rules and guidelines. Quilts and wallhangings of all sizes are accepted. There will be Viewer's Choice balloting for cash prizes with a special prize for the best depiction of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail travel experience as represented using the theme for each year.

For those looking ahead, the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, much of which was fought along the strategic waters of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, will make the year 1812 the theme of the 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show & Challenge.

Some of the barns on the Orleans County Barn Quilt Trail

The quilting tradition is a popular cultural and arts heritage travel theme for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail which has clusters of Mennonite and Amish quilters, particularly in the Chautauqua and St. Lawrence County regions of the byway.

Quilt Tour

Great Lakes Seaway Trail Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail: A first-of-its-kind travel experience for New York State – a 22-mile loop tour off the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway to see more than 40 quilt blocks painted on barns in the Town of Kendall. Travelers can follow a free audio tour accessible by cell phone or collect a map available at Seaway Trail Inc. member Partyka Farms Market at 1420 County Line Road, 3 miles south of the Seaway Trail.

Upcoming Quilt Shows

Plan Ahead!

2011 Show & Challenge: Watch this website for more details on the 2011 show theme

2012 is the 200th Anniversary Year of the War of 1812, much of which was fought along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. The 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show and Challenge will have an 1812 theme.

Past Quilt Shows

Stitches in Time: A Look Back at Past Show Themes

All shows include display of quilts and wall hangings, “Viewer’s Choice” balloting for cash prize awards, quilting demonstrations & vendors

2010 – "Circles and Wheels"

First Place "Rainbow Spiral" Dyan Swamp, Hogansburg, NY	Second Place "All Year 'Round" Town Barn Quilters: Beth Burdick, Christine Eggleston, Jan LaDuke, Diane Nier, Leona Webb, and Karen Williams, Sackets Harbor, NY	Third Place "Wheel of Mystery" Mary Knapp, Watertown, NY	Best Depiction of Circles & Wheels on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail "Historic & Modern Day Seaway Trail" Beverly Filkins, Pulaski

Special Exhibit: Featured quilts by Norah McMeeking of Bella Bella Quilts

Special Exhibit: Featured quilts by Sandra Hart and Gudny Campbell, authors of Piecing with Pixels

Special Exhibit: Featured quilts by Dyan Samp of Dreamcrafters Quilt Shop

Demonstrators: Sally Burnam, Mary Knapp, Cindy Reynolds, Lynne Waite, Operation Kid Comfort, Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail

Sponsors: Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail and Seaway Trail Foundation

2009 – “Favorite Seaway Trail Places”

First Place "Heron on the Seaway Trail" Anne Fisher, Springwater, NY	Second Place "A Dream Voyage: Sailing the Seaway" Kim Keller, Norwood, NY	Third Place "The Toad: A Wetlands Favorite in the Eastern Lake Ontario Dunes & Wetlands" Mary Knapp, Watertown, NY	Honorable Mention "A 1000 Islands Seaway Trail Experience" April Neisz and Thousand Islands International Tourism Council, Alexandria Bay, NY	Best Seaway Trail Story Quilt "My Selkirk Lighthouse Adventure" Nancy Smith, Syracuse, NY
The quilt Nancy Smith of Syracuse, NY, entered in the 2006 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show competition won her an overnight stay at Selkirk Lighthouse in Port Ontario on Lake Ontario. Smith later designed and made a quilt to commemorate that family adventure. When the “Favorite Seaway Trail Places” theme was announced for the 2009 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show competition at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY, Smith knew she had to send “Our Seaway Trail Lighthouse Adventure” to the show.

Special Exhibit: Hugs for Heroes - Ninety 22-inch quilts honoring America, her flag, her Presidents and her soldiers, a project of Buckboard Quilts, Oklahoma City, OK, with participating quilters from across the U.S.

Special Exhibit: Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail , a 22-mile loop tour off the Seaway Trail

Special Exhibit: Works by 4 International Quilter-Author-Artists: Pat Durbin of California, Beth Wheeler and Lori Marquette, Two Sipsters Studio,Fort Wayne, Indiana Pamela Allen of Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Special Exhibit: Fort Drum Operation Kid Comfort Quilt Project

Sponsors: Orleans County Country Barn Quilt Trail and Seaway Trail Foundation

2008 – Feathers & Fowl: Birds of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail

First Place
"Reynard's Choice"
by Anne Fischer
Heron on the Seaway Trail

Second Place
"Birds in Full View"
by Alice Wilhoit
Heron on the Seaway Trail

Third Place
"Roger's Heron"
by Liz Funnell
Heron on the Seaway Trail

Runner Up Winner
"Feathered Friends"
by Patty Blickwedehl
Heron on the Seaway Trail

Special Exhibit: Works by QNNTV.com Host Jodie Davis

Sponsor: Seaway Trail Foundation

2007 – Great Lakes Fish

Speaker: Jo Anne Flood, NYS Bass Master Fisherman & Quilter, presents “Fishing and Quilting for Both Sexes”

Grand Prize – “Sunday Brunch,” Judith Allen, Watertown, NY
2nd Place – “Under the Sea,” Louise Tiemann, Vestal, NY
3rd Place – “Papa’s Big Catch,” Nancy Smith, Syracuse, NY
Male Scale – “Jason’s Way to the Fishing Hole,” Joan Urbano, Calcium, NY

Sponsor: Seaway Trail Foundation

2006 – The Amish Quilts of St. Lawrence County’s Swartzentruber & Chautauqua County’s Conewango Valley Communities

Speaker: Betsy Tisdale, Amish quilt dealer & designer

Sponsor: Seaway Trail Foundation

2005 – Seaway Trail Lighthouses Reprised

1st Place – “Twelve Months at Old Sodus Lighthouse,”
Sodus Bay Basters: Sherry Hermenet, Anita McGuire, Rita Muldoon,
Beth Palmer, Sharon Pederson, JoAnn Sullivan, Susan Williamson,
Sodus Point, NY
2nd Place – “Tibbetts Point Lighthouse,” Cindy Reynolds, Theresa, NY
3rd Place – “Tibbetts Point Lighthouse,” Nancy Smith, Syracuse, NY
Viewer’s Choice – “Keeping Watch” (12 lights), Joan Heckaman, Webster, NY

Sponsor: Seaway Trail Foundation

2004 – Heritage/Museum Quilts with A Story to Tell

Guest Curator Pat Pauly presents “100 Years of Style: Quilts from the Collection of the Genesee Country Village Museum”

Sponsor: Seaway Trail Foundation

2003 - Great Lakes ~ Great Quilts

National Exhibit courtesy of Michigan State University Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories – Capturing the stories of your quilts in your own words, a project of The Alliance for American Quilts

Sponsor: Woman to Woman at Samaritan Medical Center

2002 – Seaway Trail Amish Quilts

Speaker: Dr. Susan Ward on New York State’s Amish and Their Quilts
Speaker: Betsy Tisdale, Amish quilt dealer & designer

Sponsor: Seaway Trail Foundation

2001 – A Quilt Journey with Mary Knapp

Special Exhibit of First Seaway Trail Lighthouses Quilt

New Seaway Trail Lighthouse Quilt Patterns & Notecards by Mary Knapp

Sponsors: New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, Seaway Trail Foundation

Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilting Notions

Lighthouses of the Seaway Trail Quilt Patterns

Quilt artist Mary Knapp has designed a series of Seaway Trail Lighthouses quilt patterns for paper piecing or applique. Series includes the lights at Presque Isle, Dunkirk, Buffalo, Old Fort Niagara, 30 Mile Point, Charlotte-Genesee, Sodus Point, Tibbetts Point, and Rock Island. $5.95 each plus shipping, 20% off with purchase of nine or more (maximum shipping $4.75 for two or more). Click here to download order form from page 4 in the 2009 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Travel Magazine.

Lighthouses of the Seaway Trail Quilt Pattern Notecards

Set of 8 notecards and envelopes features quilted lighthouse designed by Mary Knapp. Set: $12.95 plus shipping. Click here to order.