Quilting Along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail
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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 is held annually at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY.
The annual show focuses on a different theme associated with the byway and 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 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. 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.
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. Make plans to attend our 12th Annual Quilt Show - March 17th and 18th, 2012.
2012 Quilt Show - The War of 1812 Quilt Challenge
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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 will have an 1812 theme. We invite you to make an authentic 1812 reproduction quilt for the 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show. For more details on the challenge click here.
Follow our War of 1812 Quilt Challenge Online Blog:
Go to: www.1812quiltchallenge.blogspot.com to become a follower of our online blog and enjoy weekly postings on quilt guidelines, ideas and updates! Officially following the blog insures that you won't miss any of the quilt challenge updates or the excitement as the Great Lakes Seaway Trail embarks on our War of 1812 Quilt Challenge - which promises to be a "once in 200 years" international opportunity for all quilters.
New Quilting Themed Travel Itineraries (click on images below to view each full size)
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Quilting around the Great Lakes Seaway Trail
You can also experience this trip anytime |
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Great Lakes Seaway Trail
You can also experience this trip anytime |
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Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2012 Quilt Show - The War of 1812 Challenge - plus birding and a little history along Lake Ontario.
You can also experience this trip anytime |
Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilting Notions
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Lighthouses of the Seaway Trail - Quilt Block Patterns
Quilt artist Mary Knapp has designed a series of Seaway Trail Lighthouses quilt block patterns for paper piecing or applique. The series includes the lighthouses at Presque Isle, Dunkirk, Buffalo, Old Fort Niagara, Thirty 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 $5.95 for two or more). Click here to download order form. |
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Lighthouses of the Seaway Trail - Quilt Pattern Notecards Set of Eight notecards with envelopes features quilted lighthouses designed by Mary Knapp. Set: $12.95 plus shipping. Click here to download order form. |
Quilt Tour
 Some of the barns on the Orleans County Barn Quilt Trail |
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.
2011 Quilt Show "Seaway Trail Published Quilter's Showcase" a Great Success
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Quilters who live in the Great Lakes Seaway Trail region of New York and Pennsylvania and have published their own patterns, books or designs, or been featured in quilting publications, were the highlight of the March 19-20, 2011 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show.
For a beautiful 12 minute video of the Seaway Trail Foundation 2011 Quilt Show click here. Thank you to Dick and Jo Belmont.
The Seaway Trail Foundation has announced that the show held at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY.was attended by over 700 people during the two days.
The show was co-sponsored by Orleans County Tourism and the Country Barn Quilt Trail, a 22-mile loop tour off the Seaway Trail to more than 40 barns and buildings adorned with painted quilt block patterns.
Past Quilt Shows
Stitches in Time: A Look Back at Past Show ThemesAll shows include display of quilts and wall hangings, 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 |
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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  |
Second Place "Birds in Full View" by Alice Wilhoit  |
Third Place "Roger's Heron" by Liz Funnell  |
Runner Up Winner "Feathered Friends" by Patty Blickwedehl  |
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