Great Lakes Seaway Trail Wants War of 1812-Like Quilts for Bicentennial Event As publicist for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show, may I share the following item with you for newsletters or meeting announcements please? Feel free to edit as needed. We already have 150 quilters committed to making quilts for the March 2012 show and hope some of your members will join the fun. Please let me know if you would like a jpg of one of the new 1812 period fabrics Barbara Brackman has designed to represent the style that would have been imported from Great Britain at the time. Many thanks, happy quilting! Kara Lynn Dunn, 315-465-7578, karalynn@gisco.net Please share with your audiences: Teresa Mitchell, Great Lakes Seaway Trail President and CEO, 315-646-1000 x202 Kara Lynn Dunn, Great Lakes Seaway Trail Publicist, 315-465-7578, karalynn@gisco.net PRESS RELEASE: May 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Wants War of 1812-Like Quilts for Bicentennial Event Sackets Harbor, NY - It’s “a once-in-200-years” opportunity. The Seaway Trail Foundation is asking quilters and non-quilters, to make quilts with War of 1812-era colors and patterns for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2012 War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show and Challenge event. Organizers are reaching out to American history enthusiasts and re-enactors, children and people of all ages from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Native nations, and internationally to enter and attend the commemorative event to be held March 17-18, 2012 at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center in the War of 1812 heritage community of Sackets Harbor, New York. Guidelines for making “cot to coffin”-size (30 inches x 70 inches) quilt using a variety of fabrics, including cotton, linen, silk, wool and linsey-woolsey, and patterns common to the 1812 period are online at http://www.seawaytrail.com/quilting.html. Entries must be committed to the show by January 15, 2012; quilts must be completed by March 3, 2012. The Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2012 War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show and Challenge guidelines suggest studying the research works and books of noted quilt historians Barbara Brackman, Anne Orr and Pepper Cory. Brackman of Lawrence, Kansas, suggests that a quilt in medallion or strip format would be a good patchwork design for the historical era. Brackman says, “Patterns that were popular during the 1812 time were simple stars and basic nine-patch and four-patch variations. The War cut into fabric imports into America but well-to-do women already had stashes of imported French, English and Indian chintzes and calicoes in a variety of colors, and loved to mix large-scale and small-scale prints. For those thinking of using fabric reflecting the domestic prints of the time, indigo blues, browns and a touch of pink would be among the best colors.” Brackman has designed a reproduction collection of prints from the era for Moda Fabrics; the “Lately Arrived from London” collection should be available in quilt shops by the end of the summer of 2011. The Seaway Trail Foundation is sponsoring the event as part of a host of War of 1812 Bicentennial commemorative plans ((http://www.seawaytrail.com/Press_Room/2011/3-9warof1812events.html) for tourism, cultural heritage and military history programs in 2011-2014. The March 2012 show will be the kickoff for a 2011-2014 traveling educational exhibit of the War of 1812-like quilts. “The Great Lake Seaway Trail 2012 Quilt Show marks our 12th year of shows that celebrate the themes that attract domestic and international visitors to our National Scenic Byway. We are excited about the potential of the 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Challenge cultural and heritage theme to draw diverse interest groups to the Seaway Trail region,” says Seaway Trail Foundation President and CEO Teresa Mitchell. The 518-mile Great Lakes Seaway Trail along the freshwater coastline of New York and Pennsylvania is a National Scenic Byway offering authentic American travel experiences. #    Posted on 5/25/2011

CHANGE OF VENUE. Starting March 8, 2011 all future Elmira Piecemakers meetings will be held at the Elmira Heights American Leagion Club at 236 Prescott Street, Elmira Heights, NY.    Posted on 3/1/2011