Norwalk Quilt Trail Events

November 2011

November 5
Peace by Piece Open House
12:00- 4:00 p.m.
The Quilt House, Norwalk Senior Center, 9 Union Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851
Admission: Free
Quilting demonstrations, sale of one-of-a-kind fabric art and final community quilting bee for the Norwalk Has Heart quilt.

November 10
Lecture: “Traditional Inspiration for Contemporary Quilts” – Denyse Schmidt
6:00 p.m.
Norwalk Town House, Mill Hill Historic Park, 2 East Wall Street, Norwalk CT 06851
Admission: $10

Denyse Schmidt, a Bridgeport-based quilt and textile designer, is considered the “godmother” of the fast-growing Modern Quilt Guild movement. With her upcoming second book, Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration, 20 New Designs with Traditional Roots (Steward, Tabori & Chang Craft, 2012), she turns her attention to the rich history and beautiful patterns of traditional quilts. As a quilter, author, fabric designer, and teacher, Schmidt continues to inspire generations of crafters.

October 2011

October 1
Lecture and Reception: “Civil War Quilts” – Lynne Bassett
7:30 p.m.
Rowayton Community Center, 33 Highland Avenue, Rowayton, CT 06853
Admission: $5

Lynne Bassett is an independent scholar specializing in New England’s historic costume and textiles. From 1995-2000 she was the curator of textiles and fine arts at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. Her large projects include an exhibition and catalogue at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, “Modesty Died When Clothes Were Born: Costume in the Life and Literature of Mark Twain” (2004) won the Costume Society of America’s Richard Martin Award for Excellence.

In addition to her exhibition publications, Lynne has been a frequent contributor to PieceWork magazine and has also written for The Magazine Antiques, The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, and White House History. Her most recent publication is Massachusetts Quilts: Our Common Wealth (University Press of New England, 2009). Her lectures for institutions including Colonial Williamsburg, the American Folk Art Museum, the H. F. DuPont Winterthur Museum, Historic Deerfield, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society of Connecticut, have covered a range of topics in the field of early costume, quilts and other bed covers.

September 2011

Date in September TBD
Opening Reception: “Norwalk Blocks from the AIDS Memorial Quilt”
Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851
Admission: free

September 8
Opening Reception: “Beauty, Invention and Practicality:  Exploring Norwalk Quilts”
5:00-7:30 p.m.
Norwalk Museum, 41 North Main Street, South Norwalk, CT 06854
Admission: free

September 14
Lecture and Lunch: ”Crazy Quiltmakers – Quilt Artists of the 19th century” 
11:00 a.m.
Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06850
Admission: $25 non-members, $20 non-members (includes tour of first floor)

Sue Reich is a quilt historian and lecturer who has been the head of the Connecticut Quilt Search Project since 1991. A quiltmaker since childhood, she lectures widely on many aspects of quilt history, and is a certifed AQS quilt appraiser. She co-authored Quilts and Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut, and authored Quilting News of Yesteryear: One Thousand Pieces and Counting and Quilting News of Yesteryear: Crazy as a Bed-Quilt. She has been guest curator at the New England Quilt Museum, the Museum of the American Quilter, the Litchfield Historical Society, the Mattatuck Museum, and the Gunn Museum. She has lectured at the Quilter’s Hall of Fame, The Museum of Science and Energy, Oak Ridge, TN, the Women’s Creativity Conference Quinnipiac University, the Webb, Deane, Stevens Museum, the Wethersfield Museum, the New England Quilt Museum, the American Quilt Study Group, the Bruce Museum, etc. and quilt guilds across the U.S. Contributed to the CT Memorial Quilt.

September 15
Last Call for Quilts – Quilt Documentation
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m

September 17 & 24
Workshop: “Quilt Art for Absolute Beginners”
1:00-4:00 p.m
Rowayton Arts Center, 145 Rowayton Avenue, Rowayton, CT 06853

Admission: $10

These two sessions, will be full of information and a fun “first time” quilt project designed especially for the occasion by Rita Phillips, long-time artist and quilter with years of experience.

September 21, 28 & October 5, 12
Workshops: “Playing With Fabric”
4:00-5:00 p.m.
South Norwalk Library, 10 Washington Street, South Norwalk, CT 06854
Admission: free

Youngsters (grades 3-8) will create small art quilt blocks, portable Tic Tac Toe games and birds plus decorate tote bags and bracelets. Participants in this workshop series also will begin a “Reading Time” group quilt for the library. Supervised by Rita Phillips, long time artist and quilter with years of experience with adults and children of all ages.

Bring your quilts and info about them – be part of the Norwalk Quilt Trail quilt census.  What a great legacy to have from the past, to the present, and into the future.  Quilts will be photographed, measured and stories told and written down, collected for the future.  Each participant will receive “Taking Care of Quilts” – a compilation of fabric care information and fabrics in general.

August 7

Museum visitors are invited to join Rita Phillips in creating art blocks to assemble into small lap quilts that will be given to local organizations that work with children for distribution to youngsters in need of a hug.  Phillips, who is a member of the Norwalk Quilt Trail committee, is a long-time artist and quilter with years of experience with adults and children of all ages and adults.

Everyone is invited to help celebrate July as Hot Dog Month with the Rowayton Library’s 6th annual Hot Dog Picnic. Beginning at 11:30 a.m., Goodwives Quilters will display their extraordinary collection of handmade quilts. The quilts include ongoing projects and gems from the personal collections of members. A special event in conjunction with the Norwalk Quilt Trail.

22 Haviland Street Gallery, South Norwalk 06854

Quilted pillows and other quilt art by Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project, an intergenerational program, which is supported by the Norwalk Children’s Foundation.
Gallery Hours
Wednesday-Friday: 3:00-5:00pm
Saturday-Sunday: 1:00-5:00pm
Sunday, June 5
22 Haviland Street Gallery, South Norwalk 06854

Gallery Talk: Creating the Stepping Stones Museum’s Growing Together Quilt 

Lizzy Rockwell, the artistic director for Peace By Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project, is an illustrator and art teacher whose artwork can be seen in picture books, magazines, games and other children’s products. Her interest in quilting began as a teenager, when she made quilts with her mother, sister and friends. In 2007, Rockwell approached the Norwalk Children’s Foundation about a community collaboration that would bring together adult quilters and youngsters. With funding from the foundation, Peace By Piece participants have made several full-size quilts, including two that are on permanent display – one at Norwalk Community College and the other at Stepping Stones Museum for Children. Rockwell, who studied art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, is the illustrator of more than 20 children’s books.

June 4 -5
Exhibit Opening: Against the Elements: Keeping Warm at the Lighthouse 

Sheffield Island Lighthouse, Norwalk Seaport Association ferry dock, Washington and North Water Streets, South Norwalk 06854
Admission: $5.00-$22.00
Norwalk Seaport Association ferry to Sheffield Island departs 11:00am, 2:00pm, 3:30pm

June 11
Connecticut Open House Day
Free admission to Norwalk Historical Society and Rowayton Historical Society quilt displays.

June 21
Goodwives Quilt Show 
Rowayton Community Center, 33 Highland Avenue, Rowayton 06853
10:00am-2:00pm

June 25
Color Workshop with Ed Johnetta Miller
Norwalk Historical Society, Mill Hill Historic Park – Town House, 2 East Wall Street, Norwalk 06851
10:30am-2:00pm
$50.00, includes lunch

Ed Johnetta Miller, a fiber artist, quilter, teacher, curator and lecturer, is acknowledged as one of the most creative and colorful improvisational quiltmakers in the United States. The New York Times featured her in the “Best of the Best” series and, most recently, she appeared on HGTV’s “Simply Quilts.” Widely exhibited nationally and internationally, Miller’s quilts are in corporate, private and museum collections, including The National Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Nelson Mandela’s National Museum, Cape Town, South Africa; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; and Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, CO. Miller has received numerous honors including Connecticut’s most prestigious artistic accolade, the Governor’s Art Award.

June 30
Display Opening: Quilts Made by Norwalk Children from the 1970s to Today
Stepping Stones Museum for Children, 303 West Avenue, Norwalk 06850
10:00am-5:00pm
$10-$12 

Saturday-Sunday May 14-15
Norwalk Quilt Trail Opening Weekend

Display Opening: The Craze of Crazy Quilts 
Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, Mathews Park, 295 West Avenue, Norwalk 06850
$6.00-$10.00
Tours 12 noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm

Saturday, May 14
Quilt Airing
Rowayton Historical Society, Pinkney Park, 177 Rowayton Avenue, Rowayton 06853
1:00-4:00pm
Free

Exhibit Opening: A Common Thread: Family History Told through Quilting
1:00-4:00pm
Adults $5.00
5:00-8:00pm – Reception (free)

Lecture: Quilts & Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut
Norwalk Historical Society, Mill Hill Historic Park – Town House, 2 East Wall Street, Norwalk, CT  06851
3:00pm
Adults $5.00