Tips from Expert Quilter Mary Knapp

Some of Mary Knapp's favorite light houses along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail

Tips from Expert Quilter Mary Knapp:

Mary Knapp, quilt pattern designer and the author of “Star Quilts” to be released by C&T Publishing later this year, offers these design tips if quilters are interested in creating a pictorial or art quilt to enter:

• Start with a photograph of the scenic drive or area that inspires you.
• Trace a simple general outline using tissue paper over a photo.
• Don’t be too complex at first; add details later.
• Think about whether you want to use warm or cool colors.
• Blend 3-6 shades of one color for effect.
• Add an accent color to make a detail jump out.
• Cut some pieces, lay the pattern out on the floor.
• Then fit fabrics to the elements.
• Stand back and look, adjust to your liking, then begin sewing.

"Beauty of the Byways" Registration and Schedule

Registration and Schedule:

• As soon as possible: Please go to and fill out the online “Expression of Interest” form now to let us know that you would like to participate so we can keep in touch with you on important details.

• By February 1, 2013: Fill out the “Official Registration Form” to let us know that your quilt will be finished and you will be submitting it.

• By March 1, 2013: Mail or deliver your quilt to: Seaway Trail, Box 660, Sackets Harbor, NY 13685. All quilts must be received by March 1, 2013.

• March 16-17, 2013: Attend the 2013 Beauty of the Byways show at Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY.

Overall Guidelines:

• Your quilt entry can be: Pieced, Appliqué, Wholecloth, Traditional, Contemporary, Art Quilt, Pictorial, Wearable Art, etc.
• Any size quilt will be accepted from miniature to king size
• Any type of fabric in any colours may be used
• Use three-layer traditional quilt building with a top, batt and back
• Your quilt may be sewn and quilted by hand or by machine
• Sew a 4 inch pocket on the top end for hanging the quilt

For More Information:

If you have any questions or comments or want to find out more about the challenge or the show please call: 315-646-1000 x203

or send an Email to: lynette@seawaytrail.com

Register now for our "Beauty of the Byways" quilt challenge

Register your expression of interest in our "Beauty of the Byways" quilt challenge so that we can keep in touch with you on all the details as they develop!

Just click the link below to sign up:

https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e68xozi05090d45e&oseq=

You can automatically follow this "Beauty of the Byways" Quilt Blog by signing up with your email address on the right hand side of this page. We will then send you an email each time we make a new blog post.

The New York Beauty Pattern is Not Required

The New York Beauty pattern that is featured in our advertisement below can be used in this show, but is certainly not required.

Your quilt entry can be what ever pattern you think best reflects your interpretation of scenic byways and scenic drives.  The “Beauty of the Byways” theme offers endless possibilities for quilters and fabric artists to showcase their own favorite byway, road, scenic drive, or landscape. 

How you interpret your favorite is completely up to you!  It can be: Pieced, Appliqué, Traditional, Contemporary, Art Quilt, Pictorial, Embellished, Wearable Art, etc. 

It’s all up to you!

Beauty of the Byways 2013 Quilt Show Theme Announced

Beauty of the Byways 2013 Quilt Show Theme and Challenge

Have you ever wanted to create a quilt inspired by an especially scenic drive near your home or on vacation? If so, you are invited to make a quilt for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail 2013 international “Beauty of the Byways” quilting event.

The “Beauty of the Byways” theme offers endless possibilities for quilters and fabric artists from all across the U.S. and Canada to showcase their own favorite byway, road, scenic drive, or landscape. How you interpret your favorite is completely up to you!

The 2013 show entry requirements are wide open to artistic originality - miniature quilts, wall-hangings, and quilts of any size are welcome.

“Beauty of the Byways” is a great theme with lots of opportunities: “Beauty of the Byways” quilt stories may share a story extolling the virtues of a chosen byway or blend the quilt’s design into fictional tales of waterfront romance, fun in the sun, favorite vacation spots or other imaginations.

You may use any pattern you would like – perhaps a Double Irish Chain in shades of blues and greens might represent the scenic beauty of a drive along Kings Highway 2 running along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Maybe a scrappy, rotary cut patchwork of green and brown triangles could recall the spruce, pine, and larch of a drive along the New York State Olympic Trail Scenic Byway that runs through the Adirondacks.

Your quilt entry can be: Pieced, Appliqué, Traditional, Contemporary, Art Quilt, Pictorial, Embellished, Wearable Art, etc. It’s all up to you. Please note that the New York Beauty pattern can be used, but is not required.

"A 1000 Islands Seaway Trail Experience" by April Neisz and Thousand Islands International
Tourism Council, Alexandria Bay, NY is a good example of a pictorial quilt.



You might choose to make a traditional pieced block patchwork quilt such as this quilt "A Dream Voyage: Sailing the Seaway" by Kim Keller, Norwood, NY. It was entered in a previous Great Lakes Seaway Trail quilt show.