Friends! Neighbors! Quilters and the quilting curious! Join us for a free afternoon of sewing with Wassaic Project residency and exhibition alum Natalie Baxter.

In this workshop, we will be creating quilt squares from the North Star pattern as well as using applique, piecing, and embroidery techniques to create squares that display participants' interpretations of a guiding force in their lives and communities. Stars have been a common symbol in quilt making for thousands of years, used to mark milestones of life, to honor the dead, and to display respect. They show up in civil war quilts as symbols of patriotism and as coded messages guiding enslaved people on the Underground Railroad north to freedom.

All materials and quilting tools will be provided and experienced quilters will be available to help. The end result will be a community quilt to be displayed in the Gridley Chapel in Wassaic and raffled off with proceeds benefiting the Wassaic Fire Department.

This free workshop is made possible by a generous grant from ArtsWestchester to research and share how quilts were used for fundraising and tools of communication during the American Civil War.