If you’re coming to Quilters Take Manhattan this year on Saturday, September 16, I hope you’ll consider supplementing the fun by coming to our amazing Garment District Scavenger Hunt the day before. The Hunt goes from 2:30 to 5:00 pm on Friday and tickets are $40/each. Buy your tickets here.

Since the hunt was my idea and I put the event together last year, I wanted to let you know how it works. This isn’t the sort of scavenger hunt where you’ll have to look under rocks in parks, or knock on a stranger’s door to get a weird kitchen gadget. Instead, you’ll be roaming around the Garment District as part of a team of five, with very explicit addresses and directions. At each of the places you go, you’ll be asked to prove you were there by taking a “group selfie,” sometimes with a prop (at Mood Fabrics, you may have to pose with clashing fabrics.)

What makes this hunt especially fun for quilters, is that you’ll be stopping at historic landmarks, tucked-away quilt shops and the headquarters of NY-based fabric companies and having loads of fun along the way. We’ve made the time period longer, so everybody will have time to get to each and every stop. (You won’t want to miss any: some of the people you meet along the way will give you free stuff!)

You can bring friends to add to your team, but you can also sign up solo: we’ll put you on a team with other passionate quilters. Each team will have 5 people.

Here are a few of the things you might be asked to do:

• Visit this famous sculpture of a garment worker.
• Get your picture taken with someone on Seventh Ave. who looks like she/he ought to be a contestant on Project Runway.
• The rest is a secret! You won’t find out the stops until you start this magical Scavenger Hunt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, the hunt will start and stop at Gotham Quilts, a cool modern quilt shop on the 6^th floor of an office building.

Don’t take my word that this will be a memorable outing, let’s ask Andrea “Andi” Foster (below left) who was on last year’s winning team, pictured here (below right) with their winner ribbons and prizes!

“ This event is so much fun! You and your teammates tear around NYC and try to come up with a strategy to stay ahead of the other teams. I loved meeting other quilters, learning where the fabric companies and stores were located and seeing where NYC quilters get to shop. It was a blast!”

For the sake of honesty, I have to admit that I stole this idea from famous quilter Paula Nadelstern, whose 60^th birthday party was a Manhattan scavenger hunt. All the stops were about things she loved (the Folk Art museum, M & Ms) and hated (cilantro) and we had to get our picture taken showing each of these things. I couldn’t believe how much fun it was to experience the city in this way (and I lived in NYC for 10 years, so it’s not a novelty for me). I wanted to share the fun with all of YOU, fans of the Quilt Alliance and its annual benefit/inspirational party, Quilters Take Manhattan. I was lucky at Paula’s party to be on the winning team (see us left, proudly wearing our plastic medals and “I’m Amazing” tee-shirts.)

Join the party! Manhattan has always rewarded those with a sense of adventure! You can thank me later. Buy your tickets ($40/each) on the Quilt Alliance website.

Love, Meg

Meg Cox is an author, quilter and traditions expert, who served on the Quilt Alliance board from 2005-2015, and as president from 2010-2015. Visit Meg’s website: megcox.com