THREADS: A Community Quilt for 2020

THREADS: A Community Quilt for 2020

Quilt Square Instructions: PDF Document Download


Make your own square to show what you love about your community and mail it to the Portsmouth Historical Society by June 15th!

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Please get your squares in the mail by

JULY 13!

Download the guidelines PDF for full details!

While nothing like the current pandemic has happened in living memory, it is not completely unprecedented. The 1918 influenza epidemic also quarantined Seacoast residents for extended periods indoors, as have many New England snowstorms during long winters on isolated homesteads. While sheltering in place, we have found solace with our families and with our community, thanks to the benefits of the internet.

Quilts have always been creative works of art and skill that tell stories and bring people together, reminding us of those who made them and used them. In previous dark times, community quilts have been created to bring people together in spirit, even while they have been physically separated.

This community’s Portsmouth Historical Society believes that now is a time when we again need to come together, to create symbolic expressions of the spirit that connect us, and to affirm a community spirit that will endure long into the future. Let’s all make a square to tell our story, why we love this part of the world, our families, friends, and neighbors, so that we may come together and celebrate our community once the crisis has passed.

We are separated, but all in this together. Like individual, unique squares of a quilt, we each have our own story, but together we make a beautiful blanket to offer comfort to all.


Not crafty? Not a problem!

Keep an eye on our website and social media accounts for no-sew ideas and pointers. Look for #ThreadsQuilt2020


Got questions? Send an email to threads@portsmouthhistory.org


Quilt Square Instructions: PDF Document Download


This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the generous support of private donors, and these corporate sponsors: Hoefle, Phoenix, Gormley & Roberts, PLLC and Performance Business Solutions, with additional support from Charles Schwab/Charles B Riopel, Piscataqua Savings Bank, and DTC Lawyers.