At Lower Manhattan's National Museum of the American Indian, a Screen-Free Quilt Along Sit and Sew

On October 17, from 1 to 3 pm, the National Museum of the American Indian's New York home at One Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan hosted Quilt Along: New York Sit and Sew, a screen-free afternoon built around hand sewing.

Margaret Wood, who is Diné and Seminole, joined participants for the session. Guests gathered in the museum to stitch together, putting phones and laptops aside for a couple of hours of needle-and-thread work. Attendance was by advance registration, and sign-ups are now closed.

The program is part of the museum's Quilt Along project, which has its own page on the museum's website. It received funding from the Smithsonian's "Our Shared Future: 250," a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to mark the nation's 250th anniversary and to advance the institution's vision for the next 250 years.

The museum sits at Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway and a short walk from Battery Park and the Financial District. That makes it an easy stop for anyone downtown, and this event gave visitors a quiet, hands-on reason to spend an afternoon there. The Sit and Sew has taken place, but the museum's New York location continues to run programs through the year.