In 1986, Dorothy Burks Williams and her husband retired from Illinois to
their farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her first activity was to find
a quilt guild. She was amazed to find that there were no quilt guilds in this
historic area. In Illinois, she had belonged to four quilt guilds. Two of those
guilds cut off their membership at 500 each year and always had a waiting
list.
In January 1987, she set a date, reserved a room at the Rockingham Public
Library, and sent post card announcements to people who had expressed
an interest in quilting. On Saturday, January 25, 1987, between two
record-breaking snowstorms nine enthusiastic women met and our Build
was born. Besides Dorothy, the charter members were Eleanor Canter,
Guadalupe Cline, Sue Hodges, Barbara Johnson, Beryl Lawson, Paula
Tehlewitz, Elsie Terry and Terry Wessel.
In February, Mary Beery, quilt teacher from the Clothes Line (now
Patchwork Plus) fabric store in Dayton, was our speaker and 70 people
arrived to overfill the Library room capacity of 50!
In March, we moved to a larger room at Mack Truck Company. In
appreciation for the use of their room, we made a "Trip Around the World"
wall hanging with an appliquéd bulldog ("bulldog" is the logo for Mack
Trucks). This quilt still hangs in their lobby. Soon, we moved to the
Highlands building, Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community, for
our "permanent" home.
their farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her first activity was to find
a quilt guild. She was amazed to find that there were no quilt guilds in this
historic area. In Illinois, she had belonged to four quilt guilds. Two of those
guilds cut off their membership at 500 each year and always had a waiting
list.
In January 1987, she set a date, reserved a room at the Rockingham Public
Library, and sent post card announcements to people who had expressed
an interest in quilting. On Saturday, January 25, 1987, between two
record-breaking snowstorms nine enthusiastic women met and our Build
was born. Besides Dorothy, the charter members were Eleanor Canter,
Guadalupe Cline, Sue Hodges, Barbara Johnson, Beryl Lawson, Paula
Tehlewitz, Elsie Terry and Terry Wessel.
In February, Mary Beery, quilt teacher from the Clothes Line (now
Patchwork Plus) fabric store in Dayton, was our speaker and 70 people
arrived to overfill the Library room capacity of 50!
In March, we moved to a larger room at Mack Truck Company. In
appreciation for the use of their room, we made a "Trip Around the World"
wall hanging with an appliquéd bulldog ("bulldog" is the logo for Mack
Trucks). This quilt still hangs in their lobby. Soon, we moved to the
Highlands building, Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community, for
our "permanent" home.
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| Shenandoah Valley Quilters Guild |
| History |
In January 2007 we will celebrate our 20th anniversary!!! Read on to find
out how our group got its start...
out how our group got its start...