Overview
In the summer of 1984 ten women met to discuss a common interest – their love of quilting. From this first meeting evolved the Hill Country Quilt Guild with a membership of 241 as of November, 2019.
The objectives of the guild are as follows:
Promotion and advancement of quilting as an art.
Exchange of information and ideas on any and all aspects of quilting.
Presentation of educational programs on quilting.
Improvement of skills and techniques of quilters.
Exploration of new avenues of creativity and expression for quilters.
Preservation of the arts of the traditional quilt maker.
The Hill Country Quilt Guild, Inc. is a non-profit organization with a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status.
Membership in the Hill Country Quilt Guild, Inc. is open to any person interested in any aspect of the quilting arts.
More information about our guild meetings, programs, workshops and quilt show is available on the website by clicking the Pages links located on the right.
Click on New Member Information for more detail of guild general activities.
History of Hill Country Quilt Guild
In early spring of 1984, Joan Karaus and Maudie Jacobsen met and the idea of a quilt guild in Kerrville, Texas took root. The early meetings were under the guidance of Jerri Ray, the Kerr County Extension Agent. Four to ten women attended those early meetings. Members spread the word and In October 1984, when the Hill Country Quilt Guild was incorporated it boasted 43 charter members. The first program was on constructing a tote bag given by Ethel Howey from the San Antonio Quilt Guild. Charter member, Willoa Shults gave many programs on quilting techniques. Sometime in 1985, the guild took up a collection of $25 for a program to learn a stained glass quilting technique presented by Sibyl Brigance from San Antonio. But, primarily the guild members taught monthly meeting lessons at no charge to the guild.
In April 1985, sixteen members of the Hill Country Quilt Guild undertook as their first big project construction of a Texas sesquicentennial quilt. The quilt has 16 small blocks depicting historic buildings in Kerrville surrounding a large center square of symbolic Texas images. This quilt is an exemplary example of applique, embellishment, embroidery and quilting. The quilt was presented to the city of Kerrville at the Mistletoe Ball held at Inn of the Hills on December 6, 1985. The quilt was then displayed at various locations during 1986, and was entered in the San Antonio and Houston International quilt shows before coming to rest permanently in a framed case at the top of the stairs in the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library in Kerrville. The quilt guild also donated $300 to help defray the cost of the framed case.
The first quilt show was held at the Hill Country Arts Foundation July 1986 under the supervision of then president, Joan Karaus. A raffle quilt was offered in conjunction with the show. Antique and new quilts were on display and homemade items were for sale. The show earned over $1500 and with that the guild was firmly established.
Members of the Hill Country Quilt Guild, upon hearing of the need for small quilts for the San Antonio Ronald McDonald House, voted to donate 24 quilts to them. These quilts along with 200 small stuffed animals made by guild members were delivered to Ronald McDonald House in April of 1987. The guild continued to donate quilts and other items to Kerrville State Hospital, Any Baby Can, Women’s Crisis Council Center, VA Hospital patients, K’Star and Pregnancy Resource Center.
In the year 2000, twenty-nine members of the Hill Country Quilt Guild designed and made a quilt meant to represent a century of quilting design from older traditional blocks through the current, at the time, modern techniques. The “Millennium Quilt” was accepted into the Houston International Quilt Show that year.
The Hill Country Quilt Guild has met continuously since 1984. The early meetings were at the Dietert Claim, then St. Paul’s Methodist Church, First Christian Church, Masonic Lodge and now Zion Lutheran Church. In recent years, the guild has been nearly 250 members strong. Many of these members currently participate in many guild quilting bees. From that charter group of 43 Kerrville woman, the guild now includes members from many surrounding Texas Hill Country communities and as far away as Dallas and Houston areas. Guild members have continued to generously donate time and supplies to make and donate neonatal incubator blankets, pillow cases, memory pillows, Christmas stockings, animal beds for a local shelter and collect toiletries for the Hill Country Crisis Center. The “Giver Group” meets twice each month to make quilts for charitable causes.
The Hill Country Quilt Guild has experienced tremendous growth since those early years of $25 programs and now supports programs and workshops by nationally known instructors. The budget for these speakers comes from proceeds earned from biennial quilt shows held in odd numbered years on Memorial Day weekend exhibiting nearly 200 quilts, retail vendors and offering quilts and other items for sale by the guild. In addition to monthly programs and workshops, the guild holds three retreats per year for member participation. Some members of the guild have continued to enter and win awards in Houston International Quilt Show and have had quilts on display at the Texas Quilt Museum and in traveling exhibits.
Charter Members
Mary Ancik Elvira Arrendo* Nancy Bailey
Rosemary Barnette Catherine Benjamin Alice Boeck
Margaret Chapmen Cleo Crozier Betty Doudt
Ella Fisher * Gigi Fleckenstein Billie Hall*
Ginny Harris Kitt Heidel* Tiny Hinrichs
Mildred Hosford Maudie Jacobsen* Mary White
Maisie Meredith Shirley Milliorn Faye Merz
Anna Murphy Mary Maute Pearl Neilson
Gerry Offner Bonnie Phelps Evelyn Poole
Mary Rogers* Peggy Scroggins Anne Russell
Willoa Shults Ida Spence Nell Swayze
Pat Houseman Wetherill* Lillian Valsek Verla Grier*
Mary Vanham Yarchufha Mae Boatright* Arvila Neal*
Annette Gilbert* Thelma Johns* Joan Karaus*
Betty Kusch* Cleo Trawick*
*deceased
