Our History
A Tradition Since 1979
The Waterford Quilters Guild was founded in Waterford, VA, in early 1979. During the prior year, a small group of Waterford village residents had been having “sewing bees” one morning a week in our village homes working on needlework projects. Beginning in the spring of 1979 we made a Variable Star quilt of 30 blocks to donate to the Waterford Foundation auction to raise funds to pay off the mortgage on the Second Street School purchased by the Foundation several years earlier.
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Having made that quilt, some of us in the group who were quilters began focusing on quilting gatherings. Anna Holland, one of the members of that group, had been teaching quilting. A few of her students joined the group. Anna and I discussed a more formal group structure and what might be an appropriate name. As Anna, I, and several others were selling many of the quilted items we made, we decided on the name Waterford Quilters Guild—a reference to the old trade guilds formed both for learning skills and for selling their products. We began to meet regularly once-a-month in the Second Street School (SSS). At the time there was a pingpong table in the big room, which was perfect for laying out our quilts. We had officers (Anna was the first President), an informal structure for running meetings, and had both workshops and speakers. Anna said we should not have refreshments because it would become ‘all about eating’. I said we should not have by-laws because there would be ‘too much arguing.’ [We now have lots of both.] For the first time, in the fall of 1979, the group was listed in the Waterford Fair booklet as the “Waterford Quilters Guild,” officially recognizing the formation of the Guild.
As the WQG grew and the SSS was renovated for a living history program, we moved meetings to the Board Room upstairs at Corner Store. Needing still more space, we then met for many years in the original Old School Auditorium. Subsequently the WQG met at the Catoctin Presbyterian Church and various churches in Loudoun County.
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In all following years the WQG has made group quilts. One additional one was donated to the Waterford Foundation’s “Arts and Antique Auction, proceeds to pay off the mortgage on SSS. All other quilts were raffled off, the proceeds from which have paid for Guild educational and other expenses, plus a donation to SSS Dedicated Fund of the Foundation, the amount ranging from $500-1400 yearly to the Foundation. These latter funds were used for the Second Street Schoolhouse and Living History Program to purchase furnishings, painting the exterior of the schoolhouse, fence repair, roofing, and many miscellaneous program expenses. From the beginning it has been Guild custom to include “Waterford” in the name given to these annual raffle quilts, celebrating our strong ties to Waterford’s tradition of handcrafts and the village where our Guild originated.
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The WQG has participated in the Waterford Fair every year since 1979, giving quilting demonstrations, sometimes selling quilted items, and engaging the public in the traditional art and techniques of quilting.
Written by by Kathie Ratcliffe