Guild History
It seems appropriate that the Hill 'N Hollow Quilters Guild was conceived at a quilt show. In the Spring of 1983, Phyllis Speer and Paula Vines first met at Mountain View during the Ozark Folk Center Quilt Show and the decision was made to organize a quilters guild in Mountain Home. In October of that year, an organizational meeting was attended by 8 women, and officers were elected with Phyllis as President.
The first official meeting was held in January of 1984 at the Presbyterian Church with 29 interested quilters attending. A raffle quilt was begun soon afterward and a quilt show was planned. The first show was held in October, 1984 at the Casey House. During the years since, many workshops and demonstrations have been presented, including some by national known teachers. Quilters have continued to join until membership is now well over 100 and includes both a day and an evening monthly meeting.
Photo - Baxter Bulletin, 11/19/87
Community projects have always been important to the Guild. Among them are a Special Olympics Banner, a wall quilt for a hospice benefit, a quilt for an historical society benefit, a quilt to celebrate Mountain Home's centennial (this quilt now hangs in the Mayor's office) and Arkansas Sesquicentennial quilt (now hanging in the County Library), and a quilt handing in the Obstetric waiting room at the Baxter County Regional Hospital.
The Guild's current ongoing community service project is the making of quilts given to the local hospital for distribution to newborn babies whose families have need of them. Prior to our Teddy Bear project our Guild members in 1999 made between 100 and 150 baby quilts each year. Since then, approximately 300 quilts are made annually. These quilts have been distributed to the hospital, an abused women's shelter, a homeless shelter, the highway patrol and other agencies. In additional to these activities, many Guild members have presented quilt-related show and tell programs to various clubs and organizations in the area, as well as the second and third graders at Nelson-Wilkes Elementary School, during Arkansas Week. These programs and quilt displays have increased community awareness and respect for the art of quiltmaking.
In 1998 the Quilt shows became bi-annual. The annual opportunity quilts continue to be our major source of revenue for continuing our baby quilt project as well as workshops which are open to the public whenever possible.
The Hill 'N Hollow Quilters Guild is composed of quilters of various levels of expertise, united by a common bond, the love of quiltmaking. One of the most attractive features of the group has been the many warm friendships among the members. Much of this warmth and closeness is because of the willingness to share knowledge and time with each other.