The Dolley Madison Quilt Guild

By Gracie Hart
Review Staff Writer
Published: September 4, 2008

On a hot Wednesday afternoon, members of the Dolley Madison Quilt Guild can be found in the backroom of the Orange Train Station doing what they love to do best, quilting. 
The guild meets on Wednesdays at the station and also once a month at Prospect Heights Middle School to work on projects and socialize.
“We try to have our business at the beginning of the monthly meeting and then teach something during the other half,” said guild member Brenda Morris. 
Quilting techniques are constantly changing and being updated so the teaching allows for the members to stay current in their skills.
“Nowadays, 70 percent of the quilts that you see at shows are machine done,” said guild member Rita Flyzik.
Large machines allow for quilts to be finished quickly while smaller machines allow for quilters to work on their projects a little at a time.  Most quilts done by members of the guild are made by hand, sometimes with other accents added in.
“Quilting ranges from the traditional to the conventional,” said Morris.  “You can use beads, different fabrics, pens that you use to color or even a copier.”
Morris explained that she had recently used a copier to copy a wedding announcement onto fabric that she was using for a quilt.  Many of Morris’ quilts are gifts for weddings, birthdays and other occasions.
The guild which started with a group out of Montpelier in 1989 now has 25 to 30 members that attend monthly meetings while the Wednesday meetings can range from two to a handful of members.  The guild also hosts a quilt retreat weekend once a year for members to work on projects.
“[At the quilt retreat] we do a mystery quilt where we all get the same pattern, yardage measurements and fabric requirements,” explained Morris.  “Everyone picks their own colors for the fabric and we each complete a segment and pass it on to the next person without knowing what the end result will look like.”
By the end of the mystery quilting project, everyone has their own unique quilt featuring all of the other members’ work.
“The retreat is a time where we all get together and try to leave with a finished project,” said Morris.
Some quilts can take shorter periods of time to complete while others may take years.
“My mother-in-law was a quilter and when I would go to the house, I would see all of her completed projects so I wanted to learn how to do it,” said Flyzik.  “She had a book so I took it home and ordered a [beginner project].  I would take it out and work on it now and again.  It took 20 years.”
Once retired, Flyzik moved to Orange and got involved with the guild.  She now makes quilts that she keeps for herself and also sends some to the Christmas Bazaar.
The guild wants to promote quilting and donates money to the library for quilting magazines.  Finished projects from the guild can also be seen hanging in the library and at the Orange Visitor Center.
The guild hosts a quilt show each year, usually during the same weekend as the Fiber Festival which is held at Montpelier.  This year the show will be held in the gym at Prospect Heights Middle School Oct. 4 from 10 to 5 and also Oct. 5 from 1 to 4.  This is the guild’s fourth annual show and all donations will go to the free clinic in Orange.
“We will also have a shop [at the show] where we will sell all sorts of handmade things,” added Morris.  “Crafts, food, whatever can be made by hand.”