In 1987, Diane Hienton and Barb Lister were new to Denver. They missed the large active guilds they had known in other locations. With the encouragement of their small neighborhood quilting group, The Piece Corps, they started planning how to organize a quilt group.

As former teachers, they knew how to plan! Hours were spent developing goals and a direction for this new guild. They advertised an organizational meeting to be held in May 1987 at the Castlewood Library

On May 21, 1987 the first meeting of Arapahoe County Quilters was held. At the June meeting, 35 members paid dues of $10 and the guild was off and running.

Founding Officers

• President - Diane Hienton
• Vice-President - Barb Lister
• Secretary - Karen Nein
• Treasurer - Mary Beth Matousek

ACQ was formed in May of 1987. The logo was designed by Janet Robinson and the meetings were held at the Castlewood Library.

There were 50 Charter Members in the first Roster.

Their first Block of the Month was: The Ohio Star. 

The first door prizes were donated by:

• The Creative Needle
• The Great American Quilt Factory

They started the Charitable Quilt Committee that year and used to get together for sew days. However, they were tying quilts back then.

The first workshop was in 1989 and was on Fast Triangles by Joann Rosenberg

The name "Festival of Quilts" was submitted by Lois Edwards as the winning name for our Quilt Show and the first show took place on Oct 12 at the University of Denver. There were 80 quilts representing 36 quilters.