Ladybug Chapter
of the
National Quilting Association, Inc.
Po Box 9635
Newark, Delaware 19713

Annual membership dues are $25/year. If you would like to register to become a Ladybug Quilt member, please contact Jane Marino. Visitors are welcome to attend meetings for a nominal fee of $5.00 per guest. If a guest would like to become a member at a monthly meeting, the $5.00 fee will be applied to their membership fee.

History of the Guild:

Quilting was largely an ignored form of needlework until the Bicentennial in 1976. By the late 1970’s it had become evident that the resurgence of interest in quilting in the Delaware Valley was great enough to support a quilt group. Up until that time, Sallie Matthews of Wilmington, taught quilting at schools, a local fabric shop and at her home outside Wilmington, DE. At the continued urging of her students, Sallie applied for quilt chapter status from the National Quilting Association. In May of 1979 the Ladybug Quilt Guild was awarded guild membership in the National Quilting Association as Chapter #73. From a beginning membership of 25 who met at members homes four times per year to the current membership of over 150 which meets monthly at the Newark Senior Center in Newark, DE, our guild (named for the state insect of Delaware), has increased in both size and activities. We are a non-profit, volunteer organization. Membership is drawn from the Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania areas. Visitors are welcome to attend a meeting before deciding whether or not to join.

Members range in age from the very young, (elementary school age), through octogenarians. Experience and skill levels range from entirely new quilters to quilt teachers, quilt show judges, quilt fabric shop owners and at least one member who runs a textile repair and conservation business. Several members have been in the guild since its inception. Members with specialized interests meet at quilt bees on their own schedules.

Quilt related educational programs are provided each month by either guild members or outside speakers. Several times a year meetings are devoted to charitable projects and have provided over 200 quilts made for the homeless and distributed though local shelters. Members take part in lectures, quilt classes and field trips to local quilt shows and exhibits; some prefer pieced designs, others appliquéd, yet others nontraditional forms of quilting. What we all have in common is a love for and interest in fabrics and the ways in which they can be manipulated to produce quilts.

Beginning in 1980, in collaboration with the Cecil County Arts Council, the Ladybug Chapter began its long history of presenting quit shows at Cecil County Community College outside North East, MD. Starting in 1981, we took over complete responsibility for the shows, which were held through 1980. The shows have been open to quilters who desire simply to show off their projects and to those who wish to have certified judges rate their quilts using standards set up by the NQA.