Winchester residents, Rhoda Gersch and Margaret Atkins, had a vision of adding Winchester to the “clothesline across America” of barn quilt trails.  They had each grown up in the Central and Northern Plains and were very familiar with barn quilt trails.  They took a quilt block painting class in April of 2017 and were immediately enthralled.  They started teaching their friends to paint, but needed a place to hold classes.  The Winchester Area Civic Association approved the use of Zilss Memorial  Hall for classes and sponsorship of a future trail.   Once Margaret and Rhoda started holding classes, they displayed two Double Aster Quilt Blocks on the front of Zilss Memorial Hall and the Quilt Block Trail of Winchester Texas was born!

Margaret and Rhoda proceeded to paint 15 quilt blocks and put them up for sale.  Sadly, no one beat the door down to buy one.  The ladies soon realized that in order to sell blocks people needed to see them displayed on gates and fences.  After much deliberation, a list of potential sites was developed.  The ladies talked to friends and neighbors on the list, made cold calls, and cornered people at community events.  One by one the numbers grew and by June of 2018 there were 30 quilt blocks displayed in the area. After that, things really took off and locals were attending class and ordering custom blocks.   In July, the first map of the Quilt Block Trail was printed highlighting the 30 locations.  Six months later a new map was printed with 48.

The Winchester Area Civic Association is the beneficiary of all proceeds from the sales of quilt blocks and classes.  Margaret, Rhoda and all volunteers donate their time.  The Association uses this money to fund the upkeep of Zilss Memorial Hall and to support many local charitable organizations.