The West Georgia Quilters Guild was founded in September 1987 by Carol Kelley, a quilter, who moved to Carrollton from Omaha, Nebraska, and was disappointed to find that there was no local quilt guild. She found a few other people in the community who were interested in quilting and shared with them her idea of forming a guild. The group held a planning meeting in September 1987 and chose the "West Georgia Quilters Guild" as the organization's name. The Guild's first official meeting was held in October 1987 and the initial slate of officers took officially took office in January 1988 with Carol Kelley serving as the first president. Other officers were Violette Denney, Vice President; Polly Holladay, Secretary; Betsy Scheufler, Treasurer; Tommie Freeman, Publicity; Ollie Wright, Historian; and Juanita Davis, Librarian.

Projects during the Guild's initial year included giving a sampler guilt to the Carrollton Community Activities Center and a another sampler quilt to a member. They also initiated a tradition of each member making a heart block to bring to the February meeting. There the blocks were raffled to a Guild member with the understanding that she would use them to make a quilt by the next Valentine's Day.

In 1988, the Guild's first group quilt (made of heart blocks) was entered in the Festival of Quilts Fourth Annual Show in Jacksonville, Alabama, placing second. By 1989, guild members were conducting quilt programs in the community. In 1996, when Atlanta was chosen to host the Summer Olympic Games, the West Georgia Quilters Guild answered a call to participate in the Georgia Quilt Guild initiative. The goal was to present a quilt from Georgia to the flagbearer and the president of the Olympic committee from each country. Six quilts made by members of the West Georgia Quilters Guild were selected for this initiative and given to representatives from Uganda, Hungary, Ethiopia, Albania, Nicaragua, and Turkmenistan.