Congratulations to Jean Shores of Nebraska for winning last week’s weekly themed quilt contest, New Year’s Party Time, with her very fun quilt It’s Five O’clock somewhere in German. Thanks to Pat Sloan for her generous prize.

This week’s theme is SNOWMEN. I’m sure it will be very popular. To enter, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo. Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

This week’s contest has been sponsored by Blackberry Quilts. Enter to win this super cute kit to make the quilt top! The light blue and red Scotty Dog baby quilt is their newest design.

Blackberry Quilts specializes in quilts that you can finish! They feature pre-cut quilting kits for beginners. Stef Russell, owner, grew up sewing, and surrounded by crafty women who taught her how to sew and knit and crochet and embroider. Now she plays with fabric, and designs quilts.

Stef grew up with her grandmother and great grandmother’s quilts. On family gatherings her grandma Vera would carefully unwrap the wedding ring quilt from its tissue covering in the cedar chest to show it off. Vera’s mother, a Russian immigrant with a talent for sewing, adopted American quilting. She made each of her 7 sons a wedding ring quilt. The 4 daughters were not so fortunate – she believed the girls could make their own! The wedding ring quilts were a happy mix of scraps from dresses and feedsacks. (They raised chickens – 10,000 chickens – and sold the eggs! Oh, the feedsacks! Stef wishes she knew were they all went………)

Stef works with the 1930s reproduction prints. They make her smile. Blackberry Quilts also offers fabrics by the yard, charm squares, and jelly rolls for the quilters who like to make their own creations!

The Blackberry Quilts Blog is a little window into Stef’s workshop. She shares her favorite links and projects. Sometimes she is working on sewing projects with her Girl Scout troop, recycling thrift store finds into a sewing project, or posting a tutorial.

Second chance to win: This week, Stef is giving away another quilt top kit for the Scotty Dog featured above to one lucky winner that subscribes to her newsletter. To enter, head over to the Blackberry Quilts web site, on the left-hand side column, you’ll see a box to join their mailing list. One winner will be randomly chosen from those that subscribe this week.

Thanks to Stef for sponsoring this week’s contest. If you want to be a sponsor, contact me.