I finally managed to get through all of the registrations for the Mug Rug Swap that came in the past couple of days. We are a HUGE group at 319 swappers from 25 countries, making this an awesome international swap.

There are 24 swappers that have not confirmed their registration by replying to the verification email that was sent to them.

Are you one?? Check your spam folder if you didn’t get the verification email. You have until Wednesday at 6 pm EST to confirm your information or your registration will be deleted.

I you received an email from me, telling you to enjoy the swap, you’re in and already confirmed. If you did not receive an email from me saying to enjoy the swap, and are not on the participant’s list, and have checked your spam folder, email me directly.

I had a few potential participants that entered invalid email addresses, so their registrations bounced right away and were deleted. Sorry, but I can’t add you back now.

With this many swappers, it’s going to take me longer than usual to get the partner information out. I’ll do it in batches over the next few days. If you don’t have your partner’s info by next Monday, please email me.

Thanks everyone.. this is going to be so much fun. I see several of you are sharing the mug rugs you’ve already made in the Flickr group too. Check it out for inspiration!

The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Bargello Quilts. The sponsor for this week’s contest is Patchwork Gracie who have donated a $50 gift certificate to be used in their online shop for fabrics and notions (but not for the longarm quilting).

• 2011 weekly themes
• Sponsor next’s week’s contest!

Patchwork Gracie

Patchwork Gracie is an online retail fabric and supply shop owned and operated by our family of quilters with over 100 years of quilting experience. Our inventory continues to build while providing you with everyday affordable quality fabrics & products and great monthly specials. This month we are offering 15% off all Windham Paperdoll fabrics, including Christmas Paperdoll, along with free shipping for domestic orders $50 and over. Look for February’s special of 25% off all Itty Bitty Baby from Marcus Brothers.

Bonus: Email us to today at fabric@pgfabrics.com or join our newsletter mailing list for specials and updates regularly and receive a $5.00 coupon off your next order (coupon code will be sent via email or hard copy depending upon your preference). Note: see the bottom of our home page to subscribe to our newsletter.

Enter the Contest

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Last Week’s Quilt Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s Snowmen Quilts contest. All of the quilts were gorgeous. Thanks also to everyone that took the time to vote.

Congratulations to winner Agatha who won with her gorgeous quilt Snowbound:

She won a $50 gift certificate from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Blog It

Please share the logo below on your own blog. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests!

I’m sure many of you know that I’m a web developer, but I rarely get to show you what I work on. Most of my projects are either as a freelance sub-contractor for another web development firm that I can’t discuss, or I build database-driven applications for a wide variety of clients that are hidden behind password protection.

So, I’m thrilled to be able to share with you my latest site for Gail Garber who is a fabulous quilter, author and teacher. She creates bold, colourful, geometric designs that I simply adore. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Gail at the Lancaster AQS show last year. We then reconnected again a couple of months later on Facebook and she asked me to redo her web site.

I worked with a very talented local designer, Tyson Kingsbury, who created the overall look and feel for the site as well as a new logo. Gail is very much in love with her birds, and Tyson combined that love with Gail’s passion for quilting into one logo that I think personifies Gail perfectly.

Here are a few photos of Gail’s quilts (you can click on the photo to view a larger image and the story behind the quilt):

Flying Colors Give-Away

With Gail’s bright and vibrant designs and swirling flying geese, I just knew I had to have her latest book, Flying Colors. This book takes the traditional goose beyond tradition into a heady world of free-form design. No longer just for geese, the curvy filler strips can hold many different designs and 14 different fillers are included among the pages, along with 5 full-size patterns.

Gail’s book is definitely one of the better technical books I’ve seen for drafting one’s own quilts using geometric designs. It contains several examples of different filler types, how to draw them, how to break up the pieces into components to actually create them in fabric, lessons on colour and placement of light, dark and medium fabrics to create the look that you want. There’s a small gallery of quilts for inspiration, many of which you’ll find in the Gallery section of Gail’s new web site.

Also included are five projects that you can make right away with full-size templates included. I want to get my feet wet, so to speak, with Tiny Trees and I’m in love with Winding Ways too.

Give-Away

Gail’s generously agreed to donate two copies of Flying Colors to my blog readers. You have two chances to win and you can enter both options.

First, head over to Gail’s site and subscribe to her newsletter. One random winner will be chosen from those that subscribe.

Next, have a look through the Gallery of Quilts, then come back here, leave a comment below and let me know which one quilt if your favourite and why. One random winner will be chosen from the comments.

Winners will be announced next Monday, January 24th.

Facebook readers: Please leave a comment on my blog itself, not on Facebook to be entered. Click the “view original post” link.