Check the Latest Additions page to see this in action or you can search geographically too.

About 5% of the blogs don’t have RSS feeds that can be read correctly and their latest blog posts aren’t shown. That doesn’t mean that there is anything necessarily wrong with the blog, just that the script I’m using to access their RSS feed is unable to parse it correctly.

For those on Blogger/Blogspot: if your blog feed is not showing up, first try the instructions below that Pat in Florida was kind enough to send to me.

Within your Blogger dashboard, you need to turn on your blog feed, go to:

Design
Settings
Click on other
Site feed: change to Allow Blog Feed Full
Save

Then check your blog here to see if that worked. If not, use the Report Blog to send me a message indicating that you’ve done this and I’ll see if I can find another work around.

While implementing this change, I also took the time to update the directory by removing blogs that were gone and those that had not been updated in a year. Can I just say, this was a tonne of work, and boring as can be. More than 1,000 blogs were deleted. Yikes!

I am absolutely sure that I missed some blogs that should have been removed. So please, if you see one, just hit the Report Blog link to send me a message. The link appears next to each blog title/date and is unique for each blog. I would really appreciate your help to keep the directory up-to-date so that it is most enjoyable for all to use.

Also, if I removed your blog in error, my apologies, send me your blog address and I’ll investigate. You can check your blog’s status by using the Search and entering your blog address at the bottom of the page. If your blog needs changes, use the Report Blog link to tell me about them.

A Contest … Give-Aways

I was really disappointed as I went through the directory and deleted more than 1,000 quilting blogs. Each one that I removed it was like, oh no another one gone … almost like friends that have moved away. *sigh*

When I first started the Bloggers directory back in May 2008, I ran a Reach a Thousand Contest to help spread the word. It was wildly popular and I’d like to do something similar again to get new quilting blogs in the directory for you all to enjoy.

All you have to do is write a new blog post on your own blog and invite your readers to add their quilting-related blogs to the Quilting Bloggers Directory. You can use one of the graphics below if you like in your post. Once you’ve written your post, return to this page and leave a comment below telling me you did so and include the link to your blog post.

I have two 6-month gift certificates available to The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. I just love this show! It works like a magazine subscription, so if you sign up mid June, you’ll get access to the shows released within the six months from your sign up date.

I’ll randomly pick two winners from those that are sharing on their blogs June 1, 2012. If we have more than 50 entries, I’ll pick another two winners to receive a 6-pack of hand dyed fat quarters similar to these ones.

Quilting Bloggers Logos

White background, width: 180px, height: 70px

White background, width: 150px, height: 58px

Coloured background with gold border, 125px square

If you have a Blogger/Blogspot blog, please see How to Add a Logo to Blogger/Blogspot for instructions. For help with WordPress.com sites, see this tutorial on text widgets.

For Swap Participants:

This week’s quilt contest is Springtime Renewal… swap participants are welcome to enter the quilt they made and sent to their partner if they like. Deadline is Thursday at midnight. Enter here!

By now, your mini quilts should all be in the mail or already received. If you haven’t sent yours yet, PLEASE email me AND your partner to let us know the status and when you plan to ship. We all understand life gets in the way, communication keeps the swap a positive experience for all.

If you’ve sent your mini quilt, and haven’t emailed me yet, please do so with your full name and partner’s name and date sent if it was a while ago. If you’ve received your mini quilt please also email me AND the person that sent to you to let us know it arrived safely.

I’m starting to get a lot of emails asking if quilts have arrived and that quilts haven’t arrived yet. These take a huge amount of time for me to investigate. So here’s what I’d like to suggest:

If you’ve sent a quilt and it should have arrived by now, email your partner yourself. Her email was included in your partner info message. CC me if you like.

If you haven’t received a mini quilt yet and haven’t heard from the person sending to you, give it time to arrive. If you still don’t have it by next Tuesday, April 3rd, email me and I’ll start investigating then.

Upload your photos: to our Flickr group so that everyone can see what you’ve sent/received.

Our Next Swap:

Registration for your next swap will start mid April. This swap was originally going to be a project created by a designer, but due to life getting in the way, that isn’t going to happen.

What I’d like to do instead, and has been requested numerous times, is an Artist Trading Cards/Postcard swap. These are mini 2.5"x3.5" pieces of art. The size is exact, but you can let your creativity soar in whatever direction it takes you. If you’re unfamiliar with ATCs, see the bottom of this post, which includes a link to a tutorial and links to other resources too.

My thought is that for the next swap we will create FOUR ATCs to send to your partner. They can coordinate or be totally different. You’ll send all four to the same person.

What do you think? Is four too many? Would you rather just send two? You’ll have ~6-8 weeks to create and send. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or on the Flickr discussion post or just drop me an email.

This is the latest site I completed for Bytowne Threads. Mari Lyn is the owner and she’s also my Aurifil dealer, so we’ve known each other for several years.

On her site she sells spools of Aurifil threads including cotton, polyester (Aurilux), wool, invisible nylon and metallics. She also has all of the Aurifil thread kits too. While she is the Canadian distributor for Aurifil, she ships world-wide. I think you’ll find her prices to be fantastic and hard to beat elsewhere on the ‘net.

In addition to Aurifil, Mari Lyn is also the worldwide distributor for Mother Earth Studios’ patterns and kits designed by Hilary Rice.

Savings for Quilting Gallery Readers

For the month of March, make a purchase at Bytowne Threads and save 10% by entering the coupon code QG2012.

It’s that time again, for another Quilter’s Blog Hop party. Quilting bloggers from around the world can register their blog, host their own give-away starting March 16th and I’ll prepare the massive list of participants.

We’ll start blog hopping on St. Patrick’s Day – March 17th, 2012.

More info and join the fun here: Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Quilter’s Blog Hop Party!

Registration is now open for the New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap.

Registration for this swap closes February 1st. Partner information will be sent by February 5th. The deadline to mail your mini quilt is March 12th for international shipments (including Canada/USA) and March 19th for domestic shipments. All mini quilts should arrive at their destination no later than March 30th.

Quilter’s Super Deals

Based on the popular Daily Deals concept in most communities, Quilter’s Super Deals is an opportunity for online quilt shops, designers and authors to offer a unique discount on their products for quilters. Advertisers: Contact me for an information package.

Starting Wednesday, January 18th, a new Quilter’s Super Deal from a favourite online quilting retailer will be featured. The Deal will be valid for one week.

Did you have a chance to listen live to my interview on Pat Sloan’s Radio Show? If you missed the live show, you can listen to it here or via Itunes too.

On the show, I shared some of the plans for 2012 here at the Quilting Gallery. Here’s what’s planned:

I’ll be hosting 4 swaps this year, one each quarter. Registration for our first swap New Beginnings will start later this week. This will be an open-ended mini quilt swap where each quilter is free to interpret the theme as they wish. The other swaps planned for this year include projects designed specifically for the swap by Sandi Andersen, Lenna Green and Jennifer Ofenstein.

The Blog Hop Party we did last year was so much fun. Thanks to everyone’s feedback, I’ll be hosting four events this year. The first one will start around Valentine’s Day with others planned for April, August and November.

Our Weekly Themed Quilt Contests will continue for the third year. See the 2012 themes. You can submit a quilt for this week’s New Beginnings contest.

I really enjoyed last year’s Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along. I plan to host a Spring Garden quilt-along starting sometime in April or May. Also, the Super Deals were very popular and I’m thrilled to announce that they’ll continue starting next Wednesday. More information will be posted on the site later this week.

I also have plans to create a 3rd edition of the Quilter’s Cookbooks. This one will feature quick and easy Summertime recipes.

More FUN things will be announced later in the year.

The Learning Center

Last but certainly not least, I’m extremely excited to be working with Pat Sloan on a new section for the site, called The Learning Center. I have known Pat since I first started this site and had the pleasure of meeting her for the first time in Nashville in 2008.

Over the years, we’ve seen each other at various shows and communicate regularly. She’s been a great mentor to me and always so eager and willing to share her advice and perspective whenever I’ve asked. We’ve been talking about doing something together for almost 2 years, and finally we start.

While Pat will be the hostess and organizer for The Learning Center, it’s really all about you. Pat will be organizing guest experts, sharing her own experience and links to fabulous tutorials and other useful information. We’ll be having linky parties, featured products, Q&A sessions and more. Each month, I’ll also be organizing and writing a couple of the posts.

Pat’s organized the draft agenda for the entire first year, and let me just say it’s EXCITING! Each month has its own theme. February is Storage and Organization and March will be Quilting Basics.

There will be a new tab at the top of the site for The Learning Center, where all the posts and resources will be stored. As we start to get content entered into the site and build up this section, it will become a super-organized resource for quilters of all levels.

I hope you’ll enjoy the new section and that you’ll share your own knowledge and participate. At the middle of each month, we’ll announce the next month’s theme and we will be asking for volunteers to guest write, answer questions, share their tips, etc.

Now, I’ll let Pat take over and tell you the plans for February…

From Pat:

I’m really excited to have you join Michele and I for our Fabulous new Learning Center section! The February topic is near and dear to my heart, organization! I know we talk a lot about it and people are always looking for the best solutions that fit their work style.

I believe we can all find a solution that works for us by sharing ideas! All during February you will find links, tips, interviews and ideas for how to proceed with organizing your studio space.

We want your ideas! Have you written a post on your own blog, seen a really clever storage/organization idea online or have your own ideas on fabric, notions & thread storage, project organization (including BOMs), and digital organization (what to do with all those free tutorials and patterns)? Send Michele or Pat an email.

If you have a specific organization/storage-related question leave a comment, or email it to us, and we’ll try and get you an answer!

Also, at the end of February we’ll be having a linky party where you get to show off your own creative space. Take before photos, organize, organize, organize and take after photos. You’ll write a blog post on your own blog and link it up in our linky party.

Give-Away: Share your Ideas for The Learning Center

We’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts about The Learning Center. What do you want to see included? Is there something quilting-related that you struggle with and need help? How should the Center be organized so that as it grows, it becomes a useful resource guide that you can refer back to?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts and suggestions. I have two free gift certificates from The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims to give away. One is for a free 6-month membership that is good for a new member only. The other is for one past online series of the show. I believe this certificate is open to both new and current members (I hope).

Two winners will be chosen randomly next Wednesday, January 18th.

I’ve received many lovely comments of appreciation and thanks for hosting the Blog Hop Party. I hope everyone had fun participating, whether you were a blogger hosting a give-away or a quilter hopping along visiting new blog friends.

It was so much FUN, that I’d like to continue the event in 2012. I have a couple of polls included in this blog post. Please can you answer and let me know your thoughts. The questions are similar but are geared towards (1) bloggers that want to do give-aways and (2) quilters that hop around visiting the blogs and entering the give-aways. Bloggers can answer both questions.

Keep in mind, that you do not have to commit to participating in the event each time, this is just so I can get a general opinion of how often to organize future Blog Hops.

Question 1: For those bloggers that participated in the event or those bloggers that would like to participate in a future event:

How often would you like to host a give-away on your blog and participate in future Blog Hop Parties?

Question 2: For those quilters that hopped along visiting the blogs:

How often would you like to hop along visiting bloggers in a Blog Hop Party?

Also, if you have any suggestions or ideas for future Blog Hop Parties, please share them in the comments or send me an email.

Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along

First off, the final winners of the buttons donated by Button Mad – Incomparable Buttons for the Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along.

• Block 22 – Circle of geese wreath – Fluffysoftkitty
• Block 23 – Starry Night – K9toywear
• Block 24 – Christmas Star – Mona’s Creativity
• Block 25 – Christmas Stocking – MezCat
• Block 26 – Welcoming Friends – Fluffysoftkitty
• Block 27 – One horse open sleigh – ColourinStitch
• Block 28 – Christmas Candy – ColourinStitch
• Block 29 – All Wrapped Up – Mona’s Creativity
• Block 30 – Bountiful – Fluffysoft kitty
• Block 31- Merry Christmas – ColourinStitch
• Block 32 – Let it Snow – CBNova1
• Block 33 – One special star – Fluffysoftkitty
• Block 34 – Snow Cristil – Mona’s Creativity
• Block 35 – Tree Toppers – Mona’s Creativity
• Block 36 – Christmas Memories – Momma Thomps

All of the winners were notified via Flickr. Check your winning photos and/or your Flickr messages for the notification.

I’d like to extend a huge Thank You! to the wonder folks at Button Mad for generously donating 37 packages of hand-painted buttons for the quilt-along. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Blog Hop Party Winners

I have 13 winners to announce for the Happy Birthday! Blog Hop Party. All winners have been notified via email. I’m still working my way through the hundreds of comments left the past week. Thank you so much for the inspiring Christmas music suggestions. Winners were chosen randomly.

• Winners of the Aurifil threads are #123 Jeanne G. and #286 Michelle Harrison
• Winners of the Saral Transfer Paper sampler packages are #447 Erin, #269 Anne, #29 Lynne, #356 Sunni @ Love Affair and #96 Ranch Wife
• The winner of the Montana Star Quilts book by Linda Parker is #26 Mary Valaika
• Winners of the Quilter’s Cookbooks are #472 quiltmom anna, #331 Sharmond, #63 Michell. #69 Lee and #517 Bente

Thanks so much to the fabulous sponsors!

Another Give-Away Winners

Two winners were randomly selected for the Sew Mama Sew give-away featured on the site last week. The winners are #79 Katey and #132 Heartsdesire.

Weekly Quilt Contest: Christmas Quilts

Finally last, but certainly not least, the two winners of last week’s Christmas Quilts contest:

Susanne

Vreni

Thanks to everyone that took the time to vote. I do apologize for the web site glitches encountered over the weekend. The problem has been found and, happily, it’s been fixed too.

Wanted: Contest sponsors for 2012.

Normally, for my anniversary post, I’ll spend some time reflecting on the past year and sharing what the next year will bring. However, I haven’t had time to get this written yet. Look for this post next week.

If you’re new to the Quilting Gallery, Welcome! Here you can meet thousands of quilters from around the world in the quilting bloggers directory. Browse the quilt shop locator, a unique map-based directory of quilting retailers and professionals. Find connections in our world-wide directory of quilt guilds and search for the latest in quilting books, patterns and notions in the quilter’s market.

You’ll also find hundreds of free quilting projects, inspiring guest bloggers and charity quilting projects.

I host a weekly themed quilt contest. Vote this weekend for your favourite Christmas Table Runners or submit a photo for next week’s Christmas contest.

We just finished up the Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along featuring 36 fabulous designers. I host swaps too; our next one will be in January.

Subscribe to our Newsletter or Like us on Facebook to get notified of the latest FUN!

Give-Aways!!

I have prizes to give-away from a few wonderful sponsors. There will be 13 winners selected!

Aurifil Threads

If you’re new here, you might not know that I’m a HUGE Aurifil Threads fan. I use the 50wt cotton for all of my piecing and hand appliqué work. I’ll use 50wt or 40wt for quilting and have recently fallen in love with their 12wt for machine blanket stitch appliqué.

Alex from Aurifil has donated two thread collections for the give-away. Send Aurifil some love by Liking them on Facebook. They host super fun contests and give-aways there.

Collection 1: Wild Rose by Marti Michell contains 10 small spools of 50wt thread (220 yards each).

Collection 2: Freshly Baked by Kaye England contains 10 small spools of 50wt thread (220 yards each).

Saral Wax-Free Transfer Paper

Another product I adore is Saral’s Wax-Free Transfer Paper. I use it for marking quilting and appliqué placement lines. I did a product review earlier this year. The good folks at Saral have donated 5 sampler packs.

Montana Star Quilts

Quilting friend and author Linda Parker has donated a copy of her book Montana Star Quilts. It features over 90 brilliant full-page, color photos of Indian and author-made star quilts. It also includes complete step-by-step directions for eleven original star quilts with tips to design your own.

Quilter’s Cookbook

I’ll also be donating 5 sets of the two Quilter’s Cookbooks.

Santa alert: Just $4/each! Filled with fabulous recipes, heart-warming stories and gorgeous quilts, they’d make a great gift for you and your quilting friends. Purchase them here!

How to Enter, How to Win!

Leave a comment below. One entry per person. Duplicate entries will be deleted. Winners will be chosen randomly December 18th.

Answer the following: What’s your favourite Christmas song? (Or another song, if you don’t celebrate Christmas). Bonus if you find and share a video of it!

Here’s my favourite Christmas Time by Bryan Adams.

Quilter’s Blog Hop Party

Visit the more than 240 quilters participating in the Quilter’s Blog Hop Party. Thanks to all the bloggers participating. I’m thrilled so many wanted to help us celebrate.

Comments are now closed! Winners announced here.