Welcome to the latest issue of the Quilting Gallery Newsletter. I hope you had a wonderful first day of Spring and National Quilting Day yesterday. Join us at the Quilter’s Daily Blog Along and let us know how you celebrated.

I’m really excited to team up with the Alliance for American Quilts to offer a special incentive to all Quilting Gallery readers and bloggers who enter their 2010 New from Old quilt contest.

All Quilting Gallery fans who enter a quilt in the contest will have a chance to win a prize package that includes an assortment of Simplicity specialty scissors, EZ Quilting acrylic templates and an Alliance Collection for a Cause quilt kit by Moda (total retail value over $250).

Check out the blog for full details on the contest, how to enter and a video featuring a few of the quilts already submitted.

I’m heading off to the Lancaster AQS show later this week. I’m sure to return with loads of goodies and tonnes of inspiration. Have a fabulous week!

Happy quilting!

Michele (aka Mishka)
Quilting Gallery
michele@quiltinggallery.com

Weekly Themed Quilt Contests

It’s been so much fun to see the fabulous quilts entered in the Weekly Themed Quilt Contests. It’s a virtual quilt show each week!

Voting is currently underway for the St. Patrick’s Day quilts. Check out these beauties and cast your vote for your favourite (hurry, voting ends Sunday night). Next week’s theme is African Inspiration. Submit your quilt here. See all the weekly themes.

Check out the previous contests and sponsors:

• Quilts for Teens – Mad About Patchwork
• Quilts for Little Girls – Around the Block Quilters Shop
• Quilts for Little Boys – Jojo’s Quilt and Gift Shoppe
• All Sports and/or Olympics – fabric.com

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

I’m putting together a special advertising feature on the Quilting Gallery site: a Mother’s Day Quilter’s Gift Guide. It’s a fabulous opportunity for you to advertise your unique quilting products (i.e. books, notions, fabrics, etc.), your online quilt shop or special sales you will have for quilting mothers.

Click here for more information.

More News from the Quilting Gallery

How to Embroider

Our guest expert Lenna Green from the Stitching Cow continues to teach us how to embroider:

• Learning to Embroider – Beginning to Stitch – includes a video on a no knot way to start your stitching… fabulous idea
• Finding Hand Embroidery Designs
• Embroidery Thread for Hand Embroidery

Look for two new videos from Lenna next week on how to do the backstitch and the French knot. See all of Lenna’s posts.

Guest Bloggers

Be inspired by your fellow quilters as they guest blog on the Quilting Gallery site:

• Rebuilding New Orleans, Block-by-Block
• Cheryl Lynch
• The Parkinson’s Quilt Project
• Why Quilt? by Grace Thorne
• Olympic Quilting with Daphne Greig
• Saffron Craig

Want to be a Guest Blogger?

Quilting Bloggers Directory

We are fast approaching the 4,000 bloggers mark in the Quilting Bloggers directory. Thanks to everyone that has joined.

Quilter’s Forum

Have you visited the new Quilter’s Forum yet? There’s quilter’s help, quilter’s chat, and a place to post your finished quilts too. I’ve also created forums specifically for promoting quilter’s give-aways, free quilting projects and tutorials and quilting shows and events.

I hope you’ll join in the conversation, make new friends, help each other and be inspired. Register as a member to join in the discussions.

Be sure to check out the fabulous mini quilts from the Winter time swap.

Quilt Shop Locator

The Quilt Shop Locator is a growing network of quilt shops, online retailers, retreat facilities, pattern and fabric designers, authors, teachers, and other quilting professionals from around the world.

Currently there are listings from four countries, 33 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. Recently, new shops were added in Colorado, New York, Texas, Washington and more.

Join today!