I’m taking this ‘guest blogging’ opportunity to introduce myself to the Quilt Blogging World :)
[Thanks ♥ Michele!]

I am Benita Skinner and my husband Brad & I currently live in Tumbler Ridge, which is in remote Northern British Columbia, Canada.

I’m an independent quilt designer and Thanks to the many quilters who enjoy my designs, I make our living by selling my quilt patterns (as pdf files sent via email).
I own, update and maintain several quilting web sites including my main quilt pattern site Victoriana Quilt Designs, Free Quilt Patterns.info and Vintage Embellishments. It’s my husband who makes it all possible for me to work from early morning until night on this adventure.

I don’t have a blog on my site (they weren’t part of the quilting Internet when I began online in 2001] and up to now I haven’t even posted an ‘About Me’ page. And as there is a misperception that Victoriana Quilt Designs is a whole team of people/corporation, I thought it was time!

I began teaching my Victorian House workshop in 1993 when I still lived in Ontario. My original technique was based on my pictorial quilts that I made when I began quilting.

This led me to more workshops using my original quilt designs which I held in my home…my most popular being the Beginner’s Sampler Workshop which I now offer online.

In 2001, with some basic ‘how to’ from my son on using the programs needed to put together a web page (including making the graphics to decorate my site), I began Victoriana Quilt Designs. Through ‘poking’, as he calls it, I taught myself enough about the programs to start offering my quilt designs as pdf patterns. Of course I also knew enough to hire my wonderful tech guy to handle the code for any ‘real’ tech programming.

And in 8 years of monthly updates I have accumulated quite a sizable site. I offer my pattern designs to those who purchase Memberships and now they can also be purchased by non-members.
Plus be sure to check out the Complimentary Patterns and the Library for all the quilting information available, which is a great place for quilt beginners to learn. And of course look for the Sharing section with Quilting Pen Pals & Charm Swaps plus the Used Quilt Books for sale by visitors.

When quilting blogs began to appear I was already very busy with my monthly updates. Since I do not take pretty pictures (I thank my husband for those!!!) which are required to be a good inspiring blog, time made it impossible with how busy we both were already….so I chose not to have one.

This left me out of your great quilt blogging community. I watched from the side lines adding the links to quilt blogs that offered free quilt patterns & tutorials as I found them, onto my other quilt sites: Free Quilt Patterns.info and Quilt Lessons.

I’ve decided to add a ‘Blog Roll’ page to my Feedback & Links section next month. I would love to exchange links with quilty bloggers. Let me know about your blog (via email: benita at victorianaquiltdesigns dot com) and I’ll be happy to add it to my list!

As of 2009, thanks to the nudging of my other son, I also have a Facebook page that allows me to connect with quilters, plus I love sharing my online quilty travels on Twitter.

I hope you enjoy your visit!

Benita Skinner
Victoriana Quilt Designs

Want to be a guest blogger too?

Rachel’s put together this super cute siggy block tutorial. Lots of photos to help you along, it’s so easy.

She’s also organizing a modern siggy block swap. Better hurry though, she’s limiting registration to 100.

P.S. Pat Sloan’s also organizing a SweetHearts ROCK! Swap.

In last month’s anniversary blog post one of the most requested features is guest bloggers. I totally agree. Last February, I did guest blogger month with 58 guests. It was fabulous to learn about such talented quilters from around the world, but way too much work on such a grand scale.

For 2010 I’d like to feature one guest blogger a week. If you’d like to be a guest, first, read other guest blogger posts to get an idea of what others have written about.

I don’t have any specific guidelines and I am pretty much open to whatever you would like to write about. I do ask that it not be too commercial or hard-sell in nature. That’s not to say you can’t mention your business adventures, you certainly can, as part of the overall write-up. (I accept advertising, so if you’d like to write specifically about your product or business, drop me an email to discuss.)

Here are some ideas on what you could write about:

• your own quilting history, how did you get started quilting
• what do you love and/or hate about the process
• tips, techniques, tutorials
• product reviews (not your own product please)
• where you are from, where you’ve been, where you’re going
• what you’ve done, awards won, contests entered, personal achievements (smile on a grandchild’s face!)
• what technique(s) do you want to learn this year, or further perfect
• if you blog, why?
• met anyone famous from the quilting world?
• do you have a mentor or idol, if so, who and why?
• charity efforts, teaching events, retreats, cruises, etc.

Everyone loves to see photos, so I encourage you to include a few with your submission (no more than six please). Please submit photos with a minimum size of 350px wide and a maximum of 500px wide.

Content should be written directly in the email you send to me as plain text, or as an attached text document. Please no MS Word or other publishing program. Do not embed your write up in the email. Have questions, please ask first! Links to your site(s) should be included in the write up, just put them in brackets, and I’ll link them correctly.

Ideally, I’d just like to copy and paste the text and not have to edit it in anyway. I do reserve the right to edit and/or refuse to post anything submitted. If you are in doubt if what you wish to talk about is acceptable or not, just email me first.

If you’d like to participate as a guest blogger, please send me an email about what you’d like to write about and I’ll schedule you a publication date.

Look for this week’s guest blogger post tomorrow morning.

P.S. There’s still time to enter this week’s weekly quilt contest: New Year’s Party Time. Submit your quilt photo for a chance to win the fabulous prize from Pat Sloan

P.P.S Calling all Ontario quilters living in the Greenbelt .. there’s a new challenge from the Ontario Crafts Council. Check out the info posted on the Quilter’s Connection Blog.

What better way to start off the new year than with a new weekly virtual quilt contest. And who better to help me kick off this exciting contest than Pat Sloan.

Join the fun, show off your wonderful creations and be inspired by what your quilting friends have made.

Each Monday a new theme will be announced and you can upload a photo along with a short story of a quilt you’ve created that represents the theme in some way. Hopefully, there will even be weekly prizes donated by generous sponsors in the quilting industry. Each weekend, visitors to the Quilting Gallery site can vote for their favourite quilt.

This week’s theme is New Year’s Party Time. Pat has donated a copy of her new book, Pat Sloan’s Camera, Color, Quilts, a 4-spool thread sampler pack of fabulous Aurifil threads, and some of Pat’s new Georgia fabric.

I had the pleasure of first meeting Pat at the Nashville AQS show in 2008. She is a bundle of enthusiasm and energy, that I’m sure if she could bottle it would be a best-seller. So, who is Pat Sloan anyway? You can read her story here.

Her blog is always entertaining with contests, challenges and give-aways. Be sure to check out her Quilt Mashup Forum and her Death by Quilting games… fun!!! You’ll find her on Facebook, Twitter and in Second Life too.

This weekend, Pat’s also giving away another copy of the prize donated for this contest. To enter that give-away, just head over to her blog and follow the instructions there. Hurry, you have until Monday to enter her blog give-away.

To enter this week’s New Year’s Party Time contest, follow the links below. Come back next Friday (Jan. 8th) to see all the fabulous quilts and to cast your vote for your favourite.

• Guidelines
• Themes, winners & sponsors
• Submit your photo
• How to sponsor a contest

I’m still working on the themes page. I’d love to hear your weekly theme suggestions. Leave a comment or send me an email.

Let’s see your fabulous New Year’s Party Time quilts!!

The quilts and quilted projects I completed in 2009. My biggest accomplishment this year, would be mastering (sort of) free-motion quilting. I’m looking forward to improving my free-motion skills next year and learning new techniques.

There are six additional quilts started, but not finished yet.

What did you accomplish this year? Would love to see links to your blog posts in the comments.