We’re well into August, and soon Summer will be over. Did it ever start in Ottawa? We’ve had a cooler than normal and very wet summer here. For me who loves it hot and sunny, I keep waiting for those days. I’m glad to be heading South next week, where I hope I’ll find some of that heat and sunshine.

What better way to say goodbye to the summer that never was, than having a Lazy Days of Summer Photo Contest.

What have you been working on this summer? (or this winter for my lovely quilting friends in the southern hemisphere).

Guidelines:

Send me a photo via email of your latest quilting project. If it’s not 100% done, that’s OK too. Include your name, quilt title and your blog address (if you have one). Just one submission per person, please.

Submissions will be accepted up to the end of August 31, 2008.

Every week or so, I’ll do a blog post of the previous week’s submissions.

Early September, site visitors will be able to vote for their favourite. I’ll announce the winners around September 10, 2008.

The Prizes:

There will be three lucky winners. Here are the prizes.

A Lazy Days of Summer wall hanging that I’ve been working on:

And, Lynn over at Fiber Fantasies has very generously donated a dozen gorgeous hand-dyed fat quarters. We’re going to split the dozen for two winning prizes of 6 each. (I wish I could enter, as I love these fabrics… wow!)

Lynn wrote: “When I hand dye cottons, I use PFD cotton, ProChem reactive dyes, rinse excess with Synthrapol, then machine wash in hot water with Synthrapol. They are ‘ready to use’.”

Email me your submissions!

P.S. Feel free to use the Lazy Days of Summer Photo Contest graphic at the top of this post on your own site to promote the contest. Thanks!

Marit is having a give-away to celebrate her 100th blog post. Head over to her site to leave a comment, Pot Holders and Napkin Box Give-Away

Beth over at Simply Sewn is having a big box give-away. Here’s some wonderful Moda Marbles that she’s including in the box.

Good luck!

Look what the mail-lady brought me yesterday. A lovely assortment of items from Spring Market from Rachel at 2nd Avenue Studio. Market in a Box, the next best thing to being there.

Included are various flyers and brochures for new products, fabrics and patterns, two packets of charm squares, a flower pen, a flower seed packet, some jelly beans and a white chocolate shaped flower (yummy).

Thanks Rachel!

I’m pleased to announce that in just over three weeks, we’ve reached a thousand (and one) Quilting Bloggers, representing 34 countries, 49 US States, and 5 Canadian provinces. WOW!

Here are the winners of the Reach a Thousand Contest.

1. Registrant #1053 - June 17, 2008
   Lil - Addicted
   Luxembourg
2. Registrant #802 - June 6, 2008
   Sue - The Monomaniacal Quilter
   Michigan, USA
3. Registrant #664 - June 4, 2008
   Cordula - Stichelei
   Germany

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who registered their blog and those who have helped to promote the Quilting Bloggers directory. You’ve been great!

And a great big thank you also to the wonderful donators who gave the three prizes:

• Dorothy Baker - Comfort Is… baby quilt pattern and fabric bundle
• Marguerita McManus and Sarah Raffuse - Crazy Shortcut Quilts, Quilt as You Go and Finish in Half the Time! book and a fabric goodie
• Pat Sloan - Learn to Machine Quilt with Pat Sloan book

This morning’s entries also saw two new countries added to the list, Romania and Hungary.

Thanks everyone!

After reading Alice’s comment, I remembered that I have a stack of Quilting Gallery business cards that I would like to get rid of, so I can order some new ones next month.

If anyone would like some cards to distribute at quilt guild meetings or other such events, I’d be more than happy to drop some in the mail for you. Please send me your mailing address and an indication of how many you would like. I think 25-30 will fit nicely into a standard envelope. I have limited quantities, so please let me know soon.

Also, if you haven’t already, as a thank-you to the ladies who gave the very generous donations for the Reach a Thousand Contest, please be sure to visit their blogs. Only 55 more Quilting Bloggers needed before we reach the 1000 goal… WOW!

• Pat Sloan - She’s having a SeW AloNG, starting on Wednesday.
• Dorothy Baker - Check out the baby robins, they are growing so quickly.
• Marguerita McManus - She’s got something funky and fuzzy going on over there.
• Sarah Raffuse - Shares some interesting information about composting.

Have you seen how many Quilting Bloggers there are now in the directory? As of this writing, 848, which means we need only 152 more to reach the end of June goal of a thousand.

I have been overwhelmed with the many kind words that have been sent to me via email and the various blog postings that have been written about the Quilting Bloggers directory, and of course the hundreds of you that have posted the banner on your site to help spread the word.

The enthusiasm, excitement and generosity has been wonderful. Now, with the help of four fantastic Quilting Bloggers, we are giving back to the blogging community. I have had three fabulous donations offered as contest prizes.

The Contest

How does it work? Once we’ve reached a thousand, three random members of the Quilting Bloggers directory will be chosen as winners. The first person selected will have their choice of which prize they would like, then the second person and finally the third.

The three prizes donated are:

1. Crazy Shortcut Quilts book and a fabric goodie,
2. Comfort Is… pattern and fabric package, and
3. Learn to Machine Quilt with Pat Sloan book.

Complete details of the prizes and their generous donators are below.

How can you help?

Continue to spread the word asking your friends and family to submit their site for inclusion in the directory.

Another way to help is to write a blog post about the Quilting Bloggers directory and, if you like, share your experience. I’ve had several emails from people saying how they’ve met new friends and acquaintances, found new connections in their new community, and have enjoyed an increase in their site traffic, all because they’re listed in the Quilting Bloggers directory. Since it’s only two weeks old, this is bound to continue growing and bringing the community together.

Posting a banner on your site is also a great help.

How do you enter the contest?

If you’re already listed in the Quilting Bloggers directory, you don’t need to do anything. If you’re not listed, and you have a blog, Submit your Site. The three contest winners will be chosen from the first 1,000 approved listings.

A Note on Submissions

I have had a few submissions to the Quilting Bloggers directory for blogs that are as little as a few hours old. Unfortunately sites that are too new to be reviewed and evaluated for inclusion in the directory, will be put on hold for at least two weeks, or until such a time as I can make an informed decision to include the site or not. These submissions will not be included in the Contest and do not count towards Reaching a Thousand.

Prize #1

Prize #1 has been donated by Marguerita McManus and Sarah Raffuse, authors of the book, Crazy Shortcut Quilts, Quilt as You Go and Finish in Half the Time!. Included with the book will be a fabric goodie.

Prize #2

Prize #2 has been donated by Dorothy Baker and is a baby quilt pattern she designed called Comfort Is….. The finished quilt measures 38 1/2" x 46 1/2". Also included in this prize are pre-washed fabrics for the bunnies and for some of the flowers and leaves.

I was thrilled to discover that Dorothy is the designer behind the wonderful quilt, All About Bears, that I had the pleasure of seeing at the Upper Canada Village quilt show last year. This has to be one of the most gorgeous quilts I’ve ever seen… one day I hope to be able to make something that beautiful.

Prize #3

Prize #3, has been donated by Pat Sloan and is her Learn to Machine Quilt with Pat Sloan soft-cover book.

Every Friday, FabricMom has a draw for a Fat Quarter on her web site. I was the lucky winner of this gorgeous piece of fabric, Orange Spiral, that arrived in the mail today. Be sure to check her site each week to enter.

The mailman brought me two wonderful Pay it Forward gifts the past couple of days.

Caron from Michigan Quilts sent me this lovely Tulip Needlecase.

Tami of Lemon Tree Tales sent this gorgeous Mini Art Quilt.

Check out the great hanger on the back … soon to appear on a project of mine too. hehe

Thank you both, the gifts are treasured.

Quilting Bloggers update:

The total bloggers is now at 686… more than 60 added today alone, and it’s only mid-afternoon my time.

I updated the Promote page which contains banners that you can use on your site to link back here. I added the code blocks to make it easier for you to copy and paste the code itself to add the banner to your site. Any problems or questions, please contact me.

There were seven correct answers given for the Quilting Bloggers Give-Away. I accepted two answers as correct.

After the United States, which country is most represented in the Quilting Blogers directory?

The correct answers are Australia followed by either Canada or the United Kingdom. I accepted both Canada and the UK, as the UK was ahead of Canada at first, but Canada caught up before the end of the week.

The seven correct entries were #2 Candace, #5 Amanda, #7 Regina, #8 Maggie, #9 Valerie, #11 Chookyblue and #12 Leanne.

The random winner is Maggie. I’ll be in touch to get your mailing address. Congrats! Here’s the Fat Quarter I’ll be sending to you.

Thanks everyone for participating!

Since launching Quilting Bloggers last Wednesday, there have been exactly 100 new blogs added, bringing the total up to 541. I’m hoping to reach a thousand by the end of June. Please continue to spread the word… thanks!

I’m super excited, and I hope you will be too, to announce the Quilting Bloggers directory that I’ve built.

Several of you have asked or commented about the huge list of Bloggers that used to run along the sidebar of this site. Well, now I’ve organized them into a database and made it searchable, by Location, Alphabetically, or by Blog Name/URL.

As of this writing, there are 441 Quilting Bloggers in the database, representing 20 countries, 43 American states, and 5 Canadian provinces/territories.

Take a guess which country, after the United States, currently has the most listings? Actually, let’s have a contest, leave a comment below with the answer of the 2nd and 3rd highest countries represented, and I’ll have a Fat Quarter draw at the end of the week.

Are you a Quilting Blogger? Are you listed? If not, Submit Your Site.

Are you listed, but want to make a change? No problem. Just find your listing, and click on the bubble-like icon that appears on the right side of your listing, fill out the form, and I’ll update your details as soon as I can.

Share the news … I’d really appreciate it if you helped spread the word. I’ve created some logos that you can use on your own web site. Thanks, your support is very helpful!

White background width: 180px, height: 70px

White background width: 150px, height: 58px

I’d love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment or send me an email.

Don’t forget to enter the FQ contest by submitting a comment below answering which countries are second and third most represented, after the United States, in the Quilting Bloggers directory.

The winner for my 6-Month Anniversary Celebration is…

*drum roll please*

Number 17, Amy, from Wisconsin who wrote,

I am from NW Wisconsin. To answer my “favorite” thing about quilting…GOLLY! That’s tough. I enjoy ALL stages, but the quilting stage is my still my weakest part. I love piecing and seeing the quilt top come together.

Congratulations Amy, and thanks to everyone who played along. I enjoyed reading all of your comments. Amy, I’ll be in touch after the Canadian long weekend.

Today is my 6-month blog anniversary. It’s been a lot of fun and I really enjoy working on this blog. I love reading other blogs, so gathering my huge list of Quilting Bloggers has been amazing. The massive amount of free projects and wonderful tutorials available for quilters on the Internet should keep me posting for years… hehe.

What’s next? I have lots of plans, first up will be organing the Quilting Bloggers list into a format that’s more user-friendly than a massive list sorted alphabetically. I hope to have this ready by the end of the month, so stay tuned. Are you a quilting blogger that I don’t have listed yet? Drop me an email (michele@quiltinggallery.com), and I’ll be sure to get you added. Next up, well, you’ll just have to wait and see, but I think it’s super exciting and I hope all of you will too.

In the meantime, please continue to leave comments, send me links to your favourite tutorials or free projects, and even pictures of your finished quilts. I would be thrilled to post them.

To help celebrate my 6-month anniversary, I’m having a give-away. It’s simple to enter, post a comment below and answer two simple questions (1) What’s your favourite part of quilting; and, (2) Where are you located? I’ll pick one random winner on May 15th to receive 6 (one for each month) pre-washed fat quarters taken from my stash and some other goodies.

Thanks for the adventure so far and Happy Quilting,
Michele