Tuesday, January 31, 2017

2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop: Registration Open!



Today I am very excited to announce the opening of registration for the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop which I will co-host again this year with two new co-hosts: Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl and Beth @Cooking Up Quilts. The goal of the 6th annual New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is to provide advice, tech help, and introduce new quilters to the online community.
If you are a new quilt blogger and considering participating, you might not believe this now, but the best part of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop are the participants; in other words, you are the best part of the blog hop! The hosts are here to provide guidance and occasionally we try to steer the ship, but the amazing value in this experience are the connections you will make with peers who are going through the same things that you are. Lifelong quilting friends can and have absolutely been made through this event in the past.
If you have questions you would like answered prior to registering, please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer your questions. Everyone will come with a different set of experiences, expertise, questions, and expectations, and I want to stress that this hop is to improve your blog, increase your blogging skills, and get more involved in the online quilting community.  The focus is not on helping start up online businesses (note that online business owners with blogs that meet the criteria are welcome).

2017 New Quilt Bloggers Participation / Sign Up Criteria

The technical criteria to participate in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop are as follows:
  • If you have been blogging mainly about quilting (this is, after all, the New QUILT Bloggers Blog Hop),
  • for more than 2 months and less than 3 years,
  • writing at least 4 posts a month,
  • are willing to agree to be actively involved in the blog hop through visiting and commenting on the other blogger’s hop posts,
  • and are willing to participate in the group discussions by signing up to join Slack

Please indicate your interest in joining by filling out the form below or if you are reading on your mobile device you can find the registration form here.

Additional Details

  • Note that after you indicate your interest by filling out the registration form, you will not receive email confirmation until the beginning of March at the earliest.
  • We will accept 100 participants for the blog hop this year. The sign up form will be available until February 28, 2017 or until we reach 100 participants.

  • Participation in the blog hop will consist of a significant time commitment. We believe that the more time you can dedicate to the blog hop, the more you will get out of it.

  • Tentative Schedule
    • Early March: Welcome participants via E-mail and get everyone into the Slack group to facilitate and begin the conversations.
    • March: Get to know one another through a series of weekly planned prompts through the Slack group.
    • March: Optional structured blog critique groups will be conducted.
    • April: First half (2 weeks) of blog hop.
    • May: Second half (2 weeks) of blog hop.

Advice for New Bloggers

One of the hallmarks of the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop are links to posts that we put on the Advice for New Bloggers resource page. This week we have a group of Top 10 Tips posts aimed at helping new bloggers.
Ten Tips for New Bloggers from the thinking closet
10 *MORE* Tips for Bloggers from the thinking closet
One last treat for today comes from Christa Watson of Christa Quilts, who says, “Being on the hop a few years ago when I was first starting out really helped me make connections and get to where I am today.” Christa is offering a limited time offer of 50% off her new Craftsy class, The Quilter’s Path. You can get this special deal by clicking on the image above or the previous link. Note that the discount expires April 4, 2017, and the discount will not appear until you put the class in your cart.

Looking for Ways to Participate?

If you are an alumni or blogger who has been active for longer than 3 years, we would love to have you share this information so that as many new bloggers can be exposed to this opportunity as possible. We would also love to grow our list of Advice for New Bloggers posts. If you have previously written something or would like to write a post that we can link to about anything you wish you had known earlier in your blogging adventure, please contact myself, Leanne, or Beth by leaving a comment on either of our blogs or emailing us for further details.
Also, if you fall outside the parameters of this group, we are excited to note that Angie from Gnome Angel is going to be picking up her Craft Your Blog site and extending offers for interaction culminating in one-on-one mentoring, so that is a resource that we highly suggest! For more details on what Angie is envisioning for Craft Your Blog, you can read her post about it here.

Thank you to our Sponsors!

The 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is being sponsored by an awesome selection of companies, and we are excited to be partnered with:




Best,

Leanne

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

January Scraptastic Tuesday Winners!


It's time to award the prizes for the January Scraptastic Tuesday link up.


Well, actually we are a week late this month, all because of my real job schedule. Now to be clear I had access to the internet and had my computer along. But I was in the beautiful Rocky Mountains all last week teaching a full day 5 day course, and also involved in attendant social responsibilities with the group. This was great fun, but totally exhausting. And I had a busy work day yesterday. So I gave myself permission to sleep and not do my internet homework, and Nicky was her every patient self. Enough said, on to the winners.

First, here are our fabulous Scraptastic Tuesday Sponsors and their buttons, feel free to click through and thank them for their support:



A huge thank you to our generous sponsors for providing the following prizes which go to these lucky winners:
I will be emailing the winners later on today or tonight and getting your prizes to you without further delay.

Thanks for joining us for January's Scraptastic Tuesday and if you are looking for inspiration, please visit the links here.

Best,

Leanne

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Q4 Winners - 2016 FAL!

2016 button 500 best

Today is the day we are privileged to announce the winners for Q4 of Finish-Along. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be hosts this year have had the spectacular experience to be inspired by all the finishes and they have been astonishing!!

If you are low on inspiration or maybe your sewing mojo has been missing lately, we highly recommend you visit some of the finishes from Q4.

Thank you again to our generous sponsors. Without further ado, the winners - each picked by the random number generator - of the Q4 FAL prizes are:

Fluffy Sheep th_Shopbutton Fluffy sheep
The winner of the €25 (25 Euro) Gift Certificate from Fluffy Sheep Quilting goes to Sandra who blogs at The Bias Edge and made this beauty:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clover & Violet Logo Buttons
The winner of 3 patterns from Clover & Violet is Diana who blogs at Red Delicious Life who made this brightly colored charity quilt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakshott-Aruba-button
The winner of the Oakshott Fabric £75 Gift Certificate goes to Ange (@heartofcharnwood) made this amazing quilt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tartankiwi kiwi logo
The winner of 3 patterns from Tartankiwi goes to @stitchyscientist who made this beautiful table runner as a gift:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
happy-quilting-blog-button
The winner of the choice of 3 patterns from Happy Quilting is Sara and is on IG at @grayquailstudio and made this lovely tablerunner:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Green Fairy Quilts shopGFQbutton
A $25 gift certificate from Green Fairy Quilts goes to Nicole who blogs at HandWroughtQuilts who finished this lovely quilt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BlossomHeartQuiltsbutton
A copy of the full Aurora BOM Pattern from Blossom Heart Quilts goes to @kpud who made this great Harry Potter robe:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP10 Banners
The $40 gift certificate from Mad about Patchwork goes to Jenell who blogs at Walker Road Quilts and made this gorgeous quilt as a Christmas gift:
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christa Quilts logo300 Christa quilts
The winner of the 3 pattern pack from Christa Quilts goes to the blogger at The Lilac Cat who made this handy sewing machine cover (I sure need one of these:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make Modern Logo
A 6-month subscription to Make Modern goes to Lisawho blogs at The Scrappy Rx who finished this cute baby quilt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
porchswingquilts
The first winner of 3 patterns from Porch Swing Quilts blogs at Chez Budsman and finished this beauty:
The second winner of 3 patterns from Porch Swing Quilts is Jennifer (@crimsonconfection on IG) who made this lovely shirt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SunnyDay Supply Square
The $30 gift certificate from Sunny Day Supply goes to Abigail who blogs at Cut & Alter who made this adorable little pillow (that happens to look like my granddaughter little dog):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COVERMASTER
The winner of a copy of Windy City Bags from Sew Sweetness is Deb who blogs at newcreativestate and finished this stunner:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sew-sisters-badge [88980]
The $25 gift certificate to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop goes to Arita (@arquilters on IG) who finished 2 SewTogether bags:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
marinerscompass
The $50 Gift Certificate from Mariner's Compass Quilt Shop goes to Mary who blogs at mary emmens and made this amazing scrappy foot stool (good thing I don't know where she lives because it would probably come up missing!):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on the windy
The winner of the Pattern Pack from On the Windy Side goes to Terry who blogs at On Going Projects and finished this long-time UFO:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FatQuarterShop-Circle-300x300
The $50 gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop goes to Ella who blogs at Throw a Wench in the Works and made this great sampler:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
????????????????????????????????????
The winner of 2 pin bowls from Laurel Bee Designs is Sarah who blogs at Sarah Goer Quilts and made this QuiltCon submission (visit her blog to find out the results):
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
imagine gnats button
The winner of the $40 gift certificate to Imagine Gnats is Teresa who blogs at Aurea's Kitchen and made this great Christmas stocking:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sew Me A Song Logo
The winner of the $20 gift certificate from Sew Me a Song is Gretchen who blogs at 120 blocks and made this gorgeous quilt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
knotted thread 125
The winner of the $30 gift certificate to Knotted Thread is Julia who blogs at il calore delle ali who finished this fabulous tablet case:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Simply solida SS_logo_RGB_high
The winner of the £40 (40 Pound) Gift Certificate from Simply Solids is Staci who blogs at The Confused Quilter and made this amazing star quilt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quilt Ranch logo
The $25 gift certificate from The Quilt Ranch goes to @limeleaf741 on IG made this spectacular table runner:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  The winner of the $25 gift certificate to Studio 39 Fabrics is Anneliese on Flickr who made this great backpack:

 Congratulations to the winners and thank you to the sponsors!!  

Best,

Leanne