Thursday, February 1, 2018

New Quilt Bloggers Hop 2018

Today I am very excited to announce the opening of registration for the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Hop which I am co-hosting with Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts, Tish @ Tish 'n Wonderland and Jen @ Dizzy Quilter.

The goal of the 7th annual New Quilt Bloggers Hop is to provide advice, tech help, and to introduce new quilters to the community. If you are a new quilt blogger, and are considering participating, you may not believe this now, but the best part of the New Quilt Bloggers Hop is the participants; in other words, you are the best part of the blog hop!

Quilt Retreat in 2016 at Julie's (Pink Doxies)
The hosts are here to provide guidance, and occasionally we try to steer the ship, but the amazing value in this experience is 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.

Shopping with the gang! Dave the Quilt Engineer, Tish 'n Wonderland, moi, Teri, Beth@Cooking Up Quilts, Jennifer@Inquiring Quilter, Julie@Pink Doxies

Meeting up at Tim Horton's 😊 in Tillsonburg ON with Cindy@Stitchin at Home in 2017
Hangin' out with Julie again in Fort Myers FL in 2017
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, something Helen of Midget Gem Quilts, a 2015 alumni, and I, coined, QBL, Quilt BlogLand. The focus of this hop is not on helping start-up online businesses, but note that online business owners with blogs that meet the criteria are welcome.

2018 New Quilt Bloggers Participation / Sign-up Criteria

The technical criteria to participate in the 2018 New Quilt Bloggers Hop is as follows:

  1. If you have been blogging mainly about quilting, (this is, after all, the New QUILT Bloggers Hop), 😇
  2. for more than 2 months and less than 3 years,
  3. writing at least 4 posts a month,
  4. are willing to agree to be actively involved in the blog hop through visiting and commenting on other bloggers' hop posts
  5. and are willing to participate in the group discussions by signing up to join Slack (available for desktop and as an app for mobile devices).
Please indicate your interest in joining by filling out the registration form by clicking the link or by using the form below:




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, 2018, 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 dedicate to the blog hop, the more you will get out of it.
  • Tentative Schedule
    • Early March:  Welcome participants via email 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
  • The hop will run over April and May with a break between the two halves of the hop, as we anticipate introducing a lot of new quilt blogs!

Looking for ways to participate?

If you are an alumni or blogger who has been active for longer than three years, we would love to have you share information about this year's New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop so that as many new bloggers as possible can be exposed to this opportunity. 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 me, or any of the co-hosts, by leaving a comment on any of our blogs, or emailing us for further details. 

Thank you to these lovely sponsors for donating prizes!

Make Modern Magazine
Sew Fresh Quilts
Meadow Mist Designs

Northcott

Phat Quarters Fabric
Quilting JETgirl
Devoted Quilter
Cooking Up Quilts
Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics
Canuck Quilter Designs
Clinton Modern Creative
The Red Hen Shop

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop
Benartex
Island Batik



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7 comments:

  1. Hi Sandra, I have pasted the words I left with Tish, You three are a wonderful and amazing team together, and any newcomer will benefit hugely from all your input, help, suggestions, and more. Fond greetings to you all from NZ.

    Join in, come on in, this is the best experience you will have in your quilting and new friendship world. others are there to guide you, help with any problems, share news, views, comfort, rejoice, and so much more. For me, I entered a whole new world in 2011 when I began my blog, and after asking a NEW friend for suggestions, I gave her some idea of what I wanted for the name, as it was to be a tribute to my dear friend Walter who served in HMS in WW2,
    " All Points of the Compass" was started. I do not post as often as many others, I do not reply to every comment, but when I get a comment, my heart sings with joy.
    Please come and join, this is something so special you do not want to miss out.
    Fond greetings to you three , I look forward to reading of many new members.

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  2. What a great idea - introducing new bloggers to the world of blogging. I'm a new blogger but still on the fence, wondering if I will have the time to actively contribute during the blog hop. A big thank you for all of you out there spending so much time and energy to help the new bloggers.

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  3. One of the best things I ever signed up for. The rewards of friendship are fantstic!

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  4. This is going to be a great Hop! Thanks to the four of you for hosting!

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  5. I am so glad you are hosting the hop this year, it will be great!

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  6. Good luck, I will be cheering all my Host friends on from the sidelines!

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