Jay here. And I just heard some great news. The Minnesota Quilters are recognizing Darlene Zimmerman as "Minnesota Quilter of the Year." I love regional, guild shows. The shows become a wonderful place for everyone to gather together to have fun, renew friendships, make new ones, get inspired and learn. The Minnesota group is the largest "all-volunteer" quilt show in the US, with over 50 volunteers pulling together to make it a success. This year they are celebrating their 30th anniversary--and they are hanging 620 quilts. Congratulations! By the way, the show is June 26-28 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, MN. Check out their website -- better yet, check out the show.

Of course, their choice to recognize Darlene's accomplishments in the quilt arena is very near and dear to my heart. Darlene is a wonderful inspiration. Her first book was published in 1992, and her most recent book -- Quilts from Lavender Hill Farm -- just came out. That's 16 years of really great quilt publishing. Darlene has taught us all so much. Darlene ventured into new territory with this book. It is all about time, place and great quilts. I highly recommend it.

Darlene's life is pretty full these days. She also has one of the special exhibits at the American Quilter's Society Quilt Expo in Nashville, TN this August. The large quilts from the new book are there. The exhibit is sponsored by EZ Quilting by Wright. She will be signing books there -- make sure to stop by and say "hi."

I'd love to hear what your guild is planning. Just drop me a line or leave a comment.

You know, mycraftivity.com is a great place to set up an online presence for your guild. You can have your own group, private blogs, keep everyone up-to-date on guild happenings via the calendar, and have your own "show-n-tell" via the gallery. You could even set up a "virtual" guild. If you want some help setting one up, just let us know. We'd love to help!