The Quilt Alliance announced its 9th annual quilt contest, "Animals We Love."

Anyone can enter the contest by making a quilt that is 16 inches by 16 inches and addresses this theme in some fashion. Finished quilts must be mailed to the Quilt Alliance office in Asheville, North Carolina with a postmark no later than May 1, 2015.  

"As the clever contest logo by Alliance executive director Amy Milne makes clear, we hope that quilters will be playful and imaginative with this theme," said Alliance president Meg Cox. "We'd love to see animals that are mythical, prehistoric and exotic, along with tributes to beloved pets and zoo animals. Favorite stuffed animals are certainly fair game. And none of these have to be realistic portraits: I look forward to abstract hints of animals, as well as quilts using traditional blocks like Flying Geese."

The mission of the nonprofit Alliance is to document, preserve and share the stories of all types of quilters and every sort of quilt. This annual contest welcomes every style and technique, and it provides quilters a unique opportunity to become part of one of the finest online archives of quilts in the world, The Quilt Index.

The Index is an exemplary online archive of more than 54,000 quilts from museums, state documentation projects and private collections, including quilts from four centuries. In addition, every quilt made for a Quilt Alliance contest is archived here. The Quilt Index is a partner project of the Quilt Alliance; Michigan State University Museum; and MSU's MATRIX Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences. Both the images of contest quilts and the quilters' statements about their quilts become a permanent part of the Index.

As in previous years, the contest quilts will tour the country to various quilt shows like Original Sewing & Quilt Expo, corporate exhibition spaces like the one at Handi Quilter, Inc., and events like Quilters Take Manhattan, before being auctioned off on eBay to benefit the Quilt Alliance.

Once again, the Alliance is proud to announce that professional judges will select the Handi Quilter Grand Prize. The lucky winner will receive an HQ Sweet Sixteen sit-down longarm machine package (machine, table and bobbin winder) from Handi Quilter, Inc.  Brenda Groelz, Director of Marketing and Education for the company says "At Handi Quilter, we give quilters the tools to make quilts that last, and we applaud the mission of the Quilt Alliance to save the stories as well as the quilts. This contest allows quilters to further the Alliance mission, while also allowing quilters the opportunity to place their own work in the important Quilt Index archive."  

Additional contest prizes contributed by these generous sponsors:

On January 1, 2015, the online entry form will open for registering contest entries, but why not start planning and sewing now?