While combing through issues of Quilter’s World magazine and books from Annie's Publishing and Leisure Arts, you may have stumbled upon designs from our guest blogger and pattern designer Gina Gempesaw of Gem Hill Quilts. Like many quilters, Gina learned to sew as a child and has been sewing ever since. Today, she says designing and piecing is her favorite part of the quilting process.

Designing quilts for about 16 years, Heidi Pridemore of The Whimsical Workshop is now averaging about 400 quilt designs annually and she doesn’t see that trend ending any time soon. In total, Heidi estimates that she has designed several thousands of quilts so far in her career.

By now, you've certainly seen a number of great tutorials like this phenomenal GO! Qube Lap Quilt by our guest blogger Erin Burke Harris of House on Hill Road. Erin, mother of two teenage daughters and wife to Fatty (it's okay ... trust me), lives in Kentucky along with their beloved dog and cat. Even with a busy family life, Erin manages to carve out time every week for her sewing and quilting projects. Erin began sewing after a little nudge from her mom who encouraged her to take a home economics class in the 7th grade. She still sews garments periodically, but her true passion is making quilts.

Heirloom Creations, a 4,000 square foot store in Sioux Falls, SD, is a top 10 Husqvarna Viking dealer in the U.S., so they are a major player when it comes to selling sewing machines. They also sell the GO! line of fabric cutters, which they demonstrate to customers daily.

Country Traditions is a fantastic quilt shop located in the Historical Downtown District in Fremont, NE. Owners Leslie and Kevin Main opened the spacious quilt shop in 1998. Leslie (pictured below to the right), who was looking for a career change after teaching middle school for 10 years, followed her instincts and opened an amazing store which has just about everything a quilter needs.

With two quilting books already under her belt, quilter Sherri McConnell is putting her bachelor’s degree in English to good use. She also has plans to write more books in the future, but for now Sherri is content with helping other quilters through her blog, A Quilting Life, and by writing for Craftsy where she shares great tips on using up your fabric scraps among other things. Additionally, Sherri provides tutorials for the AccuQuilt Blog. You can see a few of them here.