welcome new contributors!

Time for an exciting announcement: we have five new bloggers joining Sew Green!

This call for contributors has been a wonderful experience for me, and for the other Sew Greenies as well. It wasn't easy to choose from among all the fabulous people who threw their hats into the ring, but it was a great opportunity to get to read a whole bunch of blogs and emails from people that I really admire and appreciate. Although we couldn't sign up all of the wonderful green crafty people who contacted us, we absolutely loved the chance to get to know some of our lovely readers a bit better.

However, after a highly scientific analysis, we selected five diverse and inspiring writers to join the Sew Green cohort. I think that these five bloggers will bring some different perspectives and topics to the blog, and I for one am delighted that four of the five are from outside the U.S. In no particular order, here they are:

Julie is a parent of 2 college-aged kids, works full-time, and is in graduate school full-time, and attempts to live as sustainably as possible. She lives in Rochester, New York, has an urban garden and backyard chickens, cooks mostly from scratch, does some knitting and sewing, and is a big proponent of bike commuting. Julie also writes for rocbike.com, and she'll be sharing her ideas about biking, commuting and transportation here on Sew Green.

Maimy is a 21-year-old designer-maker based in north-east England. She sews, knits, crochets, embroiders and batiks. She does ceramics, primarily pinch potting, and also has experience in metal and, to a lesser extent, woodwork. Maimy plans to write about environmental issues in terms of crafts, sustainable and repurposed materials, as well as the simple, everyday things like "what to do with awkward scraps of fabric that you don't want to throw away."

Catherine is a gardener since age 2, who, at age 39 is finally making it official by taking the Master Gardener course through University of Saskatchewan's Horticulture Department. She's a prairie girl, which means her garden is currently under 3 feet of snow. And she has a soap box which she's not afraid to use. Catherine lives in Manitoba, Canada.

Jennifer is a writer in Ottawa, Canada whose blog emphasizes local, seasonal produce and lots of stories about her own adventures in gardening. She is also really passionate about sewing and about living sustainably. Jennifer is interested in writing about gardening techniques, local food, recipes, community involvement, and pet ownership for Sew Green.

Di is a creative crafter type in Australia who is keen to learn about (and attempting to) lead a more sustainable life. She is an architect, and is particularly interested in sustainable building design, backyard veggie gardening, waste minimisation (using everything that you have to it's fullest, and making use of things that others might consider waste), and sustainable crafting.

A very warm welcome to all five! Stay tuned for their posts on Thursdays as the year unfolds.