i'm overwhelmed by your praise and encouragement.
i am hard at work on developing the first of what i hope will be a long line of PatriceJ Patterns. (i need a waaaaay better name than that!) i'm not sure i'm a contest-type, though. whenever i cruise displays of quilt contests, i find that i rarely agree with the judges. i can only hope it's some major differences in workmanship that drive their choices because the winning quilt designs themselves quite often pale in comparison to those that don't win.
i haven't looked at any others, but considering how much work goes into an original design - not to mention making the quilt itself - i think the F&P prizes are pitiful. they also pay a pittance for patterns the select from the unsolicited submissions. you have to sign away your rights to the design, too.
i don't expect to make piles of money when i finally go public with my designs. too much established and already famous competition. but ... even if i make only a little i'd rather it was because i only sold a few at really fair prices than because i practically gave them away to somebody who has the market presence to turn around and make piles from them for themselves.
too soon to start divulging details, but i'm in cahoots with a couple of other quilters, kickin' around ideas for a site. when the time is right, we'll put the information over under the sell/swap link.
i also want to say here, now, and as often as necessary, that i consider you guys my quilting buddies first and foremost. the day i let myself start seeing you all as "potential customers" instead of friends is the day somebody needs to smack me upside the head.
:P