I'm in between quilting projects for the first time in years, and I'm using the time to catch up on my spring cleaning for about 1985. I've got boxes and boxes of Quilters Newsletter and cross stitch magazines. I figure if they've been stored away this long, I don't need them, but I don't want to throw them away. I guess I'll sit down one afternoon and look through them, but I'm trying to unclutter my life. Any ideas?

You could sell them on this board. A lot of people are looking for magazines!

Good luck. I know I have a lot of Cross-stitch magazines that I will never use, but been able to let them go yet. I can no longer due cross-stitch because of my eyesight. But can't give them up! :( Too much clutter!

let us know which ones they are or the board can inquire to pattern name and pay you for shipping cost?
there's lots of us who are on a tight budget but can send $ for postage. Nursing home are another place that you can donate them to. Or a guild that collects fabrics for downy/abused/sick children could possibly appreciate these mazagines for idea & patterns. JUST A FEW IDEAS, hope this helped? :wink:

If you are ready to be rid of them , sell or give them away. I have magazines from years ago, just can't bear to part with :oops: LOL

This year I finally had to get rid of mine. We are on a major cleaning out kick and I couldn't stand looking at mine anymore. Actually, I never did so I figured I should get rid of them. I donated mine to the local library.
Haven't looked back since and I have lots more space !! :D

One quilt store told me to try quilt guilds. they have libraries.

I was lucky enough to get about 3 boxes of old quilt magazines. I sat and looked through each one and if I found a pattern that I liked, I carefully cut it out and put it in sheet protectors and put them in a binder. Now I have about four large binders full of fabulous quilt patterns. You will notice that when magazines print a pattern, they usually put a page of advertisement or such on each end so that if you cut the pattern out, you don't damage any other pattern. Then I gave the magazines to the local Library. They sell them for about $.25 each so we both win. I don't feel that I abused the magazine by taking one pattern out. If I took more than one, I just threw the magazine away. I don't want/need the clutter of keeping magazines around the house.

I went through them and pulled out the ones that I liked. I put them into file folders based on the type: PP, applique, pieced. I have a file cabinet next to my sewing table downstairs and it is for all of my craft files. I like to do beading and knitting, too.

I used to put them in page protectors and then put them in different binders but they took up too much room. Having the file cabinet next to my sewing table gives me an extra surface to put items on, such as my iron. Now my bookshelves are where I store my fabric on storage boards.

I would go through them and pull out the patterns you like. I have some magazines saved, but only about 4 years worth, so I still have room to save more! :-) The file folder idea sounds great. I'll try that.

I didn't like the fact I found it hard to even think of getting rid of the big stack of quilt magazines I had. It was scary and silly I felt that much emotion about magazines! I put a stop to it. I boxed them up and donated them all.

Donate them, or sell them on here :D:D:D

Find a quilting board online :lol: or in your area or the library. Call first as the library may not take them. These type of magazines generally do better at the library or to crafters.

Magazines for nursing homes and VA centers and hospitals are the everday type: B&G, Family, Womens Day, Handyman, Southern Living, Birds and Blooms, etc. We take ours to the VA center. We just lay them on tables and tehy do have a cart for thois purpose also.

if you don't want them, please sell them on this board, we all enjoy buying old magazines, etc.

good luck!

Take them to the nearest Half Price Books Store!
I am always looking for Quilt magazines to buy there!
It is the greatest book store, and they give you actual money for your old stuff!! (so you can rebuy more!)

Wish I was in Tennesee so I could buy them all from you!

How about giving them to a local Quilt Guild? Our guild has a table of "freebees" at each meeting. Last night I got some AQS magazines with inspiring patterns!

I've bought cross stitch magazines at our local cancer Discovery Shop and the hospice Hopechest. You could donate and help the charity as well as the person buying them. Cross stitch magazines have gotten harder to find as For Love of Cross Stitch as well as several others stopped publishing.

If I lived closer I would buy them off you..........

Donate them to a Senior Center and take a tax write off.

I have subscribed to several magazines for the past 9 years, not living where I had access to either a fabric shop or anyone else quilting and have been a constant quilter for at least 8 of those years. I NEVER throw out a magazine, in fact, when a new issue comes, I scour every page and any quilt, instruction, quilting motif etc that I like, I stick a small colored post-it tab on the page, and if I am not ready to start a new quilt, I file it in mag holders on the book case in my sewing room. I know in 500 life-times I will NEVER make all them, but I can't tell you how many times I have gone back thru them, torn off the tab because I no longer liked the pattern and found a new pattern I preciously though was too difficult, but am now ready to tackle. I KNOW I should get rid of them, but as long as I have the space, I will hoard them. I guess until now I just didn't have anyone to give them to that would appreciate them.

I carefully cut out the patterns I want to keep and then pass the rest of the magazines on to a friend or Goodwill. I put the patterns into plastic sheet protectors and then put into a large quilt binder that I've made up. It's like having a large quilt book of hand picked patterns. :)

I also went through and pulled out the patterns that I like and ditched the rest. This, of course, was way before I found the board. Now I would take the patterns that I want out and break up the others staple them together and put on the board. Shipping would be a nothing for people looking for a new pattern then and it would be a win-win for everyone.

Good Luck!! :-D

Aunt Doggie, I wish we had a Half Price bookstore here!!!! It really is a neat idea, I imagine you can find anything there. I get some books from Thrift stores and yard sales, but its hard to find them!

If I haven't use them in the last year out they go. Not to emotional about them (if I can't remember what's in them I guess I won't miss them)

Well, I have gotten quilting magazines off of Bookmooch.com, and I have gotten rid of my old books that way. But it is a book swapping site. So all the magazines you got rid of, you'd have points to get more books, and if you're decluttering, you probably don't want more books.

If I was going to buy a magazine, I would be disappointed to find pages missing. Or at least, let me know that something has been removed.

Seems like the missing pages were what I wanted to look at too!

If I'm scrounging or getting a freebie, I take my chances.

I wish I had an answer. I WILL NOT throw away a quilting magazine!!! That is almost a sin! I have thinned out older interests and given them good homes to relatives but my quilt magazines will go in the coffin with me! lol

I donate my books and magazines I'm finished with to the Friends of the Library. They use the funds to buy new books and to help fund projects for the kids.

When I was a new quilter. I really enjoyed looking at old mag. I still do after 10+ years of quilting. So donate them to some of the new quilter we have on here. Its fun to look back at how they did thing in the 80 campare to now.

Thanks to everyone with all your good ideas. The more I think about them, the harder it will be to get rid of them. I'm a hoarder. I'd want them to go somewhere where they will be appreciated. I not only have them stored in a closet under the steps, they are in closets all over the house. When I've gathered them all together and looked through them, then I'll decide. I liked the idea about the file folder and then just giving them away. I'll let you know what I decide and exactly what I have and maybe some of you can have them.

Include them with your swaps!

I had a de clutter before Xmas - took everything out of the swing room so I could paint. Put boxes in the family room, and things I knew I'd never use again in there - including cross stitch and lace making materials. Then spent a few nights going through magazines. Ended up keeping about a dozen, the rest went in the boxes.

My sister does volunteer work at 'The Olds' as she calls them, so when I went down there for Xmas I loaded up the car and took them down to her. When she took them over they thought all their Xmas' had come at once.

Maybe you could look at donating them to one of those places. Most of them are on pensions and can't afford to buy them. I know the lady who took the lace making materials was in seventh heaven. She could make lace, but couldn't afford to buy the pillows and bobbins.

I love the idea of using a file cabinet. I have a short (2 drawer) one I was about to ditch since I had pared down all my old paperwork. Have binders and binders of needlecraft and quilting patterns (as well as recipes); couldn't fit them on the shelves anymore. Now I have a home for them and will donate the binders to the local school. Thank you so much.

Donate them to a quilt guild. I know that some of our guild members are on a fixed income and can't always buy the ones they want. The guild can either put them out as "freebies", or they can sell them for a minimal amount. Or maybe a local senior center.

Try a site called freecycle.com - check your city/area on there if you are looking to give them away. I gave a bunch away on this site and asked for postage only. I keep 1 or 2 year's worth of only 2 magazines and because of expense I am letting my subscriptions run out.

When I get toooo many quiltnig magazines or books, I will go thru them and copy the ones that I really think I will make and then donate them to the quilt group at the local Senoir Center. These groups always do so much for our military men and women, hospitalized children and community that it is just a little treat for them as a giving back gesture.

My mom, sister, and I all share magazines (not just quilt mags either!).

When I buy one, I tell them not to buy that one. Then I look through it a couple of times. If there's something I want to make, I scan it in my color scanner and keep it in a file on the computer and then pass it on to my mom. My sis lives with her and they have a sewing room. The magazines get stored there.

I don't like clutter at all!

If there are any that we don't want, we donate them.
Also, if you have newer issues, Half Price Books might give you a few cents. They sell them (even old ones) for $1. I just bought a bunch that are a couple of years old from there.

I rip out the patterns I want and pass them to my DD, but then she sends them back LOL, I would gladly mail copies to anyone willing to pay postage...they do pile up...

Donate to a friend who is new at quilting and know she doesn't buy magazines or place on the freebe table at quilt guild.

A thought just occured to me reading all the posts here..

Has anyone on the board ever had a Quilt Magazine Swap? That might be fun.. Perhaps 6 issues of Simply Quilting for 6 issues of something else?

I've only been involved in 2 swaps, so I'm not sure how it would work.. but those of you who know how to run a swap might give it some thought.

I like ripping them out and putting them in plastic page protectors and keeping them in loose leaf binders. If I want to make one, I first copy it so that I can write on it while keeping the original pristeen.