I got three in the mail yesterday and usually my favorite thing is an afternoon of crusing thru them...I must have been in a MOOD...cuz couldn't see anything that really struck me. I really think they are running out of ideas. Been there done that type of thing...anyone else think so????

I'm getting there.I'm only getting one,my friend gives it to me for my birthday.Connie in CO

Yep couldn't agree more and the prices :thumbdown:

What I did this year was to buy a digital subscription to this one: http://www.quiltersworld.com/ it's great as I don't feel guilty by throwing half a Brazilian tree forest away, and it's reasonably priced.

yep have to agree they all seem to be the same stuff so now only buy if there are two or more things inside that really interest me

Yes -- they are all starting to look alike. Maybe I have too many of them. Letting all my subscriptions run out.

I agree too! My SIL gave me a subscription to McCall's quilting last year and while I like to look through it when it comes, I made exactly ONE thing from them the whole year, and it was a little 15 minute ornament project. I will not be renewing.

So many of the designs are just reworking of traditional blocks, or some variation of squares or rectangles.

YES. Thought it was just me, so I'm really glad you brought this up. I prefer going online, checking out blogs and occasionally an internet based ezine for new ideas. It seems the innovators are no longer in print.

I let my subscriptions lapse, then got a sweet deal on Quiltmaker, one for me cheap and a free one for a friend, so did that. My son's girlfriend got me personalized labels and a subscription to another one for Christmas, so am back to 2. The other one I've not seen before, so maybe it will have some new stuff in it. One can only hope.

I would add that I love the Australian ones they are so different but way to expensive for my pocket.

Same reason I no longer get mags. Just same ole same ole.There always seems to be new ways of making a quilt,but we hear about it on line more often than in mags.



really think they are running out of ideas. Been there done that type of thing...anyone else think so????

Have to agree...bought them at the LQS for $10 but did enjoy them while they carried them...

I agree, when I first started quilting I subscribed to them all, now I am down to 2, they all seem the same, nothing new. SOmetimes I find a new gadget to try but thats about all. F & P just started a digital subscription, I may get that because it comes with videos too.

Like everything else they go in trends.
I look through the ones at the library, if something catches my eye I will go and buy the magazine. :D:D:D

I'm in agreement. I stopped my subscriptions a few years ago. I found that what they had in them were either very intricate works of art or simple patterns recycled.

I agree. I stopped all my subscriptions a couple of years ago as well. Now I check out the offerings at my local book chain and if I see one that grabs me, I'll buy a single copy. In the last year I've only bought two so I figure I've saved a bundle.

Diana

I am thinking about stopping my subscriptions when they run out too. I don't like the artistic quilts...I appreciate the talent and work put into them, but I lean towards traditional. Also, after a while patterns look very similar just different fabrics or a slight alteration in design.

Linda, I'm with you, although I am enjoying the Australian ones you sent me.
I get so many ideas here and online that I really don't bother anymore. I also don't have towers of them all over the house the way I used to :D

I decided early last year that I'm going to let all of my quilting mag subscriptions run out (I have 9 of them). I have clipped patterns from them and have them in sheet protectors in a large 3 ring binder. I know I'll never be able to make all of those, so really there is no need to get more!

I let my subscriptions go too...about once a month I go to Barnes and Noble, get a cup of coffee and sit for a couple of hours and browse through the quilting magazines...if there is an issue that I feel I HAVE to have, I will buy it, but only have bought 3-4 magazines in the last year...much less than paying for subscriptions, and it creatively inspiring to have that almost guiltless time...just the cost of the cup of coffee most of the time.

Slightly off main topic, but all the patterns feature new fabric lines, which is fine, but I really struggle with making them work with my stash. So I look at the pictures and then really get nothing out of it, so yeah, I feel like I have wasted my money. Plus, I don't want my quilt to look exactly like theirs anyway.

I know where your coming from. I used to devour everything in a magazine but now so much now. They are great to have for inspiration and ideas but so is this board :) It seems the ideas in my mind are endless right now.

I haven't renewed any of my subscriptions. There is so much on the internet and this forum to look at now. I only look at pictures for inspiration, rarely use a pattern.

The magazines have changed greatly over the years. The old ones used to have a lot of detailed articles on techniques and always seemed to feature at least one stunningly original quilt. Now the emphasis seems to be on pushing specific product lines of fabric. Fabric is featured in relatively simple quilt patterns.

I used to love Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and envied those who had every issue. When Bonnie Lehman was the editor, it was a great magazine. Nowadays it is still on glossy paper and colorful, but the content is just not worth the money to me.

I have let all of my quilting subscriptions lapse and will buy an issue on the newstand only if it contains a quilt I really like and might want to make some day -- maybe half a dozen per year.

Hmmmm...I just got one Thursday and I actually checked the date up front to make sure it wasn't one I had already received. Also they seem often very theme oriented, heavy on Halloween and Christmas. Also many seems to add other crafts like wool and purses. I have made one Chrsitmas quilt in my life and no Halloween ones. I went from multiple magaizines to one and I am letting this one go too but it is for a combination of reasons.

Totally agree I am letting all mine run out, with this wonderful board and the internet see no sense in paying for the same thing month after month.

Prism, you said exactly what I've been thinking about QNM. I subscribed for many years and thoroughly enjoyed it when Bonnie ran it. I can understand changes in quilting but that mag really went downhill compared to the way it was in my opinion. It was the best for years!

I used to subscribe to four different quilting magazines and waited anxiously every month for them to arrive, but I'm with the rest of you. They all seem to look the same anymore. I've let my subscriptions all lapse. Nothing much interests me in them. I laughed when I read patchsamkin's post - I do the exact same thing! If I find something that really interests me, I'll pick up the odd issue, but mostly it's just me and a cup of Starbucks at Barnes and Noble. LOL

I agree as well. Just received 2 in the mail yesterday. Took me like 5 minutes to go through both and I liked only 1 quilt. My husband renewed all of my mags for Christmas or I would be dropping several. I think a lot of them are showing the same patterns but with more current fabrics. I am finding more ideas here as well as some of the sites you all give us.

Me too!! I love their digital subscription. Only print what you're going to make!

And yes, the magazines are getting very boring. Same old patterns and ideas with the latest "must have" fabric lines being featured. Are the magazines owned by fabric companies?

Yes, I agree. You have to wonder what is going on in their minds when they nput some of that stuff out. Many quilts are ugly, I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but some of these are really ugly.

And whats with the colors that they use? Maybe I'm the typical old grung, but I know what looks good and all.

Lanny

I have been bored with quilt magazines for along time. I let my subscriptions run out several years ago and still have many magazines I can look through for inspiration. I will buy an Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine every now and then. Love those!

Wow, I just read every post that is here and NOT ONE indicated an interest to continue their quilt magazine subscription. Hope that someone from the magazine business sees this.

With that said, I am with everyone else. I have subscriptions to 8 or 9 magazines and am allowing all of them to expire with the possible exception of Quiltmaker. I am not even tempted when they make the great "come back to us" offers.

Thats why I will not buy new magazines. I always buy them after after people are bored with them. That way I get them cheap.

No but they are selling advertising to the fabric companies and in some cases the advertisers will also supply a project which the magazine will run (a) to get the advertising revenue and (b) so they don't have to pay someone to write those pages or take those photos.

You would be amazed how much of most magazines is just recycled press releases. This is not just in quilting magazines.

And yes I am bored with quilting magazines too, although I do browse the newsagents every so often to see if there is one worth getting. Even my favourite, Quilter's Companion, which gives a DVD every month, is not that different from what you can get for free on youtube.

I think that the publishers must be getting pretty worried.

Haven't subscribed in years. Most magazines I buy these days are used ones at the Friends of the Library shop. They're 10-50 cents, and I find them well worth having at that price. Some are nearly new, but it doesn't matter because the kinds of quilts I'm most interested in are timeless. I save a few pages and drop the rest in the recycle bin. It does seem to me that some magazines have gone downhill - not just the quilt ones, but others that used to feature lots of craft and home decorating ideas for a whole range of abilities and interests have in recent years changed their focus to only "easy and quick". I guess they have reason to believe that's what most of their readers want.

I haven't had a subscription in years. I stopped them for the same reasons people are stopping them now -- too many ads, price, traditional patterns re-worked in the latest fabric line in ad-nauseum, too many artsy things, etc.

But my pet peeve is the renaming of the traditional patterns. There have been several woman who spent a great deal of time cataloging quilt patterns & their names and they just get arbitrarily renamed. Each magazine will give the same block a completely different name. If the designer or magazine wants to name the quilt, fine, but somewhere in the article it should say something about 'this quilt uses such 'n' such pattern'. No wonder the newbies have no idea what a pattern is called!

Me too. No more mags. Seems the pic of quilts are just different color ways of mags I have at home.

Some of the Australian ones are on the net - or maybe we could do a swap - I love Quiltmania, but it costs a bomb down here!

I came across a copy of Australian Patchwork & Quilting last year and bought it. I liked every single pattern in it, which is unusual for me. I was going to look at subscribing to it somehow here from the states, but never got around to it.

Ive been going to the library and getting the books, the magazines just cost way too much anymore!