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What is your favorite quilting magazine?


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I don't subscribe to any.

I used to get so many, but I was disappointed month after month.

I check them out at the market (im lucky that my market carries an extensive selection) and only buy the ones that look worth my time.

I find I get the best of the best that way.

And don't waste paper.

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I also stopped subscribing.  I figure I already have enough patterns to last a lifetime.  I just "recycle" them by pulling out something that's 6 months old - or older and revisiting.  I also share with guild members and we trade off.  I know it's probably not for good for the industry, but times are tough.  There is so much info on the internet - and especially here on the Forum I'm saving my susbcription dollars.

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My favs are American Patchwork and Quilting, and Quilter's Newsletter.  I like see award winning quilts from all the quilt shows that I can't get to.  Inspiration!  I also like Fons and Porter because they have historical quilts in it too.  Love the history of quilts.

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My favorite used to be "Quilt"  But over the years the ads have increased-

Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Japanese Magazines!  I can read and speak it-(I studied Spanish, German, Russian & Japanese)

Japanese was my favorite- I love also "Homespun"  Austrailian.

 

I also love Homespun. They usually have a variety of projects that are always cute! Plus, I get to dream about taking a vacation to Australia and visiting all the shops in the back of the magazine.

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I don't subscribe anymore either. I have kept all of my past issues. I was tired of being disappointed in the issues. Now I will only buy individual issues, although rarely, if there is a pattern I love included, although I certainly don't need to add any projects to my "want to make" list.

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I let all my subscriptions run out.  I have stacks of magazines still here and that was after I dumped literally hundreds of them into our recycle buckets.  I liked looking through them from time to time, but it just got to be too much.  I also have 3 large bookcases of quilting (and some knitting/crocheting) books to browse through.  

 

I did weaken and subscribed to a modern quilt magazine and received only one issue so far and was disappointed with it.  

 

I prefer to go to my local Barnes & Nobel store and look through their magazines while I have a nice coffee.  If/when I find one that has something I like in it, then I'll buy it.  Otherwise, it goes back on the shelf.

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I sort of do what Sandra does.  My husband likes to peruse the magazines at Barnes and Nobel while drinking a Starbucks so I will sit with him and go through 5 or 6 quilt magazines and end up buying one or two.  I've let most of my subscriptions run out on most of them also because they became mostly advertisements and its always the same ads.  I like F&P Love of Quilting and F&P Quilting Quickly.  The latter magazine shows the quilts along with patterns for the YouTube videos from Missouri Star Quilting.  Since I've been trying to teach three people how to make a quilt long distance these magazines and videos have been amazing.  I bought a different magazine yesterday because it had an interesting pattern in it...can't remember the name of it at the moment.

 

I like that F&P offers a free digital copy of their magazine if you are a print subscriber.  How nice to be able to download the whole magazine and put it on my hard drive.  I used to scan the parts of the magazine I thought I might want and it was very time consuming.

 

I've done the same thing with all my painting magazines...scrapbooking and stamping magazines.  In the "olden" days there weren't as many magazines out there so I would splurge for a new magazine (usually cost around a dollar fifty instead of the 6-10 dollars today) and I would just pour over the magazine for the whole month.  It was wonderful to put the kids to bed and just be able to sit and slowly move through the pages of one of those magazines.  Now there are so many different magazines that I barely get through one when there's another one waiting.  Sometimes I feel like I'm in brain overload.

 

I think the internet is partly to blame because I can go online and find almost anything then instantly download it.  If I want to do a pattern I don't have to go through large stacks of magazines I can just type in the name and there it is.  I buy enough magazines to let the companies know I am interested in having them, but I don't feel the need to buy every one out there.  I've become more selective.    

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No one mentioned Quiltmaker. I found my first one in the back of a seat on a plane and subscribed when I got home. It too has quilting designs and I've never had any problem following their directions. I still get Fons and Porter but they are getting to be more advertising that I'm about to let it run out. I was heartbroken when Mark Lipenksi stopped publishing his magazine. I loved his sense of humor.

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I don't subscribe any more.  Between the issues publishing the kind of quilts I'm either not interested in,

or unable to do, like hand applique.  I also got tired of the topics that sounded like regular quilting,

(whatever that is) but just an ad for something, Or, an off topic discussion. 

 

I now buy maybe 2 or 3 per year.. I only buy if it has the instructions, AND has 3 or more projects I

am interested in making.

 

Saves money, time and space.. yep, space!  They bulk up into an awful stack or row in a lot less time

than I ever thought they could.

 

It also saves me a Lot of Money which I can put towards fabrics for the community service and Quilts

of Valor I make.

 

A win-win situation.

 

Rita

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Like many of you, I have dropped subscriptions to most of the magazines.  I still get Fons & Porter, but when it expires, I don't think I will renew.    I'll buy one at the store now and then if it looks interesting.   Too many ads and the trend toward the art quilts and "bling" doesn't appeal to me.   I do enjoy Dawn's articles in Fons & Porter magazine though. 

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MQU is my hands down favorite.  Many quilting magazines have too many patterns for simple quilts.  Because I was a professional seamstress for twenty years, I am a very fast and mostly accurate sewer, so I do more and more intricate quilts, unless for a QOV or a gift.  I find I spend less money on fabric that way.  I really don't need to make two quilts each month!

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Oma, I did not know this about Fons & Porter. I don't subscribe to any magazines any more but if I did, it would be this one and MQU. To be able to download it and look at it when I'm away from home would be really nice. Thank you for sharing that tidbit!

 

Every once in a while MQU offers theirs older copies at half price and I usually will buy a few that I have wanted then.

 

I used to like to buy The Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine, too.

 

 

I like that F&P offers a free digital copy of their magazine if you are a print subscriber.  How nice to be able to download the whole magazine and put it on my hard drive.  I used to scan the parts of the magazine I thought I might want and it was very time consuming.

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I enjoy looking at quilting magazines...MQU, Modern Quilting, Fons and Porter, American Patchwork and Quilting etc.  I enjoy the magazines that show quilting options and that show second fabric selections for the pattern.  Too often, the patterns now are pieced to showcase one line of fabric...great if you like the line.  

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Like several  of you,  after many years of having subscriptions to some American quilting magazines, I too have not renewed. Mainly I think due to what seems to be repetitive patterns but using new fabrics. Or maybe its because I have been quilting for so long I now I am getting a bit fussy.

 

I do however enjoy getting Modern Quilts Unlimited  as well as the Australian Quilter's Companion, as this usually also comes with a DVD. The last DVD was excellent as it featured Lisa Walton on painting and stenciling fabric. I do not have a regular order for either and check them out at the book shop first.

 

Of course my favorite magazine is the NZ Quilter.  I wouldn't be biased now would I!!!!

 

My guess is for many of you the Australian and NZ magazines are probably not readily available so you won't know what you are missing. 

 

Yvonne

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I dropped F&P a while ago.  My mom still gets it so I just borrow hers.  I would be all excited when it came and 5 minutes later I was done with it.  I like The Quilt Life, Quiltmaker, Quilters Newsletter and I also get the AQS magazine once a quarter.

 

I love quilt tops with lots of small pieces and most of what I see in magazines are quick projects.  I pull out patterns that I think I might want to make and then give the magazines to friends. 

 

I like the idea of pursuing the magazines in Barnes and Noble and then putting them back if nothing grabs my attention. 

 

Gail

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It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for print publications. Subscriptions never cover the costs, so ads are what make up the difference, paying for labor, articles, printing, distributing, and any profit there may be. Specialty magazines are super expensive (states someone who purchased a year subscription for her DH for Christmas for a special-interest magazine, at $59.99 annually. It was $10 off the regular price. And it's still full of ads!)

 

If the mags go away--and they will if subscriptions falter-- we'll find what we want online I suppose.

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