WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays
Quilting has a way of taking up room. It just has. Today I am sorting through a shelf to make more room. And it's not just the quilts, it's all the interests associated around quilting as well. This has been on my mind a lot these last few weeks as I have been trying to minimise my tools to keep them contained in my studio...and not the 'studio and around the house'. I find I can fill my studio up all too quickly, which sees me move into the kitchen area...and I think I have to get practical about what I need and don't need or we will all end up living in a quilting museum, but without the floorspace!
But this is so much harder than it sounds. In quilting, you can't apply the 'has it been used within the last 12 months?' rule for deciding whether to keep or give something away, because with quilting it's not about time exactly, it's all about intentions, and I do genuinely intend to use all my quilting tools at some later stage for some later project.
Luckily some items are easier to let go of. In theory anyway, none of these magazines have actually left my house yet. But you can see I have sorted and bagged them and they will be leaving. Yes, I am talking quilting magazines, I used to purchase several every month without fail, I even had subscriptions so I wouldn't miss a thing. Clearing out my shelves, it dawned on me that I haven't purchased a quilting magazine.....in a very long time. What happened? Blogging! Bogging feels (and is!) so immediate, I don't feel the need to buy magazines anymore. And when I do, I like them in digital format. I never thought I'd say that, but I actually prefer the digital version of the magazines I do still buy, as it's so much easier than clearing more shelf space.
I'd really love to know what you think,
Do you still buy magazines? Or have blogs filled that space?
Oh, yes, yes I do! I have vowed a few times to stop! but just restart. Just a little more particular on which ones I buy, I think.
ReplyDeleteTake care, Leslie
Years ago, I did buy magazines and subscribe to 2 or 3 of them, but not any more. I think 2009 was my last year to have a subscription. The reason I don't is 1) found that one year's subscription had enough quilts for me to make in the next 20 years. 2) the quilting info on the Web has exploded and there are so many free patterns, ideas, downloads, that again I am overwhelmed with things to make. 3) I think I have moved on from the beginner stage when you felt you had to buy every magazine, and frankly, they are starting to look all the same to me. So yes, blogging has filled that space for me. I buy magazines at my Guild's exchange table where I can get recent mags for a quarter at times.
ReplyDeleteI've cut back but I still subscribe to more than I need. Reading blogs and blogging don't always do it for me.
ReplyDeleteI rarely buy a P&Q magazine now. I have such a wonderful pile from the 70's and 80's . . OK not very glossy but packed with far more valuable info than mags have now. They are my treasures!
ReplyDeleteI love to read magazines and I love to read, download and save information from blogs. I still like magazines because I like the feel of them in my hands. It is like buying a printed book but also have a Nook.
ReplyDeleteI haven't bought a magazine in soooo long! I hadn't thought whether blogging might be a reason for that, but it is certainly possible.
ReplyDeleteI too had to have subscriptions for all my favorites. Then I realized I never seemed to use them or make any of the quilts, just look at them and then put them on a shelf. A bulging shelf!!! It got pretty ridiculous. Especially when it began to seem like each issue carried the same quilts just in different fabrics.
I finally let all the subscriptions lapse and began going through what I had, pulled out what I really liked and might seriously make some day, and put those projects in a binder. One binder is a much neater look and leaves a LOT of shelf space for things I am using every day.
You bring up a point I had not considered - that blogging feeds the need to read and see quilting things.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of international mags that I still like a lot. Because they cost so much I only buy if there is an article or two that I will want to read.
I have culled all the junk mags, even those that had a pattern that I might like "some day". I still have three to the ceiling piles of "classic magazines".
I enjoy looking at the pictures and reading the in depth articles about what ever topic the author has written. I enjoy doing this in bed in the evening and the computer does not do the trick.
The magazines have killed themselves - and not just quilt mags - by dumbing down the writing and the topics...
I belong to two groups of quilters and the show and tell at those groups alone would keep me in ideas for My quilts for ever.
I do still buy magazines. But blogs inspire me daily. I rarely make a quilt that's in a magazine, although I do get some inspiration from them. The quilt I'm quilting right now, Robin's Song, was a design on Moda Bakeshop Mary Lane Brown of tulip-patch.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteso it's fair to say that as much as I love magazines (and despite the fact that I still buy them), it's the wonderful blogs that help me keep up my enthusiasm.
I used to subscribe to a few magazines, but didn't renew. American Patchwork & Quilting is my favorite and I will buy it once in a while, but I have so many past issues with neat patterns, as well as a bunch of UFOs, so I don't really need to buy any more magazines for patterns. I do glance at them to see if there is anything I NEED to have, but I try to save my money for fabric, etc. Another thing, lots of the patterns are just basic blocks using new fabrics, or in different sizes; in other words, they are not really new. The same goes for individual patterns.
ReplyDelete