Why do we pay so much for magazines?

Why do I pay so much for magazines?  I am almost at the breaking point when it comes to magazine price, the point at which I won’t buy them any more.  It’s bad enough that when the Canadian dollar is so strong, that I am still paying $2+ more than an American consumer.  The magazine powers-that-be decided the answer to that was to omit the US price, and just leave the higher Canadian dollar price on the mag.  Gee thanks, I feel appreciated.

I also notice that magazines contain more and more advertising, and in fact, a lot of the articles are little more than advertising.  A large number of the North American quilting publications are guilty of this.  Apparently the fabric designers send bundles of free fabric from their new lines to quilt designers who make up projects that happen to contain the newest, most expensive designer fabrics.  You too, can make this, and here’s the purchasing information…

It’s not a bad thing to showcase your project by offering design ideas and patterns, but why am I paying $10. or more for you to sell me something else?  Knitting and crochet patterns used to be free with the purchase of yarn, but there seem to be fewer of those, as well.  I think I am supposed to buy the pattern book, then buy the yarn. 

Recently I bought a decorating/lifestyle type magazine, one that I usually enjoy a lot.  The price has been increasing in the last couple of years, but so far I felt I was getting good value.  I was particularly interested in an article on making funky-shaped pincushions from vintage fabrics.  The article contained enough directions to make the projects, but when I looked for the enlargable pattern, there was none to be found.  For instructions, see page…….I turned to page……and there were instructions to order the pattern for an additional $10 or $12!!  I was livid!!  Eventually I will write to the magazine to explain why I have stopped purchasing it after 4 years.  I’m still too angry that their cover suggested I could learn to make vintage pincushions, when the first instruction was to shell out more money.

Remember the tiny colored glass bottles you received free in a box of Salada tea?  What ever happened to gifts with purchase?  Now it’s “thanks for buying our product, here are twelve other things you need to purchase”.  Even when I purchase a DVD, there are commercials for more movies, TV shows, cars, food products I should buy.  Why am I paying for the right to be hit with more unsolicited advertising?  Why can’t I at least have the option of purchasing a DVD without further advertising on it?  I’d pay more for a DVD without commercials, or a magazine with half the advertising and real articles of real interest.  Heck, I’d pay more for a t-shirt without someone’s logo on it.  If you want my chest to be a billboard for your brand, give me the t-shirt for free.  Or pay me to wear it.  If I paid to go there and do that, why do I need to buy the t-shirt?

Housekeeping – Dreading it vs doing it

Why does it seem that I don’t have the time or energy to do certain household chores?  You know, the ones you dislike so you avoid them, and the longer you avoid them, the uglier they get?  I will watch my ironing basket fill up and overflow over two or three weeks, dreading the task.  In my mind I will build it up, so that the job will appear to be so time consuming and difficult that I just know I can’t get it done.  That ironing will take HOURS and my back hurts too much to stand for that long so there’s no way I can do the ironing.  Meanwhile Mt. Wrinkle continues to grow. 

When I finally bite the bullet and set up the ironing board, I time the job and find that it takes  48 minutes.  That’s three weeks of laundry – 48 minutes.  That’s an average of 16 minutes per week.  I can decide to spend the 16 minutes and iron each week.  Or I can decide to do a few pieces at a time, each time I do laundry.  Or, I can decide to save it up for a marathon ironing session and it’s still only 48 minutes of my time and energy.  I can lower the ironing board and sit on the couch watching the news while I iron.  Yet in my mind, it’s a 3-hour, backbreaking job that I’ll never have be able to accomplish.  ‘

I’d like to get out of “martyr mode”.  I am trying to “just do it anyway”, even when it is boring, hard work, messy or “shouldn’t have to do it anyway”.  Not everything in life is glamourous, exciting, fun.   Someone has to scrub the bathtub; in my house, that’s me.  I can whine about it, put it off, let the soap scum build up until I need harsh chemicals and lots of muscle to get it clean.  Or I can just do it anyway, spend 5 or 6 minutes getting it as clean as I can, knowing that I’ll do another short spurt of work in a couple of days. 

It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.  Perhaps it’s better to have cleaned and missed a spot than never to have cleaned at all…..

Pioneer Quilting vs. Modern Quilting

I’ve been  thinking a lot lately about quilting in these modern times vs. quilting in my grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers’ time.  An anonymous American pioneer woman wrote:

“I make my quilts warm to keep my family from freezing.  I make them beautiful to keep my heart from breaking.”

A modern-day quilter might say:

“I saw this great idea in a quilting magazine, so I bought the magazine, purchased everything on the supply list, bought new blades for my rotary cutter, picked up a few fat quarters that I couldn’t resist (to add to my stash), started the project, got busy (or lost interest), and now that quilt is a UFO in a plastic bin in my sewing room.  I notice that IKEA has duvets on sale, maybe I’ll put one of those on the guest bed for now.”

I’ve exaggerated (a little) to make a point.  In homesteading days, women made quilts out of necessity, and from whatever materials they could afford.  A quilt may have contained some new fabric, but it often also or exclusively contained pieces of her husband’s old shirt, useful bits from worn-out children’s clothing – that’s worn-out clothing, not worn-out children – and reusable pieces from a previous quilt she’d made.  The pattern may have been simple, or more complex, depending on the time she had or her skill level.  Yes, she made the quilt as beautiful as she knew how.  In those days of tiny homes and very few possessions, a homemade quilt was one of the few practical objects that could also make a home cheery.  A skillfully made quilt was a way to show off her homemaking skills and artistic talent.  She had many of the same motivations and desires as the 2008 quilter, but far less options in terms of mass-produced textiles and disposable income and discretionary time.

Today’s quilter has a myriad of choices of fabrics and patterns, and more efficient quilting tools and techniques.  She may have more or less discretionary time than her ancestor, but with cheaply made mass-produced goods and more disposable income, the 2008 quilter no longer has to rush to get the quilt finished before winter’s cold sets in.  She often has an entire room dedicated to her sewing, quilting and art, and usually she has numerous Rubbermaid bins, plastic coffins for her extra fabric, magazines, and partially finished projects. 

 I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have extra quilting fabrics and supplies, and I’m not about to give up my electric sewing machine.  And being an art quilter, I don’t see anything at all wrong with making a project for the sheer beauty or the enjoyment of learning a new technique.  My point is that sometimes it’s good to challenge ourselves to use up what we have, challenge ourselves to finish a project without buying anything new.  It’s a great artistic exercise to fix a design dilemna without “throwing money at it”.  How can I adapt this project using only what I have in my studio?  How many pieces of art can I make before I really need to stock up again?  Can I make a quilt out of 75% recycled fabrics, such as those old jeans I’ve been saving?  And what about those UFO’s (infinished objects) and PIGS (projects in grocery sacks); if I’m really not going to finish them, why not cut them up and repurpose them in other projects?  Consider a 6-month or 1-year challenge to not purchase any new fabric or embellishments.  If you really don’t have anything in your stash that will work (after taking some time to really think creatively about it), could you find something workable in a friend’s stash, or at a thrift store or www.freecycle.org or unused clothing in your own closet?

Simpler patterns can reduce stress as you create.  Using the “wrong” fabric can make your quilt less “perfect” but more beautiful and fun.  Recycling fabric creates a richness and depth to your art that cannot be bought.  Staying out of the craft and sewing stores for a time helps you to focus less on current quilting trends and “must-haves”, and helps you to develop your own signature style.  Challenge yourself this year – think and act like a pioneer quilter.

My Favorite Crazy Quilting/Art/Sewing Websites

1.  www.inaminuteago.com – Sharon Boggon’s daily textile blog.  Great, great resources including an embroidery stitch dictionary complete with photos, numerous wonderful links to other fabric artists, challenges, and tons of “eye candy”.  My favorite!

2.  www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/6531/index.html – home of Crazy Quilt Central.  Although this website hasn’t been updated in a loooong time, there’s a lot of excellent CQ ideas, techniques and inspiration.  Many of the links no longer work, but this site is definitely worth a visit.

3.  www.joggles.com – Joggles is an online store for doll makers, and I have found tons of great beads, fabrics, dyes, etc here.  Great customer service, good value.  They send a weekly email with new/back in stock products, and inspiration for using said products.  The website has a number of neat things to look at, including tutorials. 

4.  www.quiltingarts.com – website for Quilting Arts magazine.  Love the magazine, and there are nice things to look at on the website, too.

5. http://sewing.about.com and http://quilting.about.com – tons of free tips and techniques, patterns and links.  Many of the non-commercial links do not work (a pet peeve of mine), but again, worth the time to visit.

6.  www.sewing.org – free patterns and ideas, including teen sewing projects, holiday patterns, and sewing for babies.  Projects are rated by level of difficulty.

7.  www.robinatkins.com – Robin is a phenomenal bead artist, and her website and blog are excellent.  Check out the Bead Journal Project.

8.  www.beadcreative.com – Nancy Eha, bead artist, has a huge body of work and a funky style.

9.  www.beryltaylor.com – Beryl Taylor is a much-admired art quilter and prolific writer.  Wonderful inspiration.

10. www.judithbakermontano.com – Judith is a CQ pioneer, and has written several excellent CQ books.  She doesn’t usually get the credit, but the CQ “stitch and flip” technique that begins with a 5-sided fabric piece is Judith’s creation.  I have learned much from her books about color grouping and how to tell a story with fabric.

What are some of your favorite textile websites?  Leave a comment!

Vision precedes execution

Vision precedes execution.  It’s the start of another new year, and I am setting big goals for myself this year.  Not my usual New Year’s resolutions, which no one believes you will accomplish, including yourself.  Rather, I want to make a good start on some big goals this year, many of which will take longer than 12 months to accomplish. 

 So what do I want to achieve in the next few years?  I want to spend less time dreaming about crazy quilting and just drawing out ideas for fabric art, and much more time creating art.  I am in the process of decluttering my tiny sewing room and dealing with WIPs (works in progress), UFOs (unfinished objects) and PIGS (projects in grocery sacks).   Some of these neglected projects need to get finished (or started!), and some I am donating to the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  I’m letting go of the guilt and making room for projects that interest me now. 

 I want to finish the novel I am writing, in the next year, I hope.  I have never written a novel, and have no idea if it will ever get published, but for me, the real goal is to finish the book and submit it to a few publishers. 

I need to lose weight, around 115 pounds, and this will require getting honest about why I overeat, committing to some radical permanent changes in habits and relearning to enjoy exercise.  I am not particularly excited about this, more like dreading every minute.  But this is the year I will begin to turn my health around, as much as it depends on me.

 I am on what seems like a constant program of decluttering and organizing my house.  I love crazy quilting, which means I collect old clothes to recycle, new fabrics, threads, buttons, beads, books and idea pages, fabric dyes, interesting fibers and charms and bits of “stuff”.  I love thrift stores and dollar stores as sources of beads and baubles, fabric and fibers.  My husband is also a bit of a pack rat , and we are experts at “stash and dash” cleaning.  We are working hard at decluttering this year (we actually started last year), and are hoping to reduce our possessions by another third.  I am trying to use up the food in our pantry and freezers as much as possible this winter, finish sewing and mending projects, and only buy the absolute necessities to finish art projects.  No more trolling through thrift stores for treasures until we are decluttered a lot more.  And at that point, it’ll be “one in, one out”.  If I buy a new (to me) pair of jeans, out goes one old article of clothing.  If I buy fabric, out goes an equivalent amount of art supplies or magazines I no longer need. 

 So, my vision is to be healthier (weight loss and exercise), create more, clear out the clutter, write more (hence this blog), and use up what we have rather than going out to buy more, more, more. 

My favorite sources for low-cost Crazy Quilting supplies

Crazy quilting supplies can be expensive!  Here are my favorite ways to collect all the “bits” that go into my CQ pieces.

 www.freecycle.org – People with items to offer and people looking for items can hook up online.  There is a small group in our town, and every so often I ask if anyone has fabric, buttons, beads, etc to give away.  I did receive a large load of fabric when I was making quilts for charity.  Be sure to follow the freecycle rules, be polite and grateful, and don’t misrepresent yourself (I asked for fabric for charity quilts and I did use it all for quilts to give away).

Thrift stores, flea markets, garage sales – great sources of buttons, beads, broken jewelry, bags of fabric and yarns, doilies, slightly damaged linens (you’re going to cut it up anyway!).  It’s often worth buying a hideous bridesmaids’ dress for the many meters of fabric, or a shirt for the unique buttons.  Check the clothing racks when you are looking for a particular type of fabric (velvet, satin, cotton) or a particular color.    Find out when they have bag sales, you can get a lot of clothing for a little cash.

 www.ebay.com – There are deals to be had on eBay IF you don’t get carried away in a bidding war.  Check payment details and shipping prices BEFORE you bid, and don’t bid until the last few minutes of an auction.  Key words – buttons, sewing notions, broken jewelry, fabric remnants

 Relatives and friends – Once my older relatives saw my first CQ piece, which was embellished with old dog licences, bingo chips, small toys, vintage buttons and old watch parts, they offered me all kinds of small treasures.  Whenever someone gives me CQ supplies, I make them a small CQ gift such as a pincushion or small framed piece.

Dollar stores – a great source for inexpensive jewelry, beads, yarn, embroidery floss.  I have used dollar store jute twine in a rustic art piece, and the cotton dishtowels (a linen-type weave) can be cut up for fabric.  Doilies, as long as they are 100% cotton, dye beautifully, as does cheesecloth, which adds dimension if it is layered or gathered.  Artificial flowers can be taken apart, and the petals mixed and matched to make multi-colored fantasy flowers.  Also, check the scrapbooking section, for ribbons and charms, and paper ephemera (only if the piece will not be washed).

Don’t forget the items you already have in your home – small toys, stray earrings, coins,  dice, items of clothing your children have outgrown, cheesecloth, string, fabrics and bits of trim that can be overdyed or bleached or coffee-dyed for a vintage look.  Old shell buttons can be dyed with fabric dye or even food coloring. 

Yes, there are websites and craft and quilting stores galore, with an endless variety of beautiful supplies; but why not supplement those with found treasures and unbelievable bargains.

Vision precedes execution « FabricArtist’s Weblog

Vision precedes execution « FabricArtist’s Weblog

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