Friday, April 30, 2010

Call Me Old Fashioned….

…but when I buy a quilting magazine..I want to flip through it BEFORE I buy it…In other words, I do not want it in a sealed bag!!  I mean really…when I see it in a bag, I wonder what are they trying to hide?!  Are their quilts so pathetic that they don’t want anyone to see them??  Do they think if they put the magazine in a plastic bag we will think something REALLY good is inside..a big guarded secret?  Well I have news for them- I WON’T buy a quilt magazine that comes in a sealed plastic bag. (This diet is making me grouchy…)

Yesterday I saw this on the news stands…P1070684

Normally I would have left it on the shelf..it’s in a bag after all…BUT it also had this inside…I was curious…so I bought it.

P1070685

Now the magazine…would I have bought it had it not been in a plastic bag?…probably..there are a couple of quilts that I really like and there are a few articles that I want to read, so yes..I would have bought it.  The CD?  It has one quilt on it that I love…but I know I will never make it..WHY?  Because before I make a quilt I like to savor the pattern…I read it over several times…get the fabric out and lay it down on the pattern and play around…can I do that with a CD…?  Sure BUT first I would have to print it off…call me old fashion but I like having everything in a magazine…

YIKES! I just had a thought…Is this the  magazines way of getting rid of paper and going to CD…scary thought!!   It’s kind of hard to curl up at night to a good Quilting CD….

What are your thoughts…will you buy a magazine in a sealed bag?  What about quilting CDs…do you like them? What do you do with them…AND how do you remember what’s on a CD?  So many questions for so early in the morning…I better pour us another coffee while we mull this over!

Have a Fun Friday and Happy Quilting!!

27 comments:

  1. I know what you mean...I don't like buying a magazine when I can't see what's inside either. That said, I also bought this one with the CD. I've looked through the magazine but have yet to even peek at what's on the CD. So much for technology! LOL

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  2. I am the same way, but sometimes the bag tears open for some reason and I can see the magazine;) LOL
    I like hard copy, something I can hold in my hands and read. I do like cd's if they have patterns, so I can keep that for future use if I want.

    Debbie

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  3. Magazines in sealed plastic bags are a huge pet peeve of mine. I need a hard copy to take all over the house with me - the courch, the bedroom, etc. LOL

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  4. Quilter's are tactile people, we like to touch...magazines on CD??. Nope, not for me...Magazine in a bag..I too wonder, why, what are they hiding..I open the bag, browse the mag, if I'm not interested, I put it back in the bag and put it back on the shelf! If the merchant wants the sale, they'll not complain..after all, you can browse a book and a magazine costs almost as much!

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  5. Oh, and a CD in the bag is NOT an incentive for me to buy it and I am a huge computer user!!

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  6. I agree Paulette, we quilters want to touch, drool, ponder the possibilites...... in the car, waiting in line, at an appointment, hard to do that with a CD. I do like that some of the magazines now have little thumbnails of the projects in the table of contents, but you know sometimes it's a quilt or a fabric in an ad, or an article that catches my eye more than what the magazine offers in projects. Bags are for filling with cool quilty purchases not sealing up our favorite magazines. I posted a new free stitchery too! Cyndi

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  7. I will not buy a magazine sealed in plastic! What's so secret...this isn't Quilters--the Swimsuit Edition! Also I currently subscribe to 3 popular quilting magazines and they've been so disappointing. Letting subscriptions lapse. As for the CDs, I toss them.

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  8. The CD's aren't a draw for me either. I don't want to use up all my ink printing pages that usually have a bunch of ads on them. I print enough patterns off line already. I got the CD with the Fons and Porter magazine a few months ago and it has disappeared, so I didn't even get to see what was so special on it that it needed plastic covering for.

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  9. I won't buy one in a sealed bag, either. I haven't gotten a cd yet, but don't really want one either. ;-)

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  10. Well P, I agree with you and my son says eventually there will not be magazines.. All will be on the web, now that is scary. I am not much on cd's either but I do have one from Vintage Workshop that I love.But I like instruction written out.No plastic bags, please.
    Hugs.
    Maggey

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  11. I agree completely. I hate magazines in bags and skip them completely. Let's face it, just like everything else, the magazine are more expensive than they used to be and I want to see what I'm getting!

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  12. Well, I've enjoyed the first edition of Fat Quarterly magazine online at www.fatquarterly.com, but making a quilt from a CD or online mag is difficult as there is no room for my laptop in my sewing room. I would have to print the pages I want to use anyway! I am also not inclined to buy a plastic bag mag.

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  13. Okay, no more magazines? I never even contemplated that! And I did buy this one with the same reservations... never buy a sealed one. I am evil. I open them at the store, lol. But I liked one of the quilts in this one because I had checked it out online first, otherwise it would have stayed on the shelf. American Patchwork and Quilting is about the only one that seems worth its weight anymore. I want some of those Australian Magazines! Now THOSE are a treat!

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  14. I also want to see the contents of a magazine before deciding whether I want to buy it. Printing our patterns and tutorials from the internet is not as good as having them in a magazine, and I have problems with keepeing all those loose pages organized.

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  15. I hate sealed magazines and like you wonder what they want to hide! unfortunately I bought the McCalls Quick Quilts May issue...thinking it was new and must be the one I was in with Marcie from Patchalot Patterns. I took a gamble as I forgot it was to be the June issue! Well...darn if it was the wrong issue and really there isn't a thing in it I want to make.
    The following day I just happened to receive a junk mailer from McCalls Quilting announcing their new Quilting DVDs "Inspire.Design.Create"....DVD #1 of a collection that could be mailed to me every 2-3 months for a fee of $12.95. If I don't like this first one I'm to return it. I never asked for it! Now they want me to return it too?!
    *Sigh....I hear ya!!

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  16. Why do they think we would want to buy anything without knowing what is in it! Jeez . . . .even hotdog packages tell you what's in it before you buy! Probably more than you want to know!!

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  17. I am bad and usually open it in the store carefully and have a look. I like magazines very much but would not buy them if it was not a paper copy.

    Although, I do bring the laptop into the kitchen to try a receipe on line before wasting the paper of printing it.

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  18. Unfortunately, Paulette - a friend who was a craft magazine editor told me that sales are higher when the "bonus issues" are included and it is all packed in plastic. But they have missed out on counting me in, I don't buy them.

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  19. I am with you...I don't want old issues I have already read or more rubbish to throw away...just give me an unwrapped mag with great projects worth buying. I buy very few these days as so many aren't worth it.

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  20. Magazines in plastic bags are a turn off. I have to admit that I have been known to purchase one or two of them but that is only when here are three magazines in the bag & I like what I can see on the front cover of the one I can see properly.

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  21. Paulette...We always open a store copy of a sealed magazine so people can leaf through it! I think there are a lot of quilters who won't buy without a look-see. I know I wouldn't!!!! (Let's hope they will buy a book by seeing it's cover though:))))

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  22. I am with you, Paulette...here we get three for the price of one, new issue and two old issues...but they are in plastic bags...can't see what I'm buying.
    Might be good value for some ,but I don't want old issues I have already read or more rubbish to throw away...

    Julia ♥

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  23. I am so with you on this, I refuse to buy a magazine in a sealed bag - there should be other ways to attach a cd, right? Sheesh. I need to BROWSE before I plunk down my moolah.

    I'm of two minds about cd's - I prefer a magazine, but will print off a pdf, and I prefer to buy patterns on pdf, especially from other lands, lol. They don't take up any room and heaven knows I don't have any anyway.

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  24. My thought: if a sealed magazine you would not buy it if you could see inside. Usually true in my case. Magazines websites that show contents project photos are great. I did buy McCalls issue but not for the CD. Small town - no quilt shops here, 1 newsagent - very very limited magazines. So I must buy from the internet now. 1` subscription only to Quilting Arts. I may buy 2 or 3 magazines a year. Colorways are great but same old patterns.

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  25. I refuse to buy any magazines that come in plastic bags, especially with Cd's - most of the contents on the CD are not useful or interesting. Magazines are expensive enough - at least let us see what they are before buying. The commenter who said that sales are higher with the bags ( I doubt it) - if that was the case all the magazines on the stands would be in plastic bags. If I am going to spend Cdn$ on a magazine, I want to see what I am buying. Good blog post topic.

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  26. I saw that magazine, and I put it back! LOL. I didn't know if I wanted it. I do think the CD would add value to the magazine (as long as the magazine is the same size as before), but they didn't do a good enough job showing exactly what was in the CD to make it worth buying.

    I think the plastic is a good thing because it makes sure that your magazine is clean and new and germ free. But it would be nice if they had an open sample so that we could see if it was worth buying.

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  27. I do not like the plastic either! They should only be in plastic if they include something useful...like a new sewing machine! :o

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