Quilters' Newsletter controversy

Taking the stance that the best offense is a good defence, Quilters'
Newsletter printed a letter from a reader who was absolutely incensed that
one issue did not include a pattern for the cover quilt: she demands the
magazine send her the pattern or ELSE! [unspecified horrors of calling the
BBB and posting nasty notes in newsgroups.]

The magazine's editor replies that they choose to publish quilts that are
original works of art on their covers, not necessarily quilts that they
pattern.

I buy that particular magazine because I'm interested in seeing the best of
the best; hearing about new techniques; history of quilts etc. I never
considered that every quilt they show would have a pattern [any more than I
consider that the Arts and Crafts Revival magazines I buy would give me
house plans with the pictures of homes.]

So...what say you? Is the reader right in being upset?

--
Kim Graham
THE WORD IN PATCHWORK
http://members.shaw.ca/kigraham

Aw fer crying out loud. I have stacks of QN with no patterns for the cover
quilts. Don't want one; didn't expect one. Polly

"Kimberley I. Graham"
Taking the stance that the best offense is a good defence, Quilters'
Newsletter printed a letter from a reader who was absolutely incensed that
one issue did not include a pattern for the cover quilt: she demands the
magazine send her the pattern or ELSE! [unspecified horrors of calling the
BBB and posting nasty notes in newsgroups.]

The magazine's editor replies that they choose to publish quilts that are
original works of art on their covers, not necessarily quilts that they
pattern.

I buy that particular magazine because I'm interested in seeing the best
of the best; hearing about new techniques; history of quilts etc. I never
considered that every quilt they show would have a pattern [any more than
I consider that the Arts and Crafts Revival magazines I buy would give me
house plans with the pictures of homes.]

So...what say you? Is the reader right in being upset?

--
Kim Graham
THE WORD IN PATCHWORK
http://members.shaw.ca/kigraham

First of all, the magazine had never promised to include a pattern for
cover quilts, so she has no reason to be put out when they did not do so.

Most of these quilts are very complex works of art (or they would not be
the best in the world) and took a considerable amount of time to make.
I've often seen books published with complete instructions how to make.
One cannot expect the designer to forgo the benefits of selling
his/her book for the privilege of having their quilt on a magazine
cover. Furthermore, it really does take a book to include complete
instructions for such a complex quilt, so I don't see how she can expect
the complete pattern in a small magazine article. I have seen articles
on these quilts, but they usually only cover one technique used on a
part of the quilt. Such articles would depend upon the quilt's
designer's willingness to author it, which may not even be possible.

So IMHO, she was totally unreasonable.

--
Bev in TX

On 12/1/10 10:18 PM, Kimberley I. Graham wrote:
Taking the stance that the best offense is a good defence, Quilters'
Newsletter printed a letter from a reader who was absolutely incensed that
one issue did not include a pattern for the cover quilt: she demands the
magazine send her the pattern or ELSE! [unspecified horrors of calling the
BBB and posting nasty notes in newsgroups.]

The magazine's editor replies that they choose to publish quilts that are
original works of art on their covers, not necessarily quilts that they
pattern.

I buy that particular magazine because I'm interested in seeing the best of
the best; hearing about new techniques; history of quilts etc. I never
considered that every quilt they show would have a pattern [any more than I
consider that the Arts and Crafts Revival magazines I buy would give me
house plans with the pictures of homes.]

So...what say you? Is the reader right in being upset?

I don't subscribe any more, but if IIRC, QNM seldom if ever has a
pattern for the cover quilt, and the articles are more quilt news and
techniques than instructions for specific projects. Quiltmaker, OTOH,
always uses the cover to advertise the patterns in that issue and
concentrates more on patterns. The 2 magazines have an entirely
different focus.

Maybe this person got a little confused over which magazine was which
and bought the other one by mistake. (Some people don't read, they
just look at the pictures :-)
Roberta in D

On Wed, 1 Dec 2010 20:18:40 -0800, "Kimberley I. Graham"
wrote:

Taking the stance that the best offense is a good defence, Quilters'
Newsletter printed a letter from a reader who was absolutely incensed that
one issue did not include a pattern for the cover quilt: she demands the
magazine send her the pattern or ELSE! [unspecified horrors of calling the
BBB and posting nasty notes in newsgroups.]

The magazine's editor replies that they choose to publish quilts that are
original works of art on their covers, not necessarily quilts that they
pattern.

I buy that particular magazine because I'm interested in seeing the best of
the best; hearing about new techniques; history of quilts etc. I never
considered that every quilt they show would have a pattern [any more than I
consider that the Arts and Crafts Revival magazines I buy would give me
house plans with the pictures of homes.]

So...what say you? Is the reader right in being upset?

What the heck is wrong with people? Seems everybody on earth thinks
they deserve ... everything. From everybody. Obviously, she doesn't
know what QN is and how it differs from the other quilting mags. Now
she knows. What a twit!

Sunny

I agree w/Nann! QuiltMaker does the patterns for the cover quilts
usually.
and would you really want to do ALL the patterns, I would rather
design my own.