old quilt magazines

Okay, at the risk of sounding like a complete newb, why are you scanning fabric into your computer?? Do you use a calibration app to make sure what goes in is what you wanted?? Is that part of a quilting app?

Sorry for all the questions ... I love technology & quilting - any excuse I have to combine the two makes my day! :)

I've just been doing that, too! :)

Not to toss any out, though ... I took a 2 yr hiatus and went utterly insane reading all of my old mags. Found 4 patterns that I'm eager to try.

What quilt mags do you prefer? AP&Q (NAYY) seems to have gotten better in quality and content ... but QM seems to have slacked a bit. Course, my old issues from those mags are 2-3 years old! :) At least, the ones that I've actually found are! :)

Hey Connie:

I scan my fabric and save it in a file. I save it in the .bmp so I can import it to Electric Quilt Version 5. I can save it into its own file and not use the fabric already in the EQ program.

I want to see first, what the quilt will look like before I make my first cut into a piece fabric. Second I want the program to roughly calculate how much fabric I have to have, minus the borders, to see if I can even make a quilt the size I want. I may not want the border fabric to match the fabric I use making the blocks.

As for quilt magazines, mine go back to 1990. A lot of the publications are no longer in print, nor are the publishers in business.

The magazine I am presently looking at it titled Old-Fashioned Patchwork Spring 1992 and published by Harris Publications, New York.

My favorite was Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts published in 1993 by Lopez Publications of New York. All the quilts in the January 1993 magazine was from the Big Sky Country, Montana. That's the issue where I first was introduced to John Flynn's designs. Flynn was a designer of bridges and started designing quilts.

I worked most of my career with engineers and love those quirky fellows. I guess that was why I was drawn to Flynn's designs.

There are several quilt design programs out there but I started with Electric Quilt and feel most comfortable working with it.

Over the years the magazines seem to repeat the designs but in the latest fabrics. The only magazine I buy ocassionally is Quiltmaker.

Believe it or not I am more interested in the small ads in the back of the magazines. I've found more unique patterns there. Something I didn't want to recreate in EQ5 or something totally unique and had to buy from the designer.

Have to run, the fireworks show is just starting in my neighborhood.

Kate T.