My gift subscription to Just Cross Stitch magazine began. The Jan/Feb 2010 issue arrived first, then the Nov/Dec 2009 issue.
I did not find much in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue that I liked. I do not understand why the editors allowed two similar designs to appear in the same issue, i.e. the poinsettia design and the Xmas anemones. Both are red and green floral designs, very similar in feel. Oh, and then there was a red amaryllis in a planter with the word "PEACE" AND a wall motto of the word "PEACE."
There are some religious designs that I will not stitch and some that I will adapt by leaving off the verses.
I loooked through my Just Cross Stitch magazines from the early 1990s and I find them to have a greater variety of designs.
JCS has put online one digital issue, perhaps to see if they can compete with the established digital cross stitch magazine. I don't think they realize that stitchers want contemporary designs. If they offered the types of designs that people pay big money for on ebay, or buy in these "limited editions," then they would get more subscribers.
The majority of stitchers today do not want these designs that slavishly imitate realistic pictures--these designs that require a complete back stitch outline.
Anyone can look at blogs and see what people are stitching. The samplers , the primitives, the LHN, CCN, The Prairie Schooler, the Quaker designs and many more are preferred styles.
After my year is up I plan to ask for "Samplers and Antique Needlework" quarterly.
3 comments:
I wonder if there still is a market for the type of designs JSC has. I did buy a few issues this year (ornaments and 2 issues with the Sharon Cohen sampler) but I don't look at it every month since it isn't readily available in our town.
Keeping this kind of magazine going must be tough, especially in this economic climate. The digital magazine is a good idea but it locked up my computer so I couldn't even view the entire magazine.
What do you think of the Gift of Stitching online magazine?
I think it is a good magazine. It offers (mostly) modern designs and it seems to have attracted international subscribers.
The same could be said for French mags.
And I share your point of view.
But it also appears that many cross stitchers do not go on the web (funny, isn't it?) and still take these mags as the only source they know.
Pity, isn't it?
Sorry I can't help with the software issue at all...
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