Something interesting happened this week when the latest Cloth Paper Scissors magazine arrived: I was actually INTERESTED in it!  I’d been seriously thinking about letting my subscription lapse, since it wasn’t really lighting my fire the way it used to do.

But this issue had me thinking about dragging out art materials again.  Yippee!!  I’ve even been reading my back issues of this and its sister publication Quilting Arts.

I’m not entirely happy with the direction these magazines have taken since they were  – umm taken over? Acquired? – by Interweave Press – there are a LOT more ads for the company’s own products (something which contributed greatly to my no longer bothering with Stampington’s magazines) and the store discount that used to come with subscriptions no longer applies.  I can totally understand why the founder/editor, Pokey Bolton, decided to go with Interweave – talk about a MASSIVE job with just those two titles, let alone the special issues and the shop! – but the trade-off is the lack of service.

I haven’t bought a new quilting art/inspiration book in  – ummmmmmmmmmmm… gosh, over 12 months?  Maybe 2 YEARS?!  (I know, I know, my In Real Life friends are worriedly running about for their thermometers and tests to check that Caity is still Caity – I mean, they know my library!) but it’s been as much a function of my lack of enthusiasm for textile and other art as of our impeded financial situation.

There are two new books that I am just DYING to get.  (Ok, not DYING… but I would really reaaaaaally like).  If I buy them from Interweave they will cost $US 54.90 PLUS either $23.19 for International First Class Postage or  $39.82 for International Priority Mail.  That’s a total of $78.09 or $94.72 for the two books.  Which is $AU $99.92 or $ 121.02.  OUCH!!

OR – thanks to a heads up a while back from Ruth (Ta, Roo!) I could use the Book Depository instead: FREE POSTAGE and a total for the two books of £31.68, which converts to just $65.73 in Aussie dollars. For exactly the same two books.  Bit of a no-brainer, really, eh?  (except for the sad fact that I can’t actually afford that amount, either… LOL!)

Melanie Testa’s recent articles in both Cloth Paper Scissors and Quilting Arts have been really  – just wow.  INSPIRING!! She makes me want to draw and stitch and collage…  and Carol Shinn’s work is awesome, from the first time I saw the cover of this book I knew it was one I had to have.  Just the thing to get me going again on machine embroidery.

I’ve always been inspired by books.  I love the way reading about techniques and seeing new work sets off sparks in my brain, I can’t resist, I have to grab a blank page and draw and write “Yeah, that’s interesting, but wouldn’t it be cool to use THAT idea to make THIS thing and then do THE OTHER to it, and then maybe even twist it around to SOMETHING ELSE…

So tomorrow’s job: investigating the art boxes that have been stashed under the table for the last *mumblety* months.  Sorting through them and re-discovering what there is and what I’ve run out of.  (I know for sure that I’m completely out of my favourite paint OF ALL TIME -  Jacquard Lumiere Halo Blue Gold …)

I still intend to sew clothes (oh, the INTENT is always there!) because I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR.  But it’s time I started feeding my arty bits again, dontcha think?

Related posts:

1. COLD!
2. Yeah,baby!