Block Magazine is the publication produced by The Missouri Star Quilt Co. and they are already in their second year of print. You can purchase a copy to be shipped with your fabric order or simply buy a digital copy to read immediately on your computer. They even offered a free digital copy back in December (I don't think it's still available though), which I enjoyed very much. There are personal stories accompanying each pattern as well as technique 'how to' segments in Jenny's Classroom. There are 10 quilted projects in this Winter Volume 2 Issue 1 edition, for example, with photos, diagrams, written instructions, and tips. There are construction basics, general guidelines, project summaries for each quilt, links to companion video tutorials, AND a Patchwork Murder story to boot! All that for US$5.99 is not too bad - you lucky Americans!
Since our Canadian dollar exchange rate is terrible at the moment and the duties and handling for a shipped order are so expensive, I haven't bought any fabric lately from MSQC and therefore, no Block Magazine. Happily, when I was in my LQS last month the owner was making a reservation list for copies of the magazine that she was ordering in bulk. It would cost $10 CDN so I added my name to get one. It finally came in and I held my first physical copy of the 'magazine'. I put magazine in quotations because this is really a book-azine. The paper is lovely, there are 104 pages of content and ZERO advertisements. I have paid that much for a traditional quilting magazine at the grocery store. Granted, the LQS is putting the price up to $13 for the next copy so I'm not sure yet if I will fork over the extra $3 bucks or not. I really don't need any more patterns but it is so hard to resist reading about the subject I enjoy the most. I'll probably cave and order it anyway! If you live in the States I would definitely recommend adding a copy to your order and the $5.99 price is a steal, I'd say. Nicely done, Missouri Star.
I am curious about the Patchwork Murder story! I wanted to murder someone yesterday when trimming all those points...
Posted by: Maureen | March 29, 2015 at 12:36 PM