It’s hard enough to keep a secret about a quilt going in a magazine!
Then THIS happened….
I made this quilt in March (with “All Geared up” batiks from Island Batik)
When magazines email with requests for designs it’s maybe 9 months before publication or at least 6 months! I’d submit a design or several and sometimes my design would get picked and sometimes it wouldn’t. Once a design has been picked, we then start to discuss fabrics and of course readers and fabric companies want to see the latest and the greatest of fabrics, but the timing has to be right too, it can’t be OLD and it can’t be so new that the fabrics are not out yet. So that can go back and forth several times too.
This was my EQ sketch with the “All geared up” batiks from Island batik, I had named it jelly roll stacks, as it uses most of a 2 1/2″ strip in each color.
So I finished the quilt quickly and sent it off.
I even quilted a very circuit board manly kind of a pattern on it!
I was going to a McCall’s magazine (I think the magazine is called pre-cut projects or pre-cut quilts) I can’t remember and honestly it doesn’t matter to me what magazine it goes in. McCall’s and Fons and Porter are all the same company – F&W Media.
After it was sent to them it was just a matter of waiting.
Then I heard the NEWS! F&W Media was filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy!
What?? that can’t be…. I love their magazines!! (Though honestly I haven’t subscribed to any in years, maybe it’s because I’m a designer now or maybe it’s the trend?) I know with pinterest and FB groups etc it’s easy to find a picture of a quilt or even a free pattern online, but there’s “something” about flipping thru a magazine and reading the instructions. I don’t even like online stuff or PDFs but want to print for myself if I use a pattern.
So it was all the buzz on FB and among other designers, but we were promised to get paid! so that’s really all that mattered right?
It was hard to then see the public list of debtors and see my name on the list! but I held out hope and once in a while emailed the editor to check on things.
Then we all heard news that they were trying to merge or be bought out by another company, which is GOOD NEWS!
finally it happened and they are now PEAK MEDIA PROPERTIES
Now with the merge, I guess they closed/discontinued a few magazines, one of them was this pre-cut magazine, so I was told that I’d get paid and the quilt would be returned to me- unpublished, which I finally did 🙂
So here is the quilt!
It measures 40″ x 56″
Maybe I’ll turn it into a pattern soon, we’ll see.
I love this! Looks like buildings. I'm surprised they didn't use it in one of the other mags.
What a roller coaster for you. I love the quilt, it would be a great guy quilt especially in those colors!
Really beautiful quilt, fun design, and fabrics. I'm glad to hear the good news, that your quilt was returned to you, the magazine company was bought out/merged with another company and hopefully you've been paid/will get paid very soon.
Hummm….On the topic of magazines subscriptions. I quit subscriptions a number of years ago because 1. budget and 2. all the patterns seemed to be doing was selling fabric collections and where getting very repetitive. I enjoy the blog community on line and find much more to inspire and tickle me. I will occasionally pick up a magazine if I can find it after reading or seeing something about it online. Quiltmaker is the one I am most likely to pick up.
I know all that waiting is hard and to have that happen. Least ways you got it back with pay. It is a fabulous quilt. LOVE IT!
Wow! I followed all the news of the F&W situation, but never thought of the designers who had submitted ideas. I’m glad it appears to have worked out for you. I do hope you’re able to write a pattern. This is an awesome quilt with so much potential for recipients.
Well, it's certainly a quilt with a story after all that dickering about. Couldn't you submit it to other magazines? I think it's a really lovely quilt both the design & the colours meld so well, and it would be a shame not to use it for something, maybe a competition or show it at a Craft Fair.