Last November, just as we were preparing our January issue for upload, our printer (Kendall Printing, Greeley CO) closed it's doors rather suddenly - giving the employees only two or three hours notice, and giving some customers (MQU included) no notice. We were a bit panicked, but a former sales rep from the printer was able to link us to an interim printer and the magazine went out on time. However, we were not entirely happy with this new printer's quality and continued to look around. I am happy to report that we have found a good solution. Our previous rep from Kendall, with whom we had a great relationship, landed with a local printer and offered their services. Kit and I have been checking them out and we are suitably impressed! Beginning with the May issue, Citizen Printing in Fort Collins, CO will now handle our account.

Why should you care? Well, Citizen has a relationship with a larger publications printer to assist with accounts such as ours. And this larger printer has a multitude of value-added services that we were missing before. This will enable us to produce a better, bigger, magazine over time and offer more interaction with our website. But of particular note is that they have offered to help us solve our International delivery issues! We are kicking around a few ideas, and let me tell you, you will be very happy with the results! So, stay tuned here and in our E-Newsletter for some fantastic news in the near future!

Vicki Anderson
Executive Editor

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There are several big quilt shows coming up in the next few months - MQX, HMQS, Paducah, Spring Market, Mancuso Denver - just to name a few. Have YOU entered a quilt yet? It isn't always winning a ribbon (although that's surely a great reward!) that motivates quilters to enter, but also the desire to share their work, get feedback from judges and the public at large, and proudly say "That's MY quilt". Don't be shy. You do not have to be a 'famous' quilter or have quilted for years and years to grab someone's attention with your designs. And who knows? Maybe that ribbon is just around the corner.

We at MQU look at the shows for future features in the magazine, JawDropper quilts, new products and new techniques to showcase. Wouldn't it be great if Kit & I saw YOUR quilt and wanted to publish it?

Vicki

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Back in early 2006, when I purchased Unlimited Possibilities Magazine, it was the only consumer magazine available expressly for machine quilters. At that time, it was focused solely on longarm or frame quilting. It had a specific niche, professional quilters, and we worked hard to give the subscribers as much information and education on the topic as we could. I had so much fun producing UPM, and lots of help as well. What would I have done without the mentorship of great quilters/teachers like Pam Clarke and Linda Taylor, not to mention Marcia Stevens, the founder of the original UPM? And Kim Brunner -what can I say? You have been there every step of the way for me. Carol Selepec, Renae Haddadin and others too numerous to mention offered encouragement, help and writing skills. Those days of “finding my way” were some of the best times I have ever had. Going to shows, hanging out with the best quilters and manufacturers there are, meeting longtime subscribers and new quilters alike, and seeing all the QUILTS – who wouldn’t want my job?

Over time, machine quilting interest and products grew in the marketplace. Machine manufacturers started to take note that many ‘home’ quilters were using domestic sewing machines and small frame systems to quilt their tops. Teachers branched out with lessons that were beneficial to all machine quilters. Product manufacturers woke up to the market as well. Here at Meander Publishing, we launched a new magazine, Machine Quilting Unlimited, to address this growing consumer base as well.

It took a year and a half, but we realized that the two magazines had a tremendous amount of overlap and were actually competing with each other for subscribers. After much thought and soul searching, I decided to combine the magazines into a larger, more inclusive of all machine quilters magazine, retaining the name Machine Quilting Unlimited, or MQU as it’s come to be known.  It was a successful merger and I am glad to report that MQU is growing by leaps and bounds this year.

Which brings me to the title of this blog - The End of an Era. As of now, Unlimited Possibilities Magazine back issues are no longer available. I am happy that Meander Publishing is moving forward and addressing the total market, but I am also very sad that my original “baby” has grown up and left the nest. I give my sincere thanks to all subscribers who were there for the long haul, and continue to be there in our new format. You are what it is all about.  

Vicki Anderson, CEO and Publisher of Meander Publishing Inc

NOTE: We will be publishing some of the older UPM articles on the website very soon. The writer’s retain copyright on most of the “how-to” articles, but there are many that Meander Publishing staff members authored, or that we have made arrangements with the original author to use, that will be published as a PDF file for your use.

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Here we are in 2010. (BTW - do you say "Twenty Ten" or  "Two Thousand Ten"?) Amazing to think that we are already a full decade into the New Millennium! The biggest news Meander Publishing had in 2009 was merging our two magazines, Machine Quilting Unlimited and Unlimited Possibilities. We believe that we now can focus our attention on giving you the best all-around machine quilting information available. We began the process to upgrade our website and are continuing to add features that you asked for. Recently we added a Guild Reference Guide to our links page. This is helpful to folks who may be new to an area and looking for a guild to join, or even someone who has lived in the area forever, but doesn't know how to contact a local guild. Please, if your guild is not listed, let us know! It does require having a web access, either a website or a blog site. Just email Liz (liz@meanderpublishing.com) and she will add your information to the file. We are also in the process of adding articles from past issues for you to access. We hope to add video streaming sometime this year as well. Clips from your favorite quilt artists and writers may be just the ticket to help you through any dilemma you may have while machine quilting.

Another promise we made to ourselves is to quilt more! The Editors and a select group of quilt artists from Colorado are currently in a challenge called "Pass It On". This is similar to the Whisper Quilts you may have seen on the web and elsewhere. We have two groups of six quilters each. Starting with a photograph, the first quilter creates a quilt from the photo. She then passes her quilt on to the next quilter , but NOT the photo. The second quilter uses the first quilt for inspiration and produces her own quilt based on any element of the previous quilt, passing hers on to number 3, but NOT sharing the inspiration quilt, and so on. By the time it reaches the sixth quilter, the subject matter has usually changed enough that if you show the original picture, the finished quilt is unrecognizable as having any relationship to it! When these series of quilts are completed, we will publish them in MQU. We have also offered the twelve quilts as a special exhibit to quilt shows in 2010.

Do you have a challenge within your quilt group? We would be interested to hear about unique ways you all are working together.

We are working on many more ideas to make the website user friendly as well. If you have a thought about something you would like to see, be sure to drop us a line. You can always reach me at vicki@meanderpublishing.com.

HAPPY NEW DECADE!

Vicki Anderson, Executive Editor

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Dick and I are finally home from our 12 day, 3,200 mile trek around the Midwest. We hit the Fall colors at their peak in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and especially, Ohio. What lovely views we had as we chugged down the many roads.

Our first stop was to visit Anita Schackleford in Bucyrus, Ohio, to discuss our upcoming article and cover story in March 2010. Anita's two, yes two, workrooms were wonderful to see, and she and her husband were most gracious hosts. We then headed to the Quilting With Machines show in Aurora, Ohio. The Bertram Conference Center was very nice.The show promoters certainly worked very hard to be sure the vendors, sponsors and teachers were well attended to. And the students all looked like they were having a blast as well! This is still a small event, but has the potential to become a strong regional venue in the very near future.

We left the show to visit with my Mom and other family, almost all of whom live in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. My sister and BIL, Freda and Rick, showed us their newly purchased wooded acres (with a pond, no less) where I was able to take a leisurly, peaceful walk amongst the beautiful trees and just enjoy the company of my sister. A nice break in our hectic schedule.

Off we were to Indiana and a stop in Carmel to visit with Cathy Franks, one of our favorite quilters and writers. Look for her new article in the January issue! What a lovely home she has. And her studio, like Anita's, was to die for. Cathy fixed us a great lunch and we chatted and laughed as long as we could. It's so good to have such great friends who enjoy the same things we do! Cathy's husband is also an airplane nut, so Dick was pleased to make that connection. We then stopped in Illinois to visit our farm that we sold when we moved to Colorado. The memories were too strong, and I miss it all so much still (11 years!) so we didn't stay long. We saw a few friends and Dick's family, and prepared to move on.

Next stop was Des Moines for the AQS Quilt Expo. This was the second year for this show, and it looks like a winner. We managed to visit a lot of vendors/friends (sorry Dick, my wallet finally opened!) and see some great quilts. We also heard rumblings of a blizzard back in Colorado, but we weren't worried. After all, it was 60 degrees in Des Moines.

Now we headed home. We made it to York, Nebraska and stopped for the night. Truckers and other travelers started telling us that the blizzard was moving into Nebraska now. Oops! As it turned out, we stayed in York two nights, working from the hotel room. I-80 was closed, as were the side routes we planned. Darn! I could have stayed in Des Moines for another day with the quilters! Finally the roads opened and we headed for Colorado, where we found that the 18" of snow dumped in our front yard had all but disappeared by then. Thank you for the Colorado SUN!

It was so nice to visit with many of our readers along the way. Thanks to all of you that introduced yourselves to us and made us feel so welcome.

Vicki Anderson   Executive Editor

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