Rant about elitists.

I just spent some time catching up on the Digests from the Quiltart list. Apparently this weekend, there was a huge discussion about the content of Quilting Arts and other magazines. As a shop owner, artist and amateur textile historian, I truly believe that we should not look a gift horsed in the mouth. Many of the regular posters on the list are by all accounts successful artists with an established style and methods of working. How many more quilters are out there who do not fit that category and are looking for more help. If that vast majority of people stopped buying then we would lose the magazine. There are many reasons to buy/subscribe to a magazine, and no one magazine will always be the perfect fit for everyone. We should embrace the needs of all quilters, art, traditional, or some where in between. Personally, it is the only quilt magazine I subscribe to. I enjoy the good photography, celebrate the more contemporary outlook, and often refer customers to information contained within its pages. Honestly, sometimes I resent the "artists" who forget that everyone has to start somewhere, and look down their noses with an elitist attitude at articles that present a technique, or give a pattern. There is a place for it, for many an article is the beginning, and a place to jump in. How many of us could have learned our craft without publications containing actual information. Ideas are great but they wont show us how to begin.