Why Do the Good Ones Go Away?

I got an e-mail on Wednesday from "Annie's Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly"  -- a SPECIAL NOTICE about my subscription (the caps were theirs).  I'm sure there were many of you who received similar e-mails; it seems that SANQ has ceased publication.  So, this

is the last issue we'll get.  The rest of my subscription will be filled with Just Cross Stitch.  Darn, drat, and phooey.

SANQ and Piecework are the only needlework magazines I still subscribe to.  I used to -- many moons ago -- take every cross stitch magazine coming down the pike, including a couple of British ones.  Over the years, various factors caused my subscriptions to get fewer and fewer.  Some magazines ceased publication or merged with others.  In some cases, my tastes and/or the content changed and I stopped wasting my money on magazines that didn't interest me any longer.  Or I still kind of enjoyed a magazine but not enough all the time to continue spending money and trying to find space for it in my stash.  I enjoy SANQ and Piecework for different reasons.  Piecework has really interesting articles about a variety of needlework (sometimes too much knitting, in my opinion, but that's a topic for another time), but it doesn't often have projects that I would want to do.  SANQ, on the other hand, has interesting articles but it also frequently offers samplers and other projects, many of which have ended up on my "want to stitch" list.  So it's a bit of a bummer to lose it.  I confess that I was concerned that the quality of the magazine would suffer when Annie's took it over -- it really didn't -- but I didn't think they'd actually get rid of it.  Another good one goes away.

On a more positive note, we're very fortunate to live in an area where local agriculture is a big deal and there are lots of farmers' markets and stands selling local food.  There's a really nice farmers' market in Charles Town on Saturday mornings, and I made a quick trip there today.  I came home with a dozen eggs and these gorgeous tomatoes:

Then I decided I really needed some flowers for the dining table:

Aren't these beautiful?  I love the zinnias, but it was the big yellow cockscomb that grabbed my attention.  So pretty!

Football season is once again upon us and WVU plays tonight, so it's time to head upstairs and check out the game.  Happy stitching, all!