Thursday, September 06, 2007

What do quilters want?

As some of you will know I give out pencils with my contact details on. I think they are a lot more useful than a business card and I like them. From the feedback I get so do quilters. Today I got the catalogue from the company that made them for me and I've been trying to think of a different idea for next year. So far I can't think of anything better than a pencil I guess I should add I still have a reasonable number of pencils so I won't stop handing those out anytime soon, the debate is do I get more of them made or something new and hopefully exciting.

Out of the hundreds of options I have come to the following, pens, bags, post-it notes, sweets or torches. Now the problem is, I can think of good reasons against all of those too. The pens (to me at least) don't look as good as the pencils and I bet they will run out faster too, oh and they are made of plastic so less environmentally sound. Yup even though I love my cars I do consider environmental impact important. The bags are all, almost big enough to be useful for carrying quilting supplies, each one just needs a small change and it would be great, as is they aren't. The post-it notes would be a great seam guide, which is why they appeal to me, but do other quilters do that? Sweets are actually not the draw of the sweets :) They come in a little tin, which just looks too handy, they are tins that shut really well so I have used them for pins in the past. Of course I know a lot of quilters who can't eat sweets so maybe that isn't such a good idea. Mini torches are great for peering into your sewing machine. How people live without one (or indeed several) is beyond me, but will they be 'borrowed' by the men in a quilters life and never seen again?

So there you have my dilemma, and here is your chance to influence the decision. Of those which would most appeal to you? Which would you be most likely to hang onto and so have my contact details on hand? Should I just stick with pencils, or is there something else I haven't considered?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It may depend on the company that provides them, but don't write off (ha ha) promotional pens as necessarily being crap -- I'm still working through the backlog of an order I placed probably six years ago at this point, and they work fine ;) (But have the wrong details on them these days, oh well.)

The mini torches sound like a fun and useful idea...

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

Pencils are good, they are useful and cheap.
What I would 'like' is a key ring with something quilty on one side and the details on the other?

Ferret said...

OK, pens can have a reprieve, I guess it is just that the companies that given them to me don't care if they work. I have just spotted a very nice looking one and it is a reasonable price.

I've gone back and looked at keyrings and none of them let me have different designs on each side. There are some where I could put a photograph in the background of my details, which look OK. Alternatively there are ones which work as trolly coins with the details on the coin. Those really look pretty good but there isn't much space.

Do all companies find it this difficult or do they just throw money until something works?

Anonymous said...

Go with the sweets they soind like a good idea, you can never have too many tin's

carrie said...

I like my pencil and have been using it. It was a nice surprise to be given a little something; thanks

Anne Wigfull said...

What a lovely idea, Ferret!
Pencils are fine but if they are used, then your details will eventually be lost in the shavings and if not used would certainly get lost in this house! Personally I love the idea of a key ring with shopping trolley 'coin', always to hand, useful and permanent.