I agree with everything being said here :) I use to get at least 4 magazines but haven't subscribed in about 6 (maybe more) years because I haven't seen anything that "inspires" me! I never liked Quilter's Newsletter at all. Fons & Porter had mostly intermediate and challenging patterns and I was only a beginner at the time. I bought several, way back when, Quick and Easy magazines thinking that if I could complete something that was quick and easy I'd keep going and learn more. Unfortunately, I didn't like the patterns very much and I never did any of them. I've actually learned through the years that I don't do patterns at all. I have learned more from this Board, and been inspired by pictures on here, than I ever did from a magazine. I still have a ton of my old quilting magazines that I flip through every once in a while but I still don't see anything that "trips my trigger", so to speak...LOL
I, too, like to go to the library and look through the older quilting books. I'm not especially a "traditionalist" because I like a lot of the modern quilting designs I've seen too. Sometimes I make something up and combine the two. That's my inspiration and my challenge.