I found 12 small quilt magazines about 5 by 8 inches packed with loads quilt projects. Puts the new mags to shame.

Too funny! We were visiting my in-laws this weekend. While the DH, FIL and MIL were playing ping-pong with the 2DD's I grabbed a stack of old quilting mags from my MIL's sewing room. It was fun to see how much, and how little has changed in the last 8-10 years.

I bought a bunch of early 80s Stitch& Sew magazines at one of our local thrift stores. I found the perfect pattern for my wife's quilt in the August 2005 issue of Better Homes & Gardens American Patchwork & Quilting. I love the old magazines. There's a lot of patterns plus line drawings for quilting the quilt. Some of the drawings would make good applique patterns as well.
I don't get too caught up in magazines repeating patterns. There are a lot of patterns out there with the same shape blocks but different color schemes and names. It's pretty easy to repeat a pattern and not even know it. I like checking out books and back issues of magazines at our library and I always browse the book section for sewing related books at the thrift stores too. A pattern doesn't need to be new to be good.
Rodney

I love them and go over the old ones about once 6months. I put a stack by my bed and start there. I have post it notes on the ones I like and write something on the note. I will have to go to the used book store around here and see if they have some. I never see them in the thrift stores.

I haven't met a quilting magazine I didn't like. (of course some are liked more than others.:)) When I go through a magazine the first time, I use post-its to mark the ones that catch my eye. The next time I go through that same magazine, I sometimes wonder "what was I thinking?!" And sometimes I try the design or use parts of it.

I do the same. I sometimes need the inspiration and sit and look for hours. I used to piece all by hand, so am quite adept now at converting templates to rotary measurements! And like one of the other quilters mentioned, I too noticed that they often repeat patterns and I have found some of the new 'copyrighted' patterns in some very old magazines...

I have a stack I just can't part with!! But notice, most "new" quilts are just "new" fabric.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that loves to do this. I love getting new "old" ones. The older the better in my book. A lot of them still have a lot of full size patterns in them.

I LOVE old quilt magazines...I prefer quilts from the '30's style. I sit with a stack of old magazines and my "Post It's" and mark the ones I think I will do someday. I recently went through a stack of ones I marked a couple of years ago and it was fun to see what I had chosen before. Some I kept and others I passed on to my quilt group. I can actually go through a magazine and then start back at page 1...LOL

I also love looking at old quilt magazines, especially those that feature miniature quilts. Just like that saying, "everything that's old is new again", we can always be inspired by the past!