Inspiration?
 

I've not been quilting for long and so far I've made a few projects (large and small) and am ready to begin something else this week. Where do you browse for inspiration? I enjoy all forms of handwork, English paper piecing, hand sewing appliqué and am most recently into paper piecing as I develop my machine skills.

Are there some amazing websites or blogs I should be browsing? (I'm not a huge fan of Pinterest as it can be so hard to find the original source of anything!)

A good place for free blocks is Quilter's Cache
http://www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore.html

Be sure and look for a page 2 on the individual blocks as they have them laid out in a project.
You can pair that site up with the book "Setting Solutions" by Sharyn Craig
This book doesn't have quilt patterns per se, but it has ideas on setting blocks. Blocks on point, different sashing ideas, etc. It's also a great source if you do BOMs, samplers or block exchanges as it talks about what to do if your blocks are slightly different sizes.
You can get a used copy pretty inexpensively on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Solut...ting+solutions

Instagram! If you follow a few of the big quilters and fabric designers who you like (you could start with the Moda designers, for example), you'll naturally find other people you like to follow. The result is a uniquely tailored entire feed of inspiration that I can pull up at a moment's notice. I also find that the instagram crowd skews younger than this message board and some of the sites like the Quilters Cache mentioned above, so the colors and designs that you find on instagram are a little more fresh (this is probably a function of who I follow as well).

If you follow design houses like Moda or Riley Blake, they often will have periods where someone who works with them will take over their insta for a day or two, which can help you find new people to follow. If you find a fabric line or pattern you like, often someone will have created a hashtag for it that you can use for more inspiration (e.g., "#vintageholidayfabric" is the hashtag for Bonnie and Camille's new line).

Some of the insta usernames for major quilters/designers that could get you started are: cottonandsteel, alatimer, thimbleblossoms, rileyblakedesigns, redpepperquilts, southernfabrics, robertkaufman, aurifilthread, modabakeshop, fatquartershop, vchristenson, tulapink, southernfabric

Join the ( fabshophop) it’s free, gives you access to 85+ quilt shops around the country and if you play ( find a hidden bunny at each one you can win prizes) some of those shops have Fabulous galleries to browse. They are very inspiring to see what is being done all over the country.

Windham Fabrics website has a section with free patterns you can download. There are many patterns (I think it's like 48 pages of patterns now). Of course, patterns utilize their own fabric lines (mostly discontinued) but I've made many quilts from this stash of patterns and used whatever fabric I wanted. Great inspiration for me.

Missouri Star Quilt Company has some awesome tutorials.

If you Google quilt images - whether 'pieced', 'applique' or other methods - oodles will come up on pinterest. You can usually find where to buy the pattern if your favourites give the name of the quilt

oh my goodness, that's a very broad question!
You mention handwork - paper piecing, applique and so on. "Piecing the Past" shop has a BOW (block of the week), that focuses on more traditional patterns, with "reproduction" fabrics. She just started a new one last Monday - the patterns are free via email, but if you sign up AFTER it's started, any weeks you missed are 99 cents.
Here's the link: http://www.piecingthepastquilts.com/

Here on the Quilting Board, in the "Challenges and Contests" sub-site, there was a thread going for her previous BOW.

If you're into scraps, Bonnie Hunter's "Quiltville" is a good place for all things scrappy. Lots of free patterns, and she just finished the "New Year's Mystery Quilt".

When I Googled "traditional quilting blogs", this list came up:
http://www.quiltersreview.com/our-8-...uilting-blogs/

One of my very favorite teachers for drafting the quilting designs (as opposed to piecing designs) is Lisa Calle, at www.lisacalle.com or www.stonehousequilting.com . I have to admit, I'm something of a "groupie" for all things Lisa - I love how she teaches and I love her tools.

For "modern" quilting, my personal fave is Judi Madsen. Oh, the TEXTURE in her quilting!!! it's something to behold!!

For wholecloth quilting ideas/inspiration, I search on architecture - especially "Cosmati" architecture.

And the number one place I go for inspiration, friendship, support, encouragement, ideas.... etc., etc. -is right HERE on the Quilting Board. No matter where else I go, I always come back here - to share, to ask questions, to get support, to learn. This is the BEST place, over all.

Thanks everyone - I know it is a broad question but Google is almost too big of that makes sense? I’m not worried about having free patterns at this stage - it is about the ideas and I have loved looking through the pictures thread on here. I have the splendid sampler book with 100 blocks from different designers which is great but it is good to look at finished overall projects (and not just quilts themselves).

To whoever mentioned redwork - I did a couple of panels of this for a Christmas hanging last year and loved it. It is definitely something I will be revisiting (and the more complicated then image the more I like it!)

I also take a look on all the sites mentioned - thanks everyone.

I still find quite a bit of inspiration in magazines although not as much as previously. Quilting Arts and Primitive Quilts are, for me, more inspirational, although American Patchwork & Quilting often has patterns for quilts I want to make right away.

When I was learning machine applique, I was told to look for kids coloring pages. There is a myriad of pictures on any subject. This is a wall hanging I made some time back for the minister's grandson.

Gay, you can search on Google and not allow any "hits" from Pintrest! I'm so glad I found this out here on the board.

How to not open pintrest when googling. Type "item –pintrest”. Note space after the item but not between “minus” and pintrest.

I haven't read all the replies but have you checked Moda Bake Shop? I get tons of ideas there.

I did not know that about pinterest - I will definitely be trying that out! I had never heard of La Passacaglia before but it looks amazing- very inspired already, thanks everyone

Go to Google Images, that will take you to a bar where you can type in the words traditional quilts (or modern, or applique, or quilts with blue, etc., etc.,...) and using the previous suggestion, adding -pinterest following whatever you have typed, you will see many different quilt pictures for ideas. If you click on one of the pictures, that will often take you to a location where you can find out more about that particular quilt and/or others like it. So it's the Google Images you are looking for. (If you use google as your server, as I do, that Images option will show up on the home page in the upper right corner.)

Jan in VA

Pinterest is my primary mode of browsing for inspiration. It makes it very easy to look for specific ideas, such as "easy quilts" or "modern quilts" or "baby quilts". When I find something interesting, it is easy to save it to one of my pinterest folders. Most of the pictures I find on Pinterest have a "visit" button so I can see the website from which the photo originated. If I see "flickr" under the photo, I know that there will be no website and save myself checking.

I agree that when using Google, it is best to use -pinterest on searches. Google comes up with lots of pinterest photos that are in people's folders, so it can be impossible to locate the one photo you are interested in. However, that is a much different experience than setting up a Pinterest account and going to pinterest.com to search for ideas.

I do this too

i didn't know this trick...love this... Thank you!

Search YouTube lots of quilts and quilt relevant videos there. At www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com every friday she has many links to other blogs of modern quilters.