While I do think that the internet sucks up my time and not always in a good way, occasionally there are places that are interesting to visit, to gain inspiration. The above image is from the New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery.
These two prints are by Maurice Pillard Verneuil from 1869. More are found *here.*
I went into their Printing and Graphics section from the main page, then randomly clicked on the list as I didn’t want to wade through all the images. Here’s another:
It’s harder to see this one, but the catalog indicates it has plant forms, peacocks, and a waterscape.
And this one could provide ideas for machine quilting when the quilt is done.
Applique, anyone?
So how does this relate to quilting? By encouraging me to see new shapes and new relationships between shapes. I sketched up a block, taken from some of the ideas in the first one, then played with it in my quilt program (flipping and twisting the block), gaining the slightly weird, but somewhat intriguing design below. While I have to work mainly in solids on the computer, I could see this in rich florals, or another type of print where the edges blur from the colors overlapping from one square to another.
The idea, at least for me, is not necessarily to have a quilt to bang out in one week, but perhaps to tuck these doodlings away in a sketchbook, whether it be the digital or colored-paper-and-pencil kind. The idea is to make new connections. The idea is to have an idea.
Where do you get your ideas? Other blogs? Flickr groups? (You’ve already seen my take on Portuguese Tiles.) Nature? Quilt shows? Something a friend has done? All of the above?
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
What a wonderful source for ideas. As we traveled around Israel and the UK, we took dozens of pictures of tile floors from the Roman Era to modern times exactly for the purpose of quilt design. I also love to look at antique quilts and give them a twist.
I received the quilt blocks and thank you once more. The fabrics are so different from anything in my collection………..cheers………m
I find a great deal of inspiration from blogs but it appears just about everywhere. I took pictures of lighting and carpeting in a hotel conference room once. Haven’t figured out how I’m going to use it yet but I just keep tucking away ideas…
I find a lot of inspiration from flooring, both tile and carpet, in public places, including the bathroom at the courthouse when I was in the jury holding cell, I mean room, last week.