Reflections on Quilt Books

My projects in this past month's "Let's Book It!" Challenge over at Vrooman's Quilts had me reflecting on my habit as a quilter of buying and loving quilt books.  I've always been a book and magazine geek which is partly why becoming a quilter was such a good fit!  Realizing when and why I bought the books I used for the "Let's Book It!" projects also made me reflect on my quilt book collection and what I continue to buy after having quilted for twelve years.  Like many, I have a pretty extensive book library.  Most often, I like to buy "technique books" that show me how to do basic or specific quilt techniques or styles of quilting:

 A sub-section of that category are all the books I have on machine quilting techniques and patterns.

But I also love "survey" books that focus on specific styles of quilts or the history of quilts.

As a big fan of scrap quilts I also love books (and patterns) that have designs that utilize that approach.
 

And one of these days, I hope to have time to try out some ribbon embroidery and finally delve into all the books and magazines I've purchased on that topic:

Even when I buy a book in one of those categories, sometimes a book becomes just an "inspiration book", one of those that I love to thumb through and look at.  I don't plan to make any of the things in it but every time I look at it, I want to go back to my machine and try to coax something as wonderful out of it as I see in that book.

So for me, another great benefit of the "Let's Book It! Challenge" besides finally USING some of those books, is to review my interest in them.  I'll admit that recently I've come across one or two books I might get rid of because I don't think I'll use them or the concepts they cover are no longer of interest or need refreshers.  Seeing what others have made from books they have often reminds me of books I've thought about purchasing so seeing a finished quilt out of it moves it a little higher on the "To Buy" list  for me.  

So what about you?  Do you find you buy books for a specific purpose or are the books you buy inspiration for some future project yet to be discovered?  Would you like to see what's interesting in books you may not have seen before?  Or maybe you have a book but would love to see what someone else had made from it?  Then Sharon's "Let's Book It" link-up is definitely the place for you!  Head on over and see what's on everyone else's book shelves!