Using Pinterest

Quilters and Pinterest are made for each other.  Sort of.  I think sometimes Pinterest distracts and discourages and gets in the way of actually making something, but that's a rant for another day.

This post is about the ways I personally find Pinterest useful.

There's the obvious use-- I see something I like online, and I pin it. To keep it all manageable, I've come up with subgroups of boards that make sense to me. I have a collection of half square triangle quilts that I find intriguing -- HST board. 

I also collect by a specific fabric line or designer sometimes; for example, I love Kaffe Fasset fabrics, but I'm sort of stumped on how to use them in a quilt.  When I see a design that just nails the use of lavish color and pattern, I pin it to the KF Quilt Plan board.

Pinterest also works brilliantly for collaborative efforts.  When a group of women from my church wanted to put together a quilt for a friend, I created a group board where everyone could post suggestions for quilt patterns, fabrics, and color stories.

I use Pinterest as a way to keep track of my work for the year -- Finished Quilts 2013. I usually share photos on Facebook and Flicker, but it's easy to lose track of the photos -- some are on my phone, some on an ipad, some from a camera. And as many of my quilts are gifts, I like keeping a photo record. My Pinterest board serves as a quick year's summary of my work.

Lastly, for today, at least, Pinterest is a great way to create a wish list. I have a hard time coming up with suggestions for Christmas and birthday gifts, but pinning things, from books to gadgets to fabric lines or sewing machine accessories on my Pinterest list makes it easy to not only recall the items, but also serves as a good start to locating a place to buy it.

How about you?  Do you Pin?  Do you have reservations about the very nature of a social media/shared venue?  Are you one of those people who blocks their Flickr photos from being pinned?  Asking in all curiosity--why? What did you do to keep track of brilliant ideas and patterns before the advent of Pinterest?