This is all so confusing to me. The more responses I read, the more confused I am. This is my take-away:
The copyright belongs to the pattern, not the item that comes from the pattern. However, one cannot mass produce from a copyrighted pattern for personal profit, meaning, you can't take someone else's copyrighted pattern, open a factory, and produce zillions of quilts for sale from that one pattern. However, a quilter can make a quilt from a copyrighted pattern and sell it to another individual at a fair or something like that. Do I have it about right?
Now here's where I'm confused. I am making art quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, and if I use a pattern from a designer, I have to get permission before I submit my quilt to AAQI. (Incidentally, I have found designers to be very gracious about giving their permission and seem delighted that I like their pattern enough to want to do this.) From what you all have written, this permission isn't really necessary. Rather, it's something the AAQI requires to cover their own behinds. And do I have that about right?