Originally Posted by kpross

With only one exception, I have always used a pattern. There is nothing wrong with that. The one exception was a quilt for my brother. He wanted a king size and picked a fabric collection but gave no other direction. Since it was nautical I knew I wanted the center to be a star (compass-like) medallion (I wasn't quite up to a compass yet), and since there were novelty fabrics in the collection, I knew I wanted to highlight them. So I just went for it. I started with the star and built on from there, working around the center. I used graph paper to some extent to plan the outer borders to reach a certain desired size. Since he is a boat and flag lover, I also knew I wanted to incorporate nautical signal flags so I designed them to spell out "Dan Loves Bev" along the outer border. (pics attached - please try to ignore the carpet it is lying on! You can see that I used some blocks, like the center star and the sailboats in the corners, that I found in books, but otherwise, it was just improvised.) It was fun, but all my quilts since have been from patterns. I just don't always have the spark of creativity until I see what I want in a pattern. So, if you are anxious to try something on your own, just do it by picking something you love and are passionate about and dive in. You don't have to use equilter or anything else. Otherwise, there is no reason to change what you are doing.