Peckish is right. Quilts and quilt patterns cannot be patented. Quilt patterns are copyrighted automatically when they are written. The patent does not have to be registered for it to be effective.
Copyright just means you can't copy the pattern (the words and pictures) without the writer's permission. This applies even to patterns that are distributed for free, and also to patterns that are no longer available for sale.
A quilt design would have to be very unique for it to be copyrighted. The only example I can think of that might be eligible would be applique. So figuring out how to make something, by looking at a picture of a quilt, and then making it, is not a violation of copyright, no matter how much it looks like the original.
Selling a quilt has nothing to do with copyright. You can make as many quilts as you want from a pattern, and you can do whatever you want with those quilts. (I think the one exception would be mass marketing the quilts.) If you no longer want your pattern, you can give it away, or you can sell it. The only thing you cannot do is make copies of the pattern, whether to keep, to give away or to sell.