Definetely designing and choosing the fabric. I love it when I go shopping and find the perfect fabric the first time i look and don't have to go back or to another store.
I have my first pattern on Ebay with 2 more coming as soon as i take time to write them out. I have soooooo many ideas and sooooooooo little time. Just like the rest of us.

To me the best part is for each and every block - when I realize the seams all match up.

I like others think the best part is choosing the fabrics for a quilt.

Shirley

the best part for me is when i realise i have done something right and it looks goooood and i dont have to undo any stitches!

THE FABRIC - Then for me designing and adapting patterns.

:P I agree my favorite parts are picking out the pattern, fabric shopping and most of all the last stitch that goes in when the quilt is finished. It is so much fun enjoying the finished work.
Chamby

Of course, looking at all the design possibilities and color combinations is such great fun. I go to sleep each night with a well worn quilting magazine at my side. If I ever actucally make all the quilts I dream about (literally and figuratively), it would make quite a pile. But, I do admit putting that first block together and watching the design unfold and seeing the colors complement (hopefully) each other is just sooooo satisfying to me and my favorite part......
~Joan

I think that choosing the fabric is the most difficult part. You can spend hours in a fabric store trying to get all the matchups just right and then when you get it home find out that the light in your house is different from the light in the store and the fabrics do not match as well as you thought they did. And you can seldom return fabric.

I had that happen with a quilt I am working on now.
Ended up taking the quilt with me to the store to match the right color.

For me the best part is piecing the first block and putting it up on the wall so I can imagine what the rest of the quilt will look like. Marylou

:-) :-) yup---that is my best part, next to laying out the cut pieces on
the wall to see how it will turn out :!: yoya

Designing the pattern, and getting that first block done to see the design.

The best thing is having a completed project, but I have found that doing some work by hand (i.e. applique) is quite relaxing. Maybe it's because I'm not tied to the machine and can carry it with me or just sit and watch TV at the same time.

I've always loved picking the fabric, seeing what patterns and colors look best together. That made making my daughter in law's tshirt quilt so hard, putting orange and maroon and red together in the same quilt. I thought I would hate it, but somehow, using the borders to calm the clashing of the unlikely neighbors, it came out nicely...and she loved it... Maybe what I like best is seeing how much the recipients love what I've done for them. Today as I finished a quilt I started 2 years ago, I ran my hands across the hills and valleys of the fabric and stitches and felt the softness of the batting under it all... Maybe it's the changes I have made in the raw material that keeps me wanting to do more. I love it when I try a new way of doing things and it works better than the old way. I love putting on the binding, and seeing my art finally framed. I love putting it into the washer, then the dryer and seeing it come out all fluffy and warm, and sitting under it and being warmed. Is there a best part of making a quilt? As I finish one today, and sit under the warmth and beauty that has come together, I honestly cannot think of what the best part is. It's a whole bunch of best parts. That's why we are all addicts......It warms our souls.

i like to find a pattern first then go find enough material to do it

I always design all my quilts on graph paper before I even start shopping. I get an idea of what colors I want and how I want them to be arranged. Then I choose the fabrics and get going. I love drawing the quilt out, coloring it in and choosing the fabric but most of all I love being deeply involved in the process. I love the intimacy of a quilt divulging its character to me and dreaming about the person who will get the quilt while I am making it and then saying goodbye to the quilt and knowing that it has fulfilled its destiny and gone to make someone else's life better. I quilt for wounded soldiers, foster children, sick kids and orphaned kids in other countries. I once ran a schoolwide community service project based on the book The Quiltmaker's Gift. I am working my way through the patterns in the book and send a copy of the book with each donated quilt.

DITTO,DITTO,Ditto :) :)