I generally visually and often built in a challenge for myself because I misread the pattern or goof up in some other creative fashion.

50/50. I tend not to finish some of my "out there" originals, until my husband digs them out and tells me how much he loves them.

He loves my collage quilts.

I use graph paper and colored pencils(as close to the color and value of the materials) and color out the pattern before actually cutting-gives me an idea of how it might look.

Oh, I get my sleep. Quilt ideas sometimes come to me as dreams, and I actually remember them! My family will tell you I have always been strange...

I usually need to get the basic idea from a picture ... then I "run with it", changing colors and altering the design to suit me. I've done a few quilts that I totally created in my mind, but I don't do that very often.

I mostly follow a pattern although I am making a storm at sea now and had bought the material several years ago. I now know that I did not buy enough so I am creating my own visual scene. I hope it comes out alright.

mostly just use what i have already

I mimic patterns or whatever, but tweak on my own so it is not the same! Wish I could just visualize things!

In the scrapbooking world we have a term called "CASE," meaning Copy And Steal Everything. That's what I do with quilting. I never "create" new designs, but seeing a quilt design on this board is a wonderful jump off point for so many new ideas running through my head.

I see a pattern I like or a color combination and take a 'save picture as' or even a 'printscreen' and throw it into a folder. When I am ready for another quilt go to my folder for the quilt pattern or color combination to get inspiration. I rarely do a quilt like the one I copied. I change it in someway to make it my own. I do quilts using Electric Quilt but I also get out the graph paper and do it on paper first