I jump right in. It might take me a few years to complete it, if I get tired of the pattern. But I never make a sample block first.

Please jump right in unless you truly want a second quilt for another purpose.

I jump right in. When I first started quilting I made a sample block first and I used a fabric I was t in love with. Years later I put those squares together and it sold at a guild auction for $500.

If it's a new to me technique, I'll make a block first to see how it goes together, but if there is nothing new, I just go for it. I rarely make the same pattern twice.

new pattern
 

No I always just make the size I actually wanted

I always think I *should* just try a single block in scraps first. To date? I have done that exactly once. I'm too impatient to "get going" on something I have in my mind to do! Sometimes a good thing, sometimes it's bitten me in the bum, but I muddle through and try to finish whatever it is. I think it's an interested question that reveals a bit about our way of approaching challenges, perhaps?

I very rarely make the same pattern twice, although I have done multiple log cabins or whatever, the fabrics and end result is always very different.

I learn while doing, usually I've learned enough to make my "ok" quilts into great quilts, but I'm ready to move on to the next project and so keep in mind what I've learned and do something different. I have been thinking of doing several series quilts, similar but different enough to suit me while I explore different aspects of a project.

So if a project has been designed for a king size, I'd just make the king sized first. You do have to watch some design issues when going so large because tiny little pieces will ultimately mostly be lost in the overall size. You simply cannot scale up a wall hanging to look correct as a king sized unless you have a football field sized bedroom and can get that far back for the same perspective.

If you have enough fabric for the size you want then go for it. I never hardly make the same pattern twice as I have so many quilts I want to make and I like the challenge of making a new quilt.

I jump right in on most occasions only because if I am making it for myself I want it king size. I haven't made a king size in a number of years because it is so hard to handle and most of my king size I hand quilt. The exception is if I am doing a QAYG project and then I make that decision as the quilt is getting larger with each section I am adding and that is because I have better control I have one such quilt sitting in front of me as I type. I have the center and first border on and am trying to decide if I want to put 2 or 3 rows of 9 patches in the following section and just keep building. On this one time will tell.

I make the size that I’m interested in, if however in the process I discover that I really don’t like what I am getting then it becomes a smaller quilt and I find another pattern.