Don't take it to the dry cleaners! They will put it in a solution that is anything but dry and if the colors bleed the dry cleaner will take no responsibility for it. If the quilt is small enough--double bed--and your home washer is large enough, just put it in the washing machine with color catchers and plenty of hot water and wash the dickens out of it. If it is larger, take it to the big washer at the laundromat and use those color catchers.
Don't let it sit in the washer after the last spin! Get it into the dryer and get it dry or hang it on your clothes line to dry. Wet quilts are heavy, so if you want it to smell line dried, dry it partially in the dryer and finish it on the clothes line. Be sure to use those color catchers! froggyintexas

Only thing I can add, is I do have a balcony where I hang my quilts for 24 hours after I take out of the dryer, just to be sure they are good and dry!

I have never had a problem with machine washing and drying my quilts. I have a friend with 6 (almost 7) kids and they all have quilts from me, all of which are frequently washed and they hold up just great. I got royally reamed by a quilt shop owner once when she heard I machine dried my quilts. "That will melt your thread" she told me. I replied "Well sure, if I used a polyester thread. I use cotton fabric and cotton thread, so no worries!"

Melt your thread? Are professional made clothes not sewn with polyester thread, or a blend of poly/cotton? I dry everything in the dryer and have never yet had any thread melt.

For quilting I use cotton fabric but I piece with a cotton/poly blend. I have used quilting thread for the ones I've quilted on my DSM, which I assume is 100% cotton but I think I've also used a blend. Have never had thread melt yet but I suppose anything's possible. This is just a new one on me!

well, I have to be the odd gal out here - my bed quilt is hand quilted, so I wash by hand in the bath tub, spin dry in the washer, and dry outside on a line. It is filled with poly so it is light and dries fast. I suppose I could do it in the washer, just never tried.

I use poly thread and always machine dry. Sounds like that shop owner was full of beans!

I wash my on the cotton cycle (warm/cold) with color catchers and dry on the cotton cycle (medium).

I do the same as Prism99 except I use the color catchers, several of them pinned all over the quilt so they don't get hung up in the glass window of the front loader. I think the top loaders with the agitator are too brutal for a large quilt. I have washed smaller ones (baby size) at home but nothing very large.

I guess I am fussy with my quilts I always pre wash fabric and I have a top load washer so I fill it with warm water let quilts soak 10 or 15 min. in a very mild soap ---ivory or something used for hand wash as my quilts don't get that dirty so they don't need a harsh washing I do not agitate them and I have quilts 20 years old that still look almost new I also rinse in the same manner hang outside until almost dry then bring them in and stretch out flat to continue drying

I am the kind of quilter that prewashes my fabrics. Then when a quilt needs to be laundered, I wash it in cool water and then into the dryer.