From keeping our beds warm to adorning our walls and adding color to our living rooms, quilts have made our lives brighter and more cheerful. These beautiful hand-woven beddings are composed of a quilt top, a layer of cotton batting and a layer of fabric for batting. This is the most common method of quilting.

Quilts have held great cultural and historical significance over several hundred years. What started as a hobby for thrifty peasant women who put scraps of material and worn out clothing to design these beddings, soon developed into a large-scale industry. Various methods and patterns were employed in the making of quilts, each with its own unique style and beauty.

There is a dizzying array of quilt patterns in use today. Each pattern has its own individual significance and beauty. There are three main methods of creating a quilt top. Piercing or patchwork is the most popular method employed. In this method, small geometric or curved pieces of cloth are sewn together to form blocks. Embroidered quilts are popular when the design involves creating specific images. Embroidery can either be handmade or machine-made. Appliqu is the third method used in which various shapes are sewn to the surface of a block.

Although there are several hundreds of patterns in use today, some of them have stood out over the years, ever since the American Revolutionary War. One such pattern is the double wedding ring, which comprises of a familiar series of interlocking circles. The log cabin pattern is a series of blocks, with rectangular strips of fabric sewn at right angles to each other to form squares. Other widely used patterns include, Sunburst, Sawtooth, Bears Paw and flowers and leaves formed by sewing together, octagonal pieces of cloth.

The influence of this age-old quilt patterns still lives on. Although several modifications and variations have been made to the patterns, the true essence of the quilt lives on.