If putting your hand stitched quilt in the washing machine frightens you, I would recommend hand washing it and letting it air dry. Usually it takes a long time to dry because of all the layers, so try to squeeze out as much water as possible.
by hand
Free motion quilting is a technique where you hand-feed the quilt through the machine in nonlinear patterns.
sew it
You can hand wash top quilts, but be careful about machine washing them and only do so in cold water.
prettiest
A calico quilt is a quilt made out of calico fabric.
A quilt block is an individual piece of fabric used to make the pattern of the quilt top. Many blocks are sewn together to create a quilt. Quilt pieces could be be called patches, or blocks. Usually a quilt block is assembled from several quilt pieces, though not always. They are sometimes called appliqué.
a quilt
A quilt is a handmade blanket. "My grandmother gave me her favorite quilt last year."
Quilt can be a noun (the item) or a verb (to make a quilt, quilting).
Quilt patterns include instructions, diagrams and pattern pieces showing you how to make a quilt.
The official state quilt of Alabama is the Pine Burr Quilt. It was designated as such in 1997.