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A quilt is generally understood to be composed of 3 or more layers stitched together.    There are a couple of terms used to types of quilts:

• Art Quilt - I use the Studio Art Quilters Association Definition:  "a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure." 
• Modern Quilt -
• Traditional - 

The layer of material that is the primary display side.  It may be:

• Pieced - sewn from multiple pieces, generally in a pattern that is pleasing to the maker.
• Whole cloth - A single piece of fabric forms the top.  These are generally places to show off stitching.

The layer in the middle of the quilt.  This can be made of many different materials.  The 2 most important pieces of information to know about batting are:

• Content - What kind of materials make up a quilt will affect some techniques, determine care of the final quilt, and loft/warmth of the quilt.
• Scrim - the maximum distance between quilting lines.

This is the secondary side of the quilt.  Its the against the sheets or the wall. 

The edge of most quilts is finished in some manner.  The most common is binding.  I define the most basic binding as creating a finished edge by wrapping it in a layer(s) of fabric.

Applique is the process of sewing a shaped piece of fabric onto the top or a block.  

Sewing together the pieces of fabric that will form the top.

Quilting is the process of sewing three or more layers together.  Outside of a few art quilts,this is done with thread.

Constructed of multiple pieces put together, frequently to form larger pieces.

Made from a single piece of cloth.  These quilts were generally used to show off quilting skills.  Today, they mostly have the same function but in the art quilt world, whole cloth may be used as a foundation for inks, paints and fancy threadwork.

A block is the base unit of patchwork quilt.  They are generally composed of other shapes pieced together to form the design.  While these sub-block pieces are often called units, some instructions I have seen use blocks to create larger blocks.    A few block patterns are deliberately made using blocks as they had origins in orphan block useage; there is a picture of one in the gallery.

Fabric that the manufacturer or seller has precut to a specific size.   As a general rule, packages are color coordinated so that you can make a quilt from them without worrying about color clashes.  Be aware that some manufacturers pink the edges while others do not.  When mixing fabric from different manufacturers, this may pose slight challenges.

In 2026, the number of precuts in a packages is 40-42.  The number of items in a precut package has been shrinking slightly in recent years so check the labels.  The number of different fabrics in a package will also vary.  Precuts are sold by the fabric line.  If that line only has 10 prints, you can expect about 4 pieces of each pattern in the line.  If there are a lot of prints in that line, they may have only one of each print/design.

The advantages of precut fabrics is better size consistency and reduced labor and time for cutting.

Note: As always, I encourage you to buy high quality fabric regardless of being precut.  Quality issues persist across precuts as well.

2.5" strips rolled up into a package.  sometimes tied with ribbon

5" squares in a stack  

Stack of 10" squares

stack of 2.5" squares

Fabric pieces measure 18" × 22" .  you can buy them singly or in packs.  Package size varies wildly.  My last survey of these ran 10 to 28 fabrics.

Juried shows have and individual or committee that judges submissions and decides if a piece will be included in the show.  Unjuried shows accept all submissions.

Unfinished Object - this often implies that the quilter has not worked on this project in a long time.  Sometimes it is because they don't like the way it looks  or there is a technique issue.  For many it is simply a case of too many quilts in progress and losing track of one.

Work in Progress - implies that the quilter considers it a currently active project but it may be a stalled project for some reason.