Combination printing and quilting method and apparatus

A quilting apparatus comprising:

• a conveyor for moving material to be quilted through the apparatus;
• a quilting station located along the conveyor and having at least one needle on at least one quilting head that is moveable both longitudinally and transversely relative to the material on the conveyor;
• a printing station located along the conveyor upstream of the quilting station and having at least one printing head operable to print designs on the web of facing material;
• and
• a controller configured to operate the at least one printing head to print onto each of a plurality of panels of material in accordance with a selected design, to operate the quilting head to quilt a quilted pattern onto each of the plurality of panel lengths of the material in accordance with a selected pattern, and to independently change the printed designs and quilted patterns from one panel length to another panel length.

A quilting apparatus comprising:

• a conveyor for moving material to be quilted through the apparatus;
• a quilting station located along the conveyor and having at least one needle on at least one quilting head that is moveable transversely relative to the material on the conveyor;
• a printing station located along the conveyor upstream of the quilting station and having at least one printing head that is moveable transversely relative to material on the conveyor;
• and
• a programmed controller for controlling operation of the printing head to print a printed pattern onto each of a plurality of panels of material in accordance with a selected design and for controlling the operation of the quilting head to quilt a quilted pattern onto each of the plurality of panels of the material in accordance with a selected pattern and in registration with the printed pattern, said programmed controller being operable to change the printed patterns and quilted patterns from panel to panel.

A quilting method comprising the steps of:

• moving material on a conveyor through a printing station;
• selecting a first print pattern to be printed on the material;
• controlling the printing head at the printing station with a controller to print the selected print pattern onto the material at a location on the material;
• moving the material from the printing station to a quilting station and determining the position of the printed pattern at the quilting station that corresponds to the location of the printed pattern on the material;
• selecting a first quilt pattern to be quilted on the material;
• controlling a quilting head at the quilting station with the controller to quilt the selected quilt pattern onto the material bearing the printed pattern.