Monday, January 14, 2013

Quilt Label Sayings and Quotes for Memory Quilts


So, you've made a handmade gift quilt to celebrate a special occasion: a graduation, a wedding, the birth of a new baby, or a precious friendship. Why not say something special to match the occasion on the label that tells the recipient who made the quilt?
Here is a list of sayings and quotes to put on your quilt label to show the recipient how much care and creativity was lavished on this special, one-of-a-kind gift.

All-Purpose Quilting Quotes and Sayings

  • When you sleep under this quilt, you sleep under a blanket of love
  • From my hands… to your heart
  • The best kind of sleep beneath Heaven above/ Is under a quilt, handmade with love
  • May this quilt warm your body and comfort your soul
  • Memories stitched with love
  • When you use this quilt, remember me
  • I wish you health/I wish you wealth/ I wish you gold in store / I wish you Heaven after death/ What could I wish you more?
  • I count the stitches line by line/ And watch the thread record the time
  • Love and memories we impart/ To quilt the fabric of the heart
  • May you be free from cares and woes/ When under this quilt you seek repose

Quilting Quotes and Sayings about Friends

  • A good friend is like a warm quilt wrapped around the heart
  • Good friends, like quilts, never lose their warmth
  • Our friendship (or our family) is a patchwork of love
  • Our friendship is sewn with love and measured by kindness
  • Friends are the flowers in the garden of life
  • My friendship quilt
  • Friendship, like a well-made quilt, stands the test of time
  • Our friendship is a tapestry/ Woven through the years/ With threads of joy and laughter/ Happiness and tears
  • Many faces, many smiles/ Remember me across the miles

Husband or Wife / Anniversary Sayings

  • Love is the thread that binds us together
  • Like our (my) love, this quilt was made to last

Wedding Gift Quilting Quotes

  • May this union be blessed with love and happiness
  • Joined together in friendship, united forever in love!
  • New love in bloom now fills your life/ As you become husband and wife
  • Love, honor, and cherish
  • There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved
  • “Love is patient and kind/ Love is not jealous or conceited or proud/ Love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable/ Love does not keep a record of wrongs/ Love is not happy with evil, but rejoices in the truth/ Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13
  • “Take spring when it comes, and rejoice. / Take happiness when it comes, and rejoice. / Take love when it comes, and rejoice.” Carl Ewald
  • “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” David Viscott
  • “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • “Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.” Jean Anouilh
  • “To love someone deeply gives you strength./ Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu
  • “Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” Roy Goodman
  • “There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.” Martin Luther
  • “Two such as you with such a master speed cannot be parted nor be swept away from one another once you are agreed that life is only life forevermore together wing to wing and oar to oar.” Robert Frost

Baby Quilting Quotes

  • A package of joy, a bundle of bliss/ This quilt for baby was sealed with a kiss
  • Blessed are the children, for they shall inherit the quilts!
  • Ten little fingers/ Ten little toes/ The sweetest of smiles/ And a cute little nose/ All these add up/ To a wonderful thing–/ A baby–/ The greatest gift/ Life can bring.

Quilting Quotes for Illness or Difficulties

  • “In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” Albert Camus

Using Poetry for Quilt Labels

If your quilt is large enough, you can print an entire poem on a printable fabric sheet and use the poem as the label.  The quilt label shown below quotes the famous World War I poem “In Flanders Fields” in memory of a beloved father who died.  Some of Shakespeare’s sonnets are short enough to make beautiful quilt labels.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Print Photos on Fabric to Enhance Memory Quilts

"Parents of the World Unite," photographed by Christine Mann


When people have to evacuate their homes in natural disasters, what's the first thing they grab to take with them? Photographs, that's what. Photos of special people, times, and places trigger some of our most treasured memories. That's why I recommend including photos in your next memory quilt. 

It's surprisingly easy to print photos on fabric with an inkjet printer and printable fabric sheets that you can buy at any fabric or crafts store. You can print your first image on fabric in just a few minutes.

Supply List for Printing Pictures on Fabric

Here's what you'll need to print your own photos on fabric:
  • Printable fabric sheets with a thread count of 200 or more. You will find ink jet printer fabric in a wide array of fabric weights and styles, from cotton poplin designed for quilting, to heavyweight denim and canvas for making purses, to linen and silk for sewing fine clothing. 
  • Photo editing software such as Photoshop Elements® for editing, resizing, and improving the photograph. 
  • A photograph to print. A large, sharp, high-resolution image works best. Don't try to use low-resolution photos from the internet or email, because they won't be sharp enough when you print them at a reasonable size. 
  • Color inkjet printer or copier. For best results, use regular printer inks recommended by the printer manufacturer. Ink jet printer fabric won't work with laser copiers or printers. 

Step by Step Instructions for Printing on Fabric

It’s easy to print a photo on fabric. Here are the steps to follow:
  1. Edit the photo. You may want to cut out people you don't want on the memory quilt, repair tears or other flaws in the image, enhance the color, or change the photo's size and shape for the project you're creating. Some photo editing software can also be used to add words or make visual effects such as giving the photo an old-time sepia tone. A free photo online editing suite is available from Adobe.  This is the sample image I want to print. It's a photo of a snowy owl, which I enhanced by adding some boulders:  
  2. Check the instructions on your printable sheets and set your printer to whatever settings the manufacturer suggests. 
  3. Load the fabric sheet in the printer. Your sheet will have a paper side and a fabric side. Make sure the fabric side faces in the proper direction for the ink to print on the fabric, not the paper. My printer puts ink on the side that faces up, so that's how I load my sheet. Here it is, all ready to print:
  4. Run a test print on plain paper before you print the final image on fabric. (Paper is a lot cheaper for testing purposes than the treated fabric!) Photos printed on fabric tend to look washed out, compared to the same photo printed on paper. You may want to intensify the colors in the photo for printing on fabric.
  5. Print the final image. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for handling the printed fabric during and after printing. Here's my sheet, all printed and drying for a minute, as per the instructions on the package:
The printed fabric is now ready to use in a quilt or sewing project.

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