Anyone for a QR coded Quilt Label...?

I've been wanting to write about this QR topic for quite awhile, now.  I stumbled across this really great tut over at Cindi Quilts blog while searching for a really neat quilt care label, which they also happened to have and which I keep under my Favorite Tutorials Tab.  This one will soon join that list ;-)  First, I'll show you the finished product and we'll go from there:

Quilt label w/QR code attached on left side

Here's a close-up of the QR coded label:

QR code printed onto muslin

What's soooo neat about having a QR code on a quilt label in the first place?  And just HOW did I do it?  And Why?

First things first ;-)  This particular QR code is encrypted with the actual blog address to a particular quilt, which happens to be my DGD's Dr. Who quilt, recently completed.

I printed it onto fabric - white heavily starched muslin in this case, using the crafter/quilter's tried and true wax backed freezer paper:

Just iron it onto the back of whatever fabric you wish to print and/or write on using a dry iron, (I recently used this same method to write on a T-shirt for one of my daughter's Christmas presents - worked great!), make sure the fabric piece you wish to print is the proper size for you printer and print away.

First, you will need to pop over to beqrious.com and click on “QR Code Generator”, as Cindi instructs and plug in the web/blog address you wish to have a QR code generated for.  Capture the code, save as a jpeg, .pdf or various other file formats, whichever you desire and save.  I had greater luck copying and pasting the saved file into the center of a word document and then printing, but that's just me.

You'll also need a tag reader for your phone or computer.  There are a whole bunch out there,  I did a search on my iphone for tag reader and found an iHandy scan QR & Barcodes app for F R E E and downloaded - it works like a jet to scan my QR codes, (the Pro version is available for a small fee, I haven't had the need so far).  This particular QR scan will take one directly to the Dr. Who blog posting about this quilt!  How cool is that?

I also made a general QR code just for my blog that can be incorporated into a Quilt Care label like Cindi did and another for some charitable projects I'm currently working on and for my Civil War quilts and...the possibilities are endless.  For a complete tutorial about this, hop/skip/run over to Cindi's and Read ALL About It!  She keeps it available for ALL of us under her Tutorials link.  Is that nice of her or what, I ask You?!?  If you happen to decide to use some of her nifty quilt ideas like I have, drop her a line and let her know how great you think they are - I did!

Oh, and just for you pic-lovers, I took a few of the actual Dr. Who quilt label being created so, here you go:

Dr. Who quilt label getting embroidered

Checking QR label placement next to embroidery

Originally, I was going to print the QR code onto the fabric for the embroidered label first, then hoop and embroider but I thought, what if I goof on placement and one little teeny-weeny embroidery stitch happens to stitch into the QR code and ruin it soooo, decided to print/embroider separately and then attach the QR label upon completion of the embroidery.  It worked great, too, because I was able to print-out different sizes and check to make sure they would fit and that they scanned properly, which they did!

Embroidery ALL finished - time to attach the QR label (above)

This was FUN to do and a really neat way to 'code' those labels for the intended who might enjoy "reading their quilt's story", and there's even a way to 'track' the codes if one so chooses...

 And now, time to get back to quilting a stunning QOV - pics coming soon!
~Deb

Dr. Who FINALLY coming off my frame...! w/Updates

The looooong awaited Dr. Who quilt is FINALLY coming off my frame - woohoo!!!

Dr. Who coming off the frame - FINALLY!

With the current blizzard on it's inevitable way, I knew my quilting time could be limited, especially if we lost our power - which in fact we have a few times just today!  So I decided to get busy quilting and see what I could do and once again, came out pretty good, me thinks ;-)

I used several different threads and more than one quilting technique to get the final quilting effect.  The usual clear mono-poly was used for SID and for all the embroidered blocks, in addition to McTavishing for the background fill for each embroidered block.

UPDATE:  Just when I was all ready to post, we lost our power for 18 hours overnight yesterday.  Wind chills went to -45 below 0!  Thank goodness for little generator - at least we were able to keep our household temps above 50 ;-)  Now, if we can keep it on one more night, windchills are projected at -50 below tonight - let's keep our fingers AND toes crossed and covered up!

Jade's Dr. Who quilt...

 

Angela Walter's playful 'pulley' quilting motif w/McTavishing

 

All ready for binding - yippee!

Dr. Who Quilt stats:

•  41.75 total quilting hours
• 28 bobbins 'me-wound' w/white Maxi-lock
• SID - Superior's clear mono-poly, Maxi-lock silver, Maxi-lock white
• McTavishing - clear mono-poly, Omni neon yellow, Masterpiece Red Hill by Alex Anderson
• Circles/alternating lines - Masterpiece Red Hill, Silver Maxi-lock
• Yellow pulley quilting - Omni neon yellow

Binding will commence just as soon as I make one last trip upstairs to the quilting studio to make sure the heat and water are still working while letting the golden bears/retrievers out for another quick romp and I FINALLY get to take a nice loooong HOT shower....

UPDATE 1/07/2014:  my dear DIL, Emily snapped this photo yesterday sitting in their truck while my son dropped off an LP heater for us, prior to our power returning:

My golden bears/retrievers (brothers) on duty 'guarding' the TITAN generator!

I had to let them out 'occasionally' for short romps in the snow, which they love, and for potty breaks.  Because of the cold temps, we just couldn't let them stay out for too long.  However, whenever ANYONE pulls into the driveway, they insist on being put back on duty, even if only for a few minutes, as in this case when my son and his new bride came by with another heater and generator for one of our farm buildings that has/had running water ;-) 

Stay safe & warm,

~Deb

PS...I was in such a rush to take my nice looong HOT shower I totally forgot to mention one other HUGE quilting element of Judi Madsen's.  Every Dr. Who fabric filler block utilized her continuous double/triple circle quilting motif.  I also included it on several of the blue borders using the silver thread. This quilting motif creates great eye candy, simple to do once you practice it for a few minutes and most importantly FUN!  You can find it and many, many more incredible quilting designs in her new book, "Quilting Wide Open Spaces", and I featured it in one of my recent blog postings, "A First for My Blog...;-)"

Dr. Who Quilt blog links from start to finish:

Creating Dr. Who Quilt:  http://donebybettyboop.blogspot.com/2013/09/toss-up-tuesday.html

Dr. Who on the frame:   http://donebybettyboop.blogspot.com/2013/11/dr-who-is-on-frame.html

Dr. Who coming off the frame...FINALLY!: http://donebybettyboop.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-finally-coming-off-my-frame.html 

It's almst HERE! - Ushering in 2014 w/Creativity and Inspirational Wishes for YOU... ;-)

I searched long and hard to find just the perfect pieces to escort us into our New Year of 2014, and I think I've come up with the winning combo.  The first is one more beautifully inspiring composition from those divinely creative Piano Guys in their recent concert at Red Butte Garden.  The surprises in this piece are breath taking, and encompass my message to you for 2014 - Please Enjoy!

The second is an astounding Quilt of Valor quilt top, sent to me once again by Clairellen of the Quirky Quilters Guild in Wisconsin, correction Michigan!  (Don't know WHY I keep getting their address/state wrong, but surely sooner or later I will finally get this right...Thanks Clairellen ;-)  This stunning 3D QOV top will be one of the most challenging and FUN quilt tops for me to quilt, and I look forward to loading it onto my frame as one of the very first quilt tops in the New Year:

Irene's gorgeous 3D Quilt of Valor, ready to be quilted in 2014!

What better way to ring in the New Year than with a gorgeous Quilt Of Valor!  This quilt top is not only impeccably pieced by Irene, but each star is a 3D work of art.  Once loaded onto my frame, I will showcase close-ups of this incredible quilt top.  I've mapped out most of the quilting for this creative piece, still working out a few last minute details, but should have those resolved once it's all nice and loaded and I start the SID stabilization process prior to the FUN quilting, which allows me to better 'get to know' the quilt.  You can be sure, McTavishing will play a huge role in the final quilting outcome w/a few inspirational quilting twists from Professional Quilt Artists, Angela Walters, along with some template magic of Kimmy Brunner's.

This QOV (along w/a few others ;-) has been in my quilting queue for quite some time and I sooo appreciate the patience and generosity Irene has bestowed upon me in allowing a much needed quilting delay...Thank YOU, Irene!

And now, like I always say...time to get back to it!

Stay safe and have a wonderful Happy New Year!!!
~Deb

'Angels from High' Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas...!

Here's wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!  And to help you celebrate this glorious day with their best Christmas carol rendition yet:

Wasn't that FUN?  And Beautiful?  Did you find the 'Elf on the Shelf', Simone?

Merry Christmas to ALL...
~Deb

PS...thought you might enjoy seeing a couple of 'Before' and 'After' photos of our Family Christmas ;-)

Before the Christmas guests arrive...

After...!

Christmas Eve w/'The Kings'

Hope You and Yours have a wonderful Christmas Eve.  Here's another favorite Christmas carol for you to enjoy, which does such a supreme job of capturing that endearing Christmas spirit:

Stay Safe and don't forget to Have FUN w/Family and Friends this Christmas Eve!
~Deb

A Special Christmas Carol for You...

This is one of my Very favorite Christmas carols and I LOVED this rendition of it sooooo much, wanted to share it w/YOU - Hope you enjoy it half as much as I have the past few hours ;-):

Peace to You and Yours,
~Deb

A First for my Blog...;-)

I've recommended LOTS of quilting books and tools and fabrics and templates and*....BUT, I've never committed an entire blog posting to recommending anything, until now.  This brand-new quilting book by Judi Madsen is different:

"Quilting Wide Open Spaces" by Judi Madsen

...and the amazingly talented author is very different, too.  Judi Madsen's book is chock-FULL of the most pleasing quilting eye candy!  Even though I knew I was going to have to get up early to scoop snow and ice, I stayed up well past Midnight trying to take it ALL in.  It wasn't until later that I even realized not only are there some eye-popping quilting designs, but quilt patterns to ALL the gorgeous quilts themselves are included in the book w/excellent descriptive instructions and wonderful illustrations - and every quilting design outline AND quilt pattern are included on a CD with .pdf printables!

Here's one of my favorite examples:

and another:

But my very favorite (so far;-), is this gorgeous red/black/white beauty - Betty and my favorite colors:

Modern Flowers quilt in Red/White/Black - our favorite colors!

This book is genuinely 'Judi', which showcases not only her incredibly amazing quilt talent, but her beautiful spirit as well.  My Christmas Wish for EVERYONE is that you will wake up to find this awe-inspiring book in your stocking on Christmas morning...don't forget to ask Santa!

Happy Quilting (and shopping) EVERYONE,
~Deb

PS...Judi Madsen's brand-new book, "Quilting Wide Open Spaces", available here:

Signed Copy         Amazon.com

*PLEASE NOTE:  I am not affiliated in any way shape or form w/author, the book publisher, Amazon.com and am not being compensated to say/write any of my recommendations for this book.  In fact I pre-ordered and paid for my copy months ago and would do it again in a heartbeat - I just love recommending products I use and enjoy...and hope you do, too!