Personalizing

I ordered some woven labels from “It’s Mine!” to sew to the back of my art quilts. I had been using a fine point sharpie to write the title of the quilt along with my name but wanted to add a more professional touch. Sometimes the sharpie was hard to see against the darker fabrics and feel that these labels, once sewn on, will also last a bit longer with the work. “It’s Mine!” offers a number of different styles and it was hard to choose which style would be the most versatile. Before I ordered I looked through my growing stack of small art quilts and settled on the white stitching on navy, simple, horizontal design. The labels arrived as promised and even earlier than stated! Just in time for a couple of special gift-giving projects I’ve finished. With the large selection of styles and sizes, these labels are also perfect for artisans working in fiber arts, sew in clothing for kids going to day care, camp or for an elder person's belongings in an assisted living facility.

The last couple of weeks I’ve had loyal customers call and request gift certificates for Holiday gift-giving. If customers were not able to find what they wanted at the Gallery, or wanted something specially created, a gift certificate works great. I need to take care and stash the money I receive from the certificates so I’ve not spent it before the work is completed –not so easily done, especially during the Holidays! I purchased some cool paper and larger presentation folders at the office supply store to use for the certificates (printed up in word using a fancy-italic font, Sterling, along with my logo) and added my new gold foil labels for a touch of sparkle. I feel the added touches make for better gift giving instead of just an ordinary white envelope. For a finishing touch, I’m going to tie a lovely sheer purple ribbon around the outside of the folders after the customer views the certificate –and double checks my spelling!

"hiBEARnation" art quilt detail. I had fun free-motion stitching the den grass in gold and brown threads and the ice and snows in aqua and blue threads.

And speaking of finished –the bear in a den quilt is finished. I’m thinking of turning him into a pattern because it was so much fun to make! I enjoyed cutting the swirling browns of the den, the blues and whites of the ice and snow. I was thinking he could even be a brown bear if somebody chose. Oh, and before I forget, here is a wonderful link to some FREE Holiday Gift Tags! “How About Orange” one of my favorite creative Blogs is offering these downloadable and very cool labels for FREE! I was thinking of printing them onto whole sheet label paper and tah-daa they are ready to address and stick on your gifts (you are finished with your shopping-right?)! Here is the link to the cool, FREE GIFT TAGS!

Completed "hiBEARnation" art quilt, 14" x 14".