quilt label, a first

come fall of this new year, i will have been quilting for TEN years, a whole decade.

that's rather exciting to me.

i'm in my 10th year as a quilter, and i've made something like 42 quilts.
so it's about time i labeled one of them.

i believe in the importance of quilt labels. i just never get around to making them myself.
until now.

it felt really important somehow to get a label on "beauty for ashes" before i sent it off to anne.

one of the reasons i've never made a quilt label is that i've never done it before - meaning i don't have a tried-and-true or preferred method, no default way to make one.

i have considered several ideas in the past, but since i have yet to try any of them, i'm not really sure how they work out. this sunday when i decided i absolutely needed to get a label on "beaty for ashes," i thought the easiest way would be to make a very basic and simple embroidered label.

that would mean i would have to keep the information to a bare minimum, which was fine. on the one hand, i would have liked to included the scripture quote, or at least reference, of the quilt's name. but it's okay that i didn't. i needed this done and sent off quickly.

i used a 4.5" wide scrap of white fabric for the label. i sketched the letters on in pencil, then stitched over them with 2 strands of dmc floss, using a backstitch. the embroidery was done in less than 30 minutes.

next, i trimmed around the stitching, about 1/2" away from the letters on all sides. i folded the edges under 1/4" and pressed my rectangle label flat.

i decided to attach the label to the quilt back with a blanket stitch, like i used to use to edge my four-square blankets.  i'm fairly certain i used the same method i used to edge my blankets with, but it doesn't look the same as the blankets did.

also, the label shifted and bunched a little while i was stitching, so isn't not square with the corner of the quilt like it intended.

but it's all fine. i'm just glad it's actually on there!

now that i've done one label, i'd really like to do more of them. in future, i won't be in such a hurry to get them on, so i'll be able to research my attachment methods and do a better job with that.

for now, i'm pleased as punch that i've labeled one of my quilts!

it's not perfect, and that is okay.

right after i completed the label, i read this insight from melanie of southern charm quilts:

"always, always, always, i find it doesn't have to be in the vicinity of perfection for it to look really nice and for me to love it."

this rang true to me, and fit how i felt about the label perfectly. i'm not after flawless quilts, i just want to make and share the best i can.