For my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, I cut plain muslin blocks, finished the edges, and sent them out along with a set of permanent pens to friends & family, asking them to decorate the block any way they wanted. I sent them out in a little box and included return postage. I also made pieced blocks that pertained to their life, such as state blocks for the states where they lived, wedding ring, etc.

When I got all the muslin blocks back I pieced the quilt alternating the muslin with the pieced blocks then quilted it. It came out pretty nice!

Donna

Somewhere on the 'net, I saw a pic of a quilt done with a birthday cake and balloons and presents/ribbons etc.. There was a wide white border and everyone had signed his/her names and good wishes.

~Geraldine

For my grandmother, I made a Rail Fence quilt with a muslin strip in each block. I brought a fabric pen with me to the party and had everyone sign the quilt. She LOVED it.

I think the "rail fence" idea is by far the easiest and most practical. Other than the white strips, you can make any color scheme you want.

When you are new to our group, we have no way of knowing how much information you need to do this. We can help you more if you tell us you know where to find the patterns, how to quilt, etc.

While I'm not really a fan of autograph and photo quilts, I really like the signed rail fence block idea.

But this is your quilt - give us more ideas about what you want, and maybe we can give you a bit more feedback.

I seen a quilt given as a mother's day gift when the lady was in her 70's. The center had a photo of all the family members and just a nice border around that to make a lap quilt for her.

Very nice and a wonderful personal feeling IMO
Marie

thanks for all the ideas. my problem is i don't know what i want. i would like to include family and friends that won't be there but i don't have alot of time since birthday is in january. the rail fence idea is a great one.
how can you get the messages from the people far away and get it put together in the rail fence design. i'm drawing a blank on an easy way to accomplish this. has any one ever tried getting people to send message and then scan and then injet it om material. just a thought.
sarah

Rail fence pattern leaves only a small strip to write on. If you want messages and best wishes, you might want to consider larger plain squares offset with colored squares and sashing.

For fastest results, you can always send each a square of plain fabric and a Pigma pen and have them just write on it and send it back. If you do this, iron freezer paper to the back to stabilize it for the writing part, to be removed by you before the sewing.

They also make fabric with a stabilizer on the back that you can run through a computer printer. You can scan the messages and reduce or enlarge each to fit on a fabric square and trim it to size, such as 8 x 8".

The hardest part will be to get all the messages back from friends by your deadline. Set the deadline early to give yourself lots of time.

Check your LQS for photo fabric. If they don't have it, go to a website such as this and order it.

Here is a link that might be useful: photo fabric sheets

i think i'll try sending a note card or a square and have people send birthday wishes and sign and then try scanning it on the special fabric. how does that fabric quilt after being run through the copier. is there anything special i need to do to it before i sew it into the quilt? hope i'll get response back from friends and family in time.
sarah