Leaving Your Mark

As I awoke this morning,with lots of unrelated ideas floating around in my head, I narrowed in on an idea for my Mountain Meadows Quilters Retreat on August 25th.

There are many ways to leave your mark- being philanthropic on a big scale- like Oprah or Bill Gates.
Parents leave their mark on their children, just by what they teach, and what they do.
Volunteering will leave your mark on your community.

But, something that has always intrigued me, and is a very simple, literal way of leaving your mark, is a signature.

 Old autograph books have always held a fascination for me- my grammar school autograph book, my mom's, and antique treasures with spidery fountain pen script and silly flowery poems, like:
                                       
                                                Remember me, when this you see.........

Hidden away somewhere, I even have an old pillowcase, signed by ladies from somewhere in the Midwest. They left their mark- we don't know why, but it is fascinating just looking at the old names, and trying to figure out who they were, and why they signed a pillowcase!!??

In my UFO pile (OK,OK- UFO MOUNTAIN!) are one or two signature quilts that are slo-o-o-owly  nearing completion.
A thought came to me, why not have a signature quilt of some type, for my quilters retreat?

It would be kind of cool - especially if this retreat thing really catches on (and why wouldn't it?)- and I could do it again next year. To have a quilt that participants could sign, and be on display the following year.....hmmmm. I like it!

**Now,- shall it be a whole cloth - just a large piece of muslin, laid out for quilters to sign and date at some point during the day of the workshop? With a whole cloth, later machine quilted, there is the option for adding signatures another year.

**Should I pass out individual blocks, for each attendee to sign/embellish in their free time? That, of course, would mean, I would be responsible for putting those blocks together into some semblance of a quilt.
Big project.................hhmmmmmm.

**I also thought of individual blocks, signed, and then later put together as a fabric book. Also, a project , but not quite as daunting. And, could be added to, if the Quilt Retreat is a success and comes back next year.

A while back, my ever active brain designed a pattern for an autograph hound - remember those? - I had one in grammar school - wish I still had him! As I recall, he had more of my doodles than actual signatures on him- not really a testament to my elementary school popularity!!!LOL

                           Anyway, I digress- the hound will be for another project-stay tuned.

                                                            So, what do you think?

                                   

                                  A whole cloth signature quilt
                                                                            or 
                                    
                                   individual 4 or 6 inch blocks 
                                           (for a quilt or a book)


Valuable input, ideas, and opinions really needed!!!!