Technology meets quilting

Those who know me will know that I am mad about gadgets, gizmos and really clever things. When I came across this really clever idea, I could hardly sit still until I had tried it out.  I have made a very basic version of what is shown in the little video link.  If you are like me, I think you will like this.

Most quilters put a label on their quilts, giving the quilt a name and the date it was made etc. So how about instead of a label, you put a QR Code on your quilt. You know those little boxes you see these days in magazines, billboards and advertising. In fact, they are everywhere and if you scan them with your smartphone or other device they will link to text, videos and websites.

So here is how I did it. Firstly I googled "create a QR code" and found loads of websites which will generate a QR code.   Once I had generated the code I printed it on to a printable fabric sheet and sewed it to my little yellow New York quilt which was lacking a label. 

This one links to a few lines of text giving the name of the quilt and dates. 



A quick scan using the reader app and here is my quilt label.



Next I made one for the "Birthday Garlands" quilt I made recently for Mandy. This quilt does have a label, but I thought it would be fun to add a QR code as well.

 

This one links to the blog post about the making of the quilt.





I have not yet sewn it to the quilt as it is at Mandy's home (I really don't know how keen she will be on this idea and might prefer not to have it on her quilt).

All you need is a reader app on your device (I used Digimarc) to scan the code. If you are clever and have a lot more time than I do, it is possible to make much prettier QR code labels which include photos and colours other than black and white, as well as audio text. I think I will still put proper labels on my quilts as in 50 years time this technology will probably have gone the way of video tapes and the codes will not be able to be read. In the meantime, however, I think this is a lot of fun.